by Rose Gordon
Alex nodded. He had no problems with Marcus’ request. “If she’s not back by breakfast, assume that’s where we’ve gone.” He stood up to leave.
“Oh, wait a minute, if you will,” Marcus called. “I’ve something else to ask you.”
He turned back around. “Yes?”
“What do you know of E. S. Wilson?”
Alex twisted his lips and bit the inside of his cheek in contemplation. “Not a lot, I fear. He started anonymously writing articles for Popular Plants about four years ago or so. I didn’t recognize the name and spent nearly two years trying to track him down, to no avail. The editors told me he sends in a batch of articles every few months. Other than that, they have no idea who he is, where he lives, or even his education.”
“Seems to be a recluse,” Marcus suggested.
Snorting, Alex nodded. “More of one than you, it would seem. You’re at least possible to locate. He’s not.”
Marcus chuckled. “That seems to bother you.”
“Damn straight it does,” he said, falling back into the chair he’d vacated less than a moment earlier. “I wanted to compare notes and discuss with him an experiment I was doing, but the man seems to be as elusive as the rainbow.”
“Besides your clear irritability at his elusiveness, it sounds as if you value his opinion.” Marcus’ mouth stretched into a smile that made Alex feel like they were fifteen and carefree again.
“I do value his opinion,” Alex conceded. “At first I did all his experiments to find a flaw. But now, after more than a year and a half, I have to admit his work wasn’t flawed at all.”
“Do you still replicate his experiments regularly?”
“Of course!” He loosened his cravat then pressed his elbows into his knees and leaned forward as if he were about to entrust Marcus with some highly confidential state secret. “He researches things I’d never thought to pick apart before. For example, last month he suggested—”
Marcus held up his hand to halt Alex’s longwinded speech. “I don’t need to hear it.”
“Right,” Alex clipped, remembering who he was talking to. His eyes narrowed on Marcus. “You’re not him, are you?”
“No. I’m afraid not,” Marcus said with a slight shake of his head. “Caroline mentioned him the other night. She said I needed to get her a subscription to that horticulture circular you read because everyone at your organization reads the articles by this fellow.” He shrugged carelessly. “I thought he might a friend of yours.”
“No, he’s not. But, oh how I wish he were.”
Marcus grinned. “All these years certainly haven’t done much to change you. Caroline is upstairs. She’s ready to go when you are. If you hurry, you can collect her without Olivia plaguing you.”
“I’ll be on my way, then.” Alex stood and walked to the door. His feet barely across the threshold, and he turned back around. “Marcus,” he said quietly, trying in vain to push away the gentleman inside him that was prompting him to say his next words. “Do you think I’m doing your sister wrong by jilting her for her cousin?”
“No,” Marcus said firmly. “What you’re doing is perfectly fine. There was that addendum, remember?”
“I remember. I just don’t want everyone to hate me when this was all over.”
“Nobody will. Not even Olivia,” Marcus assured him. “Now, go get Caroline.”
With a nod, Alex left the room and followed Chapman to the private sitting room Caroline was occupying. He was pleasantly surprised to find Marcus had been right and he hadn’t encountered Lady Olivia when he went into the sitting room. He made a quick greeting to Miss Green and escorted her outside along with Caroline.
Miss Green’s carriage was waiting and, after she said a quick goodbye to Caroline, Alex helped her ascend.
“Are you ready?” he asked, turning back to Caroline.
“Yes.” She nodded her head wildly. “Where’s your carriage?” She craned her neck, looking for his invisible carriage.
Hell’s afire, in all his excitement, he’d ridden his horse, completely forgetting he’d need the carriage. Good thing she didn’t have a chaperone or that would make for one very uncomfortable ride. “I thought we’d share a horse. We’ll get there faster.”
“Oh, all right,” she agreed, blushing furiously.
“Your skirts are going to be a problem,” he said thoughtfully. “You’ll have to sit sideways on top of my lap.” He looked around for a large rock or a something she could stand on to mount the horse, or him, as the case may be.
“There’s a stump over there,” she said, pointing.
“Excellent.” Alex walked his horse to the stump and mounted. “Now, stand on the stump and I’ll help pull you on.”
She stepped up on the stump, and in one quick motion, he pulled her petite frame onto his lap. She immediately wiggled, presumably to get used to her seat.
He groaned and urged the horse to go. The sooner they left, the sooner his torture would end.
She wiggled again. “Alex, there’s something prodding me,” she said, inadvertently making the situation worse by shifting yet again.
“I know,” he said hoarsely. “Just be still.”
“But I can’t,” she protested. “Something hard is pressing into my underside.” She moved one of her hands to her hip and tried to push her fingers between them.
“Stop,” he barked.
Her big blue eyes met his and her fingers stilled. “I just wanted to move it,” she explained. “I’ll not be comfortable until it goes away.”
“Neither will I,” he muttered under his breath. “Be still and it will go away shortly.”
“How do you know?”
He coughed. For a girl who claimed to have an interest in biological matters, she sure was naive. “I just do,” he explained evasively.
She looked at him and he avoided eye contact. “Oh, Alex, I’m so sorry,” she said suddenly, clapping a hand across her mouth. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I didn’t realize I was sitting on your erection.”
He choked on his laughter. “I do believe that’s the first time I’ve ever heard anyone of your sex use that word.”
She shrugged. “That’s what it’s called, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Yes, it is.” He grinned. “Now, be still so it will go away.”
“Right. Sorry.” Less than a minute later, she looked back up at him. “Alex, how long does it normally last?”
“That all depends on you,” he said silkily.
“Me?”
“Yes, you. I could be in this state for hours or a matter of minutes. It all depends on you,” he murmured in her ear, then dropped a kiss on the spot where her shoulder met her neck.
She gasped. “Really?”
“Really,” he whispered. “You have power over me you don’t even know how to use. But one day you will. I promise.”
Her body shivered. “I look forward to discovering it.”
“I do, too. But for now, you need to be still so our guest will depart company.”
Forty-five torturous minutes later, the gazebo came into view.
He slowed his horse. “This is it,” he said, bringing his stallion to a stop by a big tree nearby. “Let me help you down.” With an ease he didn’t feel, he helped her get her feet on the ground.
“Thank you,” she murmured, shaking out her skirt.
He jumped down. “Why don’t you go over there and wait. I’ll be right there.” He tied the reins loosely around a low limb of the tree then walked to the gazebo. He opened the door and held it for her. “After you, my dear Caro.”
She stepped into the moonlit room, Alex a step behind her.
“Pardon me,” he said, stepping past her to light the three candles he’d put in there earlier. “I’ve brought out several of my newer books if you’d like to have a look.” On a long plank of wood that was just part of the construction of the gazebo, he’d laid out four books, all open to pages about lunar eclipses. There wasn’t a lot
of room inside the gazebo, really only enough room for one person to be in here comfortably. With the two of them in such a cramped space, it was difficult to move without bumping into each other. He smiled. Perhaps the lack of space wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
Caroline barely glanced at his books before she climbed the ladder to look through the telescope. “What’s the story behind the ladder, Alex?” she asked from ten feet in the air.
He tsk, tsked. “As a good student of astronomy, you should know the history of the ladder.”
She looked down at him and contorted her face in a way that made him chuckle. “I prefer to study the stars when I use my telescope, not the history of how a ladder was used.”
He smiled at her frankness, then said, “Though my main academic of preference is science, and math naturally, history falls a short second. Nobody really knows that, though.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Anyway, I like to keep things historically correct if I can. Including how I set up my telescope. Early astronomers didn’t have tripods or stands like we do. Instead, they’d place ladders in front of their windows and if they wanted to see a different section of the sky, they’d move the telescope to a different rung.”
“Fascinating.” She looked through the eyepiece then moved a lever. The telescope tube moved up, down, and sideways. “Hmm, Mr. Banks, I do believe you’ve cheated.”
“I have not,” he said in mock indignation. “I merely said I set up my telescope to be historically correct. It wouldn’t be functional if I’d made it truly correct. I’d spend most of my night moving the thing up and down the ladder. I’d miss everything of any importance. No, I just put the ladder there to raise the scope in the air and make it appear historically correct.”
She grinned at him. “You sly devil, you.”
He did a partial bow. “See anything up there yet?”
“Not really,” she said. “I think it needs to get a little darker first.”
“You’re likely right. Shall we go outside and watch the sky from the ground?” He reached up to help her down the ladder. Alex blew out the candles, grabbed two blankets he’d left out there earlier, then followed her out the door.
“Where’s your mother,” Caroline asked as soon as they were out of the gazebo.
He stopped walking and took her hand in his, then gently twisted her around to face him. “She’s not coming. It’s just the two of us tonight.”
“Perhaps I should go home,” she said, trying to tug her hand from his.
“No. Caro, nothing is going to happen except us stargazing together.”
“I know,” she admitted. “I know I can trust you. But if someone should see, it will cause scandal, and I cannot repay Marcus that way. Nor can I do that to Olivia. As awful as she is, I cannot embarrass her that way.”
“What of you, Caro?” he asked, squeezing her hand. “Who is to think of you and what you want?”
She shook her head. “That doesn’t matter. Marcus has suffered greatly since his accident. I cannot risk bringing a scandal to him. Nor Olivia’s wrath.”
“That won’t be a problem,” he assured her. “There will be no scandal. Everyone from the lowest scullery maid to the baron himself is tucked up nice and warm in their bed. Nobody knows you’re here, and nobody is going to know. Now, stop worrying and get ready to enjoy the lunar eclipse.”
“All right,” she said with a swallow.
He led her to a clear patch of the lawn with just enough slope for them to be able to look at the moon without having to crane their necks.
“Here, help me spread this,” he said, handing her one side of the folded blanket.
When they’d finished, Caroline went over to the folded blanket he’d set off to the side and picked it up. “Is this one for me?”
“No.” He took the blanket from her loose grasp and tossed it to the ground. “It’s for us. We’ll use it to cover up with when we get cold tonight. Now, lie down with me.”
Chapter 11
Caroline stared down at Alex as he stretched out like a cat on the blanket. He patted the spot beside him. His smile couldn’t be described as anything but wolfish. He may have said nothing was going to happen between them tonight, but she was not so sure. Something about Alex Banks sent a shiver down her spine and made her want to act in a most inappropriate manner.
She had no idea what spurred these reactions in her. She’d like to blame it on all her years of being overprotected. But that was false and she knew it. She could try to blame it on the fact she had compassion for Alex since Olivia was planning to cuckold him. That wasn’t true, either. No, her responses to him were her own sheer wantonness. And sitting down next to him right now just might push her over the edge. Too bad he was too much of a gentleman to ever act dishonorably, she thought cheekily, then chastised herself for such a wicked, wicked thought.
“I’m waiting, Caro,” he said, extending a hand up to her.
Against her better judgment, she put her hand in his open palm and let him pull her to the ground next to him. “Wait no more,” she said with a smile.
“Are you cold?” He chafed her chilled hand between his two larger ones.
“A little,” she admitted with a swallow.
He let go of her hand and grabbed the extra blanket. He shook it out and draped it over the front of her before going up on his knees and using them to walk behind her. He sat back down and placed one leg on either side of her, pulling her body back to rest flush against his.
She wiggled her shoulders a bit to get more settled against him, slightly surprised at the firmness of his chest. She didn’t think an academic would have any muscles. Hmm, she was discovering there was more to Arid Alex at every turn.
“Do you like constellations?” His voice was smooth as butter.
“Of course. What kind of astronomer would I be if I didn’t?”
He chuckled and brought one hand up to play with the loose curls on the right side of her head. “What’s your favorite?”
“The Big Dipper,” she said automatically.
“Good choice. Easy to find. And not easy to confuse.” Alex twisted her hair around his finger.
“My mother loved the Little Dipper best,” she said for no other reason than just to talk. “As a little girl who wanted to be just like her mother, I would always tell her my favorite was the Big Dipper. Ironic how things never change.” She sighed. “The only difference is, back then I said it to be like my mother, and now, it truly is my favorite.” Looking at the Big and Little Dippers had always made her feel closer to her mother in a way nothing else did. She started. She usually felt a pain—sometimes sharp, sometimes faint—in her chest when she thought of her mother. But for some reason, the pain wasn’t there just now.
“Do you miss her a great deal?” Alex asked somberly, his fingers frozen.
She closed her eyes. His question was about to be his own reality. He was about to lose someone he was close to and her answer meant a lot to him. She couldn’t lie. “Yes, I do. But, it was a long time ago now, and I’ve found others to love and care for in her stead. It’s not the same, of course. But it’s better to love others than to sit miserable without loving or being loved in return.”
“You love Marcus and Miss Green, don’t you?”
And you. She bit her tongue to keep that from slipping out. But not saying it aloud didn’t make it untrue. Somewhere in the last few days, she’d begun to fall in love with the one gentleman she could never have. She’d never dreamt of marriage and children as a child; she’d not been allowed. Her aunt had informed her frequently she would not get to marry. But now that she was almost of an age to marry without consent if she so wished, she suddenly wished to and couldn’t. She swallowed a lump of raw emotion that had formed in her throat. “And Olivia,” she croaked.
“You cannot be serious.”
“I am. She’s my cousin, after all. To quote Marcus, ‘I may not like her most—nay, all—the time, but I do love her.’”
Chu
ckling, Alex squeezed her a little tighter. “Loyal to a fault, aren’t you?”
“When you have only a handful of people to love and accept love from, you can’t be too particular,” she jested with a smile.
“I guess not. One day, you’ll have more people to love and accept love from, Caro. I promise it.”
She nodded, not sure what to say. “What’s yours?” she asked, her voice cracking.
“Pardon?”
“Your favorite constellation.”
“Lynx.”
“Lynx?”
“It’s a smaller, dimmer constellation. It’s said you have to have catlike vision to see it. It’s between Ursa Major and Auriga.”
“I know what it is and where it is, I’m just surprised you do,” she teased.
He rested his chin on the crown of her head and wrapped his arms around her. “You teasing minx. I just got that. It took me a second, but I got that.”
She laughed. “I’m glad. I wasn’t sure if you’d get my jest or if you’d shrug and tell me you can see it just fine with your telescope.”
“I almost did,” he admitted with a chuckle. “If it weren’t for your shaking shoulders and the change in your tone, I wouldn’t have realized you were jesting.”
“Sorry, Alex.” She covered his hands with hers. “I know you’re a serious sort. I’ll try not to tease you in the future.”
“It’s all right,” he assured her. “You can tease me if you wish. I rather like it. ”
She nodded, trying to force herself to think about their conversation and not wonder how it would feel if Alex moved his big hands a few inches higher. “I’m glad you like it,” she said with calm she didn’t feel.
