by Lisa Campell
Colin, who had been smiling, nodded. "I know."
He knew what she felt. He knew what her mind had raced about. How he knew her so well still amazed her. She giggled and nodded. "Yes?"
"It is a wonderful idea."
Without taking a second thought, she said. "Paris?"
She knew how much he had loved that city, and how connected he felt to it. There was no better place.
"Perfect." He grinned.
Lavinia nodded. She knew then that she had found her happiness, her forever, and she knew the life that awaited her ahead, was the life she had always wanted.
Epilogue
Colin and Lavinia were wed, in a church in Gretna Green, and now, they wished to go on to Paris to begin their new life.
"I shall miss England," Lavinia said.
She laughed.
“As shall I,” Colin agreed. “Someday, we’ll return.”
“We shall,” she agreed.
Colin helped Lavinia into the carriage before climbing in himself.
"All ready, My Lord?" the driver called out.
Colin responded. "Ready."
The carriage began to wheel down the narrow road. They both watched out of the window, as Gretna Green disappeared behind the horizon.
Lavinia rested her head on his shoulders then, and sighed. "We are wed."
He chuckled. "We are, my darling, Lady Grandview."
"I am happy we took this step."
"I do hope we did not forget anything of great value at Somerset," he murmured.
Lavinia sat up at that. The carriage bumped. "The painting?"
"What painting?" He creased his brows.
"The one you did while I was asleep."
He smiled and nodded. He would never have left that painting. It was his wedding gift to her. It was his reminder of how he had finally accepted what he felt for her. It was the reminder of the nights he spent with her, watching over her and falling more in love with her. He kissed her chastely and snuggled close to her. "It is here with us."
She smiled and kissed his neck. "Thank you, my love."
They passed through villages and borders. They travelled all through the day, and when night approached, they found themselves in the city of Richmond. The driver advised that they find an inn to spend the night.
They made sure that their belongings were safe, before they finally got a room in the inn and went to rest, in preparation for their journey the next day. As a couple, they were given a room to share.
Lavinia blushed all through their walk to their room. He knew why she did so. It was their wedding night.
After their first night of passion in Somerset, Lavinia had decided that she no longer wanted any form of intimacy until they were wed. Her reason was that she wanted their wedding night to be special. He had agreed to what she wanted. However, all those nights he had not had her beside him, he had yearned for her. He fantasized their wedding night, he dreamt about it, and he could not bear many more nights without her.
The moment he shut the door behind him, he breathed out. Then very slowly, he turned. She stood by the bed, the lamp at the corner of each room seemed to be reflecting on her beautiful skin.
She’s gorgeous, he thought. And he wanted to ravish her. He made his way over to her and very slowly, leaned in to kiss her.
Her body shivered at his touch. He began to undress her, very slowly. He wanted the night to be as special as she had hoped. Once he was done undressing her, she stood naked before him. He stared openly, at the perfection before him.
He kissed her forehead. "You are beautiful."
She gripped the waistband of his breeches. "I want to see you too," she said.
She moaned as he kissed her and bent her neck to allow him more access. Then he stopped and moved back reluctantly.
"Undress me," he said.
She blushed and began to do that. He watched her, as she pulled his shirt off. When she did this, her hands moved against his chest, as though she were fascinated by it. And then ever so slowly, she began to pull down his breeches. He kicked off his boots as she did.
When she was done, her eyes widened at his manhood. She blushed. He chuckled. It seemed so new. Although they had made love before, this time was different. He had no idea why. Perhaps it was because they were wed, or because they were finally free, free to begin their own lives.
He leaned in and kissed her. He felt her skin against his groin and the feeling made him shiver.
He kissed his way all over her body. He trailed kisses down along her spine, until she shivered in his arms and held on to him. He moved his hands against her bosom. She sighed in contentment and leaned back, he placed her on the bed, and moved over her.
He kissed each of her bosoms and suckled them. He did so till she heard her moan and shake in his arms. The burning the desire was running through them both. Her hands pulled through his hair as he pleasured her. Her hands roamed his body. The feel of her fingers, tracing his spine, made his groin harden. He could not wait to be inside her. He wanted to watch her, to see her whimper beneath him, before he began to move inside her.
He slipped a finger inside her. She bucked, her eyes widening. Her hands moved down his chest as he did this. Her eyes were closed. He called out to her.
"Lavinia."
She opened her eyes. "Touch me. Do not stop."
He smiled. "Look at me, my love. I want to see you."
She did open her eyes. Her hazel eyes stared back at him. He moved his finger inside her more. Her eyes clouded at each movement. She shivered. Her body shook beneath his. He sensed her satisfaction.
"I want you inside me, Colin. Now. Please," she said.
He did as she asked. He entered her with ease. She gasped at this. With each move, her cries became louder. She called out his name. Still buried inside her, he said to her. "I love you very much, Lavinia."
She smiled. "I love you too."
Their bodies moved together, their passion matching, their desires like an unquenchable fire, and their hearts, beating together.
The end?
Extended Epilogue
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Afterword
Thank you for reading my novel, Lady of Mischief. I really hope you enjoyed it! If you did, could you please be so kind to write a review HERE?
It is very important for me to read your thoughts about my book, in order to get better at writing.
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Do you want more Romance?
Turn on the next page to read the first chapters of my previous best-selling novel: Beauty and the Beastly Marquess
This is the tale of Eliza Trent, a young and beautiful lady, who will have to tame her beastly husband into the gentleman of her dreams as to build a bright family and future with him...
Beauty and the Beastly Marquess
Chapter One
Eliza stood in front of the full-length mirror in her mother’s old room, her heart aflutter. She gazed awestruck at her own reflection. Could this be the same rambunctious child who had once hiked up her skirts to climb to the top branches of a tree? Were it not for the same mischievous twinkle in her forest-green eyes, Eliza might not have believed it herself.
The dress was perfect, as Judith had promised it would be. The soft blue crepe with the modish bell-shaped sleeves and empire waist, set off the viridian speckles in her irises. Her long blonde hair had been gathered up above the nape of her neck into a bun, with light blonde curls framing her cheeks.
“See, darling? How fair you look!” Judith’s merry gaze met Eliza’s in the glass. “A proper young lady all ready to step out into society. I only wish I’d had such fanfare.” She pinned a few tiny white blossoms along the crown of El
iza’s head. “Your brother will be pleased, I’m sure.”
Eliza smiled. “I hope so. You don’t think he’ll act beastly tonight, do you?” She had grown up stuck to Matthew’s side, and she was well aware of his taste for tricks. The young baron’s title had done nothing to diminish his capricious nature, only masked it.
Judith pursed her lips. “I shan’t allow it if he tries.” Matthew was her beloved husband, and she too, knew of his jesting ways. “But I believe he’s serious about this, you know. He understands what it means to you. And for you.”
Eliza bit her lip. “He’d better.” She had only been waiting for years for this day to come, for her chance to ascend out of what she had begun to see as the doldrums of ‘normal’ life. The world had grown dull and slow in her parents’ absence, colored only by the tales of balls and music and surreptitious romance overheard from Matthew’s friends. She imagined the ton as a jewel at the end of a long, dreadful tunnel.
At last, that jewel was within her reach!
“Well?” Judith’s voice drew Eliza out of her thoughts. “What do you think?” She tugged gently at the light curls that framed her sister-in-law’s face, drawing them down along her cheeks. “I think you’re positively lovely.”
Eliza clasped her hands together. Her smile returned, brighter and more exuberant than ever. “Oh, Judith! I feel like a princess!” It all felt so wonderfully surreal, as if she was visiting someone else’s enchanted life. The hours of classes, the lessons in music and etiquette, seemed a lifetime away.
“Come on then, Your Royal Highness,” Judith teased. “The ball awaits!”
Less than an hour later, Eliza found herself standing at the foot of the steps leading up to the entrance of Colchester Manor. She was flanked on either side by her brother and his wife, and they watched with amusement as she took everything in. A stream of finely-dressed ladies and gentlemen—all of them members of the ton, moved around them. Everywhere she looked, Eliza saw silks, feathers, and jewelry.
They had just finished greeting their guests. Eliza’s head spun with names and faces, to the point where she feared she might make a faux-pas.
“What are you waiting for?” Matthew nudged her gently. “Don’t tell me I’ve gone to all this trouble just for you to stand there like a hitching post.”
She glared at him. “Wouldn’t it kill you to see me happy for one moment, Matthew?”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, I suppose it might. That’s why I’ve gone to such lengths to toss you to the ton. Perhaps they’ll clothe and feed and shelter you now.” But then he smiled. “Don’t dawdle, Eliza. The world is waiting.”
Indeed, she sensed the eyes upon her while she ascended the stairs and passed across the threshold of the ball room. The manor’s front hall was lively and hot, ablaze with chandeliers to chase away the shadows. Eliza could still hardly believe this grand to-do was all for her sake. She was, however, determined to make the best of it.
And there was certainly no shortage of young gentlemen in attendance, whom she knew would now be judging her as a potential bride. Eliza wound her way through the milling crowd, glancing here and there among the smiling, laughing faces and realizing how many she didn’t recognize. To the younger sister of a baron, whose fortune was comparatively small, the ton loomed higher and more glamorous than ever.
The weight of her future struck Eliza then, in that moment, with unexpected force. She turned around, her skirts swirling, looking for her brother. Much to her chagrin, she found that Matthew had disappeared! Not truly, of course; she had no doubts that he was simply lurking somewhere out of her sight. She sighed and began her search, craning her neck to try and get a better view through the crowd.
As it turned out, there were many young nobles who bore more than a passing resemblance to Matthew Trent, Baron of Colchester. Eliza skirted the perimeter of the ballroom. She did not want to be seen mingling without a chaperone, or speaking to a gentleman alone. Surely Matthew must have known that! Frowning, the debutante listened for her sibling’s voice, or his laughter.
Though she had made many acquaintances, she wasn’t yet prepared to speak to anyone without either Matthew or Judith present. Her heart knocked about in her chest.
Finally, she spotted him sitting at a table along the furthest wall. Strangely, there was no sign of Judith, but Eliza was sure that this time, she could not have mistaken her brother. She approached him in a huff. “You fiend, running off and leaving me! Do you have any idea how I must look fleeing from guests at my own—”
That was the moment he turned to regard her and silenced her fountain of words in an instant, for he was not, in fact, Matthew. He raised his eyebrows. “I’d imagine you must look rather amusing.”
“Sebastian!” Despite her irritation, Eliza could not keep her face from lighting up. “He didn’t tell me you were going to be in attendance tonight.” Now she felt foolish for not knowing him, though it had been a while since she’d last laid eyes on Matthew’s best friend.
“You couldn’t possibly believe I’d miss it,” he answered. Sebastian stood up to his full, broad-shouldered height and surveyed the room above her head. “Ah, there he is, the devil. Cutting this way like a shark through open water.” He pointed casually, and Eliza looked up to see Matthew striding toward her, apparently out of nowhere. A look of mild but long-suffering annoyance colored his features.
Matthew gave his sister a look. “I am trying, dear sister, to give you your freedom—within reason. There is no possible way you’d prefer to have me breathing down your neck at every turn.”
With this, Eliza grudgingly agreed. “But people are watching, Matthew,” she argued, keeping her voice low.
“Then let this be a lesson to you in how to act under scrutiny,” he replied easily. “Provided your coming-out goes well, the ton will be watching for the rest of your life. Even when you think they aren’t.” He turned to Sebastian. “Should have known you were lurking in a corner.” The gentlemen shook hands. “I take it you haven’t spied anything that’s tickled your fancy?” If embarrassingly blunt, the question was honest. Sebastian’s proclivity for women, and his disdain for the institution of marriage, preceded him.
Sebastian chuckled. “At Eliza’s coming-out ball? Perish the thought.” He smiled at Eliza. “Were there ever a night for me to act a gentleman, it’s this one.”
Eliza grinned back. “A far cry from the future Marquess of Dain I knew as a child. Would that you had been such a gentleman then, when I was so admiring!’
“Would that you had been anything other than an intolerable little brat,” he teased. “Always meddling, always underfoot. Many times I thought Matthew really must have had a younger brother.”
Eliza rolled her green eyes, but the smile hadn’t left her face for a moment in Sebastian’s presence. He had always been her unabashed favorite of Matthew’s friends, and now as she gazed at him, his tawny, lionlike hair and piercing blue eyes did not escape her. There was a sharp, cool undertone to those eyes, but from Eliza’s perspective, they were rather more like diamonds than blades.
Matthew cleared his throat. “If I may suggest,” he said to his friend, stepping somewhat in between the two. “I think it’s time for us to fade back into the scenery. My wife would be a much more suitable visible companion for my sister.” He called Judith over from where she had been waylaid by a group of gossiping ladies, and as the two ladies reconnected, he glanced into his sister’s face.
Eliza knew that expression of wordless warning all too well. Matthew was often accommodating of her whims; he was not a fool. He had told her before to be wary of Sebastian, regardless of whatever affection she might feel. The Marquess of Dain was a sworn bachelor, deeply opposed to the respectable life represented by such things as a wife, a well-kept house, and a brood of children. He would, as Matthew was quick to remind, bring her nothing but trouble.
Judith caught that look also and shooed her husband away, shaking her head. “Pay no attention to him, dear Eliza
,” she said, patting her sister-in-law’s hand. “He has only your best interests in mind.”
“I know.” Eliza peered over her shoulder as she let Judith lead her away, back toward the spot where Matthew and Sebastian stood together, talking and laughing. Every young lady who walked by Sebastian tried to pass him a demure glance, hoping to catch his interest. But he paid no mind to any.
