Touch of Passion

by Susan Spencer Paul

  Lord Perham winced as if Kian had struck him, and Kian sat forward.

  “I apologize, sir,” he said, “but I shouldn’t speak in so bold a manner if the matter wasn’t so urgent. You will not be able to hold Loris by keeping her from me. She will only become desperately unhappy, more as each day passes. We must be together.”

  Lord Perham shook his head. “I’ve only just found my granddaughter after years of searching. I can’t let her go so soon.”

  Kian sighed and wondered how he could possibly reassure the older man. His fears were understandable, of course, but at the same time irrational. He was willing to promote a marriage between Loris and Tauron, perhaps assuming that he could control the chess-loving viscount more fully. It was the same need that Loris had for controlling her own life. Perhaps, Kian thought with a touch of aggravation, it ran in their blood.

  “I’m not going to take her away forever,” he said at last. “Only home, to Tylluan. We will visit at Cumberland as often as you will have us. Tylluan’s doors will always be opened to you. I shall give you your own gate key, if you like.”

  Lord Perham continued to look wretched. Kian cast his mind about, considering what would make an elderly man who’d lost almost everyone who mattered to him feel better about giving his only grandchild away in marriage.

  “We will … ahem … name our firstborn son after you,” Kian offered.

  Lord Perham lifted his head.

  “And let you name our second-born.”

  The earl looked at him.

  Kian smiled. “And the third-born?” He had no idea whether he and Loris would ever have children. The curse might never be lifted to allow them to make the attempt. But the other man was looking curiously intrigued by the offer.

  The study door flew open, and both of them turned. Kian was on his feet before Loris started toward him.

  “Loris, I—” The rest of the words were knocked out of him as she leaped onto him.

  Kian staggered back, his arms folding about her. Her own arms circled his neck, hugging him tight, and her face pressed into his skin.

  “Why didn’t you wake me last night?” she asked. He felt something wet against his cheek and knew she was crying.

  “You were so weary,” he murmured, smiling into the softness of her hair. “I didn’t want to wake you.”

  “Last night?” Lord Perham repeated. “What’s this?”

  Neither Loris nor Kian heard him.

  “But I told Malachi I wanted to see you,” Loris said. Pulling back, she lifted her face to look at him. Her cheeks were damp. “That I had to speak with you.”

  “That’s why I’ve come,” he said, his gaze moving over her lovely countenance. He had been starved for the sight of her, the sound and feel of her. He knew he shouldn’t kiss her in front of her grandfather, but did anyway, and Loris kissed him in turn. But only briefly and then, aware that the burning would start soon, Kian let her go. “I wanted to speak with your grandfather first.”

  “Lord Tylluan,” Perham said more sternly. “Did you see my granddaughter last night?”

  Kian glanced at him. “Only for a few minutes, my lord. Nothing happened.”

  “The dream was wonderful,” she told Kian, smiling, though her eyes were still wet with tears. “And I saw the flower. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he murmured. “I hoped you’d be pleased.”

  “I was,” she said. “I am. Is everything all right at Tylluan? Have you made any progress with the troubles? I’ve been so worried.”

  “Everything is fine,” he promised. “The servants miss you terribly, of course. I’ve kept your garden in good order. I think you’ll be happy when you come home.”

  “Oh, good,” she whispered, and looked as if she truly might begin to cry in earnest. From gladness, he hoped. “I can’t wait to see it. And everyone there.”

  He lifted a hand to stroke a bit of moisture from beneath her eyes. “Don’t cry, my love. Everything will be well.”

  “You stole into my home?” Lord Perham said angrily. “You dared to enter my granddaughter’s bedroom—while she was asleep?”

  “It’s all right, Grandfather,” Loris said, still looking at Kian. “He used to come to me in the night often at Tylluan. And I loved him. That’s part of what I wanted you to know, Kian. I don’t think of Liw so much any longer. When I do remember, it’s your face I see, not his.”

  “Loris, what the devil are you talking about?” her grandfather thundered.

  “Please, sir,” she said, looking at him at last. “Please let me finish saying what I’ve come to say. I meant to do it privately, but I think perhaps this is even better, for I hope it will help you to understand. You see, I was very angry with Kian when I left Tylluan, because he had deceived me for many years.”

  “Deceived you?” Lord Perham repeated in an icy tone.

  Kian glanced at him. “Yes, I did. Because I was unutterably selfish.”

  “But that’s not so,” Loris countered. “Or not entirely. Kian, you gave me something wonderful during those years. A confidant, and a friend. I’ve asked myself, as I’ve considered all that we shared, whether you ever once took advantage of my trust or used my confidences against me. It’s true that there were times when you argued your own case to me as Liw, but there were just as many nights when you took my side over Kian’s—over yours.” She moved nearer, gazing into his eyes. “If you gave me the choice of going back, of taking Liw out of my life or having him stay, exactly as he was, knowing that it was you all the time … I wouldn’t change anything. I’m glad you deceived me, strange as that sounds. I’m so very glad that I know that part of you that was Liw. When I get lonely for him, if I ever do, I’ll know where to find him.”

  Kian searched her dark eyes and saw that nothing was hidden. His heart squeezed painfully in his chest at what he did see. Reaching down, he took both her hands and lifted them to his lips, kissing each gently, one after the other.

  “Thank you,” he murmured. “It’s far more than I deserve.”

  “You were right about something else, Kian,” she told him. “I haven’t been happy apart from you. I haven’t felt whole almost from the moment I left Tylluan. I don’t know if I’ve come yet to believe in the unoliaeth. I don’t even know if I truly love you. I don’t understand my feelings at all, save that I don’t wish to live my life apart from you. I thought, at first, that I’d simply come back to Tylluan and we would go on as we were before, and all would be well.” She smiled up at him and shook her head. “But that isn’t possible now, is it?”

  “No,” he said gently. “Not now.”

  “No, of course not, because my grandfather would be terribly unhappy. Would you not, my lord?” She looked fondly at Lord Perham.

  The older man’s expression softened beneath her appeal. “I’m afraid that’s so, my dear.”

  “And society would gossip terribly,” Loris went on. “I suppose both our reputations would be ruined, for it’s one thing if a nobody from London’s docks serves as housekeeper to a nobleman, but something altogether different if she’s the granddaughter of an earl. I’ve learned a great deal about the ways of the ton since coming to London.”

  “Clearly,” Kian agreed, the pace of his heart growing quickly as each moment passed. He hoped he knew where she was leading with her conversation. It could only be destiny—as the unoliaeth was—if they had both come to this room with the same purpose in mind.

  “And the thing is,” she said, “that I know we shall always argue, Kian, and exasperate each other beyond words. I don’t suppose we could ever change ourselves enough to alter that. But”—she looked at him hopefully—“you’ve told me that you love me—”

  “I do love you,” he said quickly.

  “—and I know you do believe in the unoliaeth—”

  “Yes. Always.”

  “—and despite the curse, which surely we can find a way to undo, if we both put our minds to it—”

  “Very likel
y.”

  “—I thought, perhaps, that you might consider marrying me. Because my grandfather would like it,” she pressed on nervously before Kian could so much as react, “for he’s been trying to find an appropriate young gentleman in the hope that I would consider him, and of course he’d not want me returning to Tylluan to live with you unless we were wed. And I believe Malachi and the Seymours would like it. And if you think that you would like it, then it is what I wish above all things.”

  She fell silent then and watched Kian with wide eyes, looking terrified. His eyes began to fill, and he blinked to clear them. He bit his lip, hard, to gain control of his voice. He held out a hand, and Loris set her own in it.

  “If you would be my wife, Loris McClendon,” he said rather unsteadily, “I would count myself the most fortunate man on earth. It has been my dream from the moment I set sight on you.” He swallowed and cleared his throat, then looked at Lord Perham. “In truth, Loris, that was my very purpose in first speaking with your grandfather. I had hoped to gain his consent, so that I might ask you to honor me with your hand in marriage.” Turning back to her, he squeezed her hand and smiled. “But you did it far better and more sweetly than I ever could have done.”

  Loris let out the breath she’d clearly been holding. She squeezed his hand, too, and said, “Thank goodness, then. It’s settled.”

  Kian wished he might kiss her; instead, as the seconds ticked away, he knew that the touch of their hands must come to an end.

  He released her, and she moved away to hug her grandfather, who was standing as stiff as a rod of implacable iron.

  “Is it not the best possible outcome, Grandfather?” she asked, pressing against him. “I shall be safely wed and my reputation restored. You’ll not have to worry over it any longer. And you’ll come to Tylluan and stay with us for as long as you please, and I’ll take such wonderful care of you. We’ll play chess every evening before the fire in the great hall, and Kian will show you the best places for fishing and hunting. Our cook will learn how to prepare all your favorite dishes, and Kian keeps a very good cellar of wines and spirits. Our life at Tylluan isn’t as grand as what you’re used to,” she said, pulling away to look up at him, “but you’ll come to love it as dearly as I do, I’m certain.”

  Lord Perham didn’t look pleased, Kian thought, watching the man. Not by any stretch of the imagination. But he gazed into Loris’s face for a long, silent moment and then looked at Kian.

  “I’m sure I shall, my dear,” Perham said. “It appears that being Lady Tylluan will suit you very well, and so, of course, I shall be pleased. The announcement will be made tomorrow night, at your come-out ball. I assume that meets with your approval, Lord Tylluan?”

  Kian nodded in assent.

  “There are certain matters which I should appreciate having explained, however,” said Lord Perham, setting Loris away from him and moving to sit in his chair once more, looking imperious and imposing. “Just what is a unoliaeth? And what’s all this about a curse?”

  Kian and Loris exchanged glances.

  “He should know before we marry,” she said. “It’s only fair that he know about the people he’ll soon be related to. And when the curse is lifted and we have children …”

  Kian understood what she meant. Their offspring might inherit unnerving magical powers, especially as their father would one day be Dewin Mawr. Lord Perham should be forewarned that his future namesakes would require a great deal of understanding.

  Kian took note, as well, that Loris had said “when” the curse was lifted, not “if.” The knowledge warmed him considerably, so much that he was willing to undertake the daunting task of explaining everything to His Lordship. Kian could always erase the earl’s memory of the conversation if it didn’t go well, but doubted it would come to that. Loris had clearly learned how to handle the gentleman, and her grandfather’s love for her would open the door to his becoming one of their sympathetics.

  Kian pulled up a chair for Loris and placed her in it, then sat in the chair beside her. “I realize it’s quite early in the morning, sir,” he began, “but if you happen to have something rather strong at hand to fortify you, it might not be a bad idea to have Loris fetch you a glass of it.”

  Chapter Twenty

  The wedding, made possible by the special license Lord Perham easily procured, took place two days after Loris’s come-out ball. It came off very well, despite having such a short time to buy proper wedding clothes and make arrangements, and was just what both Loris and Kian liked: The ceremony was sensible, brief, and to the point. Best of all, in Kian’s opinion, at least, it was binding. For better or worse and whether she liked it or not, Loris was his. She was bound to him now not merely by the unoliaeth but also by the laws of England.

  His wife. He’d waited too many years to be able to call her that. He said the word repeatedly in their private carriage as they made their way to Lord Perham’s home to celebrate a wedding breakfast, saying such things as, “Are you comfortable, Wife?” and, “Shall I open the window a bit, Wife?” until Loris looked ready to strangle him.

  Directly after the ceremony she was obliged to comfort her grandfather. Lord Perham had been shaken by the revelations that Kian and Loris, and later Malachi, Dyfed, and Niclas, when they had been urgently summoned to the earl’s town house, had made. It had taken hours of Malachi’s more detailed explanations, along with Niclas’s comforting and consoling manner, for His Lordship to at last accept who and what the Seymours were and to understand the grave responsibility of that knowledge. Especially for his granddaughter, once she had wed into the Seymour clan, and for his future grandchildren. He had given them his vow of silence.

  Still, the man had been far from pleased. But if Lord Perham had retained any doubts following the wedding, Loris’s serene assurances had wiped them away completely. She knew who she belonged to, and that was sufficient for Lord Perham.

  The ton seemed to have accepted the news of the union with more ease than anyone expected, as well. Not that there hadn’t been tremendous surprise when the announcement of the betrothal and imminent wedding had been made at Loris’s ball. But, all in all, the gossip that passed about Town the following day was positive and pleased. Kian supposed there were those who would watch to either see or hear whether the new Lady Tylluan had a child within nine months’ time, but there was little they could do about that, save wait for the months to pass and the truth to make itself evident.

  It was late afternoon by the time they were able to escape the well-wishers at the wedding breakfast. When they finally arrived at their town house, Kian escorted a weary Loris into the parlor to pour her a glass of sherry.

  “I apologize for the state of the place,” he said as she fell into a chair with a sigh of relief. “Niclas was kind enough to have it opened and cleaned, and to lend us the services of some of his servants while we’re here. You shall have free rein to do what you please with it during what remains of the Season. There are funds enough. Spend what you like setting everything to rights. Make a proper showplace of it. I daresay we’ll spend several weeks a year in London, now that you’ve grown used to it.”

  She accepted the glass he handed her and didn’t blink an eye when, with the flick of a hand, he set the fireplace alight.

  “I shall be glad to do as you ask,” she told him, looking about at the shabby room. “I confess the house looks just as I remember it from so many years ago—perhaps a bit more tired. But I fear it will take more than a few days to make any great change, apart from a thorough cleaning, and we’ll be going home soon. Won’t we?”

  He cast a smile at her as he poured himself a glass of whiskey and lied, “Quite soon. Yes.”

  “Tomorrow?” she asked hopefully. “I shall have to make certain that everything is packed this evening, then.”

  “Not tomorrow,” he said. “Tomorrow we will parade ourselves about Town. I shall take you shopping and buy you some pretty things, and in the evening we’ll attend the thea
ter, so that the ton can have a good, long look at us.”

  “The day after, then?”

  “Perhaps.”

  She gazed at him steadily, waiting until he had settled himself in an opposite chair, before saying, “You gave me your promise, Kian, that you’d not keep me from returning to Tylluan.”

  He fashioned his expression into one of innocence. “I gave you that promise before the Guardians, did I not? Do you think I would risk making a false vow before such witnesses? I’m pleased that you like the bracelet I brought from Tylluan. It looked very well with your dress today.”

  A circle of gleaming rubies adorned Loris’s wrist, and Kian was pleased to see her gaze at them with affection. She looked especially lovely in her wedding dress, composed of pale green satin with delicate gold trim on the sleeves and bodice.

  “I do love the bracelet, Kian,” she said. “Have I thanked you for the gift of it yet? I believe I forgot to do so at the ball. But we were terribly distracted that night with the announcement.”

  “Indeed we were,” he agreed. “And there is no need to thank me. The jewels are yours, as are the rest of what belonged to my mother, apart from those that she set aside for Dyfed. I suppose Desdemona Caslin will be wearing those particular pieces soon.” He sighed aloud and took a long drink. “I’m glad this day is over.”

  She was silent, and he looked at her.

  “What are you thinking, Loris?”

  “Of the curse,” she said ruefully. “It’s been ten years, Kian. We may spend another ten trying to find the way to lift it. It isn’t a pleasant thought on one’s wedding night.” She looked away, raising her glass to sip from it.

  No, it wasn’t, Kian agreed silently. Despite the fact that they were wed, their relationship wouldn’t change in any remarkable way, certainly not physically. They’d no longer have the time they had once enjoyed when he’d come to her as Liw.