Stolen Kisses

by Suzanne Enoch

  “Bevins, if you don’t wish my fist to remove your teeth, you will tell me exactly where Lilith is. Immediately.”

  “I don’t know where she is, my lord. And please, keep your voice down. I don’t wish to lose my position for speaking to you.”

  Jack attempted to contain his temper. “What happened?”

  “I’m not certain, my lord. I believe she and the viscount had a disagreement. She left with her trunks.”

  “She didn’t return to Northamptonshire, did she?” That hadn’t occurred to him—that her father might pack the family up and head back home to hide, as he had done six years ago. If so, Jack had a long ride ahead of him.

  “I don’t believe so. Her father and aunt will be returning to Hamble tomorrow.” To Jack’s surprise, the butler leaned farther out the door. “I mean that she left her father’s house, my lord,” he whispered. “And her father.”

  “What?” It was so uncharacteristic of Lil that Jack could scarcely believe it. Yet he knew how strong she was, and how far events of the past few weeks had pushed her. Apparently, she had decided it was time to push back. “I’ll be damned,” he muttered, giving a slight smile. “I’ll be damned.” He looked at the butler again. “Is William about, then?”

  “He accompanied her to wherever it was she was going. Now please, my lord, go away.” When Jack didn’t protest, Bevins quietly shut the door.

  For several moments Jack stood on the steps. The last grand ball of the Season was tonight, and he hoped to high heaven that Lilith would be there. He hadn’t been invited, but no doubt word of Wenford’s arrest had spread throughout the ton, so he should have no trouble gaining admittance. His presence should serve to distract everyone, and to make certain any fingers that might be inclined to point in Lilith’s direction were turned back toward him. If she wasn’t there, he would find her.

  He returned home to find Peese and Martin celebrating their victory with one of his best bottles of brandy, and sat with them for a drink. Finally he had Martin join him upstairs, and requested his most somber-looking ensemble. His valet obligingly dressed him out in stark black breeches and coat, with a gray waistcoat beneath a snowy white cravat. He declined any other ornamentation, though tonight the outfit made him feel rather like an undertaker. “A pity I don’t own a coach-and-four with black horses,” he commented, accepting his gloves from Martin.

  “T’would be a sight, my lord.” The valet grinned.

  “I’ll have to look into it,” Jack agreed, picking up his hat and heading for the door.

  When he arrived at the Delmore soirée, the hostess hesitated only a moment before she graciously welcomed him into her home. Jack thanked her just as politely, and apologized for misplacing his invitation. When he strolled into the ballroom, he came to an abrupt halt.

  Lilith was still in London—and she didn’t look particularly sorrowful over parting from her father. Completely the contrary. She looked radiant. Adorned in her daring emerald gown, she stood in the center of a group of her friends, each one clamoring for her attention and congratulating her on her bravery. Jack smiled to himself. It appeared that the story he and Richard had “amended” seemed to be the one that had circulated throughout the ton.

  Lilith had truly blossomed. Over the past weeks, and especially after the perils of the morning, she had become a spirited, laughing creature, her green eyes alight with humor and excitement. It certainly made everything he’d gone through more than worth it, but at the same time it was disheartening. Such a creature of light could hardly want to be leg-shackled to him. Living without her would kill him, but he wasn’t willing to coerce her into doing what he wanted, as every other man she knew had tried to do. With the burden of being perfect removed from her shoulders, her natural wit and charm, which he had sensed from the beginning, were finally allowed to shine. She was a fool if she even considered risking her new popularity by being seen with him. And she was no fool.

  In addition to his skills at gambling and subterfuge, Jack Faraday was evidently a proficient storyteller. When Lilith had stepped into the ballroom, she’d expected to be cut by every respectable female present. Instead, she had been greeted by an enthusiastic round of applause, and she and Pen were immediately surrounded by their usual circle of friends, joined by several others who’d never before bothered strengthening their acquaintance. For a moment she was baffled by the attention and the approval—until she heard the current version of the morning’s happenings.

  “Lil, you should have said,” Mary Fitzroy chastised with a giggle.

  “Well, I couldn’t, really,” Lilith answered, trying to figure out what the devil was going on.

  “But to think that all along you knew His Grace was a dangerous madman, and the prime minister himself asked you to assist in stopping him!”

  Lilith blinked, but immediately realized what had happened. Jack was being noble again, and apparently he’d recruited Lord Hutton and the Earl of Liverpool as well. She avoided answering most questions until she had determined exactly what the story was. Even after she heard it, she could scarcely believe it. It seemed that Dolph was being secretly investigated, and that once his interest in her was noticed, she had been approached and asked to lend her assistance. Thus it had gone until this morning, when the law feared that Dolph would make a run for it, and so they’d asked her to lead him to a location where he could be safely arrested without rendering harm to anyone else.

  “I hadn’t realized I was so heroic,” she said in a low voice to Pen, during a momentary lull around them.

  “That’s not the story you told Mama and me,” Penelope noted, her brow furrowed.

  “Infinitely easier on my reputation than the truth, though, don’t you think?” Lilith smiled. Jack was wonderful.

  “Lilith?”

  For a heartbeat she thought it must be Jack, and whirled around. The face before her, though, belonged to Lionel Hendrick, the Earl of Nance. “My lord.” She curtsied, the sudden elation leaving her heart.

  “May I speak to you for a moment?” He gestured at the dance floor. “A quadrille, perhaps?”

  “Yes.” Lilith allowed herself to be led out onto the polished floor. The music began, and she and Lionel bowed to one another.

  “Lilith, I wish…I wish you had told me that your betrothal to Wenford was a sham,” the earl said earnestly.

  So that was what he wanted. He certainly didn’t waste any time. “I was not at liberty to do so,” she answered. The dance parted them, and she reflected that no one knew that she had no dowry to speak of. She wondered if once they found out, it would change the way they all looked at her. And she wondered why she no longer cared.

  “Even so,” he continued, as he returned to her side, taking her hand to turn her about the room, “the fact of the matter is that you are now…how shall I say, available once again.”

  Lilith nodded as they turned around one another. “Yes, I suppose I am,” she admitted.

  Then she caught sight of Jack. He was halfway out the door, but as though sensing her gaze, he stopped and turned around. Her breath caught as their eyes met, and she couldn’t help the smile that touched her lips. He smiled in return, tilting his head sideways, and returned to lean against the wall and watch her. He had come, and he hadn’t left yet. There was hope, after all.

  “I see you are pleased,” Lionel noted, misinterpreting her sudden delighted expression. “Then I hope you will agree to be my wife.”

  Lilith surveyed her dancing partner for a moment. Lionel was handsome and considerate, and while not the wittiest man she’d ever come across, at least he didn’t seem the type to strike his spouse. But her heart was taken, and if she couldn’t have Jack, she didn’t want anyone. “I thank you for your kind offer, Lionel,” she said as he approached again, “but my circumstances have recently changed somewhat, and I have decided that only love will induce me to marry. So I apologize, but I cannot accept your proposal.”

  For a moment he looked at her, slack-jawed,
until Mr. Nanders bumped into him from behind. “Uh, beg pardon, Nanders,” he stammered, and hurried to catch up to the dance. “But I would make you a good husband,” he protested sotto voce, as they passed one another.

  “But I would not make you a good wife. I am not nearly so proper and gentle as you may think.”

  “Surely not.”

  “I do not wish to marry you, Lionel. Please do not press me further on this, or I will be forced to be even more blunt.”

  Again he hesitated for a moment, his complexion darkening with either anger or embarrassment. “Quite right. You may be correct, Miss Benton. I beg your pardon.”

  To Nance’s credit, he did finish out the quadrille, and then escorted her back to Lady Sanford. As soon as he’d done his duty, he swiftly departed.

  “Trouble, my dear?” Penelope’s mother asked, looking from her to the vanished earl.

  “Just a misunderstanding,” Lilith answered. She could sense Jack somewhere behind her, like an excitement pricking at her skin. Trying to gather her senses together, she looked about. “Where’s Pen?”

  Her mother smiled. “Over there.”

  Lilith spied her friend by the refreshment table, being handed a glass of punch by William. Both were laughing, and Lilith sighed. At least something was going well for someone. The orchestra struck up a waltz, and as several male acquaintances began heading in her direction, she made up her mind. She had to know, one way or the other. “Will you excuse me for a moment?”

  Lady Sanford followed her gaze, and Lilith thought she might even have smiled a little. “Of course.”

  Lilith began walking determinedly toward Jack. A few murmured whispers started around her, but she ignored them. As she expected, the marquis looked startled, but he immediately pushed away from the wall and came forward to meet her.

  “Lilith,” he said, taking her hand and bringing it to his lips. “Are you all right?”

  “No,” she returned, deciding she could spend forever trying to decipher what lay behind his dark eyes. “You abandoned me this morning.”

  He hesitated. “I had to swear out a statement.”

  “And quite a statement it must have been, Dansbury. I seem to be the heroine of the hour.”

  He grinned. “Good. You deserve to be.”

  “It feels good, for a change,” she admitted, meeting his smile and relaxing just a little. She was familiar with this Jack Faraday, and was quite fond of him. “And what role did you play?”

  “Me? I was merely out to save my own hide. Quite typically black-hearted of me, actually.”

  “I see.” Lilith sized him up, watched him watching her. “You know what I think?”

  “Never,” he replied promptly.

  “I think you’re being stupidly noble about my reputation. That’s what I think.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “As I recall, your reputation was at one time quite a concern of yours, my dear.”

  She smiled. “I’ve learned that pleasing myself is more important.” Lilith sighed, then held out her hand. Swiftly he took it in his own. “Will you dance with me?” she asked.

  “Of course.”

  Jack led her out onto the floor, and swept her into his arms. She loved being in his arms, loved the strength and gracefulness of him, and the way he was currently attempting to hold her at the proper distance from himself and failing badly.

  “What are your plans now?” she asked.

  “That depends,” he returned. “What were you and Nance discussing so intently a moment ago?”

  Lilith grinned. He was jealous. “He asked me to marry him again.”

  Jack’s eyes darted in the direction Nance had disappeared. “Ah. And you decided…”

  “I decided that no one but you, Jack,” she murmured, “has ever cared about me, about my opinion, and about my happiness.”

  “Lil,” he said, swallowing and looking quite ill at ease for a rakehell, “I heard that you left your father. I hope it wasn’t because of me.”

  “It was because of me, Jack. And because of you, I suppose. But I need to know something from you.”

  He scowled, his eyes uncertain. “I’m a terrible match for you. I gamble, I drink, I have no scruples—”

  “The reason you risked your life to save me, I assume?” This was not going to work. As long as he was able to convince himself that the most noble choice would be to let her go off and make a wretched match with someone other than himself, no matter how miserable that would make the two of them, she hadn’t a chance. She needed to get him somewhere where she could be more…persuasive. “We can’t talk here.”

  “Lilith—”

  She cut him off again. “Meet me in the library in a few minutes, will you?”

  “I shouldn’t,” he said, his eyes holding hers.

  “Yes, you should, if you don’t want me to marry Nance.”

  Again a slight scowl touched his face. “He’d be a good match.”

  “All right, never mind, then. Shall I invite you to the wedding?”

  The marquis glared at her, reluctance and yearning clearly vying with one another on his face. “Baggage,” he finally growled. “I’ll meet you in the damned library.”

  He did want her! Well, that decided it. The only detail was, as William had said, to return Jack to his natural state of scoundrelhood. By the time the waltz ended, Lilith had decided on just how she might accomplish that—if she had the courage.

  Jack returned her to Lady Sanford, and then excused himself. The evening couldn’t be all that easy for him, considering the way his fellows had treated him over the past few days, but he appeared to be enjoying their momentary discomfiture, and made a point of going about greeting all of his acquaintances. Lilith tried not to watch him, failing utterly as he slowly made his way along toward the stairs and then vanished.

  “I think I’d best go chaperon Penelope and your brother before we have another scandal on our hands,” Lady Sanford said after a moment, and smiled as she glanced in Jack’s direction and then back at Lilith. “Neither of them can boast subtlety as their strong suit.”

  “I’m afraid not,” Lilith agreed with a grin, and watched her hostess make her way over to where Pen and William sat against the wall, chatting and laughing and completely oblivious to everything going on around them.

  As soon as the next dance began and everyone was distracted, she slipped out of the ballroom and up the wide staircase. The butler passed her, looking at her curiously, and Lilith raised a hand to her hair, as though trying to fix her curls. He must have believed that she was headed to a bed chamber to repair her coif, because he continued on his way.

  The library door was halfway open, and Lilith slipped inside. Jack stood gazing out the tall window into the darkness. He turned as she entered and locked the door behind her.

  Jack lifted an eyebrow. “A bit suspicious, don’t you think?”

  She shrugged, strolling over to the door on the far side of the fireplace and locking it, as well. “I want to be with you, Jack.”

  This time he looked truly startled. “Here?”

  “Yes.” She stepped toward him, but he lifted a hand as if to hold her off.

  He drew a ragged breath. “I’ll give you one minute to retract that statement, Lil,” he said gruffly, remaining planted by the window as though by sheer willpower alone. “Because you shouldn’t think I’ll be noble and refuse your request. I’m not remotely that much a gentleman.”

  She gave a slight grin and tilted her head at him, heard him draw a quick breath in response. Lilith reveled in the power she had over this cynical, fiercely intelligent man, for she’d never had such a thing before. Yet with Jack Faraday, her slightest change of expression sometimes seemed able to distract him from everything else until he had deciphered and responded to it. “Your lack of restraint is rather what I was counting on, my lord,” she whispered.

  Slowly she stepped forward again, not stopping until she was able to slide her hands about his waist. Lilith leaned
up and brushed her lips across the base of his jaw, trailing kisses along his chin and over to his ear. Jack stood very still, his eyes closed and his breathing uneven. Knowing she must be wearing him down, Lilith trailed the tip of her tongue along the rim of his ear.

  The marquis drew a harsh breath. “Lil, if someone catches us, you’ll be ruined.”

  “Shh,” she whispered, slipping her hands under the shoulders of his coat and sliding the garment down to the floor. She raised up on her tiptoes and very gently touched her lips to his. Before he could respond, she backed away a little, noting that he followed. Again she kissed him, and this time he met her mouth hungrily.

  Her fingers drifted down to slowly open the buttons of his gray waistcoat, and she pushed that to the floor as well. Almost as if against his will, Jack’s hands lifted to slide about her waist and pull her closer.

  “This…this is completely improper,” he commented, drawing another breath as she pulled his cravat loose and tossed it to the floor.

  Lilith smiled as she pulled his shirt free from his breeches. “I know.”

  “May we at least move away from the window?”

  That made sense, anyway. She kissed the exposed base of his throat. “If you insist.”

  A country dance began to play downstairs, the sound muffled by the closed doors. Lilith took Jack by the hands and led him over to the deep, overstuffed couch. This time she didn’t have to coax him into kissing her as he pulled her close. She slid her fingers up under his shirt, running her hands over his well-muscled abdomen and chest. Small shivers of excitement and anticipation ran down her spine and her arms. As her hands moved down to the fastenings of his breeches, he lifted his face away from hers.

  “Lil, are you certain you know what you’re doing?” he asked softly, his hand caressing her cheek.

  She finished working and let the trousers slide down his hips. He was clearly aroused, and she took a quick breath. “Stop being such a bore, Dansbury,” she murmured, pushing him backward onto the couch.

  Before she could change her mind, she removed her shoes and stockings. Gathering her emerald skirt and her shift in her hands, she straddled Jack’s hips and slowly eased herself down over his erect member. She moaned at the tight slide of their flesh together and lowered her head against Jack’s shoulder.