by Isadora Rose
“By whom?”
“Gentlemen, mainly; wondering when you will next be in the ton so that they might pay their regards to you. Esther, my dear girl, do you not realise that you are one of the most eligible young ladies in all of the ton?”
“Me?!” She shook her head in astonishment. “Oh, I am nothing but a jaded widow –“
“You are but two and twenty, Esther, and you are by far the loveliest young woman it has ever been my pleasure to know,” the earl replied firmly. “You do yourself a disservice by living a life of solitude and it is high time for me to resolve that.”
Esther stiffened. “How so?”
“I am your only remaining family, cousin, and it is my responsibility to see you wed and settled. Come, do you not want to try again for a family of your own? You were a wonderful mother once and you would be again, I know that.”
Yes, she did want that; and she wanted it to be with Tristan. How she had not seen it before now, she would never know, but seeing him with their little goddaughter made her heart ache and sing in a way that it had not done since she had lost Max. She adored him, wanted him to father her children; to be the one to share her bed, her heart and her life.
Esther was deeply and inescapably in love with the man who had ruined her cousin – the man she had sworn to stay away from above all others.
Stunned by the realisation, she slumped in her seat and covered her face with her hands as her uncle continued.
“It seems I am not the only one thinking along such lines. In fact, I have already had a man come to me since my arrival here to ask for your hand.” The earl’s eyebrows contracted furiously as he rose from his chair to stalk restlessly around the parlour. “I came to you directly from my interview with him. He is the very last man I would have imagined would dare even face me, let alone ask for the hand of a woman who is as good as a second daughter to me!”
“Tristan?!” Esther’s incredulous whisper flew forth from her lips before she had even realised that she had spoken.
She clapped her hand across her mouth as her uncle turned towards her, but too late.
“You are on first name terms with that rogue?! Good God, Esther, I had credited you with more sense than that!”
“Uncle Charles, please!” Her heart was pounding so rapidly that Esther thought it must surely burst out of her chest as she leapt up and came to a shaking halt in front of him. “Uncle, are you saying that the Comte de Rouvroy has made me an offer of marriage?!”
“Yes – but I declined his proposal on your behalf, without even a moment’s hesitation!” Her uncle’s fury was tangible. “Yet you, Esther, seem neither surprised nor dismayed by his arrogant offer...I ask you again, my dear, why are you on first name terms with that most despicable of men?”
She opened her mouth to hotly defend Tristan, but a delicate cough behind them stilled the furious argument that had been about to erupt. “Ah – my lord?”
The earl’s manservant was stood in the doorway, anxiously fidgeting from side to side as Esther and her uncle both turned to face him.
“Shepherd, really – can you not see that this is no time for interruptions?!”
“My apologies, sire, but this really cannot wait.”
Lord Charles tapped his polished boot impatiently against the floor. “Very well, Shepherd. Spit it out, whatever it is!”
“My lord, you asked that I keep a close eye on Lady Charlotte in your absence. I – ah – I regret to inform you this, but she has just gone into the library with only the Comte himself.”
Chapter Eleven
Tristan backed Charlotte Tennyson up against the wall, his fingers digging into her shoulders as she licked her lips and gazed up at him through lowered eyelashes. “Oh, Comte, if you had wanted my attention, you need only have said! There was no need to drag me in here in so virile a manner...though I must confess, I found it rather exciting.”
Her insinuation was more than apparent. Tristan recoiled and pushed her away as he shook his hair out of his eyes. “Do not be such a fool, Miss Tennyson! I do not want you in that way...damn it, there is only one woman I want like that now and she is most certainly not you!”
An ugly scowl distorted her face. “Then perhaps I should scream for help, Comte. My father and cousin are just a few rooms away, after all.”
“Good – then you can tell them!”
“Tell them?”
“Yes, tell them!” Tristan raged, red streaks of fury blazed across his cheekbones. “Tell her, mademoiselle; you must tell her the truth! I cannot have Esther thinking ill of me any longer and they will not believe the truth unless it comes from you, diablo!”
“Esther?!” Charlotte’s eyes widened in surprise as she took a step towards him and cast a searching look over his reddened face. “My cousin?”
“Oui!” He grimaced tightly. “Esther is...she means the world to me, Miss Tennyson, but because of what you told her, she will not even consider me as anything more than a fleeting bed mate to soothe her pain. I, though – I want to be so much more for her!”
“Do you love her, Comte?”
“With all my heart!”
Esther reached the library in time to hear his passionate declaration – but in his rage, Tristan did not even realise she was now framed in the doorway with her uncle behind her.
“I have already asked for Esther’s hand, for I want to do everything properly by her – but your damned father will not even consider my proposal because of what he believes happened with you!”
“T-Tristan? What did happen?”
Esther’s wavering words froze him where he stood. “Esther...chérie! How long have you been standing there?”
She was dumbstruck by the force with which he had declared his love for her – for she believed him. Esther could do nothing but lift her head to stare at Tristan in awe as he finally stretched out a hand towards her to mutely beg her to come into his waiting arms.
The earl, though, pushed past her to block her path. “Hold it right there, rake! You may have turned my niece’s head with your pretty words of French, but I will not be so easily taken in. What was it, Comte, a game to you? You had Charlotte and you thought you would amuse yourself with her cousin as well?!”
Esther doubled over again as Tristan turned his rage onto her uncle. “No!” he roared, striding across the room and pointedly pulling Esther into his arms to support her, willing her not to resist him. To his desperate relief, she allowed him to hold her against his chest as he heatedly continued. “This – my love for Esther – it is no game! I adore her, utterly and completely, and I believe she could love me too if only your daughter will confess to the falsehood she told.”
Of all the things Esther had been expecting to hear, that had not been one of them. She pulled her head back to gaze up at him in confusion, still thrilling in the possessive fire of emotion in his dark eyes. “Tristan, please…”
His face softened as he tilted her chin up towards his. “What is it, chérie?”
The angry splutters of her uncle behind her meant nothing to Esther, not when she knew that her future was in Tristan’s hands. “Tell me what happened, Tristan. If what I judged you by is not the truth…”
“It is not, Esther, I swear it to you, but it is not my story to tell you. I want there to be no doubts between us, no fears or secrets. If your cousin tells you, then you will believe it, mais non?”
The urgency of his voice had already convinced her that there was far more to be disclosed than Charlotte had ever let on. She hesitantly nodded as a low tremor rippled through her body and leaned against him when he turned to look at her cousin again.
“Well then, Miss Tennyson? It is time for you to tell your family the truth of your deceit and games.”
Tristan’s stern and forbidding command thrilled Esther afresh. Had it been her on the receiving end of it, she did not think she would be able to withstand it – Charlotte, though, merely gritted her teeth and folded her arms across her chest as she t
ossed her head.
“No?!”
“No,” she affirmed. “What I said was the true account of what happened between us, Comte –“
“It was not! Mon dieu, would you truly sacrifice your cousin’s happiness to maintain your lie, Miss Tennyson?! I would make Esther happy, I know that I would – but with your lies standing between us, she cannot even consider the possibility of it. Tell the truth, Charlotte, for the first time in your pitiful existence.”
Tristan’s voice was dripping with disdain. Still, though, Charlotte obstinately jutted her jaw out and refused to meet Esther’s eyes.
Lord Charles, however, was stroking his beard as his eyes narrowed. “Charlotte?” he asked slowly. “Charlotte, if there is even a modicum of truth in what the Comte is implying, then say so now. He and Esther clearly have some manner of entanglement. If I am to come to the right decision, then I must have the entire truth from you. Do I?”
She stared mutely at the floor.
Esther’s hands were trembling as she reached up to caress the taut lines of Tristan’s face before she broke free of his arms and turned to face down her cousin. “Listen to me now, Charlotte. I – I love Tristan, desperately so, but I have been denying myself the chance of happiness I know that he and I could have together because of what you told me he did to you. Please, cousin, if you love me even the smallest bit you must tell me the truth!”
Tristan caught hold of her hand to pull her back towards him as Charlotte swallowed hard. “Esther, ma chére, you love me?! Truly?”
“”You are the man I cannot live without; the one worth taking a chance upon, Tristan.” Esther’s breath quickened as he stared down at her with the same consuming emotion she felt reflected upon his face. “But how can I give my heart into your hands when you ruined my cousin?”
“He did not – not knowingly, at any rate.”
Tristan exhaled deeply and wound his fingers through Esther’s as Charlotte finally spoke up.
“I lied to him, Father,” she confessed with a choked sob as Esther’s heart lost a beat. “You know that I did not want the betrothal you had arranged – I did not want to marry anyone, let alone the priggish and pompous lord you had found for me! The lord was a pious man, though, and I knew that he would refuse to go through with the marriage if I was no longer a virgin.”
The earl seemed lost for words. Esther prompted her cousin as Tristan’s arm slipped supportively around her waist to pull her into the heat of his body. “So you set out to deliberately lose your virginity – and Tristan was your target.”
Charlotte flushed dully. “Yes. I knew, though, that he always held to his morals – I was well aware that he refused to so much as consider being with a woman if she was wed to another man. I was as good as wed already, so I knew he would reject me. But I wanted him.”
“You fooled me,” Tristan said bitterly. He tightened his hold on Esther as her breath caught in her throat.
Charlotte did not meet his piercing stare. “I took Mamma’s ring and told the Comte that I was a lonely widow. I made him believe that I had plenty of experience in such things and then plied him with enough wine that he would not realise the untruth of my words until it was too late.”
“Until you had tricked him into taking your virginity.”
“Yes.”
The words burst out of Tristan’s mouth before he could restrain them. “Esther, darling, I swear that I knew nothing of her attachment or her innocence until it was too late.”
“I – I believe you, my comte.” It was as if the greatest of weights had been lifted from her shoulders, enabling her to finally breathe freely again as a relieved smile broke out on his face and he brushed away a tear that had been clinging to her eyelashes before continuing the sorry tale.
“I was enraged, ma chére, but she sobbed and pleaded with me not to divulge that she had fooled me in such a way. I have always been unable to say no to a crying woman – it is one of my greatest weaknesses,” he owned wryly. “And after all, I could not foresee any harm in doing so. How could I possibly know that the roguish lady’s cousin would be the very woman I would later fall in love with so passionately?”
“I am to take it that you still wish to marry my niece, then?”
Tristan turned to the earl in fearful anticipation. “More than anything, sir, if she will have me.”
Esther spoke up again even before her uncle. “Oh, yes!”
Lord Charles sighed heavily. “Then in the light of what I have heard this morning, who am I to stand between you? If you will give me your word you will treat her in the way that she deserves –“
“Sir, I swear – I will cherish her until the end of days! I adore Esther, entirely so, and I would gladly devote myself to ensuring her happiness in every way.”
“Something that her first husband never cared for.”
Tristan nodded soberly. “But I will give her more than enough joy to sustain her, you have my word.”
“Oh please, Uncle Charles, give your permission!” Esther begged, still clinging to Tristan and thrilling in the fire in his dark eyes as he spoke so passionately of his love for her.
The older man slowly nodded his head – and the very moment that Tristan realised that Esther would be his, he swept her off her feet and through the air before gathering her back into his arms and pulling her near again. “Je t’aime, Esther – je t’adore, je t’aime!”
The earl smiled ruefully as Esther blushed deeply and hid her face in Tristan’s shirt. “You lovebirds will excuse us, then. Charlotte and I have much to discuss and I think, perhaps, that the two of you would like a few minutes of privacy.”
They nodded in unison, already caught up in each other to the extent that they did not even notice the earl leading his daughter from the parlour and carefully shutting the door behind him.
“So, my little star,” Tristan said softly as triumph burned in his eyes. “You love me, is that so?”
Esther gloried in the way that he was already backing her up towards the wall with one hand and reaching across to caress her face with the other. “I love you very much, Tristan – and I fear that I have done since the first moment we met.”
The artless and sincere confirmation was a deeper and more complete ecstasy than anything he had felt before. He swooped in for another kiss before breaking away to cup her face in his hands as they hit the bookcase behind them.
“Then it was just your cousin’s accusation holding you back from me, chérie?”
She nodded fervently. “You know now how badly Andrew hurt me. I feared I could not take a chance on giving my heart to you when I believed that you had so selfishly ruined my cousin for just a solitary night of passion. But I still do not understand - why did you not refute the accusations made against you, Tristan?”
“I do have a reputation to uphold, Esther.” Tristan’s voice was haughty, but the fire that stoked in his dark eyes as he casually brushed his fingers against her stiffening nipples betrayed him.
“Oh, that reputation…yes. I am afraid we shall have to do something about that, Comte,” she said lightly as giddy delight and arousal soared through her veins.
Exaltation like that which he had never felt before inflamed his body as his cock hardened further with every moment that passed, the deep flush of Esther’s skin filling him with the urge to cover every last inch of it with his lips. “Are you trying to change me already, ma chére Esther?”
His gentle tease widened her smile further. “Change you? Certainly not, my comte. But I hear that you wish to make me your wife, Tristan. If I am to become the Comtesse de Rouvroy, then you must understand that I would be very possessive of my handsome husband. I would not want him to do as much as look at another woman with lust in his thoughts.”
Though she was still smiling, Tristan recognised the fear in her eyes. He swooped upon her and gathered her into his arms again, his consuming lust for her momentarily forgotten. “Chérie, if I had you for my wife I would never want to tak
e my eyes away from you, let alone look upon another woman in lust!”
“You swear?”
“I swear this to you, Esther. A kiss to seal the deal, perhaps?”
“Oh, yes!” She stretched up onto the tips of her toes to eagerly accept all that he offered. Tristan crushed her lips beneath his own as Esther shuddered in delight. Her lips moulded to his every command and the taste of her upon his tongue was no less thrilling in its familiarity. He knew that he could never get enough of her.
As the kiss deepened and he hooked his arms underneath her to hold her hips against his cock, she realised what he intended to do. Anticipation inflamed her as she pulled her head back with a loud cry when he unlaced his breeches. “N-not here…”
“Yes, here, my lovely little fiancée,” Tristan affirmed with a sparkle in his dark eyes. They were both already breathing heavily and he knew that she wanted what he offered just as much as he did. “Come, you did not imagine that my hunger for you would lessen in any way now that our liaisons must no longer be illicit ones?”
“But anyone could walk in on us, Tristan –“
“Mmm.” He silenced her with another impassioned kiss. “Rather thrilling, ma belle, is it not? So cease your protests and lift your skirts so that I can take you as I know you so badly want me to do.”
She had never been able to resist him.
As her wildly trembling hands tugged her skirts up past her waist, he lifted her onto the shelf and reached for her undergarments as he brushed his lips against the soft curve of her throat. “So, are you ready for me, Esther? Are you ready to take my cock inside you?”
Esther loved how hoarse and heavily accented his voice became when he was in the grip of his passion for her. “Oh yes, Tristan,” she whispered. “Always.”
There was no possibility that he could hold himself back; not when the elation of slowly realising that she would be forever his was making him giddy with heady lust and joy. He slipped his hands underneath her buttocks to cup them in the palms of his hands and held on tightly as she willingly parted her legs and pushed forwards against his cock.
