Lily Mine

by Joseph, Annabel

  Ah, delicious blush. He would never tire of it. He leaned down to brush a kiss against her temple, her eyes, her forehead. "You will like it, little flower. A nice cozy townhome, nothing like this chilly manor. There is even an attic there where you can steal away to read your naughty books."

  Lily slanted him a reproving glance. "Do not tease me so. It is not gentlemanly."

  "I have it on good authority you like to be teased." James slid closer, pulling her against him and nuzzling her neck. "I will take you to see my family home too, where my mother resides. Ashbourne Hall is a great pride to me."

  Lily smiled a little, a forced smile, her fingers trailing absently across his shoulder. Like all her emotions, her anxiety was plainly written on her face.

  "What is it, darling?" he asked. "Are you afraid to go to London?"

  "Not afraid. Just nervous, I suppose. To meet Lilliana's family and other people who knew her… I'll never make it work. How did I ever imagine this was a good idea?"

  "It was my idea, as I recall, and as I said, I'll take the blame if things go awry. Don't fret. I'll always be there to help you. I will never leave your side when we are in public. And in private…" He nipped lazily at one enticing earlobe. "In private we shall progress along very much as we have been."

  Lily's fingers tightened on his shoulder and she ducked down to press her face against his chest. "I am just not completely at ease."

  "I shall endeavor to put you at greater ease whenever the situation presents itself," he promised with a rakish smile.

  "I'm sure you shall," Lily chuckled. "But you must understand, I have my own personal reasons for fretting about London."

  "At the first opportunity, I shall deal with that cad Horace. You may be sure of it."

  "I don't care about Horace. Please, do not duel with him or something so melodramatic as that. What if you were hurt?"

  James affected a surly pout. "You wound me, lady, to cast aspersions on my dueling prowess."

  "I am much more worried about… Oh, but it's silly. Of course I won't run across my family at any society events."

  So that was the true source of Lily's unease. She still missed her family, although she would never openly pine about it to him. He saw the faraway look in her eyes sometimes, and it made him ache for her. She wasn't truly fretful about running into them. He imagined there was nothing she wished for more than some contact with her family, however small.

  "It would be no great thing to send someone into your old borough for information. To check on your family and set your mind at ease."

  "But my father would ask so many questions."

  "I could send someone who wouldn't need to speak to your family to gather information. An investigator. Someone discreet."

  "Oh, could you do that?" She gazed up at him. "Then there would be no need to tell them anything about our arrangement. I would not wish to worry them or cause any harmful gossip."

  "I will make arrangements as soon as possible after we arrive."

  Lily looked mollified by that idea, but again James considered the poorer outcomes. What if her family was not faring well? What if her father had not gotten more work? He would feel obligated to intercede, only because they were Lily's family. But family was family. His own family meant the world to him.

  His family. His mother would be in London waiting for them to come calling. He had not given much thought to her reaction to a false Lilliana on his arm. He had said nothing to any of his family or friends. No one knew anything, and it was a teetering house of cards to maintain in a town full of gossips. He looked down at the girl cuddling against him, all trust and simple affection. He resigned himself to enjoying what he had while he had it, and protecting her above all.

  London would be a success or a failure, and they would either fool people or fail in the trying. He was fast reaching the point where he no longer cared.

  Chapter Eight: London

  A week later, James sat beside Lily as his luxurious coach shuttled them into London. Every so often she drowsed and slumped against him, and he enjoyed the feeling of cradling her in his arms. Another coach came behind, weighted down with such clothing and articles as they might need for their sojourn, to include a certain trunk of books.

  Lily had taken time to check on Mrs. Gertrude just before they left. She was so terribly protective of the servants. In truth, she would make a jewel of a countess. If only…

  Mrs. Gertrude was still feeling rather poorly, but Hanover had recuperation orders from a village doctor James had approved. James was hopeful the new health regimen would work to reverse the damage of the toxins. Lily had also conferred with Lilyvale's gardener before they left. It charmed James that she was already thinking of spring even though the gardens would soon be blanketed under snow. He knew she felt mournful about leaving the place that had been such a haven of happiness for both of them. Perhaps, like James, she wondered if she might not return.

  As if on cue, Lily shifted on the velvet cushions and snuggled closer against him with a small sigh. He adjusted the blanket, tucking it around her to protect her from the cold. Beneath the covers, he took her hand. "All well?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Are you sleepy?"

  "No, sir, not sleepy at all."

  He dropped a kiss upon the top of her head and rested his cheek against her hair. "When you call me sir in that tone, it does things to me, you know."

  "Does it? What kind of things?" she asked innocently.

  He slid her hand over to rest atop the rigid bulge at the front of his trousers. "Things like this, you disingenuous minx."

  Lily pretended to be scandalized with a darling pout and loft of her perfectly shaped eyebrows. "Sir!"

  "Am I being ungentlemanly again?"

  "I'm afraid you're being most ungentlemanly at the moment."

  "I don't know how you ever got the impression I was a gentleman in the first place." He laughed, stroking her hand even more boldly against his erection. "Surely I have disabused you of that notion by now."

  "I don't know what disabused means, or disingenuous for that matter. Perhaps you should use simpler words." She looked up at him, her deep green eyes alight with mischief and her fingers curving hard around the ridge in his trousers. Her shapely pink lips made a thoughtful moue. "Or perhaps leave off words altogether and just kiss m--"

  His lips were on hers before she even finished the invitation. It was bright in the carriage and his eyes were dazed with sunlight and her constantly changing beauty. Just when he thought she could not be any more becoming, a new smirk or flutter of her lashes would have him reeling.

  She still stroked him through his trousers, a gentle tease that was stoking dangerous fires. Without thought, he snaked a hand beneath her skirts, around her shapely ankle, up smooth calf and soft flank. He passed his fingers over her belly and thrust a thumb down between the apex of her thighs. She gasped into his mouth, arching her hips against him and then pulling away in sudden modesty, looking about the enclosed conveyance.

  With an impatient lurch, James shuttered one window and then the other. He turned back to her, cupping her breasts above her high-waisted gown. He squeezed them, filling his hands with their alluring bounty. She arched and gasped again, her nipples exquisitely sensitive. It was no great thing to pull at the plunging neckline until the twin pink jewels were exposed.

  He suckled one and then the other, hard, without mercy, then nipped at each one with his teeth. Lily bucked against him, gritting her teeth against crying out. He was kneeling before her now, holding her with an arm braced about her back--otherwise he thought she would have fallen off the seat. She always caught fire like tinder. He need only supply the spark and she burst into flame.

  "James!" She twisted her fingers in his hair and pulled.

  "What is it, dearest?" he whispered against her neck.

  "You make me ache. I am so… I am so…"

  He reached beneath her skirts again, finding her hot, wet center, and thrust two
thick fingers inside.

  "I see that you are 'so' indeed." He chuckled.

  She gripped him, making unintelligible, desperate sounds that pressed him into action. With a growl he turned her and pushed her facefirst into the cushions. Their legs made a tangle as he simultaneously fought with her skirts and undid the falls of his trousers. He spread his knees between hers on the vibrating floor of the carriage and pressed her down with the weight of his body. Her urgent, babbled pleas reached such a crescendo that he feared she would be heard even over the noise of the road. He clamped a broad hand over her mouth just as he thrust inside.

  "Lily," he growled against her ear. "I'm afraid I am being most ungentlemanly now."

  Over the strains of her strangled laughter he took her with hard, jerky strokes. She pushed back against him, meeting his lust with an intensity all her own. He could feel her knees straining beside his. He spread her wider, gripping her breasts and whispering coarse encouragements against her ear. He doubted she could hear a word he said above her own muffled gasps and moans.

  Before long he felt her reach her satisfaction, undulating and bucking back against him. She bit down on his finger in the mindlessness of her crisis. He cursed and pulled his hand away, the pain of her teeth blending with the chaotic build of his own impending release. He pounded into her, holding her hips until the last possible moment, at which time he had to pull away and spend on her slickened, spread thighs. She lay still, panting into the velvet cushions.

  When he regained his thoughts, he removed a handkerchief from within his sleeve and carefully wiped away the evidence of their mercurial coupling. Beneath them, the carriage still bumped and rattled along the country road to London. After cleaning her up, James rearranged Lily's skirts gently. She was so silent, he wondered if she was angry with him, or repelled, finally, by his inability to control his lusts.

  Then she looked over her shoulder and smiled at him, and all his fears vanished.

  "That, dear sir," she giggled, "was surely the most ungentlemanly conduct of all time."

  It was late when they finally reached James' townhome near Regent Street. The staff greeted Lord Ashbourne and his "wife" with a warm and celebratory air. The real Lilliana had never come to Regent Street, as it was his bachelor residence. They had retired immediately to Lilyvale after they'd wed. At the time, James had thought it a splendid idea to begin married life with his wife out in the country, away from London's hectic social obligations. Lilliana had no doubt found it a splendid idea because Lilyvale was nearer to Dover and the crossing to the Continent.

  But in hindsight James was glad that Lilliana had never graced the halls of his Regent Street home. He had a sense as he showed Lily around that it was their home, his and hers, and she looked about with an awe and appreciation that made him feel proud. The staff seemed to take to her at once, rushing to draw her a bath and offer her food and drink in welcome. James gave Lily up with a smile to Mrs. Lawler, the head maid, who bustled her upstairs to help her make ready for bed.

  James bathed too, in his own chamber adjoining Lily's, and waited for her to come to him after her bath, damp and fresh and sweet-smelling, with her hair tumbled all about and down over the ivory satin of her robe.

  Mrs. Lawler, whom he had always particularly liked for her sense of initiative, had a light evening repast and warm tea and chocolate delivered to the bedroom. They had stopped at an inn for supper just a few hours before, but James found his appetite unusually voracious. Lily ate more sparingly, too distracted at gazing around the bedroom and exclaiming over all the things he took for granted. He had bought the house on a whim some years back, never intending to keep it once he was wed. Now it provided a convenient hideaway from the busybodies of the ton who would converge en masse were he to set up home at Ashbourne Hall.

  Not that he didn't like Ashbourne Hall. It was only that it seemed a place for a family. He had always wanted a wife and a family, had aspired to it from his earliest years. He had never been the selfish, rakish type. He had considered himself so fortunate to win Lilliana, a young sweetheart of the ton whom everyone considered perfect and beautiful. But now he saw beauty as Lily saw it. Through works and kindness and truth. Through faithfulness, a merit Lilliana lacked. He certainly couldn't picture familial bliss with Lilliana at Ashbourne Hall now. Those fantasies were no longer his to entertain.

  Lily soon ran down from all the excitement and strain of travel. He put her to bed without molesting her, instead drawing her close in his arms. It seemed he'd barely closed his eyes before it was daylight again and the servants were tapping politely at the door.

  * * * * *

  Lily woke and breakfasted with James in a stylishly outfitted dining room. She was having a terrible time keeping all the servants' names straight, but they didn't seem to mind.

  After breakfast James took Lily to call on his mother. His family seat was only a few streets distant from his bachelor dwelling, so they rode in an open chaise in the crisp mid-December air, Lily's hand resting in the crook of James' arm.

  She enjoyed the sights and sounds of London, but felt terribly nervous about the meeting to come. James had told her a great deal about his parents in their conversations, about his father's illness and passing and his mother's active widowhood. Much as James worked in politics for reforms and change, his mother worked with women's charities for the poor and needy. Lily knew any woman who had raised a son like James must be wonderful, but she still had qualms about their deception. James reassured her that his mother had only spoken with Lilliana on very few occasions and would likely not even question her. But still...

  Lily worried, too, about all the people who stopped to call out to James from other carriages. Any one of them might have been friends with Lilliana, which she pointed out to James in a worried tone. He promised from then on they would take the closed coach rather than the chaise, and patted Lily's hand to fortify her. She had finally managed to calm her frayed nerves when the edifice of Ashbourne Hall came into view. Her breath promptly left her again.

  He had warned her that his house was large, a "sprawling, stuffy mansion," which was why he preferred his small home closer to town. But that hadn't prepared her for the towering grandeur of Ashbourne Hall, or the stately lawns and gardens surrounding it. She took in the soaring stone walls and sculptured spires with a sense of wonder. This was James' home? She'd known he was rich and respected, had very well known he was an earl with several residences and many important duties to perform. But somehow she forgot about all that in their relaxed time at Lilyvale, and even in the charm of his bachelor house.

  Ashbourne Hall was a glaring reminder of just how much more distinguished and powerful than her he was. Her anxiety returned twentyfold as they drove through the high iron gates and around the drive to the door. James met her wide-eyed gaze as a team of liveried footmen came forward to assist them.

  "Courage, darling," James reassured her as he helped her down. "She will love you as much as I do."

  Lily ducked her head and pretended to set her azure gown and furlined cloak to rights, only to have something to do with her shaking hands. "I am pleased to meet her. Truly, if she is half as wonderful as you…"

  He chuckled, guiding her to the imposing, ornately embellished front entryway. "Such flattery."

  She stared as the doors swung open from within. "I cannot help but flatter. Such a grand house, and the gardens--"

  Her voice cut off as an aged butler appeared and bowed formally. "Lord Ashbourne, it is a delight to welcome you."

  James clapped the old man on the arm with an affectionate grin. "A delight to see you too, Fulton. If you would go tell my mother her son has come calling, perhaps she will cease her letters entreating me to do so."

  "I will alert her at once, my lord." The servant made another deep bow in Lily's direction, recognizing her with a staidly intoned, "Lady Ashbourne." He took her cloak and James' hat, and disappeared down a side hall.

  James took Lily's hand an
d led her into the house to a tastefully furnished front parlor. Lily tried not to stare in awe. Remember, you are supposed to be Lilliana. Moments later, an ageless sylph of a woman joined them, welcoming James with a fond and motherly embrace.

  "How cruel you are to your mum, to stay away so long," she admonished him. Lily watched the reunion with surprise. She had expected a stolid old matron, but Lady Ashbourne seemed to have the energy and spirit of a woman half her age. She spun and took in Lily with a wide smile, holding her arms wide. "Daughter. You are looking very well. I worried when my son whisked you right off to the country, but it seems to have suited you."

  Lily blushed, thinking of the many ways he suited her. James smirked at her over his mother's shoulder as she dropped a small curtsy. "Yes, ma'am. I have been most content at Lilyvale."

  "Oh, do not trifle with these 'ma'am's' and curtsies, darling child." Lily found herself clasped in the woman's embrace and then kissed soundly on each cheek. "I can see marriage suits him as well as it suits you, and I'm so happy for it." She hugged her again, squeezing a soft squeak from Lily.

  "Mother, you will smother the poor girl. Is this your idea of country manners?"

  "Pouf. You insufferable man. But how well you both look! Come, sit down. Ella will bring tea."

  Lily and James sat and chatted with Lady Ashbourne for nearly an hour. His mother was a gifted conversationalist, drawing James out about his work and the management of his various properties. She even asked about Mrs. Gertrude, and praised Lily highly when she learned of her important discovery. She then drew Lily into a long conversation about James' country manor, which led to talk of botany and horticulture. Lily volunteered as much as she felt she could, not knowing how much Lilliana had dabbled in those things.

  The only really awkward moment came when Lady Ashbourne brightly enquired whether Lily might soon be "in the family way." Lily's startled gaze flew to James' flustered one.

  "I say," he chided in a teasing tone, "are you so anxious to be made a grandmother? I think you are far too young for that."