understand. Yours forever, Lillian.
Sheer black fright swept through him. Derwent was the ghost of her past, or at least he was the only person alive she could put to rest. Christ. Had she gone to kill Derwent? “Bring my goddamn horse around.”
At Mrs. Prewitt’s gasp he paused mid-stride towards the door and faced her. “Begging your pardon.” He turned without waiting for her to respond, thundered down the hall and flung open his door. If anyone was going to send Derwent to his death, it was going to be him, not Lillian. He prayed he wasn’t too late to protect her from risking her life or succeeding and then having to live with the guilt he knew she’d feel.
Lord Derwent, pinched-faced and pale, leaned back in the chair opposite Lillian and offered her a thin, cynical smile. She forced herself not to react. She was safe. He was moving slowly, due to his injury, and besides that, the theatre was her domain. Martin, her props mover, waited nearby in case she called for him. Steeling herself, she met Lord Derwent’s dark, assessing gaze. His irritating smile widened. “I must say, I’m surprised you summoned me, but I knew you wouldn’t last long without wanting to see me.”
She wanted to spit in his face. Instead, she smiled and prayed it appeared serene. “Did you?” Thank God her voice didn’t tremble.
“Of course.” He struggled to his feet and pressed his palms against the desk to bring his face came inches from hers. “Your sudden marriage shocked me when I heard of it. Especially since you always declined my offer of marriage, but then I figured it out.”
She jerked to her feet, not wanting to be so near him. What she had to say didn’t require having to smell his sweat or feel the draft of his fetid breath on her face. She strode around the desk and positioned herself where she could escape if need be. He may be injured, but she wasn’t going to take any chances. “What did you figure out?”
“You may now be married but you can’t forget me. Can you? You called me here because Edgeworth’s prick doesn’t satisfy you after having me inside you. Don’t worry, sweeting, once I’m recovered I’ll gladly fill you up.”
She barely held in her bile as he jerked towards her, his cane scraping the floor with his effort. Withdrawing the pistol from the folds of her dress where she’d hidden it, she said, “Don’t take another step. I didn’t call you here to kill you, but I can’t say I’ll regret it if you force me to it.”
A satanic smile spread across his lips. “You dirty little whore. You think you’ve enough guts to shoot me?”
She nodded, though her hands shook.
“I’ve the guts, Derwent,” came Nick’s ruthless voice from the doorway. “And as luck would have it, I brought my favorite pistol. I guarantee you’ll feel it when my bullet is inside of you.”
Lillian’s pulse leaped. She would have whirled around to face Nick, but she didn’t want to turn her back on Lord Derwent. He was a snake. Nick stepped close to her, a firm, possessive hand on her shoulder. She didn’t mind one bit. It had been stupid not to tell him what she was doing, but she was afraid he wouldn’t want her to do it. She loved him so much, she wasn’t sure she could have gone through with her plan if she’d known it upset him.
“Edgeworth.” Lord Derwent blanched. “I, that is, I wasn’t aware―”
“Be quiet.” Nick’s fingers tightened on Lillian’s shoulder. “If you keep talking, I’m definitely going to shoot you again.” His emotionless tone left no room for doubt. Lillian stepped closer to him, her back coming up against his hard body. He stroked her arm. “My dear, I assume you arranged a meeting with Derwent because you’ve something you wished to say to this worthless weasel and not because you want to kill him.”
“As usual you know my mind, dearest.” She hoped Nick understood how much she appreciated that he hadn’t barged in and tried to take charge of everything. His presence and understanding gave her confidence. She raised her chin and stared at Lord Derwent. “You did unspeakable things to me. But know this, I’ll never think of you after today. Nick has shown me what a real man is like. I thought all men small, rutting pigs because you were the only man I ever knew in intimate ways. But my husband has shown me what a real man is made of.”
Lord Derwent opened his mouth to speak but Nick waved his pistol. “Please talk, so I can put a hole right between your eyes. Shooting you in the leg wasn’t near as satisfactory as I thought it would be.”
Lord Derwent pressed his lips into a tight line.
Lillian understood something about him with abrupt clarity. “You crave power.” His face contorted. The chains of shame and fear that he’d burdened her with fell away. She pointed a finger at him. “You have no power over me anymore. My father forced me to you, and he’s dead. I would have never gone to you of my own volition. Get out. I’ve already forgotten you.” She kept her gaze on him. Courage and strength unlike anything she’d ever known were like a rock inside her.
He started to hobble past them, but Nick grabbed his arm. “Don’t forget what I told you before. I’m going to be watching you, listening for any word of misconduct towards a woman or even the tiniest hint of a rumor I don’t like. Do you understand?”
Lord Derwent jerked his head, and when Nick released him, he limped out the door. Lillian faced her husband. The shadows of fear that had held her back from giving her heart to him disappeared amid the bright light of his caring eyes.
His tight expression relaxed into a smile. “So you’re not leaving me?” The muscles at his jaw quivered.
She ran a finger down that strong jaw and slid it farther down his chest and over his heart. “I love you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you last night, but first I had to learn to leap. I think I fell in love with you the very day I met you.”
“That’s very good to hear.” His husky voice made her tingle all over. “I love you irrationally. A little bit ago, when I received your note, I was prepared to break my vow to myself to let you go, even if it was what you wanted.”
“What were you planning to do with me if I wanted to leave you?” She loved that she wanted to tease him and taunt him. Elation coursed through her.
He drew her tight against his chest. “I was going to kidnap you, like my grandfather did my grandmother. And then I was going to show you, with painstakingly slow, sensual caresses, how exquisite and empowering two people coming together could be.”
When he dropped his gaze from her eyes to her shoulders to her breasts, her heart jolted and her pulse pounded. “Well, my lord, you won my heart this week with your kindness and tenderness. Now I’d like to see how you win my body.”
He swept her weightlessly into his arms. “Your wish is my command.”
Many months later, Lillian studied her husband’s sensual profile as he dressed for the theatre. Dark tendrils of hair curled around his forehead and his full lips curved in a smile while he tried to tie his cravat. He growled in frustration. “I can feel you watching me.”
She leaned up on her elbow, the silken sheets of their bed gliding across the bare skin of her arm. “Let me help you.”
“All right.” He swung towards her, his eyes glittering with a dangerous desire she adored.
She scrambled to her knees and picked up the pillow beside her. “No, you don’t. We’ve no time for another romp. Your grandfather will be livid if we miss meeting him at the theatre again.”
Nick slid off the cravat he’d been tying, and whipped his shirt over his head. His taut belly made her stomach flutter as it did every time she saw his flesh. He came to the bed and knelt before her to run a finger over her breast. He swirled his finger around her nipple until she couldn’t hold back her moan.
“Nick.” She wasn’t sure if she was going to tell him to stop or beg him to continue.
“Hmm?” Leaning over her, he nuzzled her neck with his lips and then moved lower to lick one breast and then the other. Unable to hold back her desire, she tossed the pillow aside and threw her head back as he sucked on her nipple. A hot ache grew inside her, and decision made, she raked
her nails up his back and delved her hands into his hair to press him closer. She no longer gave a fig that the duke would be mad, or that as the owner of the theatre she really should be at the opening night of the most talked about play in Town.
“Don’t stop. Miss Lloyd can handle the opening and your grandfather.”
When Nick stopped, exactly as she’d just instructed him not to, she glared at him. He grinned. “Have I told you how brilliant I think you are for hiring her as your theatre manager?”
Lillian wiggled onto her back and crooked a finger. In a flash, Nick loomed over her, the heat of his body caressing her. “You’ve told me how brilliant I am for hiring her every time we miss an opening.” Lillian giggled. She couldn’t help it. Irresponsible or not, she was too happy to care, and Miss Lloyd really could handle everything.
Nick bent and lavished kisses on her from her neck all the way to her belly. When he was between her legs, he gently spread her thighs and slowly stroked her core. She writhed underneath him, arching to press closer towards his mouth.
His tongue moved faster, causing blood to surge from her center to the tips of her toes and her fingertips. Inside, a familiar pulsing need built. His strokes slowed to a sensual pace that made her cry out. “Faster. Dear God, faster.”
He chuckled, sliding his tongue over her sensitive flesh and then blowing on it to cool it. The teasing excited her to the point she thought she may burst from wanting release. “Nicholas.” Her ragged word was a warning and a plea. He rose over her, gripped her bottom and lifted her towards him. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pressed her hands against his solid thighs.
Their gazes locked, as their breathing came in unison. He squeezed her buttocks. “How is it possible I want you more every time I take you? I don’t think my need will ever lessen.”
She pulled on his neck until his mouth found hers. His tongue tickled her lips, and then he crushed his mouth against hers in a demanding kiss that left her panting. When he retreated, she shivered with delight. “Prove to me your need hasn’t lessened. Show me how desirable I am.”
He yanked her legs higher and plunged into her with one long, delicious stroke. He slid in and out in a rhythm that left her dizzy with yearning. As if he could read what she didn’t say, he moved faster, his movements coming harder, until her teeth clenched and she raked at his backside while struggling to hold off a bit longer.
The slide of his flesh against hers was too much to bear. The pressure built and her body coiled inward with need. Small waves of pleasure rolled from her core outward until the pleasure was deliciously painful. She shuddered again and again, her heart hammering, her senses reeling.
A ragged grunt came from him, and he curled his fingers harder into her flesh, holding her in place as his body tensed and his warm seed spilled inside her. His sweat-slicked body came down over her, their hearts pounding together in the silence. After a time, he rolled to his side and brought her with him into the cocoon of his arm. Her limbs felt too heavy to move, but she had a confession to make. She cleared her throat, moved towards his chest and toyed with the springy hair there.
He settled a large hand over hers. “What is it, my love?”
“I hope we made a child tonight. I know you need an heir, and I don’t want to ever disappoint you.” She’d not voiced her fear out loud yet. Three months of lovemaking and nary a child. “What if I’m barren?”
“I wouldn’t care.” He caressed her head. “You’re all I want. All I need. Anything more is a boon to a life I’d given up on.”
Happiness burst within her. “I love you.”
“And I you.” His voice was drowsy.
A warm glow flowed through her. She had a life she’d never thought possible and the man beside her was the reason. She snuggled against Nick. He loved her, cherished her and valued her. At last, she had a true family.
OTHER TITLES AVAILABLE BY JULIE JOHNSTONE
BARGAINING WITH A RAKE (A Whisper of Scandal Novel Book 1)
CONSPIRING WITH A ROGUE (A Whisper of Scandal Novel Book 2)
DANCING WITH A DEVIL (A Whisper of Scandal Novel Book 3)
AFTER FOREVER (A Whisper of Scandal Novel)
A WHISPER OF SCANDAL TRILOGY (Books 1-3)
MY FAIR DUCHESS (A Once Upon A Rogue Novel, Book 1)
WHAT A ROGUE WANTS (Lords of Deception Book 1)
THE REDEMPTION OF A DISSOLUTE EARL (A Danby Family Novella 1)
ECHOES IN THE SILENCE (THE SIREN SAGA) BOOK 1
ANTHOLOGIES
A Summons From Yorkshire (Regency Christmas Summons Collection 1)
A Gentlemen’s Pact (Regency Christmas Pact)
All books are available as e-books and print books at all major e-book retailers.
Julie Johnstone is a USA Today best-selling author of Regency Romance and the author of a new urban fantasy/paranormal romance book. She’s been a voracious reader of books since she was a young girl. Her mother would tell you that as a child Julie had a rich fantasy life made up of many different make believe friends. As an adult, Julie is one of the lucky few who can say she is living the dream by working with her passion of creating worlds from her imagination. When Julie is not writing she is chasing her two precocious children around, cooking, reading or exercising. Julie loves to hear from her readers. You can send her an email at [email protected] or find her at www.juliejohnstoneauthor.com, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/authorjuliejohnstone or at twitter @juliejohnstone.
Now Available!
My Fair Duchess, A Once Upon A Rogue Novel, Book
After years of playing the rake to hide a dark family secret, the Duke of Aversley feels tainted beyond redemption and cynical beyond repair. Never does he imagine hope will come in the form of a quirky, quick-witted lady determined to win the heart of another gentleman.
Thanks to a painfully awkward past, Lady Amelia De Vere long ago relinquished the notion she was a flower that had yet to blossom. But when her family faces financial ruin and the man she has always loved is on the verge of marrying another, she’ll try anything to transform herself to capture her childhood love and save her family―including agreeing to participate in a bet between her brother and the notorious, dangerously handsome Duke Of Aversley.
Bound by the bet, Amelia and Aversley discover unexpected understanding and passion beyond their wildest dreams, if only they can let go of their pride, put trust in each other and chance losing their hearts.
Also Available Now!
After Forever, A Whisper of Scandal Novel
A year after her husband’s tragic death, all Lady Julianna Barrows wants is to be left alone and forget that most of her heart went with him when he passed. Instead, she finds herself the subject of many a matchmaking scheme and lurid offer to ease her widowhood, as well as save her fading fortune. Desperate to avoid having to remarry, she takes on a position as a tutor, only to discover that the man she’s helping unexpectedly stirs her heart and passion.
Nash Wolverton boxed his way out of the London slums and into immense wealth, but he couldn’t care less about Society’s approval. Except he has his by-blow daughter’s future to consider. To ensure her acceptance into Society, he’ll endure anything―including procuring a tutor to transform him into a gentleman so he can secure a suitable, boring wife.
Yet what he wants changes the moment he hires Julianna. She may be a lady, but she’s far from tedious. Bold and compassionate, she is nothing like the women of the ton. Suddenly, she’s elicited a simmering desire in him, and even a longing to love and be loved that he always thought out of his reach. Knowing what he planned to settle for can now never be enough, he vows to win her love. But as the walls she’s built begin to crumble, Julianna’s fears threaten to tear them apart and she alone must decide if protecting her heart trumps breaking Nash’s.
Season For Surrender (A Danby Family Novella Book 2) Page 8
