If He's Dangerous

by Hannah Howell

  Perhaps it is the anger I should cling to, she thought. Anger was so much sweeter than regret and failure. Anger did not cause people to look at her with pity or try to talk to her, cheer her, or encourage her. Anger would make people leave her alone and, at this moment, she rather liked the idea of being alone in her misery.

  For a moment, she tried to convince herself that Argus was just acting like a man, that he did not like writing and had not given any thought to how much time had passed. It did not work, just as it had not worked for the last fortnight. Olympia could convince her for a short time that Argus would be back, but the moment she left or even just stopped speaking, the doubt was back.

  “And I am so weary of doubting,” she muttered.

  Now she had to concern herself with the fact that she was carrying Argus’s child. Children, she corrected and nearly groaned. It was no true surprise that she was carrying twins as her father had produced several sets of them. Without the father of her children standing by her side, however, she was both saddened and alarmed by the news that she would soon be a mother.

  There would be no salvaging her reputation then. For once, Vale would be correct to say her reputation was utterly destroyed. The rest of her days would be spent as the ruined daughter of the duke, the daughter who was remaining appropriately secluded and living off his largesse. Lorelei did not even want to consider how her children would suffer for being born on the wrong side of the blanket. Being the grandsons of the duke, and she knew her father would not hesitate to recognize them as such, would not really save her children from the scorn and unkind whispers that would follow them all their lives.

  That was, of course, if her father was not hanged for killing Sir Argus Wherlocke. Lorelei grimaced at the mere thought of her father’s fury. There might be some disappointment revealed for the way she had behaved, but she knew most of her father’s anger was going to fall on Argus’s head. The hurt part of her wanted that, but her heart did not want the man it loved hurt. Certainly not by the other man she loved dearly.

  The sweet song of a robin drew her attention from her dark thoughts, and she studied the little bird with its bright breast for a moment. Birds did not have trouble with men. They found a mate in the spring, raised their family, and then, next spring, found another. So beautifully simplistic. Lorelei wished people could be that way, but people had hearts that got in the way of such rational simplicity. They made rules and laws, and had morals, or at least pretended to. They also did not have to worry about the trouble their father might get into if he decided honor demanded he shoot the rogue who despoiled his daughter.

  “Do you know, Master Robin, mayhap the solution to my trouble is to load Papa’s pistols and shoot the miserable, rutting swine myself?”

  Argus frowned as he heard Lorelei discuss his murder at her hands with, if he was not mistaken, a bird. This did not bode well for his carefully planned talk of marriage. Her father was right. He would have to try and soothe a lot of troubled waters.

  “It is good of a daughter to want to take such a burden off a father’s hands,” he said as he slipped into her hiding place. “I, on the other hand, would like it if you gave the miserable rutting swine a chance to explain himself.”

  Lorelei looked at the man she loved and had the strongest urge to get up and kick him. Several times. Her heart leapt with joy, but her mind demanded some answers. For all the time he had been at Sundunmoor she had been the one in pursuit, although she liked to think she had been subtle about it. She would not leap into his arms now, not after a month with no word, and show him just how delighted her heart was to have him back before he had even attempted to apologize for his neglect.

  “Have you come by to collect your family?” she asked as she sat up, frowning when he sat down right next to her without being invited to.

  “I did not know they were still here.”

  Oddly enough, his apparent ignorance of his family’s presence pleased her, if only because it proved they were not the reason he was back at Sundunmoor. “They have not left. Oh, Iago and Leopold did, but your sister, Septimus, Delmar, and your sons are still here. Bened was until yestereve, but that was because he was entertaining the widow Morris. Obviously, the entertaining has ended.”

  “Bened? Huh. I had not seen him as a man for the ladies.”

  “Perhaps it runs in the blood.”

  Lorelei wanted to kick herself now. There had been unmistakable jealousy behind those words. There was the touch of a gleam of amusement in his eyes, but he had the sense not to smile. Lorelei had to fight hard to cling to a sense of anger and outrage over being ignored for so long just to smother the blush that threatened to bloom on her cheeks.

  “It may, but most Wherlockes and Vaughns cast such reckless behavior aside when they meet the woman they are fated for.”

  Argus thought that a nice, romantic statement, but the woman he loved eyed him with suspicion. He cautiously reached out and took her hands in his. He wanted to take her fully into his arms, but, although she did not yank her hands free of his, she sat tense and unwelcoming as she watched him.

  “Lorelei, I told you I had matters that needed attending to,” he said.

  “Yes, although you never did tell me what they were before you left so abruptly.”

  “I needed to go and see the man I work for in the government to settle the last of that business with Cornick. There were questions to be answered and more men to arrest. Then I set about the business of settling my own affairs.”

  “Your business,” she said, reminding herself that a man had to do something to earn his money, even if all it consisted of was collecting rents and seeing that the harvest was good.

  “Yes, my business. To sort out my finances and set them in order, to see that the house in London is soon to be ready to be lived in, and to find myself a house in the country. I bought that deserted manor I spent so much time in as Cornick’s guest.”

  “You did what? Why would you want to buy that place unless it was to burn it to the ground?”

  “The house did nothing to me. Cornick was the cause of my misery there. It is a good house, solid, sturdy, and with some very fine lands attached, lands that can be made profitable. The man who owned it, Cornick’s brother, was more than happy to have it taken off his hands. I could have played on his belief that it was a weight, producing little income, but I fear I looked at the fool and was sorry that he had been cursed with such a brother, one who had now thoroughly blackened the family name. We agreed to a price that was both fair to him and affordable for me. I have been having it repaired for a fortnight now and it is nearly ready to be lived in.”

  Lorelei was not sure she could abide him living so close at hand if he did not want her to live with him. Yet, she also could not believe he would be so cruel. A little spark of hope bloomed in her heart and refused to be vanquished by the hard cold fact that he had not yet mentioned what, if anything, he intended to do with her now that he had so nicely sorted out his lands and finances.

  “So you will be close at hand,” she said.

  “Lorelei, I did all this for one reason. I wanted to show your father that I could care for you, financially, as you ought to be cared for. I wanted him to see that, although I am not as highborn as you, I can both support you and house you in a fine manner.”

  “Argus, I cannot be your mistress.”

  She halted when he placed one long finger against her lips. He looked both dismayed and a little irritated. Lorelei was not sure, but she had the distinct feeling that he was insulted but did not blame her for the insult.

  “I would never ask you to come and live with me at Tandem House to be my mistress. I would never shame you so before your family, many of whom live close at hand, although the way I have behaved since meeting you undoubtedly allows you to think I could do so. I am bungling this, but my hope is that you will come to live there with me as my wife.”

  It was what she had wanted from the start. Lorelei knew that her heart was
dancing in her chest in utter joy, for it beat so hard she was amazed he showed no sign of hearing it, but her mind forced her to hesitate. Where were the words of caring, the words of love and passion? He spoke of housing her, of having enough money to please her father despite the fact that society would see him as reaching very high above his station for a wife.

  Did he not know that such things did not matter to her? Or to her father? He had spent a lot of time with them all and should know what was important to her family, yet his words were all of practical matters. Unfortunately, she did not know how to get him to tell her what she needed to know, to let her see what was in his heart.

  “Ah, you hesitate,” Argus murmured and sighed. “I have made you angry. Lorelei, I did all that for me, not you. I did it all because I had to face your father with a full purse and property. I knew you would not care, and in many ways, knew your father would not care. I cared. I needed to prove to myself that I could care for you as you should be cared for.

  “It is not just that your father is a duke and I am a knight, or that you would be a prize for men far higher placed than I. It is just that I did not want you to think I was asking you to be mine for any reason other than that I want you as my wife.”

  “Why?”

  “What?”

  “Why do you want me to be your wife?”

  Argus stared at her. There was a hint of anxiousness in her voice and her face. He realized that she wanted to hear more than words concerning the state of his purse and his lands. Slowly he pulled her into his arms, ignoring the tension in her body.

  “You are the only one I want to be my wife. That is the whole reason I went away to do those things. I erred in becoming so intent on that business that I never thought to send word to you, to let you know that you were still in my thoughts.”

  “It would have been nice to hear what you were doing from time to time,” she said as she leaned her cheek against his chest, savoring the sound of the steady beat of his heart.

  “I realize that, now that I have been made aware of how much time has passed, of how you may have thought yourself deserted.” He placed his hands on either side of her face and turned it up to his. “I worked to get back here, worked unceasingly. I but ask that you forgive a man his pride, a pride that demanded I come to you with such things as money and lands.”

  “Argus.” She blushed, the words she wanted to say sticking in her throat, and then stiffened her spine. “I appreciate the fact that you wish to keep me well housed and clothed, but I need more. I have offered you more a time or two, but you never responded, never indicated that it was what you wanted. But, you see, it is not only what I wish to give, it is what I need to get in return.”

  “Oh, I heard you whisper those beautiful words and I have held them close, greedily hoarding them, but I did not see myself as worthy of holding you for longer than a short time. Then I almost lost you, watched you lying there bleeding and knew there were words I needed to say to you, words I might never have the chance to say. It was then that I decided that I would get all I needed to present myself to your father as a good match. Mayhap not as high a standing as he could demand for you, but still a good match who could support you without trouble.”

  “So you waited until I healed and then left, never hinting that you intended to return and marry me?”

  “Perhaps not the most well-thought-out plan of action,” he muttered and then brushed a kiss over her lips, his whole body aching to take more. “I want you as my wife. I want to wake up beside you every morning. I want to make love to you every night. Name any way a man can want to hold fast to one woman and that is the way I want you. You are my sun, Lorelei,” he said quietly. “I can see a future now and it holds only you. I love you.” He frowned when tears filled her eyes.

  “Oh, do not fret,” she said and gently patted his cheek. “I but cry a little because I have wished to hear you say that for so very long.”

  Argus kissed her as he had been wanting to since he had first set eyes on her, devouring her mouth and reveling in the sweet heat of her kiss. The way her passion rose to meet his eased the last of his fears that he might not win her for his own. He had acted with unhesitating determination to get all he believed he needed to win her father’s approval, but he admitted to himself now, that he had always been a little uncertain that he would be able to win hers.

  “You truly love me?” asked Lorelei as she pushed against his chest until he was sprawled out beneath her. “Are you certain, Argus, for I ask a lot of the man I love aside from his saying he loves me.”

  Since Lorelei was busy taking his clothes off, Argus was not sure he had the wit to have any long, serious conversation with her. His body was almost embarrassingly eager for a taste of the desire it had been denied for too long. “What do you wish, my love? You have my devotion.”

  “And your passion.”

  “Oh, aye, you most definitely have that,” he muttered as he unlaced her dress.

  “And your respect.” She scrambled out of his reach just long enough to pull his boots of and toss them aside.

  “Always.” He pulled her gown off over her head and threw it to the side, noting that the fine silk caught firmly on a bramble bush and thinking how that could cause them a problem later. Then he did the same to her shift.

  “And your fidelity.”

  He realized that they were both naked. His thoughts immediately turned to all the things he wished to do to her beautiful skin, to her full breasts with their taut, inviting nipples, and to the downy, heated place between her slender thighs. She sat astride him and slowly unpinned her hair, the long thick locks falling down until they brushed against his thighs. He knew she had no idea of how beautiful she was.

  “Always,” he whispered as he slid his hands up her rib cage and over her breasts, teasing the nipples to an increased hardness with the tips of his fingers.

  Lorelei placed her hands on his shoulders and stared into his eyes. “I mean it, Argus. I know how men think. Well, men outside of my family. They see naught wrong with a mistress or some tavern maid as a little treat when the mood strikes. I confess to you now that that would break my heart, crush me in a way I do not wish to think about.”

  “And you have no need to consider it. I will be faithful. My family may have a long history of disastrous marriages, but hardly any were destroyed because one of my family betrayed the marital bed. I would never ask you to marry me if I thought I might waver in that, might not love you enough to want no other.” He frowned when she just smiled and kissed him. “You have not yet answered my proposal.”

  “No.” Lorelei began to kiss her way down his strong chest, savoring the taste of him, the scent of his body filling her head and rousing her desire. “I believe I need to reacquaint myself with all the reasons why it might be best if I do marry you, the man I love and have thought of unceasingly for the last month. Not always in the kindest of terms.”

  Argus started to reply to that, only to have the words stick in his throat and come out as a growl when Lorelei nipped the inside of each of his thighs. He shuddered when she slowly dragged her tongue up the length of his manhood. Burying his fingers in her hair, he wildly wondered if this was her way of accepting his proposal. Then she took him into her mouth and he lost all ability to think clearly.

  When he reached the point where he knew he could take no more, no matter how much he wanted to, he grabbed her under her arms and dragged her up until she straddled his body. Watching as she took him into her body, her glorious hair curling around her slim body as she lowered herself down on him, Argus did not think he had ever seen anything as beautiful or as arousing. He grasped her by the hips and aided her in moving as his body now demanded her to move, taking them both to the heights with a speed that was both exhilarating and disappointing, for he did not want the pleasure to end.

  Lorelei slumped in his arms, her body still shivering from the force of the pleasure they had just shared. She sighed with regret when nature en
ded the closeness of their embrace, and Argus slipped free of her. Then again, she mused with a smile, people would not get much accomplished in life if nature did not put a stop to such delight once in a while.

  Argus stroked her back, content to have her back in his arms, but his mind was demanding that he push her for a firm acceptance of his proposal. “Lorelei, you have not agreed to marry me yet.”

  “Ah, just let me affirm a few things,” she said and setting her elbows on the ground on either side of his head, she propped her chin in her hands and kissed the tip of his nose. “I love you and you love me.” She decided she really liked the way his eyes shone when she told him she loved him.

  “Yes, very good reasons to get married.”

  “Especially considering that we have just proved that we share a very fine passion.”

  “And one I cannot wait to savor in the comfort of a bed,” he drawled.

  “And you have said you will be faithful as I intend to be faithful to you.”

  He grunted, not liking even the idea that she should be anything else but utterly faithful to him in word and deed. And in where she looked and what she thought. And, he decided, there should be no more talk of improper things like orgies with his irrepressible sister.

  “Yes, we will be unfashionably faithful to each other.”

  “And we shall have children, correct? You do wish to have children with me, do you not?”

  “Of course I do, but I do not demand that you give me a house full of them. You decide how many you wish.”