Wallflower (Old Maids' Club, Book 1)

by Catherine Gayle

  Using his hands, he stroked her passion to a silky, violent blaze, first teasing her breasts, then dancing a lazy, circuitous path to the crux of her curls where he tantalized her. Small sounds came from her, rising in pitch and unrecognizable to her own ears. Again, he reached between their bodies and his thumb brushed her over the edge, her cries muffled against his mouth as he kissed her through the torrent of release.

  Tabitha stroked her hands over his back, his buttocks, the tops of his thighs. She wanted to touch him everywhere. She wanted to do for him as he had done for her. The thrusting of his hips increased, as did her hunger for more. Somehow, he drove deeper than before as his pace became near frantic. With one final, firm plunge, he spilled inside her, filling her with his heat and calling out into the night.

  For long moments Noah lay collapsed atop her, still buried deep inside her as they both fought for air. His weight pinned her to the ground, but Tabitha didn’t mind. She didn’t want the moment to end. For as long as it could last, she wanted to stay connected to him in this precise manner. They belonged together.

  Finally, he lifted himself up on his arms and looked down into her eyes. “Beautiful. You’re so beautiful to me.”

  For the first time in her life, she felt beautiful, too.

  ~ * ~

  Noah couldn’t be certain how long ago the fireworks had ceased. But after several moments of basking in the afterglow of making love to Tabitha, it became amply clear that they were no more. Lady St. Benedict and her party had to be wondering at their absence. Surely Leith and Miss Faulkner, if no one else, would find their nonappearance conspicuous. They needed to put their clothes back on and return, and the sooner, the better.

  But he couldn’t bear to end the moment. Not so soon. Not yet.

  Noah traced a lazy pattern over Tabitha’s bare stomach, watching her skin flutter and tremor beneath his touch in the moonlight peeking through tree branches overhead. “Did you love him?” he asked. Immediately he wished he hadn’t, because of the surge of jealousy that flooded through him. The thought of another man touching Tabitha as he had just done, of another man being inside her, was not one on which Noah wished to dwell.

  “James Marshall?” At his nod, Tabitha continued. “I thought he loved me. I wanted to be loved. I probably convinced myself that I did love him, just because I wanted so desperately for someone to choose me.”

  Noah’s heart broke for her. The one time she’d thought a man had loved her, he’d been using her. She had given this James Marshall everything she had, her body and her innocence, and he had called her a fat wench. The bastard stole far more than her jewelry that day. He stole her belief in herself and her ability to trust.

  No wonder it had taken so long for her to believe Noah could want her for more than her dowry. No wonder she still questioned his intentions.

  “He didn’t deserve you,” Noah said softly.

  Tabitha snuggled closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. After a few minutes, she was asleep. He watched her, the gentle rise and fall of her chest, the light flickering of her eyelids. She was at once entirely at peace, and still the most enticing vision Noah could imagine.

  Something sounded in the distance, like a twig snapping underfoot, and Noah’s head snapped up. He scanned the area, but nothing seemed to move in the darkness.

  It must have been his imagination. Or maybe an animal had caused the sound, a squirrel or a bird of some sort. Either way, it was nothing to worry about.

  But he did need to take Tabitha back to her cousin. The disturbance only served to remind him that they were completely nude in a public place. Anyone could come upon them at any moment. The trees only provided so much cover.

  Time to wake his sleeping angel. There were only thirty-six more hours, after all, until she would be his wife. Then he could watch her sleep as often as he wanted. Every day, in fact.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Today is your last day as a free man,” Shelton said, coming up alongside Noah on the path to Shelton Hall. Noah had been heading in; Shelton was on his way out, with Raynesford, Claremont, and Leith not far behind. He draped an arm across the back of Noah’s shoulders and turned him around, changing his course. “You need a drink. Come along. I’ll buy.”

  Unless the drink in question was coffee, Noah didn’t think he wanted anything to do with it. He held up his hands and shook his head. “I’d intended to call on Tabitha today.” Then he realized it was hardly past noon. “And isn’t this a little early in the day for drinks?”

  Shelton frowned and raised an eyebrow. “It is never too early in the day for drinks. Once you’re awake, that is. If you’re still sleeping, it might be just a touch on the early side.”

  “You’ll be able to see her as much as you want for the rest of your life,” Raynesford countered. “More than you want, even.”

  Claremont chuckled. “And I’m sure she’ll survive without your presence for another hour or two today. I don’t think she’s come down from her chamber yet.”

  “Imagine that,” Leith murmured where only Noah could hear. “Quite unlike Lady Tabitha to sleep in so late. One might think she had something of an extraordinary evening last night, if one didn’t know better.”

  Noah studied Leith. The earl didn’t appear inclined to divulge anything he knew—or for that matter, anything he suspected—to Tabitha’s brothers about what had happened the previous evening. A brief nod had been all that was exchanged between them the night before, when Noah and Tabitha had returned to find the supper box deserted save for Leith and Miss Faulkner, who patiently awaited their return.

  “Come on,” Claremont put in. “We want to toast your impending nuptials. And Helen expects me home in a few hours. Why she thinks I ought to participate in her at-home, I’ll never understand. But it is easier to comply than to listen to her complaints after the fact.”

  Raynesford winked. “Yet another thing Devonport ought to make note of.”

  It wouldn’t hurt to go along with them. Particularly not since Tabitha was still abed. They had been out later than he’d intended last night. And their activities had been a bit more vigorous than a leisurely stroll through the gardens. She needed to rest.

  Indeed, having her well-rested for the next day was of chief importance. She would need all the energy she could muster for what Noah had in mind for the honeymoon.

  “Very well,” Noah agreed. “Where shall we be off to?”

  Shelton pulled him along to a waiting carriage. “White’s, I should think. There is a certain matter in the book there which needs to be settled, after all.” They all clambered inside and it rocked into motion.

  “Not so fast, Toby,” Claremont said. “Not until after the vows have been said. I want signatures in the church register before I’ll pay up.”

  Leith chuckled and his broken nose tugged slightly to the left. “Helen keeping tight rein over the purse strings again?”

  “I think we all know who wears the breeches in that relationship,” Raynesford drawled, earning himself a punch on the shoulder from his cousin.

  “The deed is as good as done.” Shelton held out an open palm. “Cough up.”

  “Sounds to me like you’ve exceeded your allowance again,” Claremont said. “Maybe you ought to ask your father for an increase. I’d love to see what Uncle Drake thinks about that.”

  Raynesford snorted. “There is no chance Father will grant him more than he already has. If Toby asks, he’ll demand to know how he has gone through what he already had—what it was spent on. The answers, I can assure you, will hardly suffice. No matter what the specific answers may be.”

  The brief journey to White’s was filled with much the same sort of easy banter. It dawned on Noah that he could expect year after year of the same, now. He’d be far from alone, despite the fact that his mother and sisters had all left him for their husbands. He’d have Tabitha’s family.

  He’d have Tabitha.

  It shouldn’t be possible to feel s
o altogether content with one’s lot in life. It felt as though there ought to be something inherently wrong with being pleased to the point of sheer bliss with one’s existence, when one considered how lamentable the existence of so many others were.

  But content he was. No, perhaps content wasn’t the right word. Cheerful. Delighted. Exultant. Something more along those lines might be a more apt description.

  Upon entering their club, they took up a table near the back of the main room and Shelton ordered a round of whiskey for them all.

  “Brandy, for me, if you don’t mind,” Noah cut in. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to smell whiskey again without possibly casting up the contents of his stomach. Leith grinned at him from across the table, no doubt remembering their last mutual visit to the establishment like he was.

  After their drinks were brought around and they laughed for a few more minutes about Shelton’s dwindling allowance (“I swear, most of what I have spent has gone toward buying presents for Lady Backingham, and even then, I haven’t spent remotely what you seem to believe I’ve spent”). Then talk once again turned to Raynesford and Shelton wanting to go ahead and call the bet between the five of them a done deal.

  “The marriage will take place tomorrow. Won’t it, Devonport?” Raynesford’s tone brooked no argument.

  Noah started to agree, but Shelton cut him off. “Of course it will happen. He knows we’ll cut his ballocks off with a dull, rusted blade if it doesn’t.”

  “Fine way to guarantee collecting on your bet,” Claremont said on a laugh. “Threatening the man’s ballocks hardly seems fair.”

  Leith downed the last of his whiskey. “I’ve never known Toby to care about fairness. That said, there is no doubt that Devonport and Tabitha will marry tomorrow. I’m willing to pay up right now.” His eyes fixed onto Noah’s as he spoke, with a warning in their depths.

  “I’ll pay and we’ll call it finished,” Noah agreed. “I don’t want to chance forgetting after the wedding, once I’m otherwise occupied, and then having you lot send debt collectors knocking at my door.”

  Claremont heaved a forced sigh. “Fine. You win. We’ll settle it all now and mark it in the books.” He threw back his tumbler and finished off his drink. “But let this be known. If anything happens to change it, I’ll expect my coin back with interest.”

  “Fat chance that’ll happen,” Shelton grumbled. In the time required for the rest of the table to finish their one whiskey each (or half a brandy, in Noah’s case), he had worked his way through two and had started on a third. He tossed the rest back and swallowed, holding out his open hand for their money. When all the coins had exchanged hands and everyone seemed satisfied, he pushed back from the table and asked, “Who’s going to finalize everything in the betting book? We can’t just leave it sitting there like the wager is still unsettled.”

  Noah stood as well. “I’ll handle it and meet you all out at the carriage.”

  The other gentlemen all got to their feet and made their way out the door, except for Leith, who walked with Noah up to the bow window. “Because you’re marrying Lady Tabitha tomorrow morning,” he said with a quiet voice, “I don’t feel it necessary to call you out. Nor do I think it wise to inform her brothers and cousin of what happened last night. Miss Faulkner agrees with me.”

  They drew closer to where the betting book was situated. A large group of gentlemen were situated around the table, talking in animated tones and laughing robustly. Noah and Leith inched their way forward, pushing politely between bodies until they were close enough to discern what was causing the commotion. Oglethorpe. The bastard. He stood directly in the center of the grouping, alongside Eggerley. But it was Oglethorpe’s voice coming over the din of the crowd.

  “Time to pay up, Eggerley. She took me off onto one of the dark paths, and then we found a little copse of trees. The cow was pulling my clothes off faster than a starving whore working for a half-crown. I tupped her right there in the open air beneath the fireworks. Got the grass stains on my trousers to prove it, as you can see.” He brushed a hand over his thigh, drawing every eye to the green marks staining his buff-colored breeches. “I’ll be making my way to see Newcastle this afternoon. Let him know I’ll be glad to rectify the breach in short order. Since word’s already out to you all, I’m sure he’ll agree that a special license is in order.”

  “Lord Newcastle will agree to no such thing.” Noah couldn’t stand there and listen to one more word out of the cur’s vile mouth. With every word, with every syllable, a vise seemed to tighten around Noah’s throat until he couldn’t breathe at all. “Nothing of the sort happened, so there is no reason—”

  “Nothing happened, you say?” Oglethorpe let out a high-pitched laugh, almost a giggle. Probably nervous laughter. “I suppose that is what a man ought to say when he’s just been made a cuckold. Though you aren’t really a cuckold, are you, since you’ve yet to marry the cow? What does that make you, Devonport?”

  A raucous chorus of laughter filled the room. How these men could consider themselves gentlemen, Noah would never understand. There was nothing chivalrous amongst the lot of them. Nothing redeeming.

  He had to shut them out. Ignore them. Only his quarry deserved his attention at the moment. His pulse roared through his veins so loud he could scarcely hear anything else. Nothing existed save Noah and Oglethorpe. “I’d advise you to stop calling Lady Tabitha that. And while you’re at it, I’d advise you to recant your claims before this crowd. They’re untrue and you know it. Defiling a lady’s name in such a way is indefensible.”

  A practiced sneer covered Oglethorpe’s face. Noah’s hand itched to strike him until he could never sneer again. That or until it was made permanent.

  “And if I choose not to take your advice?”

  Inside Noah’s head, a cacophony of retorts warred with each other for dominance. He’d beat Oglethorpe to a bloody mess of flesh. He’d rip his heart out through his throat and toss it into the Thames to be eaten by the fish. He’d pummel him in the stomach until he begged for his nursemaid.

  None of them came close to being sufficient.

  “Then I’ll see you at dawn. Do you prefer pistols or swords?” Where on earth had that come from? He’d never handled a sword. Pistols weren’t much better. But it was the only solution.

  Oglethorpe raised a brow and a half-smile settled over his features. “Lord Devonport wishes to duel? How very risqué. Whatever will his mummy and precious sisters think of their little mollycoddled milksop?”

  “They’ll think he’s the man of honor and decency he’s always been, Oglethorpe,” Leith cut in, “unlike the ignoble excuse for a gentleman you are.”

  Turning shrewd, narrowed eyes on Leith, Oglethorpe pursed his lips. “Indeed,” he replied. “If Devonport didn’t have friends such as yourself, he might find himself an effeminate fop, from the influence of all the females surrounding him. But no matter. If he wishes to burden them with the job of cleaning him up once I’ve embarrassed him, who am I to argue? Eggerley, might I borrow your dueling pistols?”

  The burlier dandy nodded. “I’ll be your second, if you’d like.”

  “And I’ll second Devonport,” Leith said.

  “That’s settled then.” Noah tried to slow the flow of blood racing through his system so he could hear himself think. “I’ll see you at Hyde Park at dawn.”

  Before he could change his mind, Noah spun and left White’s, with Leith on his heels. When they got outside, only Claremont stood waiting for them. No carriage. Shelton and Raynesford were both gone.

  “We’ll have to hire a hack,” Claremont said congenially. “Lady Kibblewhite and Lady Plumridge came upon us as the carriage came around and asked Owen if he would mind giving them a lift to Shelton Hall. They wanted to call upon Tabitha this afternoon. While he was helping them into the carriage, Toby realized he’d forgotten his hat and went back to retrieve it. When he came back out, he looked as angry as I’d ever seen him. He climbed inside with Owen
and the two older ladies, and they were off before I got an explanation.”

  All the blood drained from Noah’s face.

  “Bloody hell,” Leith murmured beside him.

  Shelton had heard. How much he heard was anyone’s guess.

  “We’d better go,” Noah said. “Before Shelton murders my bride.”

  ~ * ~

  A crash sounded in the front entryway. “Where is she?” Toby roared. “Tabitha. Tell me where she is before I rip you in two.”

  Tabitha’s eyes widened as she looked across the drawing room at Elaine. “What has gotten into him?” Little Lily bounced happily on Tabitha’s lap, oblivious to the fact that her uncle was a stark-raving lunatic.

  Elaine just shook her head slowly back and forth.

  Livingston’s muted voice mumbled something Tabitha couldn’t make out mere seconds before the double-doors flew back, clattering and banging against the wall. Toby barreled through them with Owen close behind. For some reason, Lady Kibblewhite and Lady Plumridge followed them, their thirsty eyes drinking in everything before them.

  Tabitha wasn’t granted much time to wonder at their presence, however. Toby reached her side and pulled her bodily up by the arm. If not for her hurried reaction, pulling the little girl close, Lily would have fallen to the floor.

  “Is it true?” Toby demanded, glaring down into her eyes. Owen came over and took his daughter from Tabitha even as Toby shook her.

  “Is what true?” Tabitha hadn’t been the only one to ask. The two swarming vultures each chimed in at the same time.