Unmistakable Rogue

by Annette Blair

  Chastity could not help the tears that filled her eyes. She had hoped all along that somehow, some way, she and Reed.... It would be easy to think nothing mattered right now, except that she needed to settle the children. “Mr. Sennett, the children.” Her voice broke, and she was mortified. She raised her chin. “Please do not send them back to the workhouse.”

  They gathered around her again, offering comfort.

  Sennett sat behind his desk and rubbed his chin. “Go on, all of you, and let a man think.”

  Reed approached the desk. “Sir?”

  “Take them back to Sunnyledge. I’ll talk to that blighted Beadle and find out what I can about their parents. Let you know. Go, go.” Sennett shuffled paper and called for his clerk.

  Chastity and the children stood as Reed made to usher them out.

  “Do not leave them, my Lord, until you hear from me,” Sennett said, regarding them over the rim of his glasses. “Chastity, stay at Sunnyledge. Hear?”

  “Yes, Sir.” She dared what she had not months before, and bent to kiss his cheek. “You’re an old dear.”

  Sennett blustered. “Tell no one, b’God. Reputation to keep and all that. Go along now. There’s a good girl.” He patted her hand and turned back to his papers, except that he had to stop for Rebekah’s kiss.

  When Reed pulled the wagon over for them all to rest, the children were too excited to sleep, though he made the wagon bed quite cozy. Rebekah kept them entertained with silly stories, sometimes using the wrong word in the wrong place.

  Reed held Chastity in his arms as they lay beside their brood. “She has a lot of catching up to do in the talking department,” he said, “but she’s getting a famous start.”

  The tired bedraggled group arrived at Sunnyledge before dawn the next morning. Reed carried the boys in, one by one. Chastity tried to tuck Bekah in, but she would not lie down. Instead, she knelt in the middle of her bed, arms folded. Later, when Chastity returned, Bekah looked as if she had fallen asleep that way and fell over.

  After washing and changing, Chastity and Reed met in the kitchen, sitting across from each other, drinking tea, until the silence lengthened to uncomfortable proportions.

  Reed reached across the table, and after staring at his open palm, thinking how much she loved his hands, Chastity placed hers in his. She wanted to talk about the fact that they could never marry, but she could not bear it.

  “I owe you an apology,” he said. “I’m deeply sorry for having doubted you, and I humbly beg your forgiveness.”

  “Forgiven.” She squeezed his hand. “You had reason for believing the worst. I had withheld much. I suppose that not speaking is as good as a lie.”

  “Not necessarily.”

  “You need not make excuses for me. I do that quite well on my own. Would you like some breakfast?”

  “Are you cooking?”

  “You cook, nasty man.”

  Reed rose. “Now that you’ve forgiven me, I feel as if I could eat a whole ... chicken.”

  “Zeke is off-limits, so you can make cornbread. I’ll get the honey.”

  Reed used every manner of pan imaginable, and Chastity shook her head. “It’ll take six people to clean this mess.”

  The children were none the worse for their foray into the world. Chastity gave them a talking to about running away, and Reed threw in a few bruising comments.

  Luke described their confrontation with the innkeeper, turning Chastity white with fear, then red with anger. When he mentioned Bekah biting the man, Bekah gagged.

  “Guess I tasted better.” Reed laughed. “From now on, no biting strangers.”

  Bekah nodded. “Only you.”

  The children fell asleep early that evening, after their day and night on the road, but Reed and Chastity, by tacit and silent agreement, did not remain upstairs. They went down to the library where they each chose a book and sat in opposite chairs before the fire.

  Such good intentions, such a homey scene—as if they had been married for years, except that she may as well be holding her book upside down. Besides, if they had been married for years, she would still want Reed Gilbride as much as she did at this moment.

  Some law said they could not marry. A law for the sake of laws, not people.

  She studied him, memorizing his features. Before she met him, she would not have thought it possible to call a man beautiful, but he was. Strong enough to overturn a marble sarcophagus, gentle enough to braid a little girl’s hair. He had grown up angry enough to survive in a world that hurt him, yet he loved enough to give up his dream.

  She understood, for she loved him enough to give up her next breath, or toss the law to the devil. Oh, she would not break it and marry, but the law said nothing beyond marriage and there were too few nights left. Those she would not toss. “Reed.”

  He looked up, raw hunger in his look.

  He had read no more than she. His words, his look, shivered her. “Make love to me.”

  His eyes leapt with fire, yet he shook his head. “We should talk about—”

  “No. My head aches from taking it all in. I do not want to talk about today or tomorrow, or what life is, or was, or never will be. I want you to hold me and make love to me all night, for every night we have left.”

  He rose and leaned over her in the chair, and she began to unbutton his shirt, planting kisses where she could. She ran her hand inside the band of his trousers, hardening him on the instant. “I want you, now. Here by the library fire,” she said. “Please.”

  “Let me lock the door. It’s a bit early in their young lives for this kind of education.”

  Chastity giggled as she watched him return to her, aroused and embarrassed by it. He groaned as she undid the placket on his trousers to free him into her waiting hands.

  Before she knew it, they lay on the rug before the fire, Reed kissing her bare ankle, behind her knee. He removed her dress, her shift, and his own clothes.

  She could watch the play of muscles along his torso all day. She loved the dark curly hair on his chest, especially when it grazed her nipples, the length of him pressed intimately against her.

  No other man could feel as excellent against her as did Reed Gilbride. No other could fit her so perfectly or knew so well how to make her soar as did he. If only he were not the heir. If only— Chastity sat up like a shot. “Good God, you’re an Earl.”

  Reed chuckled and pulled her back. His kisses became bolder, hotter. “Wait till you see what this Earl can do.”

  “Oh, Reed.” But the sensations purling through her made words impossible. His tongue did fascinating things. Her breath got away from her, and a new world rose up to greet her. Incredible, unbearable. Too high, impossible to reach.

  Yet just as she thought she could fly, he stopped, and he stopped her scream with his mouth as he slipped inside her womanhood and rekindled her fire with slow, smooth strokes.

  His lips left her mouth and she whimpered, then he suckled her, and she whimpered the more. He took her deeper and faster, until they spun and spiraled, reaching beyond the sun and all the way to the stars.

  Chastity held on as they drifted, stroking his sweat-slick back, his arms, kissing his chin, listening to the rasp of his breath near her ear. She wanted the moment to last, but forever would not be long enough.

  “I’m heavy,” he said and made to slide from her.

  “No. Stay.” She held him tight, tears slipping down the sides of her face.

  He sighed and kissed her ear, tugged her lobe between his teeth. She did the same, memorizing the play of muscle beneath her hands. She licked his shoulder, tasted salt.

  She slid her hand between them and stroked him at his base, and he chuckled, nearly dislodging himself.

  “Do not move,” she said. “I want it to happen again.”

  “That’ll be easy. I’ve pretty much been hard since the day I tried to get suds off your eyelash.”

  “Have you?”

  He raised his head. “You’re crying.
”

  “No. Tell me what you were going to say. Please.”

  “When you were trying to milk that cow, I thought I’d scream with the pain of how hard I was. Don’t cry.” He kissed her tears.

  “When you were hurt and I washed you, you were hard, then, and I wanted to touch you, but my need frightened me. Do you know something else?”

  “What, love?”

  “I got wet just looking at you, then, and that frightened me too.”

  His body surged, and he took her on a slow journey back to heaven.

  She gave herself over to his incredible talent, and somewhere between the soaring and the gliding, they slept entwined on the rug before the fire.

  The knob on the library door jiggled. Reed heard it, but he did not want to open his eyes.

  “Where do you s’pose they went?” Mark asked.

  “Maybe they ran away this time,” Luke said.

  “Weed?”

  He heard them talking as they walked away. The fire was out, the room cool, but Chastity slept on.

  Dressed in yesterday’s clothes, Reed left the library, shutting the door behind him. The children sat on the bottom stair, chins in hands, side by side.

  “You know, Mark,” Reed said. “I think you’re going to be taller than Matt. You’ll have to start taking first place, if you want to keep that great stair-step line you present as you stand in a row.” Reed held his hand at an angle to demonstrate.

  “No,” Matt said, looking keenly at his younger brother.

  “Yes!” Mark displayed a rare smile, surprising Reed.

  “Where’s Kitty,” Luke asked. “Did she run away, too?”

  “Kitty’s tired from chasing you all over England. She fell asleep in the library last night and she’s still there. If you even think of disturbing her, I’ll skin you good and hang you by your toes.”

  Rebekah giggled.

  “Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you,” he said lifting her and running with her to the kitchen, luring her brothers from the library.

  He stood Bekah in the middle of the kitchen table.

  “Put her on the table, gotta roast her,” Mark said.

  “Oops.” Reed swept her up and set her on the floor. “Matt, milk Leonardo. Mark, check the garden, Luke, get the barrow for Mark’s vegetables. Bekah, you make breakfast.”

  Bekah and Luke doubled over laughing. Matt and Mark chuckled their way out the door.

  Reed put water on to boil, cut a loaf of bread into slices and placed them with butter before Bekah. He handed her a spoon and showed her how to use the handle to butter the bread. “See, you are making breakfast.” He kissed the top of her head. “Butter them all. I’ll be right back.”

  He ran upstairs for Chastity’s clothes, checked on Bekah, gave her more bread to butter—she was quick—threw soap and water into a pan and took it to the library.

  Half an hour later, Chastity joined them for fresh milk, and bread, thickly buttered.

  Rebekah was so proud, no one had the heart to scrape the excess off their bread.

  “You all right, Chastity?” Reed asked.

  She grinned. “Pretty all right. You?”

  “Very all right.” He grinned back.

  “The church register said that you and your brother were rescued. What do you suppose that means?”

  Three quick raps of the front door-knocker sent the children running to the foyer. Matt opened the door before Reed had a chance to stop him.

  Two men in religious garb waited to be invited inside. Reed’s heartbeat trebled.

  “Hey. You’re missionaries,” Luke said. “Like papa.”

  Chastity stilled and paled.

  Reed swallowed his trepidation. “Won’t you come in?” Avoiding the library, he led them toward the salon.

  The taller of the two men turned his hat in his hand as he looked from Reed to Chastity. “We’re from the London Missionary Society. We’ve come for the children.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “There must be a mistake,” Chastity said, a swan sensing danger to her cygnets.

  “No mistake,” the younger missionary countered. “Got a letter right here.” He handed it to Chastity then turned to Reed. “Reed Gilbride, I presume.”

  Reed nodded and extended his hand. “This is Chastity Somers. She’s been caring for the children, until their parents return.” He indicated the children. “Say hello to Matt, Mark, Luke.” He sighed over his stupidity in bringing these men here and picked up Bekah. “And this is Rebekah.”

  “Pleased to know you all. I’m Zeb Perkins,” the shorter man said. “This is Ebenezer Hill.”

  “A pleasure,” Ebenezer said.

  “Ebenezer the sneezer,” Luke sang as he danced.

  “Luke,” Reed coughed to hide a laugh.

  “Sorry we could not come in response to your letter sooner, Mr. Gilbride.” Zeb Perkins looked down his nose at the children. “Not enough missionaries to go around, and we did not know where to place them.”

  “These children are special, talented. Cannot have just anyone caring for them. Luke,” Reed said. “Get your horn and show the Reverends what you can do with it.”

  “Can’t find it.”

  Reed snapped his fingers. “You know where I noticed it the other day? In my room, at the bottom of the wardrobe, inside my travel bag, beneath some blankets.”

  Luke ran, and Mark’s bark of laughter brought surprise. For once, it was not Luke who was first to catch on. As a matter of fact, Luke had looked downright confused.

  Reed sought Chastity’s reaction to Mark’s laughter. Despite her smile, sadness and disappointment clouded her expression. Damn. The letter she held condemned him with its existence.

  How could you? her look said, and she had a right.

  The letter made sense the day he wrote it, but he should not have sent it without telling her. The children’s parents might be looking for them without knowing where they were, but he did not know, then, what the children suffered in that workhouse. Blast him for an idiot; he should have given Chastity a chance to explain.

  I love you, he tried to make her understand.

  Right, her derisive look clearly said.

  He raised his chin. “Trust me.”

  She turned to the window, likely seeing none but the end of her dreams. If sorrow were lethal, she would wither and die, and the children would follow for losing her.

  The clerics looked from one to the other of them. Zeb cleared his throat. Ebenezer shifted in his chair.

  Reed wondered if his heart could bear the pain in Chastity’s. “Gentlemen, we want the children to stay with us until their parents are found.”

  “Well for Gawd sakes,” the sneezer said. “If you were willing, why’d you send the demn—sorry Miz Somers—why’d you send the letter?”

  “So the children’s parents would know where they were.”

  Perkins took the letter from Chastity. “That is not what you said a’tall.” He slapped the paper. “They’d be best with someone from your organization,” he quoted.

  Reed cleared his throat and tried to disregard the fury in Chastity’s eyes. “Since then, I’ve had the opportunity—”

  WARRONNNK! WARRONNNK! WARRONNNK!

  “Ah.” Reed said. “That would be Luke with his horn. Quite accomplished, he is. Play us a song, Luke.”

  “Huh?”

  “Play!” Reed said. “Boys dance to your brother’s tune, and sing. Poppet, sing like you used to.”

  Matt and Mark caught on and made a hell of a racket. Luke’s horn bellowed, Rebekah gave her ear-splitting wail, and Reed’s thigh throbbed just remembering.

  He grinned and Chastity smiled, despite herself.

  “Gentlemen,” Reed said over the din. “I wrote the letter when I arrived, but since then, I have come to appreciate their talent, and Chastity’s gift in caring for them. She is more than capable. As a matter of fact—” He looked pointedly at the subject of his discourse and winked. “She not only love
s them as if they were hers, she is the only one who can keep the little devils under control.”

  At which point, his sheltering swan calmed her cygnets and hustled them from the room. Mark laughed. Matt congratulated Luke on his playing and Bekah on her singing.

  Reed approached the sideboard and raised a decanter. “Port, gentlemen?”

  They accepted, and Reed offered to have Sennett called, so the papers could be drawn up for temporary custody.

  The Reverends wavered, so when Chastity came back, he invited them to stay for a day or so, until Sennett arrived. Out of hearing, he suggested that rooms be prepared on each side of the children.

  The missionaries retired to rest while Reed oversaw a game of Blind Man’s Buff. When that was done, he taught the children a game he remembered from childhood, called Cockfight. The recreation took place in the foyer, at the base of the stairs, where sound carried best.

  Reed prayed his ploy would work. He hoped that after two days of this, the missionaries would leave the children with Chastity. And he wanted Chastity to speak to him, again. She had not, since the Missionaries arrived.

  After the men retired for the night, to the rooms adjacent to the boys, Chastity went to a bedchamber down the hall, and Reed held Mrs. Daffodil’s ball in the boys’ bedchamber, without her.

  He had a grand time at that ball, and the goodnight round of tickling was a brilliant touch, until Luke hit his head when he fell off the bed and got blood all over the blankets. This caused Bekah to set up a wail.

  But except for the fact that Luke had a slight crack in his hard head, Reed thought everything turned out well. Who knew that playing with children could be so much fun?

  He knew by the time he settled them down that Chastity was really angry with him. She had not even said good night, and that was more than an hour ago.

  Now he sat brooding, staring at his bed. His bed, damn it. Except that it was otherwise occupied. Zeke snuggled in the center, fluffs of fur making quite the nest for four mewling bunnies. If the children had not just settled down after being excited beyond bearing for hours, he would fetch them. He hated to wait till tomorrow to show them.

  It was odd, he thought, how badly he wanted to wake the little devils. You’d think he needed them or something.