She’d jumped with shock when he stood and slammed the cup back onto the tray she’d brought to him. One hand over her bosom, she’d stared at him as if he’d gone mad.
“Robert, what on Earth has gotten into you? Are you ill?”
He’d ducked his head before she could check his brow for fever, heaving a frustrated grunt. “I’m fine. In fact, I’m better than I have been in some time. I’m in love with Lady Cassandra Lane and I intend to make her my wife. That is what I was doing in London, Mother. She left, and I went after her and refused to return without her.”
She blinked several times, her mouth gaping and shutting several times as if she searched for words. “You must be ill, delirious with fever. You are spouting nonsense!”
“No, the way we live is nonsense,” he countered, reaching out to take hold of her shoulders. “Mother, I love you … but, your constant worrying and coddling must cease. I’m not a boy anymore. William, Jonas, and Andrew were young and we lost them. It hurt … it hurts every day. But we cannot let it make us afraid.”
Tears filled her eyes as she stared up at him, trembling in his hold. “I am afraid every day … all the time. Every morning when I wake, I fear I will enter your father’s chamber to find he has stopped breathing. When you are not here, I dream about you dying in horrible ways, each time different than the last. Since you were a boy you’ve died a thousand deaths in my dreams. Do not tell me not be afraid! When your father is gone, you will be all I have left.”
Pity overwhelmed him for his mother, who meant well despite being overbearing. He understood her dread all-too well. It had held him back from so many things in life.
“I don’t have to be all you have left,” he said, gentling his voice. “There could be Cassandra, too. There could be children. Don’t you want to be a grandmama?”
She gave a wobbly smile at that. “Of course I do, but—”
“No,” he interjected. “No buts, no maybes, no speculation over death or loss or the future. William didn’t know he was going to die … but before he did, he enjoyed his life. He reveled in London and went to university and rushed headlong into saving a woman’s life because it was the right thing to do. Jonas didn’t know he was going to die, but he lived every day like it was his last. He craved adventure and chased it wherever it would take him. And Andrew … he was just a boy, but there seemed to be the soul of an older man inside him.”
The baroness laughed at that, her smile widening through her tears. “He never wanted to stop learning new things.”
“Exactly,” he’d replied. “I don’t know when I’m going to die, or when you or Father will die. I don’t want to know, and I refuse to spend every day worrying about it. I may never understand why we survived and they didn’t, but while we are still in this world we have a chance to live life the way they did. To learn new things, and chase adventures, and revel in the exciting. That’s what I want … and I want it with Cassandra, and you, and Father for however much time there is left.”
She’d collapsed into his arms and wept, clinging to him as she always did. But this had felt different. Instead of feeling as if she were holding him back, Robert felt in the depths of his soul that she was finally setting him free.
“I love you, my dear, sweet boy,” she had said, patting his cheek. “You have always been the light of my life, my pride and joy. I never thought any woman could be good enough for you. I still believe that.”
He’d laughed, reaching into his coat to offer her a handkerchief. “You haven’t come to know Cassandra yet. When you do, you’ll see she’s perfect for me. You were right about Daphne. At least, about her not being the woman for me. But Cass … she’s the one, I can feel it. I love her, and so will you.”
The baroness had given him a skeptical look, but said no more. The rest of the day had passed with an excruciating slowness, but he’d been forced to wait. Cassandra wouldn’t be expecting him until evening, and he’d needed the time to think over what he would say. She had confessed her love for him … but would she marry him? After all that had happened, she might still need time to grow accustomed to this new life—a life in which she was not the Masked Menace, where Bertram no longer haunted her, and where she was free to be and do whatever she wished.
But, he couldn’t wait any longer. He felt as if he’d been waiting his entire life for her. Whether she agreed to marry him or not, she would never be rid of him. He’d beg her every day if he had to.
He knew how she loved it when he begged.
Before stepping into the clearing where the swimming hole lay, he crouched to pluck a perfect primrose from the ground. It’s yellow petals spread to the moon, vibrant and beautiful. With a smile, he proceeded along his path.
He hadn’t expected her to meet him here, but there she stood on the water’s edge. She wore a forest green gown that flowed about her legs in a gossamer curtain. Her hair had been taken down, hanging in amber ringlets down her back. The impact of her eyes as he neared took his breath away. Her bruised face had begun to heal, the swelling gone and the purplish tinge giving way to greenish yellow. But through all that, he saw her.
He’d never be able to look at her again without thinking her the most beautiful creature in the world.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” she said, coming forward to meet him. “There is something I want to tell you, and I thought it appropriate to do so right here, where you saved me.”
Gazing out over the water, he recalled watching her go under and the fear that had clenched his throat when she didn’t resurface. “But, you weren’t drowning. You didn’t need me to come in after you.”
“Yes, I did,” she whispered, gazing at the pond. “You see … when I would come out here to jump into the water, it was to contemplate death.”
He tensed, his pulse accelerating as he remembered his suspicions from that night.
“I used to sink as far as I could and think about giving myself over to the water,” she continued. “I wondered if the silence and the stillness in the depths was what life after death might be like. I wanted an end to the fear, the pain, the rage. But then … you came in after me and pulled me out. You challenged me and made me question if it might have all been worth it.”
Cupping her face with his free hand, he inched closer until he registered the scent of oranges and clove, until the heat radiating off her body seeped into his skin.
“And was it worth it?”
She nodded, then turned her head to kiss his palm. “It was … it is. I want to live, Robert. I want the fear and the pain, but I want the joy too. I want the happiness. And I want it all with you. That night of your father’s birthday … Do you want to know what he said to me?”
“Very much.”
She smiled at him, plucking his hand from her face and clutching it in both of hers. “He told me he knew he wasn’t long for this world. He said that when he was gone, he wanted to know that you would be taken care of … that you would have something to live for. He told me that he had a feeling I was it. At the time I found the idea preposterous. I was still fighting you … fighting us. But, now I know he was right, because I want to be the thing you live for, the reason you smile ... and I need you to be all those things for me. I want to be with you for all my days.”
His mouth fell open as he found himself momentarily stunned. “Are … are you …”
“Asking you to marry me?” she replied with a little laugh. “It’s a bit unorthodox, I’ll admit—”
“It’s perfect, because I came here tonight to ask you the same thing.”
It was her turn to look stunned, her gaze falling to the primrose in his hand. He raised it between them, twirling the stem and watching the way the moonlight illuminated the petals.
“Last year, I went to London with a ring, thinking I would come back with the love of my life,” he said, turning his gaze to her. “I didn’t return with what I wanted, but along the way I found what I needed. You. Every part of you, even the parts you don�
��t like. I love them all, because they all make up the different facets of the person I adore. I don't have a ring tonight, but ...”
He took hold of her left hand, looping the stalk of the primrose around her third finger. She grinned as he tied the stem into a knot so that the blossom lay the way the jewel in a ring would.
“What I do have is a true and lasting love for you,” he said, taking her hand and placing it over his heart. “I have myself to give to you for the rest of my life … and I have a surety that our life together, no matter how difficult it may be at times, will be one worth living. Marry me, Cass.”
Her smile faded as she stared into his eyes, her hand still pressed against his pounding heart. In her gaze, he saw all the emotion she’d previously shuttered away from him. He saw every painful moment of what was behind her, but also the glimmer of hope for what lay ahead.
“Yes,” she murmured, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I’ll marry you.”
He took her into his arms, one hand cupping the back of her head.
Fingers tangled in her hair, he angled her head for a kiss. She returned the intimacy, her mouth moving against his with an urgency that gave fuel to his own insatiable desire. He didn’t think there could ever be a day she stopped affecting him this way.
Breaking the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers and met her gaze. For the first time in his life, uncertainty about the future did not seem so daunting. He held forever in his arms, and come what may, he knew that was one thing that would never change. It was the one thing that could never die.
Epilogue
THREE MONTHS LATER …
Robert paused in the doorway to his mother’s favorite drawing room and peered inside, a soft smile curving his lips at what he discovered. The baroness sat on a loveseat with an embroidery hoop in her hands. Beside her, he found Cassandra holding a similar hoop. Her graceful, dexterous fingers worked a needle through the fabric with an ease born of practice.
The two had become fast friends, and as he’d predicted, his mother had come to like Cassandra.
On the day he’d brought his betrothed to Briarwell to announce their engagement to his parents, he had settled her in this very room to go fetch them. His mother had been apprehensive, still worried over what their impending marriage could mean for the reputation of their family. Robert had done his best to assure her that everything would be all right. Marriage would erase the stain of her ruination, and their shocking match would replace past gossip about her. No one would have predicted such a match, and he supposed they would be the topic of drawing room talk for at least another year.
He’d led the baroness to this room and paused on the threshold. “Mother, this marriage is happening. You must accept it.”
She had frowned, but nodded in agreement. “You are not like yourself Robert ... you are different now. I suppose I would have her to blame.”
“I'm more myself than ever, so you would have her to thank,” he’d corrected. “Now, go in there and get to know your new daughter-in-law. She will be part of our family now and I want the two of you get along.”
She’d issued an impatient huff. “And if we do not?”
He’d given her a teasing grin. “There’s always the Outer Hebrides for you.”
“That isn’t funny,” she’d grumbled.
But, she had taken herself into the drawing room and pasted a smile on her face for his benefit. As he’d stood outside the room, he had watched her discover that Cassandra had been studying the embroidery work she’d left lying on the couch.
Cassandra’s voice had flitted out to him, soft and tentative. “This is lovely. I wish I knew how to do such fine work.”
His mother had been shocked to learn his future wife did not possess a skill for embroidery. “Goodness, child! Did your mother not instruct you?”
Cassandra’s face had fallen at that, the pain of the dowager’s rejection still as acute as ever. The baroness seemed to register it, and from that moment on she found herself a new person to coddle. Now, when Cassandra visited, his mother was ready with tea and biscuits, and embroidery hoops for practice. The two talked and laughed together, and his mother fell seamlessly into the role of mother to a woman who had been lacking one all her life.
As he watched them now, with his wedding day looming ahead in a few, short weeks, he felt a contentment he’d never known. His father’s health hadn’t improved, but the man spent as much time with them as he could, reveling in seeing his son happy at last.
Turning away from the drawing room, he decided to let them have their time together. He’d have Cassandra all to himself tonight, when he stole away to visit her at Easton Park. He could hardly wait until they were wed and she came to live at Briarwell. That way, he would not have to sneak around to be with her. After being whipped with her crop and fucked within an inch of his life, he would prefer to curl up in his own bed with her and sleep, not traipse about the woods with a sore arse.
He entered his study. On the desk lay a letter from Daphne, sent from her new home in Scotland. He and Cassandra had agreed to invite her and Hartmoor to the wedding—after all, the two of them were responsible for their ending up together. He’d enclosed a personal letter along with the invitation, asking after her welfare and wishing her well. She had written back, thanking him for helping her reunite with Hartmoor. She’d also reported the impending birth of their first child, news that might have hurt him months ago but now only made him happy.
She might have broken his heart, but she was one of his dearest friends in the world. In the end, he was grateful for her, because she was the reason he now knew what true love was.
Sinking into his chair, he winced and shifted, taking pressure off a particularly tender spot. Cassandra had left a welt with her crop, and the flashes of pain when he sat only brought back memories that made his cock harden to unbearable limits. If he wasn’t careful, he’d have to go rushing into that drawing room, drag her to his bedchamber, and seek relief between her thighs.
Instead, he focused upon penning his letter.
Dearest Daphne,
Cassandra and I are elated to hear that you and Hartmoor will be in attendance at our wedding. We often speak of how, in a way, you and the earl are responsible for us finding one another and falling in love. I could not be more grateful for that, or to have you as my friend.
Congratulations on the coming birth of your child. That is wonderful news! I could not be happier for you, and I mean that with all of my heart. When we were children, we often spoke of what we thought would be the perfect life. Do you remember that? We spoke of marriage and children and happy days spent with the people we loved. It brings me joy to know that you’ve begun the journey toward your perfect future. Rest assured, Cassandra and I are well on our way.
You will be surprised to know that she and Mother have been getting along famously. I know it hardly seems possible, but I swear to you, it is true. Once I made it clear that the two of them must get along, she made every effort to befriend Cassandra. So, I thought you’d like to know that, for now, I have not had to send her off to the Outer Hebrides. Time will tell whether that decision will stand.
I look forward to seeing you and Hartmoor at the wedding. Until then, rest well and take good care of your growing babe. Have you considered any names yet? If not, do consider Robert for a boy. It is quite a good name, I think. I am certain Hart will love it.
All my love,
The Hon. Mr. Robert Stanley
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The Villain Duology
Read the Dark Romance Duet that started it all!
Click here to download The Villain Duology,
* * *
Lady Daphne Fairchild braves the journey from London to the wilds of Scotland alone with one purpose in mind: confro
nt the man who purposely and methodically set out to ruin the men of her family. But what he demands in exchange for answers will thrust Daphne into a world of mystery, hatred, and lust.
Thirty days and nights in the bed of the Earl of Hartmoor … this is the price she must pay to learn the truth of the dark lord’s vendetta against her family. Yet, when she accepts the offer, Daphne never expects to find that nothing is what she thought it was, and the truth proves far harder to stomach than she ever imagined.
More by Victoria Vale
Enjoy this Dark Romance series, The Villain
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The Dove
The Butterfly
The Damsel
The Scandalous Ballroom Encounters Series
Masquerade
A Marriage Most Scandalous
Tempting Two
Submitting to the Marquis
Dominating Mr. Darling
Her Beautiful Bastard
* * *
Scandalous Christmas Encounters Vol. 1
Scandalous Christmas Encounters Vol. 2
About the Author
Sexy heroes … sassy heroines … electrifying erotic romance.
Victoria Vale has written over two dozen Romance and Young Adult novels under various pseudonyms. As a lover of erotic romance, she enjoys nothing more than a sexy hero paired with a sassy heroine, flavored with a dash of spice and lots of heat. A wife and mother of three, she enjoys reading (of course), cooking, sewing … and other activities that aren’t appropriate for inclusion in a biography.
The Damsel: A Villain Duology Sequel Page 28
