A Lady for the Taking

by Bethany M. Sefchick

  And she would. When the time was right. Which wasn’t now.

  If he asked? Then perhaps she would tell him, even if it meant losing him before they truly had a chance to experience London together. But he hadn’t asked yet. And she wasn’t quite ready to confess everything. Nor was she brave enough. Maybe soon. But not yet.

  “Shall we?” she asked, eager for this evening to really begin, and eager to spend as much time as possible with Harry.

  “Then allow me, my lady.” He sketched her a brief bow, though he never released her arm. Then, without another word, Harry swept Penny off and into the throngs of people wandering through the pleasure gardens. And she felt as if she had just been granted her every wish all at once. It was a most pleasurable sensation. Not to mention more than a little terrifying, as well.

  Chapter Eleven

  Harry could sense the moment Penny gave in to his gentle cajoling. Her body softened against his, and the stiffness went out of her shoulders. He had hoped she would agree to accompany him, though he had also been prepared with another disguise in case she hadn’t. He was a rather accomplished swordsman and given the absolute crush of people, a gentleman disappearing and then a masked sword fighter appearing a few minutes later in order to woo a lady with his skills would hardly be noticed.

  It shouldn’t have even been so important to Harry that Penny accompany him through the pleasure gardens this evening, but it was. The small taste of her that he had enjoyed that morning had left his body and mind burning for more. So much so that he could think of little else other than tasting her again.

  Even Harry’s Bow Street cases, things that normally could absorb his entire attention for hours on end, had failed to capture his interest lately. In general, there were few things he liked better in life than bringing criminals to justice but at the moment? Even that paled in comparison to the pure temptation that was Lady Penelope Marshwood.

  He was losing his mind – and possibly his edge – but Harry couldn’t quite make himself care.

  So before he could stop himself, Harry had asked Eliza to issue Penny an invitation to join them all in the supper box that night. He had then appealed to Nick to make certain that very specific hints appeared in tomorrow’s gossip rags that someone matching Fullbridge’s description was seen escorting a lovely woman in green last evening at Vauxhall. That should be enough to put Penny’s uncle off of their trail and convince the man to leave his ward in peace for the moment.

  Just long enough for the two of them to…enjoy each other. In whatever form that took.

  Now, Harry and Penny were strolling through Vauxhall as any two normal lovers might. Except they were not yet lovers and they were hardly normal. Though Harry found that he would not have it any other way.

  It was little wonder he had eventually grown bored with Dory and, in turn, she with him. Harry was a man who craved excitement and their relationship? Well, it had been bland and sedate from the very first. Perhaps if the little minx had shown him even a hint of her true nature, things might have been different. But Dory hadn’t and from the reports that had crossed his office desk at his home that morning, there was no going back for either of them.

  Both Harry and Dory were on new and distinctly separate paths. Better paths, he hoped. For both of them. Starting now.

  “So you have never seen fire eaters and stilt walkers and the like?” Harry asked Penny as they strolled arm in arm through the gardens, dodging jugglers and dagger throwers who were busy entertaining the crowds of people in attendance.

  Penny shook her head, her eyes delightfully wide beneath her mask as she took in the many exotic sights. “I have only been to London once before and that was when I made my come-out many years ago. My parents had only been gone for a little over a year at that point and my uncle thought the trip necessary to keep up appearances. We spent a week here in Town before returning to Cumbria. I’ve been there ever since.”

  There was something different about Penny this evening. She seemed more, well, relaxed in his company for lack of a better word, Harry decided. As if her secrets were not weighing on her quite as heavily as they had been before. It was a curious matter and would bear more investigation in the future, for the matter of Lord Telford’s plans for Fullbridge were still a concern. But not tonight. Tonight it was only Harry, Penny, and the pleasure gardens spread out before them.

  “Then you should enjoy every moment of your time here now,” Harry replied as he guided them around a woman in a slightly scandalous ballerina costume hurrying down a pathway and balancing a very large pole in her hands. “For who knows how long you will have before you meet the gentleman you wish to marry.”

  At that, Penny paused in the middle of the pathway, forcing the stream of people to part around them. “Harry.” She sighed sadly and he could see the pain in her eyes, the rest of her face hidden behind the ornate mask. “I am not…that is to say, I am really…”

  “Shhh.” He held a finger up to her lips and offered her one of his rare, true smiles. She was coming dangerously close to a confession. He could sense it. A confession he did not want to hear tonight. Not before he had the opportunity to kiss her again. “Later, sweetheart.”

  “But, I thought…”

  Harry shook his head. “Not yet, for we are only just beginning. The night is young yet. Let us enjoy it for a little while longer.”

  For a moment, Harry thought Penny might argue the point but instead, she simply smiled up at him and something around his heart cracked just a very tiny bit.

  “Very well.” Her voice was soft again as if she was still uncertain about his request. Though he had the sense she would do as he asked. “Later then.”

  “Later,” he agreed as he tugged her along the path once more, her hand tucked securely into his, as he pointed out the various features of the gardens, including the scandalous dark walks. “There is time enough later.”

  After that, the night somehow changed and shifted, the brief moment of unease giving way to a companionable stroll through the gardens. Together they took in some of the spectacles that Penny had been secretly longing to see – as she confided to Harry in what he could only describe as a moment of pure trust – including the fire eaters, the tightrope dancers and the acrobats that seemed to defy gravity.

  He enjoyed watching her eyes light up behind her mask as she took in a new sight or marveled at a feat of seemingly impossible physical prowess. Everything about Penny appeared much younger this evening, including the set of her shoulders, the world-weariness that she had worn like a cloak since the moment Harry had met now her cast aside in favor of a youthful exuberance.

  Harry had a feeling that, had her parents lived, this was the young woman who would have come to London and taken Town by storm when she made her bows at court all of those years ago. This was Penny as she should have been, a woman she had never enjoyed an opportunity to be, at least not after her parents were gone.

  On the other hand, if Penny’s parents had lived, she most likely would have been matched with an eminently eligible and titled gentleman before her first Season was over. There would have been no hope for a man like Harry. One not of her station in life and so obviously far below in standing.

  True, Harry’s friends did not treat him as such and at this point, few people in Society pointed out that he was not of their class. But they thought it, certainly. Or at least a good number of them still did. He might be the bastard of a peer and a good friend – and some would argue almost brother – of the Bloody Duke, but Harry was still a bastard with no title and a father who refused to recognize him. The differences in their stations would have been even more obvious six years ago when Penny first made her bows.

  No, back then, Harry wouldn’t have been able to get close enough to this magnificent creature to even so much as touch her glove. It was only because of what she had endured during the intervening years that allowed him to be with her now.

  So while he was truly sorry for all that she had miss
ed in her life, he could not be too sorry. Otherwise, he would never have this opportunity. And this was an opportunity he intended to take full advantage of while he could.

  “Would you like to see the dancing bears?” Harry asked when Penny clapped in delight at the performing dogs who had just finished their antics and were now waiting patiently for treats at their master’s feet. “I’ve never seen them but I am told they are extremely interesting.”

  To his surprise, Penny frowned and shook her head. “I do not think so. It is one thing for dogs to perform. They are pets after all and accustomed to living in homes or at least on estates. But bears? They are wild creatures and should be treated as such. They should not be kept locked away and forced to perform for our amusement. They deserve to live in the wild as nature intended.”

  “That is very progressive of you and perhaps a touch radical,” Harry replied as he led them away from the dogs and toward a dimly lit walk that would take them back toward the pagoda near the center of the gardens. He had heard that there would be exotic belly dancers there tonight and while they were likely scantily clad, he thought Penny might enjoy seeing them anyway. “Most of the nobility do not feel as you do, you know. Most people in general don’t, for that matter.”

  Looking up toward the night sky where the moon shone high overhead, Penny offered a slight shrug of her shoulders. “Back at Mrs. Fitzherbert’s, I had a classmate from Canada. Well, rather, she was English, but she had been born in Canada while her father was stationed at a diplomatic post in Toronto. They returned to England when she turned fourteen. She spoke frequently about the wildlife she saw there. Including bears. Though dangerous, from the way she described them they seemed like such majestic creatures, ones that should not be tamed or caged.”

  This sort of bluestocking talk took Harry by surprise once more and he said as much. “Again, I would have never thought you so progressive, sweetheart. That is considered unseemly in many proper circles, you know.”

  Turning, Harry watched the moonlight catch Penny’s eyes, making them sparkle like topaz. “Normally, I am not. I am not really some radical bluestocking, out to change the world.” She sighed and fingered the edge of her wrap. “Though I do believe strongly in freedom.”

  “So no zoos?” Harry asked, enjoying this rare moment of insight into Penny’s mind.

  “If a wild creature is injured and unable to care for itself? If it would die in the wild without human assistance? That is one thing.” She looked away and he suspected she was fighting back tears. “Otherwise, all creatures, be they human or animal, deserve to be free and not subject to the whims of another.”

  Harry had the sense that at some point, they had ceased speaking of dancing bears and were now talking about people. Penny herself in particular. Still, if they spoke about her uncle and his plans? Well, he might likely have to take her straight to Bow Street. Or at the very least, the Bloody Duke’s study. And he might never have this chance to be with her again.

  Therefore, whatever she was hiding could wait.

  Which was not like Harry at all to even think such a thing. He never placed anything before his work or what was right versus what was wrong. Especially not feelings or emotions. But again, tonight he didn’t care. For the first time in his life, he didn’t care about what was right and what was wrong. He simply cared about her. He cared about Penny above all things. Including his job.

  “Then I would say that such creatures would be fortunate to have you as a defender,” he finally replied.

  “Thank you for understanding.” She blushed prettily and once more, Harry wondered how far down that blush went. “Not many people do.”

  Harry cocked his head to the side. “You do not take compliments easily, do you?”

  Penny shook her head again, words clearly failing her once more, and she began walking away, as if to distance herself from him a bit. Or perhaps she wished to distance herself from this conversation.

  Either way, Harry did not tell Penny that she was heading away from the center of the gardens and down one of the true dark walks instead. She probably didn’t even notice. Or perhaps she did, though Harry rather doubted it.

  “I am not the sort of lady that gentlemen compliment all that often,” Penny finally replied as she took Harry’s arm when he caught up to her. If she noticed the steady hum of noise from the gardens slowly dropping away, she didn’t say anything. “Those effusive comments were more for my cousin Elizabeth.” She sighed and looked skyward again and Harry wondered what she was looking for. Or perhaps what she saw in the stars high above. “Elizabeth passed away several years ago, shortly after she made her come out. She was a year older than me and the apple of my uncle’s eye. Perfection incarnate. A true diamond of the first water. Or so everyone said. I never saw in her what others did, though she was beautiful and my uncle did cherish her deeply.”

  Harry made a mental note to look more thoroughly into the death of one Miss Elizabeth Marshwood first thing tomorrow. Given the way Penny had spoken of the woman, he had the impression that there was more to that particular story than she was saying and her death was, quite possibly, the root of Telford’s plot against Fullbridge. Initial research had indicated she had died of natural causes, but what if she hadn’t?

  “He should have been cherishing you just as much,” Harry retorted a bit angrily, Penny once again the focus of his thoughts. “For you are lovely, my perfect Penny. It is a true shame you cannot see it.”

  “I am plain,” she insisted.

  “You are beautiful.”

  “Ordinary,” she tried again.

  “Breathtaking.”

  “Average.”

  “Spectacular.”

  “Oh.” For whatever reason, Harry’s last compliment seemed to catch Penny’s attention and she looked up at him with blatant curiosity in her eyes. “No one has ever said that to me before.”

  Harry reached for her now and drew her close. He couldn’t help himself. “Then let me be the first. And let me also say how very glad I am that no man has truly noticed you before, sweetheart. Because if some man had, then you would not be here with me right now. And I am so very glad that you are.”

  Penny wanted to say something. Harry could see her lips forming the words. But whatever she would have said, he didn’t want to hear it. All he wanted was to taste her lips again. He couldn’t wait any longer. If that made him a madman, then so be it.

  Slowly, as if in a bit of a daze, Harry drew Penny into his arms and lowered his head to hers, seeking the soft sweetness of her lips. As if she had been anticipating the same thing, Penny rose up to meet him, as eager to taste him again as he was to taste her.

  They had kissed before, but somehow, this kiss was different. It was more open and honest, even though secrets and a great deal of mistrust lay between them. There was also a desperation to this kiss that he hadn’t experienced before with any woman. As if Penny was as desperate to taste him as he was to taste her.

  He breathed in the scent of her and felt her skin beneath his hands. He felt her lush curves and the way her arms wrapped tightly around his neck as she pulled closer to him. He sought out her breasts, cupping those soft, enticing globes in his palms while thumbing her hardening nipples through the thin fabric of her gown.

  Harry caressed Penny’s hair and kissed the hollow of her throat, running his tongue along the bare expanse of collar bone revealed by her gown. He sucked lightly on her shoulder, needing more of her but afraid of marking her as his own, afraid that people see and would guess what they had been about.

  Harry, a man who had always lived his life with the utmost of caution suddenly forgot himself and became the least cautious man in all of England.

  Somehow, without even trying, Penny – his contradictory, secret-keeping confounding yet perfect Penny – had filled every single one of his senses until he was nearly overwhelmed.

  This. This was what he had been missing for so very long. Forever, really. He’d thought himself in love
once before, years ago with a poor tavern wench that had caught his fancy. But his desire for that woman paled in comparison to what he felt now for Penny.

  Penny – a woman he should not desire or even trust but did anyway. Penny who was clever and funny and kind and thoughtful and everything he had ever wished for in a woman.

  Penny – the woman he desired and wanted to bed. Now. Even though his every instinct screamed at him that it would be a very bad idea. For so very many reasons.

  “I want you, Penny,” Harry whispered, his voice utterly ragged with desire. “You have no idea how much.”

  “I have some idea, I think,” she replied softly as she pressed her body into his, obviously feeling the same rush of desire as he. “I don’t know what this is, Harry. I’ve never known the like, but I fear that I will combust if I don’t do…something.”

  “We can’t. Not here. But that does not mean I don’t want to. I do. So very, very much.” Even with his brain as muddled as it was, Harry knew that he could not simply lay Penny down in the middle of one of Vauxhall’s infamous dark walks and have his way with her. No matter how much he wanted to do just that.

  “Then when?” There was no hint of subterfuge in her question, merely longing.

  “Soon,” Harry promised her, for what else could he say?

  “That is too long to wait. If we do, I am afraid I might lose whatever courage I have mustered up this evening.” Penny’s eyes held desperation now and once more, Harry wondered what she was keeping from him. “Can we not go somewhere?”

  For a long moment, he considered her request. Finally, he shook his head. He would not rush this. He would simply have to hope her courage to defy her uncle – for he was now certain that was the reason she held herself back from him – remained.

  “When I finally have you beneath me and claim you as mine, my sweet and perfect Penny, I will want to savor you and delight in you.” He stroked the pads of his thumbs over her bare shoulders. “All of you. For what I have planned is not a quick bite to eat, but rather a full course meal of delights.”