He braced his arm against the wall—trying to keep them both upright.
Her hand slid up, slipping beneath his palm. Her fingers twined with his.
“Are you—”
“Harder. Please don’t stop.”
Never. He would never let her go. They would never have to stop.
She called his name.
He moaned hers. His fingers dug into the flesh of her hip.
“Jane, I’m going to—I’m . . .”
She scraped her teeth against his earlobe. “I love you.”
He couldn’t hold it back. The feeling overtook him and he was spilling inside her. He kept thrusting, wanting to bring her over the edge with him.
She reached between them again and brought herself the rest of the way. Her crash started just as his was ending and he got to watch every glorious moment of it cross her face. She was beautiful. Absolutely perfect in every way.
When she finished, she let out a long sigh of contentment.
Adam agreed. He carried her into his room and laid her on his bed. While she smiled up at him, he helped her out of her shoes and stockings.
“Adam,” she hummed at him when he started unbuttoning the back of her dress. “I’m thirsty.”
He kissed his way across her shoulders and up her neck. “I’ll be right back.”
The whiskey bottle was where he’d left it on the desk in the study. When he came back with it, her brow furrowed in an apology. “Do you have any wine?”
“Of course, I’ll—”
She took the bottle from him. “We might need both.”
Adam laughed. “Oh really?”
“You never know what we might get up to or how relaxed we’ll need to be.”
“As you wish, my lady.” If she wanted to get him drunk, she could get him drunk. He’d duel intoxicated if—
Adam turned and went back to his room. “Jane?”
“Yes?” She was the soul of innocence.
“Are you trying to stop me from dueling? Is that what this is about?”
Jane’s eyebrows raised. “Is that what you think?”
“I think you have avoided me for a month, and now the night before I am supposed to engage in a duel that you don’t approve of, you’re here.” Happy as he was, he wasn’t going to change his mind. She needed to know that.
“And has it occurred to you that I might be worried you’re going to die? That this could be the last night of our lives?”
Adam moved in close, framing her face with his hands. “Our lives? Only one of us is getting in a sword fight tomorrow.”
She shook her head. “If you die, I die, too. I might still be breathing, but I’ll be gone.”
“Do you mean that?”
“More than anything.”
He kissed her.
“Now can I have some wine, or will there be another test?”
Grinning, he went in search of wine.
• • •
He’d almost caught her adding the packet to the whiskey. The guilt she felt over lying to him was only marginally helped by the knowledge that she was trying to save his life. She hoped, when everything was said and done, that he would see it that way. If anything, their reunion suggested he would likely forgive her.
When he came back the second time the whiskey had been successfully dosed. She traded him bottles, taking the wine and handing him the apothecary’s mixture.
“Shall we toast?” she asked, swigging directly from her bottle.
Adam laughed. “Jane Bailey, where have your manners gone?”
“I was told not to be polite anymore.”
“That’s true. By a very wise man.”
“To very wise men!” she toasted.
He clinked bottles with her and swallowed deep from his bottle. He frowned a little.
“Adam . . . do you still want to marry me?”
“More than ever. Do you still want to marry me?”
Jane nodded. Enough to go to ridiculous lengths, even. “Let’s do it tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“After the duel. Tomorrow afternoon, let’s get married.”
His eyes flashed sensually again. He wrapped an arm around her waist. “We don’t have special license.”
“We can get on a ship. Once we’re far enough out to sea the captain can marry us.”
“You’ve thought about this.”
“I’ve thought of little else for an entire month.” Jane took another swallow.
He followed suit. “Jane—why wouldn’t you let me see you?”
“I needed to think about what I wanted.”
“And?”
“And I want you. Just you. I don’t need anything else.”
Adam drank another draught of the whiskey. “Are you sure?”
Jane nodded. She took his bottle and set them both on the dresser. She led him to the bed. “Lie down.”
He stretched out across the mattress—every inch of him a naked masterpiece.
“I want to spend the rest of my life looking at you.”
He nodded. “Iwnnnnnmpf.”
It was starting.
Adam’s pupils went wide.
“You’re fine. I know it feels strange—I tried it on myself last week to be sure it wouldn’t hurt you—but you’re completely fine. It’s just a paralytic.”
His eyes darted, then came back to her.
“I love you, and I won’t lose you. And Geoffrey . . . isn’t your dragon to slay. He’s mine. And you made me a promise. So I’m going to help you keep it.”
He had beautiful eyes. Just now they were furious.
“Unfortunately you’re going to be like this for a while. I have to go. Brandon will be back any moment, and then some men will come and take you to our ship. I’ll explain everything once we’re under way.”
There was nothing else to say, and the sun was starting to come up. She leaned down and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. “Please don’t be angry.”
Jane swiftly put her stockings and shoes back on and pulled a blanket over Adam so he wouldn’t get cold.
Brandon came back just as she stepped into the hallway. “Did you do it?”
She nodded. “He’s not happy about it.”
“Did you expect him to be?”
“Not really.” She pulled a signed note out of the pocket sewn into her dress. “Thank you, Lord Brandon.”
“Thank you. I’ve never been paid not to attend a duel before. So far, it’s been a lovely experience.”
Jane would miss him. Unfortunately, she had one last appointment and she couldn’t be late.
• • •
She’d expected a mist-shrouded location that felt eerie. Instead, she could clearly see Geoffrey standing at the far end of the meadow. His second was notably absent, having received a similar but much smaller payoff than Brandon’s.
As she crossed the field, he caught sight of her.
“What’s this then? Is that Jane Bailey?”
“It is.”
“Where’s your Lord Wesley?” he sneered. “Suffer a bout of cowardice?”
“Not at all. I just thought you and I should talk.” Steady, Jane. She kept her hand wrapped tight around the pistol handle for comfort.
“Oh?” He took a few steps toward her. “Have you come to barter for his life? I don’t think you have anything I want.”
“I haven’t come to barter for his life. I’ve come to barter for yours.” She pulled the pistol out of her pocket and leveled it on his chest. Geoff looked around, searching. “No one else is coming. It’s just you and me.”
Geoffrey’s eyes narrowed. “I am not amused, Jane.”
Neither was she. “I’m not interested in amusing you.”
“You ought to
be. It’s just you and me in this field, and according to your new beau I’m a monster.”
“You are a monster, Geoff. Surely you know that.”
He stepped forward, close enough to touch her. “Put down the gun, Jane. If you stop this nonsense now, I’ll only hurt you a little.”
Jane was tired. She’d been planning this for weeks, and now that it was here, all she wanted was to be on a ship bound for the colonies with Adam. “Why do you do it? Before, I thought it was me. I thought I wasn’t right. But now you’ve done it to Drusilla. So what is it?”
“What is it? It’s fun.” Geoff laughed at her. “What else would it be?”
“It’s fun? It’s fun for you to hurt us and terrify us?”
“Yes.”
This was the moment. He’d said all the wrong things. This was the time. Pull the trigger, Jane.
“What’s wrong, Janey? Can’t do it?”
She could. She could. She had to. If she didn’t, Adam would.
“Just give it up, Jane. I’m going to hurt you a lot now, but I think we both know you want me to. Otherwise you would have done it.” He reached for her wrist.
The panic took over. Her hands contracted, anticipating the pain. The pistol flashed. The world went quiet. A faraway ringing sound came toward her. It was getting closer and closer. It was all she could hear.
Geoff was on the ground. He was gulping like a fish—his mouth making strange, shallow “O”s. There was a great bloom of in the middle of his chest. Oh. Oh. She’d shot him. She hadn’t really . . . She’d meant to, but she hadn’t realized it had happened.
A hand touched her shoulder. She spun.
Magnus stood behind her. “It’s all right.”
“But I—”
“You’ve done enough, Miss Bailey. You’ve slain your dragon.”
She nodded.
The carriage was waiting to take her to the ship. To Adam. To a new life with new memories as a new woman.
• • •
At some point, Adam had fallen asleep. There was nothing else for him to do. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’t do anything other than think about how stupid he’d been and how he should have known. His Jane—not so frightened anymore.
When he woke, it was on the steady rocking of a ship. The screech of gulls said they weren’t that far from land, but they were definitely under way.
Next to him, Jane was stretched out with her head on his chest. “Would you be terribly upset if you didn’t get to be the Marquess of Clairborne?”
The Marquess of . . . There had to be more important things to talk about just then. “Jane.”
“Would you?”
“No, not terribly. I never much liked it.”
“And what if . . .”
“Jane, where are we going?”
“I would like you to meet my parents.”
Her parents. “We’re going to the colonies?”
Jane nodded.
The colonies. Home. “Pembroke?”
“I shot him.” She inhaled a shuttering breath.
“Jane.”
“I meant to, but now I . . . I don’t know.”
“It’s all right,” he said against her hair, holding her close. “We’ll get through it.”
“How?”
“We’ll come up with something. A plan.”
She nodded. “I made a plan. We’re dead now, by the way.”
And Adam laughed.
Kimberly Bell is a 2015 RWA Golden Heart Finalist and 2014 Maggie Award Winner. She writes historical romances from her home near the beach in San Luis Obispo, California. She lives with her shepherd-coyote mix rescue.
What’s next on
your reading list?
Discover your next
great read!
* * *
Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.
Sign up now.
A Ballroom Temptation Page 25
