The Notorious Bridegroom

by Kit Donner

  Mr. Grundy left her in Storrington to wait for the coach that would take her to Winchelsea and Bryce.

  It was near to ten o’clock in the evening, when she saw the familiar sight of the tree-lined drive, just barely visible in the dark.

  Patience was impatient. Finally, the driver pulled the coach up to the front steps, and she jumped from the carriage, launching up the steps. Lem opened the door for her. She hugged the little boy, trying to control the sweep of happiness enfolding her, then reprimanded him for staying awake this late, then hugged him again. Was she really home?

  Unable to contain her excitement, she asked Lem where his lordship was.

  Martha, from the drawing room door, answered her. “He arrived home today, rather exhausted. I believe he has turned in for the night.” Patience’s London companion walked across the marble floor to greet her friend. They shared a warm embrace, Patience slightly dazed at seeing Martha at Paddock Green.

  Martha explained, “Bryce has retained me to look after Sally as governess, and my other duties have included nursing Captain Kilkennen back to health. Surely, no woman on earth has had to endure a more cantankerous patient. But he is on the mend, thank the Lord.”

  Did Martha blush slightly at the captain’s name? Patience would have to look more into that reaction.

  Patience heard a shout of glee from the top of the staircase. “Aunt Patience, yer back!” Sally, holding tightly to the railing, maneuvered down the stairs and jumped into Patience’s waiting arms.

  She clutched the small child to her chest and hugged her tightly. She whispered in Sally’s ear, “I’ve missed you, sweetheart.”

  Sally planted a big, wet kiss on her cheek. “I told Mr. Long you would come back to us.”

  Patience smiled at the wise child. “And so you were right.”

  “Ruff, ruff.” Everyone watched as a little black-and-white puppy scampered down the glossy hallway floor, slipping and sliding.

  They adjourned to the kitchen where Melenroy delighted in seeing her. And Lem introduced Patience to Falstaff, the newest addition to the family, that he had found on the road to Winchelsea.

  Over a cup of tea, Patience learned about the events of the past two weeks. But since the earl had sent them here when he returned to Town, they could offer little news of him, for which Patience was famished.

  Now that she was back at Paddock Green, she couldn’t wait to surprise Bryce. But she was afraid she would be the one surprised at his reception. She couldn’t know for sure what it would be.

  On her journey across country, she had planned what to say to convince the hard-hearted man that he needed her, and that he might as well marry her. She shook her head. No, I can’t make those demands of him. I shall be loving and patient and especially humble and offer him my heart and pray desperately he has no cause to reject it. I will assure him, no, promise him, that I will seek his advice on matters beyond my knowledge and try to restrain my impulses, and that I will simply be a good and faithful wife. No, none of this sounded right or even sincere.

  Since she couldn’t sleep, she decided to wander outside. Everyone else had settled in for the night and a blanket of silence had swept over the house. Standing on the stone terrace Patience gazed up at the midnight sky, awash with bright stars, and drew her nightdress and wrap a little closer. Assured Bryce slept, she would simply have to wait until morning to see him. Footsteps sounded above her. Her heart slowed to a crawl, and she rubbed her arms with a sudden chill.

  It could only be Bryce. As sleepless as she? Silence.

  Patience stepped forward and looked up to find Bryce leaning on the balcony’s stone wall. She simply stared in sweet imagination at his curly brown hair and beloved face. He stood and gazed up at the sky, almost like a statue of a Greek god in the faint moonlight.

  A dismayed sigh escaped her when he began to walk away. She ran out into the light. She had to stop him. What could she say?

  “What are you wishing for?” her slightly out of breath voice called up to him.

  Silence. Perhaps he had not heard her.

  Then the footsteps again, closer. He peered over the railing, his face too dark to read.

  “Patience?” he called softly. “Are you real? Is that you?”

  Her silvery laughter floated on a cloud up to him. “Yes, I have returned to do you a good deed. What do you wish?” Her voice filled the night air between them.

  He placed his hands on his hips. “Are you here to stay?” He paused meaningfully and asked, “Why have you returned to Paddock Green?”

  Patience licked her lips. “I…I left something behind. Please make a wish for me,” she pleaded with him.

  “What did you leave behind?” his voice low and disturbing, his dark eyes shadowed.

  Patience hesitated. “My heart.” She stretched out her arms in supplication. “Please, make a wish.”

  “You,” he replied, his voice ragged with emotion, “I want you in my arms for tonight and for every night darkness covers the earth. I want you with me every day from the moment the sun wakes till it falls asleep at night.” Bryce paused, finding the words in his heart. “I wish you never to leave me. You have given me all the stars in the sky and the richest treasure known to man. You alone have brought me the light of hope I never knew existed and taught me the love and faith of an eternity.”

  Patience stared up at him, the force of her love shining blindingly bright in her eyes. “Your wish has come true, I’m only a mere mortal who stands here wishing for your touch.”

  “A wish easily granted.”

  In no time at all, Bryce climbed down the wooden trellis that Patience had once used, and strode over to her. Two steps each brought them together.

  Bryce groaned at the completeness he felt deep in his soul when he clasped Patience in his arms, the loneliness and despondency which earlier had imprisoned his spirit freed at last. He swept down to claim her lips, the kiss first gentle with wonder, then deepened with desire.

  Patience wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, but even standing on tiptoe, she couldn’t get close enough to him. She demanded and took all that he could give her and yet it was not enough. Bryce urgently bent down and clasped her buttocks in both hands, lifting her off the cold stone. She never lost touch with his lips, her legs now locked around his waist, her arms tight around his neck.

  He entwined his fingers in her hair, finally lifting his lips from hers, and leaned down to taste the long length of her white delicate neck, gratified to hear a low moan from his lady. He carried her into the side door and up to his bedchamber with never a thought for his weariness or the ever-present ache in his injured leg. There were more important things on his mind.

  Bryce and Patience kissed unabated as they tore off her robe and the nightdress beneath it. He stepped away only briefly and hurriedly to remove his shirt and boots before rejoining his naked nymph waiting for him. She had been waiting all her life for him.

  Their bodies stretched and meshed perfectly on his high soft bed. Patience, with the dark glow of passion deep in her eyes, tore at the strings on his breeches and, before long, her soft, undulating body matched his hard, rigid form, seeking, searching, wanting.

  She closed her eyes, letting the sensations wash over her as he caressed her breasts until they throbbed with pleasure and she panted beneath him. She gasped and her eyes flew open when she felt him probing at the entrance to her wet heat. When he thrust into her, his stormy blue eyes captured her passion-drenched green gaze and sealed their bond.

  The rhythm of desire called to them, and they answered it with the hard, insistent, unstoppable force of their love for each other. Their lips clung to each other, tasting and teasing. She captured his tongue, pulling it farther into her mouth, and he responded in kind.

  She heard him whisper, “Sweetness, only for me,” against her ear.

  She felt her heart jumping inside of her, in awe of the power of his body and of his love. The power of his love almost frightened h
er before she realized she would never have anything to fear again.

  Again and again, he slaked his hunger for her, a hunger which he knew would never be truly appeased. Then he looked deep into her soul and increased his rhythm until she shattered into a million pieces and took her soul with him. They remained entwined for a very long while, not willing to relinquish their real dream.

  Patience knew Bryce wasn’t sleeping but only play-acting with those loud snores. It was the other side of midnight, and she still needed answers. Answers which couldn’t wait until morning. She lay with her back against his strong chest and her bottom against his groin, one strong hand draped over her breast. Patience tapped him on the thigh. Nothing. She rolled over onto her back, creating a slight gap in their bodies. That did it.

  Bryce’s eyes flickered open. “Where do you think you are going?” he asked lazily.

  Patience, dazzled by the look of possession in his eyes, knew it matched her own. She thought for a moment. “I was trying to get your attention.”

  He leaned down to plant a long, slow, wet kiss on her lips. “There are other ways of getting my attention without leaving my side. In fact, I can think of…”

  Patience attempted to be serious. “Bryce, I’m trying to hold a conversation with you.”

  He reached a hand around her waist and pulled her tight against his aroused body. “Sweetheart, the only talking I am willing to do right now needs no words.”

  “Please, Bryce. I need to tell you something.”

  He nuzzled her throat, then sighed and propped himself up on his elbow, willing to grant this woman anything, but she had better make it fast. “You have my attention.”

  “About the necklace…” She held her breath, wondering what he was going to say.

  His eyes widened. “The locket?” He reached for his coat lying on the floor, fished inside, and dropped her locket on her belly. “I believe this is yours.”

  Patience sat up, her white body gleaming in the warmth of the candlelight. “You found my locket my mother had given me! Where did you find it?” The joy in her eyes was unmistakable.

  Bryce hesitated, then shrugged. “I found it on the floor next to Sansouche’s body at the house on Puffins Lane. I meant to say something earlier to you, but I forgot.”

  Patience leaned over and kissed her thanks to Bryce. “I don’t know how that man got ahold of my necklace, but I was distraught that I would never find it again.”

  Bryce pulled her back against his warm side. “Now that that matter is taken care of, how about…?”

  Patience held him off another minute. “But it was not my locket to which I was referring. You left an emerald-and-diamond necklace on my pillow our last morning in London together. Did you want to get rid of me?”

  This immediately riled Bryce, who pulled himself into a sitting position next to Patience. “What the devil are you talking about? That necklace was a family heirloom. I was trying to tell you that I loved you and that I was going to ask you to marry me when I returned,” his angry tones filled with disbelief that Patience would have thought of such a thing.

  “But, you gave the countess jewelry when you wanted her out of your life. I thought you wanted me gone too.” Her explanation ended in a sad whisper. He pulled her into his arms to comfort her, his right hand naturally finding and caressing her soft pink nipple till it crested with his gentle ministrations.

  “Never. I had a talk that morning with Lady Elverston who insisted that I marry you. I already had the marriage license in hand.”

  Patience licked her way along his solid jaw, then something else occurred to her. “Colette tricked me into writing that note. She told me it was for the captain.”

  Bryce raised his eyebrows in consternation. “I thought that might be the answer.”

  As Patience, eager to share her part of the story, elaborated about Colette leaving the note for the captain, Bryce’s features grew troubled, empathizing with the pain his friend must have felt. He held her even more closely when she told him how the three grave robbers saved her from being buried alive. Bryce told her that the constable had informed him that those same three men had been caught by a press-gang and were on a ship, heading to Spain.

  “I never knew she could be so evil. I’m never letting you out of my sight again.” Bryce didn’t care how protective he sounded. He drew her back down onto the bed, anxious to show her how much she meant to him, but the worry in her eyes halted his motions.

  “What is it, Patience?” he asked, wanting to see the happiness back in her eyes.

  “What was that part you said earlier? That part where you explained the necklace’s origin. I was wondering if I might hear it again.”

  Bryce grinned. “You mean about the part where I say, ‘I love you, and I want to marry you’?”

  Patience smiled at her only love. Her heart full, she could barely breathe. “Yes, that was the part.”

  First, he had to kiss her when she did that thing with her tongue. Then he looked into those hazel eyes alight with love and professed his own. “Patience Mandeley, I love you. Will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?” his heart in his hands and a most serious look on his face.

  “Oh, yes, yes, yes. Those same words of love I return to you a thousandfold.”

  Bryce sealed their vow with a mountain-moving kiss before beginning to pay homage to her body.

  “Bryce?”

  He looked up expectantly from the valley of her breasts. “I thought we were through with the talking part.”

  All he got for his efforts was a cuff to his shoulder. “There’s something else.”

  “Mmmm…” he mumbled as he nuzzled her arm.

  Thud. Thud. Two small sacks landed on his chest.

  Bryce sat up and looked suspiciously at the brown bags. “What in Heaven’s name…?” he began.

  Patience sat up beside him. “They are seeds from home. I want to start my own garden, here at Paddock Green.”

  Bryce actually shivered from the powerful emotion running through him. She was never going to leave. Her love had broken the pattern of his loved ones leaving him.

  She closed her eyes, a beautiful smile decorating her lips.

  “Patience?”

  “Not now, Bryce, can you not see? I’m trying to fall asleep.” She sounded more awake than sleepy, with laughter lacing her words.

  She opened her eyes when he kissed her with such urgency, then whispered to him, “If only all of England would learn what we have been through since our marriage, I think they would call you ‘The Notorious Bridegroom.’” Patience fell asleep listening to Bryce’s husky laughter.

  Author’s Note

  England’s Sea Fencibles

  The Sea Fencibles were first formed in the 1790s to watch the southeastern coast of England for an invasion. These Sea Fencibles were composed of volunteers and the militia who were trained to watch and signal towers and operate available gun-boats. They were the first line of defense in case of an invasion, and they were also needed to alert nearby villages to escape further inland. In May 1803, renewed hostilities with France began after a tenuous two-year peace. From 1803–1805, the threat of an invasion from France was at its highest. The southeast coast has the narrowest Channel passage, and at some points, those on watch could actually see the flotillas France was building for their plan to invade. The Royal Navy’s victory at Trafalgar in 1805 secured the seas at home and abroad.

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  Copyright © 2009 by Kit Stanford Donner

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  ISBN: 1-4201-1083-7

  Bridegroom