But the main reason remained. Insurmountable.
If only she could make him understand how her inability to have a baby would risk blighting their love in the future. She feared he would be reluctant to listen to her reasoning, but she hoped his pain would be less, knowing she refused him out of love.
The silence stretched as tight as Kitty’s nerves and, as she handed the teacup and saucer to Adam, her hand was shaking. Adam took the cup and frowned.
‘Ye asked to meet me yesterday to tell me the truth as to why ye said no even though ye say ye love me. Please…tell me now. And tell me what I can do to change your mind.’
She rubbed her hands over her cheeks, searching for the words to help him understand.
‘Kitty…’ Adam put his cup down and slid to the floor, kneeling before her. ‘I love you.’ He cradled her face between his hands. His blue eyes pierced her, searching. ‘I have loved you for fifteen long years… I fell in love with ye then and I have loved you ever since. Ye know now that I only denied my love for you to stop ye throwing yourself away on an architect’s apprentice, fearing that, in time, ye’d grow to resent being tied to a man of my lowly status.’
Kitty laid her hand over his as it cupped her cheek. His words had struck a chord with her. It was the same message she had been telling herself…the same reason she had refused his offer of marriage without explanation…the fear that, in time, he would come to resent being tied to a woman who could not give him a child.
But there would be no magical reprieve for her: Adam had found himself to be the son of an earl; Kitty would still be unable to conceive a child and give him the heir he would need.
‘Adam…’ She turned her face into his palm and pressed her lips to his warm skin, swallowing past the painful lump that constricted her throat. She had almost lost him yesterday and now she must risk losing him for good. ‘I know you were shocked when I refused to marry you, but was willing to have an affaire with you, but I had…have…a very good reason for that offer.’
She paused, willing her emotions under control. This reason…this reality of her life…had caused her so much pain in the past and now it was to cost her the man she loved if she could not persuade him to accept her offer.
‘Adam, I am barren. I was married to Edgar for ten years without getting with child.’
Adam’s dark eyebrows bunched as his eyes searched hers.
‘Kitty, ye cannot think that matters to me.’ His hands slid from her face to clasp her shoulders. ‘I want you as my wife and that is far more important to me than whether we have children. I love you. I want to have ye in my life for ever. Till death us do part.’
She saw by his puzzled expression that he had not appreciated the full implications of her bald confession. She quelled the misery and the pain that the subject cost her, knowing she must make him understand.
‘Adam, this is not just about whether or not you become a father. You are now a peer of the realm. You have a duty to secure the lineage of your family and of the earldom, quite apart from your responsibilities to your workers and your tenants. You must at least give yourself a chance to sire an heir.’
Adam’s frown deepened. His hands slipped from her shoulders to the arms of her chair, which he used to push himself to his feet. He sat back down on the companion chair, his blue eyes never once straying from her face, while she fought to keep her expression from revealing the full depth of her misery.
‘Kitty…my darling…do you really…?’ He stopped, and swiped one hand through his hair, pushing it back from his face. His chest expanded and he shook his head. ‘You speak of duty and of responsibility. I think only of love. Of need. Of making my life, and yours, as happy as I can humanly make them. Kitty…my love…a few months ago I had no notion of titles or estates. I did not ask for them. I will go so far as to say I did not want them. If not for you…’ His voice trembled and he cleared his throat. ‘If not for you, Kitty, I should have returned to Scotland within a fortnight and left the lot in my uncle’s hands.’
She searched his expression, hope rising despite her best efforts to deny it. Could it be that easy, after all her anguish and heart-searching? Did he really not care who might succeed him? The notion was utterly foreign to her…never had she ever known a nobleman who did not care whether or not he had a son capable of continuing his bloodline.
Adam leaned towards her, reaching out, and she placed her hands in his. With one powerful tug he pulled her across to his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist. He nuzzled her neck, kissing her.
‘I never expected any of this, Kitty, and I do not care who might inherit it when I am gone.’
‘You cannot mean that, Adam. You—’
He pressed his fingers to her lips. ‘I do mean it. Every word of it. I am sorry for your sake you cannot have a child, but you must believe me when I tell you that what is important to me is you.’
She shook her head, still trying to deny that swell of hope. ‘You do not mean it. You have not thought properly about it.’
He gripped her chin and turned her face to his, capturing her gaze.
‘Who is my heir now, Kitty?’
‘Your Uncle Grenville.’
‘And after him?’
‘Tolly.’
‘And Tolly…he is a good man, is he not?’
Kitty nodded, that sense of hope burgeoning as she gave up the fight to suppress it.
‘Then tell me again why I must sire an heir when there are two good men ready to take on the mantle of the earldom. Although I confess I would rather live long enough to deprive my uncle of that honour.’
‘But—’
‘But nothing, my sweet. I have no need to think about it. Tolly will make a fine earl—let him worry about siring an heir and perpetuating our line. Our marriage will be no different to countless other couples who get married every day. They wed, and they face the possibility they may not be blessed with children. It is a gamble. Some married couples produce one child. Some produce a dozen, or even more. But nobody knows, when they make their vows to one another, what their destiny will be.’
Kitty gasped. ‘I never thought of it like that.’
Adam kissed her, tiny kisses peppered all over her face.
‘I promise you, my dearest love, that is exactly how I will view our union—if you will have me. The fate of the title and the estates simply do not feature in my plans for the future.’
Emotion welled up, blurring her vision. So much wasted time. So much pain. Adam gently passed his thumb beneath her eyes, one after the other.
‘Don’t cry, sweeting,’ he whispered. ‘Don’t cry, or you will have me in tears, too.’
Her throat ached as she summoned up a smile. ‘A big brave man like you, in tears?’ she teased.
‘I am brave enough to admit I have cried,’ he whispered, his voice raw. ‘I cried when I left ye fifteen years ago and I cried when ye turned me down.’
His fingers curled around her scalp, urging her face to his. She opened her mouth as his lips covered hers, pouring every ounce of her love for him into her kiss.
Too soon, he pulled back and captured her gaze again.
‘Kitty…’ His eyes glowed with love, tinged with uncertainty. ‘Will ye please put me out of my misery? Please say ye will have me. Say ye will marry me.’
Her heart bloomed with love for him.
‘Oh, yes, my darling Adam. Yes, I will marry you.’
The doubts that had plagued Adam ever since they met again vanished and he finally…finally…could allow himself to believe in a happy ever after for him and for Kitty. He seized her lips in a searing kiss that lasted a long time. A very long time.
When he eventually drew back, he tipped his head to one side. ‘Will I have to ask Robert his permission?’
Kitty gave him a puzzled smile, then laughed. ‘He is my stepson, not my
stepfather,’ she said, giving his shoulder a light slap. ‘Of course we do not need his permission, as you well know. Besides…he already knows, more or less.’
She told him how Robert had followed Adam into the woods and seen their trysts. Adam laughed.
‘I suppose we must be grateful we did nothing more scandalous than kiss in those days. I should hate to have corrupted such a young lad.’
He took her lips in another long, dreamy kiss. This time it was Kitty who ended it, leaning back against his encircling arms to search his face with suddenly serious grey eyes.
‘You will still permit me to write my novels, Adam? My new one is almost complete now and I have had the most splendid idea for an exciting finish.’
He shook his head, then concealed his smile at her suddenly crestfallen expression.
‘Kitty…you goose! I will not permit you because you do not—and will never—need my permission for anything you wish to do. Unless, of course, ye decide to run inside a burning building again. For that, my dearest love, ye will never have my permission. No more heroics. Are we quite clear about that?’
‘Crystal clear, my darling.’
She kissed him, her smooth lips caressing his as the tip of her tongue teased his mouth to open. He needed little encouragement, tightening his arms around her waist again as he tasted her sweetness. Then she straightened.
‘But,’ she said, ‘the fire was a valuable experience. Just think how real it will be when I write it—it will be truly authentic.’
‘Authen—? Kitty! Is that the exciting ending you have planned?’
‘Well…’ She hung her head, then peeped at him from the corner of her eye. Adam bit back a laugh, keeping a frown on his face.
‘But, Adam, my darling…it will be truly marvellous. The heroine rescues the hero, who then realises how very much he loves her and—’
‘But I already knew how much I loved you. It was you who was hiding her true feelings.’
Kitty waved a hand dismissively. ‘Details,’ she said. ‘I am sure my readers will prefer the hero to be the one who refuses to submit to his true feelings.’
He couldn’t help it. He laughed.
Trust his Kitty. And, at last, this was the Kitty he remembered.
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781488065781
The Earl with the Secret Past
Copyright © 2020 by Janice Preston
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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His revenge will ruin her…
Could his passion set her free?
Sold into marriage to repay a family debt, Lady Penelope Hastings is horrified. Especially by her powerful reaction to her new husband, barbarian Scottish laird Lachlan Bain! Penny may be a pawn in his game of revenge, but his untamed spirit calls directly to hers, and his touch ignites a craving she cannot deny. Could this merciless Highlander be the answer to every secret dream she’s had?
“Your carriage waits, wife,” Lachlan said.
Still she did not move.
“Your carriage might wait, but I will not.” He picked her up then, her weight insubstantial. And still he could not quite get over the softness.
She made a noise halfway between a squeak and growl, clinging for a moment to his shirt before releasing her hold on him and going limp, her hands dangling at her sides, her expression one of fury. “I can walk,” she said as he began to stride toward the church doors.
“But you weren’t.”
“I would have!”
“I was tired of waiting,” he growled, pushing the doors open, early morning sunlight washing over them both.
The carriage was just outside, two shiny black horses, a driver and footman. When he saw Lachlan approaching, the footman scrambled down the side of the carriage and held the door for them. Lachlan deposited Penelope inside, and she moved to the far corner, putting as much space between the two of them as possible. “You were waiting for all of ten seconds,” she said.
“No,” he said, his voice like a stranger’s. “I’ve been waiting for fifteen years. I will wait no longer.”
Author Note
What if a lady were promised to a duke and found herself married off to a Scottish Highlander instead? That thought was the inspiration behind this story. Beauty and the beast stories are a firm favorite of mine. And I loved the idea of taking Lady Penelope’s dreams and expectations and turning them upside down.
I’ve always been fascinated by this period of history, and it was fun to delve into some aspects I was less familiar with. Revamped Scottish castles and Scottish military uniforms, for example. But what captivated me most were the characters.
Lachlan is a big brute of a man, scarred by years spent in war, the devastating loss of his mother and the sins of his father, which contributed to the ruin of his clan. He’s a far cry from the sophisticated duke Penny expected to spend her life with, but of course, he’s exactly what she needs.
What I loved most about their journey was that Beauty doesn’t simply tame the beast—the beast makes Beauty a bit more fearsome along the way. And it’s that discovery of strength in the heroine that makes writing stories like this such a joy.
I hope you enjoy my fierce Scottish warrior and his resilient lady as much as I did.
Claimed for the Highlander’s Revenge
Millie Adams
Millie Adams has always loved books. She considers herself a mix of Anne Shirley (loquacious but charming and willing to break a slate over a boy’s head if need be) and Charlotte Doyle (a lady at heart, but with the spirit to become a mutineer should the occasion arise). Millie lives in a small house on the edge of the woods, which she finds allows her to escape in the way she loves best—in the pages of a book. She loves intense alpha heroes and the women who dare to go toe-to-toe with them (or break a slate over their heads).
Claimed for the Highlander’s Revenge is Millie Adams’s debut title for Harlequin Historical.
In Harlequin Presents, look for
The Scandal Behind the Italian’s Wedding.
Look out for more books from
Millie Adams coming soon.
Visit the Author Profi
le page
at Harlequin.com.
To Harlequin, for being my dream come true in so many ways.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Epilogue
CHAPTER ONE
England—1818
Lady Penelope Hastings was sitting in the drawing room, eating buttered toast, when she discovered she had been sold to a barbarian.
‘I’m afraid there’s nothing to be done.’
That was all the explanation offered by her father, Lord Avondale.
If there was one thing Penny knew from experience, it was that the situation was never ideal when her father began by stating how limited the options were. When her mother had died there had been nothing to be done. When he had dismissed her favourite governess—the only person in the household with whom she shared a connection—there had been nothing to be done.
When she had been young and full of dreams, and she had brought him a small, wounded bird in the hope that she might save it, he had barely given her a glance.
There is nothing to be done.
Harlequin Historical July 2020 - Box Set 1 of 2 Page 49
