“Love.” He reached for her hands, intent to stop her. But her eyes met his, the blue of her eyes drawing him in ways that stole his breath.
“I want to be yours. I want you…” she freed the complicated closers, pushing the fabric down his hips. “I want you to be mine.”
He stared at her, unable to deny her anything, especially not this. He wanted that, too. And as he sank down, their skin brushing, the head of his manhood pushed into her welcoming folds.
Her arms and legs wrapped about him. There was no hesitation, even when he pushed against her maidenhead, feeling it break. She stiffened but she didn’t close to him, her arms holding him tighter. “Love me,” she said in his ear. “Love me, Ben.”
He pushed the rest of the way inside her and fully seated, he stopped to catch his breath, to slow his heart, to looked down at her porcelain skin and honey hair. He brushed a thumb across her cheek. “I love you, Chloe.”
She gasped, tightening her grip on him. “Ben.”
“I do,” he said capturing her mouth with his. When he lifted up, he slowly moved back out of her. “I’ll be the man you need. I swear it.”
She held him tighter. “I love you, too.”
That was all he needed to hear as he slowly pushed into her again, her tight sheath pulling him in. He was slow, gentle, but as he moved, his own finish barreled forward. He’d waited a lifetime to find her. To find this moment. To come back home again.
And as he came undone, he knew that he was where he belonged. Not this house, not even the gardens, the land, or the ocean. In Chloe’s arms. That’s where he belonged.
Chapter Fifteen
Chloe woke the next morning with Ben curled around her body. She’d never been warmer or more comfortable in her life.
After they’d made love, he’d carried her up to her room where they’d both stayed.
She snuggled deeper into him, a sleepy grin pulling at the corners of her lips.
His arms tightened about her even as he nuzzled the back of her neck. “Good morning,” he murmured, one of his legs tangled between hers. “How did you sleep?”
“Like a baby,” she replied, turning her head to look over her shoulder. “You?”
He kissed a line over her shoulder. “I slept wonderfully. We should make a habit of this. Sleeping together.”
She turned then, pressing her front to his. “I agree.”
He slid a hand down her back, cupping her behind and pulling their hips tight together. She gasped as delicious pressure made her body tight with wanting. “Ben.”
“Mmm,” he murmured as he started kissing along her throat,
“There is something else we need to discuss.”
He nipped at her collarbone, his fingers brushing between her thighs. “Does it involve the silkiness of your skin?”
“No,” she giggled breathlessly.
He brushed his nose over her chest. “Your sweet scent?”
“No.” She gave his shoulder a light smack.
“Is it how round and full your—”
“Ben,” she gasped, grabbing his shoulders and trying to pull him back up. “I’m serious.”
“I’m serious, too,” he replied, glancing up at her again. “Serious about making love to you as the sun rises.”
One of her hands came to his cheek. Part of her wanted that, too. Most of her, if she were being honest. But she needed to know about their future. They’d confessed their feelings last night but not much else. “What happens after?”
“After?” he quirked a brow. “We eat breakfast.”
She shook her head, trying not to roll her eyes. “I mean after that. Are we…” She swallowed a lump. “Are we still getting married?”
He stilled as he looked up at her and then very slowly, he kissed her chest again, the press of his lips intimate and gentle. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“Of course not,” she said combing his hair back with her hands. “I’d like to stay here with you forever.” It was the truth.
He rolled her onto her back, his weight coming on top of hers. “Forever?”
“Forever.” Her breath caught. Did he feel that way, too?
His weight settled between her legs, his hand travelling up her arms to lace with hers. “Then you shall have me forever in holy matrimony.” And then he kissed her long and slow, their tongues dancing together. “I hope you don’t regret it.”
“Regret it?” she cried against his mouth. “How could I ever regret marrying you?”
He chuckled. “I think we both know I’m a difficult bastard. I’m hardheaded, selfish, and too independent for my own good.”
She slid her hands along his jaw. “You forgot strong, protective, and handsome.”
His smile grew. “I’ll work to be a better man, Chloe. If you’ll have me as your husband, I’ll try and smooth my rough edges.”
Looking down at him, she held him tight. “I can’t ask for more than that.”
He ran a hand through her hair pushing back up to capture her lips again. “Now that all of that is settled…” He brought a hand to her breast, holding the mound in his palm as his thumb brushed her nipple.
She gasped at the pleasure, but the inhale was drowned out by a knock at the door. “Chloe?”
“Millie?” she asked even as Ben slid further under the covers, his hands molding her body.
“Are you awake?”
“Yes,” she replied as Ben stilled, his lips on her stomach. “Is everything all right?”
“No,” Millie answered. “It’s Dez.”
She tossed back the covers, her eyes meeting Ben’s. “What’s happened?” she called even as she scrambled from the bed, finding her dressing gown and pulling it on. Ben wrapped himself in the coverlet, sliding from the bed, too.
“One of his ships. It’s sunk.”
“He wasn’t on it, was he?” Ben asked.
Millie didn’t respond. Finally, after several moments of silence, she said, “Ben?”
He opened the door then. “Yes, it’s me. Let’s stop talking through the door. Shall we? Is Dez all right?”
Millie looked over Ben’s shoulder, her eyes wide. “He’s fine. He was here when it happened, but one of his two ships is gone along with the entire shipment of powder he’d been set to deliver.”
Air rushed out of Chloe’s lungs. “Thank goodness.”
Millie twisted her hands. “But he’s fit to be tied. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen him so agitated. He’s a contract with the Prince Regent and he’ll not be able to deliver.” Her gaze flitted between the two of them.
Ben ignored his sister’s unspoken question. “I’ll be dressed and down in just a few minutes. I’m sure I can help.”
Millie stood a bit straighter. “With Dez’s problem or with Chloe’s?”
Ben looked at his sister, cocking his head to the side. “What is Chloe’s problem?”
“She’s been ruined by a duke.”
Chloe pressed her lips together but Ben only chuckled. “One problem already solved. We’re getting married in a fortnight. Now, onto the next.”
Chloe let out a long breath. Would Ben be able to help Dez?
Ben strode down the stairs, heading toward his study. He’d told Millie to have Dez wait there.
He sighed to think that right now he could be warmly tucked inside his soon-to-be wife. But there was always later.
This was part of being a man who was not alone all the time.
Helping people when they needed it, being inconvenienced at times for their wants and needs.
When he really thought about it, he rather enjoyed the prospect. There was a satisfaction in helping others he’d been missing in his life. One didn’t just help them, they helped themselves.
He stopped on the stairs.
His father, for all his attempts to be good and righteous, was never selfless. Ben drew in a breath. Every act his father had committed, had always been for his own gain. Deep down, Ben had feared becoming his f
ather.
Ben closed his eyes. He would not hurt his siblings the way his father had. He could be in their lives, all their lives, if he thought not of the dukedom or of himself, but of them.
That was the man he wished to be.
With that, he made his way to his study, where he found Dez staring into the fire in the grate.
“Dez?”
The other man’s gaze snapped up. “Hello.”
“You all right?”
Dez waved his hand. “I’m fine.”
Ben frowned. “Explain fine.”
“Why?” Dez barked, his voice sharp. “So the duke can lecture me on what I’ve done wrong?”
Ben bit back a smile. He’d react much the same way in his brother’s position. “No, you horse’s ass. So I can help.”
Dez grunted. “I don’t need help. Not unless you’ve got a boat.”
Ben’s eyes widened at that. “I’ve got five actually. The solicitor wants me to sell them.”
Dez jolted upright. “You’re shitting me.”
“I shit you not.”
“You’ve got five ships you’re selling?”
Ben shrugged. “You are my brother. I could just give them to you.”
Dez’s mouth hung open. “I don’t take charity.”
Ben shrugged as he turned to his desk to dig out the particular correspondence that had addressed the boats. “Suit yourself. It’s not that I blame you, I don’t. But after years of not talking, you could consider at least one boat a gift from an absent brother.”
Dez didn’t reply as Ben continued to rummage through his pile. “I appreciate the offer, which makes the next thing I’m going to have to say damned awkward.”
Ben lifted his head. “What?”
“Is it true that you deflowered Chloe?”
Ben’s fingers stilled. “Damn Millie. Did she also mention that Chloe and I are getting married in a fortnight?”
Dez grimaced. “You still should have waited.”
Ben’s fingers flexed. This was the downside of his family in his business. Their opinions. “Be honest. Would you have waited?”
“I don’t know.” Dez shrugged. “I’ve never liked a woman enough to want to marry her.”
Ben chuckled at that. “Well, rest assured, you won’t have to challenge me to a dual to defend her honor. It’s already defended.”
“Good,” Dez grunted. “That leaves us with only the business to discuss.”
“Which business it that?”
“Mine,” Dez replied. “I’ve got a solid storage house of powder. I keep it locked tight and secret as hell. I can’t have the French finding it. But I need ships to get it to London. In fact, once I’ve got the payment from this shipment, I could purchase another boat from you.”
Ben shook his head. The independent spirit ran strong in all of them. “You can have them all. It’s my gift—”
“I don’t do gifts,” Dez growled out.
Ben lifted a brow. “Just the one then?”
Dez hesitated for a moment before he gave a tentative nod. “Thank you, brother. While I could have delayed my contract, for everyone’s sake, on time delivery is our best option. My distributors need to keep moving the product along and the front needs the powder.”
Ben gave a quick nod. “Is there anything else I can do?”
“I need to speak with my second in command, Will Parricide, so he can fill me in on the details of the explosion.” Dez scrubbed his face. “Can you sit in on the meeting? You might hear something I don’t.”
“Of course.” Ben said. “I’d be happy to.”
Dez came forward, holding out his hand to shake Ben’s. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I’m glad that you’ve brought me here, Ben.”
Surprise made him drop his brother’s hand. “We’ve Father to thank for that.” His father hadn’t meant to actually help them. Had he?
Dez stroked his chin, neither quite able to believe that the man they’d hated had done something right. “It has to be an accident.”
“More than likely.”
A knock interrupted any further musings and both men sat down to greet Parricide. Ben knew he wasn’t getting back to his fiancée for some time. He missed her, of course. But that would make their reunion later that much sweeter. Of course, he’d had no idea how much later that might actually be.
Chapter Sixteen
Chloe sat in the music room, her fingers flying over the keys of the pianoforte. She was worried for Dez, but she also missed Ben.
It had only been a few hours since they’d left her room, but she already wished to have him close again.
“I haven’t heard you play like that in years,” Millie said as she looked up from where she sat embroidering.
Esme gave her a grin. “Dare I guess at the change?”
Chloe felt heat fill her cheeks. She opened her mouth to answer that they both knew she’d fallen in love, but her words stopped short as open door of the library banged into the frame.
“I’d like to know the fucking change,” a darkhaired man rumbled from the doorway.
“Me, too,” another said from behind him. “It made this fucking little scene of domesticity almost pleasant.”
Chloe stood ready to…well, she wasn’t certain. Flee? Scream? Try to pass them and find Ben? W these men a threat?
But Millie didn’t even bother to stand. Instead she rolled her eyes. “You’ll both have to adjust to a more domestic life, I’m afraid.”
“Fuck that,” the one in the front said.
Chloe noted that his jacket was of fine quality but there were a few singed edges on the fabric.
Someone else cleared his throat from behind the other two men. “Your language, sir.”
“Fuck that, too,” the second man rumbled, sounding exactly like Dez.
And then it hit Chloe. These men were Justice and Sayden, Millie’s brothers.
Millie finally stood when a third man entered the room. With dark blonde hair, he was equally tall but far fairer than the White men. Millie moved forward. “Mr. Veritas, it’s a pleasure to see you again after all these years.”
One of the White’s snorted. Chloe had no idea if he was Justice or Sayden. “We’re your blood, for fuck’s sake. How come you didn’t greet us?”
Millie rolled her eyes, brushing past them. “Complete one sentence without using profanity and I shall consider it.”
“Millie,” Chloe said, stepping around the pianoforte. “Would you like me to collect His Grace?”
“Millie.” One of them looked Chloe up and down, a salacious grin spreading over his lips. “You must introduce me to this delicious creature.”
“Justice, I will tell you what I told Dez,” Ben’s voice rose from the back of the group. “You’ll have to kill me before you touch her.”
Everyone turned to see Ben striding into the room. Chloe only took a moment to note that the larger, brawnier of the two new White’s was Justice before her eyes settled on Ben.
He crossed to stand next to her, his hand coming to her waist.
Justice stood straighter. “Hello, Your Dukeliness. I was worried you sent the barrister to fetch us in order to issue a bunch of decrees. But based on your last opening words, you wanted to fight. Excellent.”
Ben looked at Dez. “Veritas brought them? I thought you were going to send for them?”
Dez shrugged. “I hadn’t had a chance yet.”
“Veritas got lucky, anyway,” Sayden shrugged as he unceremoniously tossed himself into a nearby chair, his long legs stretching out in front of him. Chloe noted neither brother had bothered to formerly greet their brother, the new duke. “We were getting ready to leave London. We were only there as a favor to Dez.”
“And go where?” Ben asked, his hand tightening at her waist.
“It doesn’t matter,” Dez answered before either of the other two brothers could speak. “But we’re all here, and so is Mr. Veritas. Does that or does it not qualify as the family r
eunion you requested, Ben?”
“It does,” Ben answered. “Doesn’t it, Mr. Veritas?”
The polished-looking barrister stepped forward. “It does. Would you prefer we move to a more formal location?”
Ben shook his head. “Here will do just fine.”
He shifted next to her and Chloe wondered at his nervousness. Was he concerned because his brothers were here or was he worried about what his father’s Last Will and Testament might say?
Ben stared at his brothers. They’d been boys the last time he’d seen them. Still, he’d know them anywhere. Dark hair and piercing brown eyes, so much like his that he could be looking in the mirror. Satisfaction rolled through him. And not because of the will and the fact it was finally going to be read. Somehow, it just seemed right to be together. Like snow at Christmastide.
Not that there was anything wholesome about Justice or Sayden. They were as wild as Dez had warned.
But he also knew that there was more to the story than Dez had said. He could see it in the way Dez shifted uncomfortably. They had a secret.
Ben intended to find out everything. They’d gone too long with half-truths and shrouded intentions.
He’d wanted to hear this reading of the will more than anything not a month ago, but now…
He drew in a breath. “Mr. Veritas, my brothers and I need a moment. We’ll be back soon.”
Chloe’s hand came to his arm, her eyes drawn together in question, but she didn’t say a word as Veritas nodded. “Of course.”
Then Ben started for the door as his brothers followed. They’d barely made it around the corner when he stopped turning toward Dez. “There’s a great deal you haven’t said.”
Dez shrugged. “I didn’t know if I could trust you at first.”
“Do they even live in London?” It was Millie who’d told him that was their residence. Ben wondered if Millie had any idea how much Dez kept from her, too.
“Occasionally,” Justice answered. “When I need a real fight.”
Ben looked his brother up and down. He was muscular, to be certain and his face had the look of a man who’d taken a lot of punches. “You’re a fighter.”
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