A Lady for the Taking

by Bethany M. Sefchick

  Penny swallowed hard. “I didn’t know, Harry. I’m sorry. So, so sorry.” She also felt extremely ashamed that she had jumped to conclusions. She knew Harry better than this and, of course, Josie had been right. She was too busy looking for the bad in people that she found it immediately – or thought she did – rather than waiting to see if, indeed, something – or in this case someone – had changed for the better.

  “Well, now you do!” Harry turned away from her and for a moment, Penny wondered if she had lost him for good this time with her lack of trust.

  “I do know.” Needing to be brave, Penny notched her chin a bit higher. It didn’t matter that she was speaking to Harry’s back. These next words needed to be said. Now. Before it was too late. “Which is why I hope you will believe me, Harry Greer, when I tell you that I love you, as well.”

  “You do? Really? Honestly?” His back was still to her, but Penny thought she saw his shoulders relax a fraction.

  “I do.” She reached out and gave his jacket a tug so that he would turn and face her. “I didn’t want to, mostly because I was terrified of my uncle and what he might do. But that didn’t change how I felt inside. I loved you before and I love you now.”

  Harry’s stony expression softened a bit. “I know that, sweetheart. I truly do.”

  “And I really didn’t want to love you,” Penny continued, knowing that she had to get all of this out now while she was still brave enough. “I could never have seduced Fullbridge you see, because I was so attracted to you. But at the same time, the idea of loving you was terrifying because I worried that you would leave me or abandon me when this game you were playing to trap my uncle was finished. Because that is what the people in my life do. They leave me. But I loved you anyway, even though I knew you might cast me aside. I couldn’t help myself.”

  “Oh, sweetheart. Penny.” With a sigh, Harry drew her into his arms. “I had no idea. Couldn’t you tell how I felt? Didn’t you know that I will never leave you? Never.”

  She sniffed a bit pathetically. Since when had she become such a watering pot? “I thought I knew and I wanted to very much to believe that you cared for me, but…”

  “But history had proven to you that those you loved left you in the end,” Harry finished for her.

  “Something like that,” Penny agreed softly. “But I know better now. I know that you love me and, more importantly, I believe that you do. I simply have to hope that you still love me even after I left you in the ballroom.”

  At that, Harry smiled. “Oh, I don’t think you have much to worry about on that count, my precious, perfect, Penny. Because I do love you. Very, very much. And I always will.”

  When Penny melted into his arms, Harry sent up a silent prayer of thanks.

  When she had vanished from the ballroom, he had been convinced that he had lost his chance with her. He should have known that she would take his words in the ballroom – or rather lack of words – the wrong way. Still, he was who he was and, at heart, he was a very private man. He would likely never be comfortable professing his love so publicly the way his other friends did.

  Still, if Penny knew the truth, then that was all that mattered. Or so Harry hoped.

  “You still love me? Even after I ran away from you in the ballroom?”

  “Even after that.” Harry reached down to cup Penny’s face gently in his hands. “And even after everything that we have been through together.” He placed a light kiss on her lips. “From the moment I first saw you at that very first ball, something inside of me shifted. I didn’t recognize it then, but I think that’s when my heart knew that you were the one for me. The only woman I could ever and will ever love. It simply took my brain some time to catch up.”

  “Oh, Harry.” He was gratified when Penny placed her hand on his cheek. “And you are the only man I will ever love.” She pulled him down so that she could kiss him again. “But where do we go from here?”

  He was quiet for a moment. The last thing he wanted to do was say the wrong thing. Finally, he decided to ask the woman he loved what she wanted. For she counted just as much in this courtship as he did. “Where do you want to go?”

  “Anywhere that you are, Harry. I love you and the thought of being apart from you?” Penny shook her head. “I can’t bear it.”

  “Would you come with me to Gretna?” he asked, praying that she would agree because, like her, he didn’t want to be parted from her any longer than was necessary. Even a day was too long. “I know it’s not terribly romantic and I swear that when we return, we could have another ceremony if you like. But I hate the thought of being away from you, too. Now that I have you, I don’t want to let you go, not even for the length of a very short courtship. I’ve waited too long to find you, my perfect and precious Penny. I don’t want to wait any longer to make you mine.”

  “Yes, Harry! Yes!” His heart soared when Penny agreed without hesitation. “But first?”

  “Yes?” he asked, already calculating how quickly he could have his carriage brought around and they could be on their way.

  “One more kiss.” She bit her lower lip again and he nearly groaned with the need that was quickly rising within him. “Just one. Because we can. And because you are mine.”

  “Anything for you, sweetheart,” Harry vowed, hungry for his lips upon hers again. “Anything for you.

  Except that one kiss turned into more and then, well, that turned into quite a bit more until it was nearly an hour later and Harry and Penny were only then just arranging to depart for Gretna Green. But it was an hour worth waiting for, because as they came together, Harry and Penny professed their love for each other once more. A love that perhaps wasn’t meant to be but was just the same – exactly as it should be.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Town Tattler

  Can you believe it, dear readers? Our very own Harry Greer is married! Or should I say the future Lord Westerly, as the current viscount has finally acknowledged our beloved (and soon to be retired!) Runner as his son and heir. Still, married! And to Lady Penny, no less! I am told that a second ceremony will take place later this summer at Seldon Park when all of Lord Candlewood’s friends and family gather there for his annual summer house party. That will be an affair to remember, I am certain. Still…married!

  Well, I think we can all say we saw that one coming, no matter that her uncle was out to ruin Lord Fullbridge and use Lady Penny to carry out his awful plans. Speaking of that wretched man, has anyone seen the Earl of Telford these days? Last I heard, he was seen somewhere near the docks along the Thames, but then, it might not have even been him. Wretched old lords do all look the same these days, and he certainly shan’t be missed if he has disappeared.

  As for Telford’s daughter, the delightful Lady Josie, I am told she had taken up residence with Lord and Lady Radcliffe. The duchess is enjoying showing the young woman the sights of London and spending Miss Marshwood’s father’s funds on an entirely new wardrobe, one appropriate for a young lady of her station. After all, the Season is not yet over and I am hearing that Lady Josie is already making quite a splash with her elegance, grace, and charm, not to mention her exquisite beauty. Will she follow her cousin’s footsteps into the parson’s mousetrap this Season? I suppose we will have to wait and see. And won’t that be fun, dear readers? Well, I certainly think it will be.

  -Lady A

  Epilogue

  Early August 1821

  Seldon Park

  Sussex

  “It really was not well done of you to tease Nick like that. I am certain he does feel responsible for our marriage, at least in part. After all, if he had not packed my uncle off on that ship bound for Egypt, who knows if he might have caught up to us on the way to Gretna?” Penny turned and graced her husband of only a few months with a charming smile. “Besides, you know how Nick is about his matchmaking reputation. He rather prizes it greatly.”

  “Yes, yes I know,” Harry grumbled as he undid the laces on Penny’s gown with an
extreme amount of skill – a skill that had developed quite a bit since the two of them had raced off to Gretna Green so that they could wed immediately after the scene in Frost’s ballroom. “Oh, very well. He can have all the credit he likes. As long as his steward continues to work with me on these infernal land management lessons, he can think whatever he bloody well likes.”

  A scant two weeks after Harry and Penny had returned to London from Gretna Green, the current Viscount Westerly had, in fact, acknowledged Harry as his son and named him his heir. The news had caused something of a small scandal in London, but not among those Harry counted as his friends. The greater scandal, as it turned out, was on Bow Street when the chief magistrate refused to accept Harry’s resignation from the ranks, stating that even a part time Runner moving amongst the aristocracy was better than none at all.

  The shock of a future peer holding down an actual job – of all things – had echoed through London for nearly a sennight. Until, of course, a greater scandal had come along to upend the world as Society knew it once again. And then there was the matter of the “not really thieves” that had made all of the papers, as well as the “not really kidnappers,” and, well, a whole host of other scandals that had captivated London in the days following that fateful night. Now, all of these months on, Harry and Penny’s grand and somewhat unexpected romance, as well as their subsequent elopement, was no more than a mere footnote to an otherwise extremely scandal-laden Season.

  “I think you are doing wonderfully well, my love.” Penny turned in Harry’s arms and allowed him to peel her gown away from her body until her breasts were exposed so he could suckle them. He did so enjoy that, as did she. “Even your step-sisters no longer despise you. Well, at least not quite as much as they did at first.”

  The issue of Harry’s step-sisters, the current Viscount Westerly’s daughters, was something of a thorny issue even now. At first, all of the women had been adamantly opposed to Harry even being acknowledged as their half-brother. They took the news that, should their father pass in the near future, Harry would be the one in charge of their finances including their dowries and pin money, even worse. Apparently, Lady Daisy Balderson fancied herself as something of a financial wizard since she assisted her father with the estate ledgers and had simply assumed she would be the one in charge of everything when the time came. Even though she was a female. And thus, not able to inherit.

  Lady Daisy had not taken the news that would not be the case very well at all. She also still greatly resented Harry for his intrusion into her life and for upsetting her otherwise perfectly ordered world. However, Daisy’s other sisters had, over time, become accustomed to the idea that Harry was truly their half-brother. And, in a rather shocking display of possible future familial closeness, Lady Rose, the youngest of the sisters had even stated that it was “rather nice” to have a Runner as her partial brother. That might have been the nicest thing any of the sisters had ever said to him, but Harry would gladly take the praise, faint though it was, and move on.

  “They will either accept me or not in time,” Harry sighed as he turned Penny in his arms so that he could cup her breasts in his hands as he came up behind her. “I cannot worry about what they might or might not do in the future. At least not at the moment.” He nuzzled her neck. “But I can worry about my wife. Which I am. I want to make certain you are happy and content, sweetheart. I could not live with myself if you were not. I love you far too much for that.”

  Penny arched up into Harry’s touch and sighed. “I am happy, Harry. More so than you could possibly know. And now with Josie settled as well? Everything is as it should be.”

  The night Harry and Penny had set off for Gretna Green, Harry had left both Julia and Eliza a note asking that they take charge of Lady Josie while Penny was away. Penny had, of course, worried endlessly until they received a brief missive two days after they arrived in Gretna that assured her everything was fine with Josie and that she was adapting marvelously well to Society. Not that Harry had expected anything less. There was far more substance to Lady Josie Marshwood than anyone had previously realized.

  “I told you she would be fine.” Harry nuzzled Penny’s neck. “Only a fool would dare harm anyone under the Bloody Duke’s protection. That now includes your cousin.”

  At the time they left London, Penny hadn’t known that, though she did now. She had, however, simply been forced to trust in Harry and in Harry’s faith in his friends. Doing so hadn’t been easy, especially as Penny had no real idea how to trust any longer, though she was trying her best to learn. But, just as she had trusted in her love for Harry that night at Frost’s ball, she had also trusted that Harry would not place Josie in the care of someone that might harm her.

  When Penny and Harry had finally returned to London, Penny had been both surprised and delighted to find that her cousin was the current toast of London and one of the most sought-after young debutantes of the Season. She was also extremely overjoyed because Josie deserved nothing less than complete happiness in her life. They both did.

  “Yes, well, still, I am pleased that she did so beautifully this past Season. More so than anyone expected, I think.”

  “As am I.” Harry nipped at Penny’s shoulder, and she moaned with rising need. “But enough about your cousin. It is evening, we are alone, and we are at Seldon Park, one of the most romantic and secretive places in all of England. There is little else we could ask for.” He tugged Penny’s gown down so that it pooled at her feet in a silken puddle. She had the impression he loved doing that. “And need I remind you, sweetheart, that we are in one of the more remote wings of the house?”

  Looping her arm around her husband’s neck as she turned into his embrace once more, Penny used her free hand to quickly undo Harry’s cravat. “I think you may have mentioned that a time or two, yes. But we will be late for parlor games if we do not hurry up and change.”

  Harry growled deep in his throat and Penny had the impression there would be no parlor games for the two of them that evening. At least if her husband had his way. “The others will live. If there even are parlor games. Given my friends and their proclivities, I would not bet on such a thing.”

  “Really?” Penny gasped as Harry pressed her back hard against the wall.

  “Really.” He cupped her feminine mound and she cried out in pleasure, the zing of need racing through her veins. “I also know what you like, my perfect Penny. Far better than they do.”

  She hissed out a breath when he grasped her thigh so that he could raise her leg and wrap it around his waist. “Oh, yes, Harry, I do like that. Very much so.”

  He kissed the hollow of her throat. “I know you, do sweetheart. I also know what else you like.”

  “Which is?” Somehow, while undressing her, Harry had also managed to shed a good deal of his own clothing as well until he was now nearly as naked as she.

  “I know that you like it when I am inside of you.” He thrust his hips against hers and Penny gasped at the feel of his hard cock at her entrance. She wondered if she would ever become accustomed to his size. She rather doubted it. “I know you like it when I fuck you, my precious Penny. Repeatedly.”

  The first night they had made love, Penny could not have known then how much Harry’s occasionally coarse language would excite her, but now, after all of these months, nothing could arouse her faster. Especially when he spoke of their coupling.

  “Oh, Harry,” Penny whispered again as the last of their clothing disappeared. “You do know me so well.”

  “I do,” he whispered as he sank his throbbing erection into her waiting heat. “In fact, I know you better than anyone else in this world. For you are mine, Penny. My lady. I took you as mine even when I knew I should not. And I do not regret it for an instant.”

  “Neither do I,” Penny groaned as she felt Harry sink himself into her waiting heat. “Neither do I.”

  And so, as it turned out, Penny and Harry missed not only the parlor games that night, but break
fast and battledore on the lawn the next morning. They also missed pall mall that afternoon, though thankfully no one was hit by a stray mallet, something that had become a running joke in Society after the previous Season.

  And, as Harry had so accurately predicted, no one cared. For they were all busy elsewhere indulging in their own passions. Which was exactly how a summer house party at Seldon Park should be.

  Coming Early Summer 2019

  Lady Dorothea “Dory” Tillsbury is bored. Utterly and completely. She is bored with life and bored with her suitor, a nice man that she was once infatuated with to the point of distraction, but now reminds her more of a stodgy old man than a heated and passionate suitor. In order to sate her desire for adventure, Dory has been sneaking out of the house once a week to attend the scandalous masquerades held at Dionysus, a wicked gaming hell that caters to both gentlemen – and ladies!

  Disgraced lord Jeremy Dunn has been enchanted by the masked peacock who has suddenly begun making regular appearances at his club’s weekly masquerades. He has a strict “no touching the guests” policy, both for himself and his staff, but in the case of the lovely peacock – no mere peahen for this daring lady! – he finds his resolve to keep his hands off of her delectable body wavering. Especially when it becomes clear that she is just as captivated by him as he is with her.

  Determined to learn her identity and coax her into sharing his bed, Jeremy pursues his enchantress at every opportunity but she continues to slip away from him. Until one night, she doesn’t. Is Dory brave enough to reveal her true identity to Jeremy? And if she does, can he deal with the reality of who she is when she isn’t playing his masked lover?