Mark of The Marquess (The Valiant Love Regency Romance) (A Historical Romance Book)

by Deborah Wilson

  “You are not wanted here, sir,” Louvell shouted over her shoulder. “Do leave.”

  The stranger’s gaze slid to Louvell. He blinked and then turned back to her. An expression passed in that wild gaze. Hurt?

  The man looked away and somewhere inside Kim, the answer to his identity rose.

  “James,” she whispered.

  His gaze was not menacing at all now but filled with caution. As though he were the one in danger.

  She’d not asked if he was James. She’d known it.

  And now, she understood everything about his letters and why he would not return to London.

  “You know this fiend?” Louvell asked.

  James narrowed his eyes at Louvell. The expression was that of a man who balanced on an edge that would throw him into the bowels of rage.

  Yet for some reason, Kim was no longer afraid of this man who was a stranger to her eyes but not her heart. “James,” she called again.

  His attention returned to her. His expression immediately softened.

  She looked him over and shook her head. “Oh, James.” She hadn’t known about his face. If she had, she’d not have asked him to come. She could tell that this was painful for him. Being seen as he was hurt him.

  And it hurt her that he was in pain.

  “Kimberley,” her mother called, pleading. “Who is this?”

  Kim looked at her mother. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t even know his full name.

  ∫ ∫ ∫

  1 0

  James clenched his jaw and then turned to the woman who’d pressed herself into the corner of the room. “I am James Hayden IV, Marquess of Denhallow.”

  The woman’s eyes—so very like her daughter’s—went wide. Her lips trembled. “Marquess?”

  James didn’t dare approach her for a formal greeting but bowed where he stood. And thought about how best to leave this terrible situation. He’d seen the servant slip from the room and knew someone would have gone for the authorities.

  “The Marquess of Denhallow?” asked the gentleman who could be none other than Lord Louvell.

  James turned to him, though he hadn’t wished to. Louvell looked like just the sort of gentleman any women in her right mind would dream about. His pale handsome looks would have set many of the hearts in London ballrooms a flutter.

  James had taken one look at him and cursed himself for ever coming.

  But it had been his reaction to seeing Kim that had truly proved him a fool. His eyes moved to her now, as though unable to settle on anything else in the room with her about.

  Kimberley Clemens was everything that was beauty and everything he could never have. A woman like her had no place even being his friend, much less asking him to save her. Her face was sharp with feminine maturity. Indeed, the only softness in her—aside from a body with beckoning curves—were her lips.

  And those eyes.

  How could she not know their color? They were clearly jade. A dark and verdant green that had a brightness that reflected light across the room.

  When she’d first seen him, those eyes had held everything he’d feared.

  Terror that rotted the bone.

  Yet now, they held nothing but sadness. Maybe even disappointment.

  He shouldn’t have come.

  Yet, like the idiot he was, he’d hoped.

  Hoped she would look at him and not see what he was.

  A monster.

  “Forgive me,” he said to her more than anyone else in the room. This was his fault. He should have known better. He turned to leave.

  “Wait.”

  He swiftly spun back around at the sound of Kim’s voice. Her voice already had the ability to control him. If she told him she never wished to see him again, he would understand.

  It would forever break him, but he would understand.

  Kim moved to approach him.

  Louvell grabbed her shoulder, stopping her.

  James growled, though he admitted he was pleased that the other man had stopped her. He’d been disgusted at his lack of courage when he’d moved behind Kim. At least now he was showing himself to be a man, keeping her away from what was clearly danger.

  But the growl must have startled him, because Louvell quickly let Kim go, and if he wasn’t mistaken, had pushed her forward.

  The weakness revolted him.

  Kim moved toward him, slowly, with caution. Did she fear him?

  He held her eyes but didn’t see fear. In fact, behind the curiosity, he thought he saw humor.

  If she laughed at him, James would simply walk out the door, into the cold, and continue to walk until he expired.

  She came closer than he’d thought she would.

  Closer than he thought she should.

  She was inches away, and she smiled.

  That smile reached into his chest and took full control of his heart, causing it to cease its beating.

  Her voice, just as beautiful as the rest of her, came out just above a whisper. “You came.” She didn’t seem disappointed anymore. Or cautious.

  But now he was both. “Yes,” he said.

  “To save me?” she asked, as though she needed the clarification.

  “Yes.” Since the moment he’d received her letter, his life had served no other purpose than to please her.

  Her smile grew, a thing of pure radiance. “Thank you.”

  He didn’t know what to say to that. “You’re welcome. I should be going.”

  Her dark brows rose. A fisted hand covered her chest and she used her other hand to cover her fist. Her thumb brushed against her knuckle. “Why?”

  Why? What did she want from him? Was she looking for further entertainment at the expense of his embarrassment?

  “The constable will be here any minute,” Louvell called from his cowardly position across the room. “Whoever you are, you best be on your way.” He clearly didn’t believe James to be a marquess.

  Did Kim?

  Did it matter?

  Kim turned to her fiancé, and James had to hold back a growl. He didn’t want her attention on the other man. Only him. “He’s welcome here,” she said to the room, before giving a meaningful look past James’ shoulder. Then she turned back to James.

  James looked behind him and found a man and woman there.

  The man held the woman protectively away from James, and he was pleased to know that there was at least one real man aside from himself present.

  “Who are you?” the other man asked.

  “The Marquess of Denhallow,” the older woman whispered in amazement.

  A hand settled on James, startling him.

  He turned to see Kim was holding his arm in almost a protective gesture. It unsettled him in the most profound way. Her touch was warm and light.

  The other man saw the gesture and clearly didn’t approve.

  “James,” Kim whispered.

  He was a slave to her voice. He looked at her again. Studied her. He’d likely never see her again after this day.

  “This is my brother, Lord Peckshire, his wife, Lady Peckshire, and my mother, the dowager Lady Peckshire,” she introduced them all. “And that is Lord Louvell.”

  “Her fiancé,” Louvell stated.

  James was unable to keep himself from holding back his next comment. “If that were true, you would not be standing across the room, but over here, protecting her.”

  Louvell straightened at the words but didn’t emerge from behind the wingback chair.

  James noticed the dowager was pressing her lips together, avoiding anyone’s eyes. Lord and Lady Peckshire glanced at one another. Then Lord Peckshire stared at Louvell before turning back to James. “I did not know my sister was acquainted with you, Lord Denhallow.”

  James turned to Kim… who he found to be gazing up at him.

  Her smile remained in place. Her expression was warm and open, but she offered him no help, aside from the hand pressed into his arm.

  Did she wish him to do all the
explaining?

  He turned to Lord Peckshire. “We are acquainted through her aunt.”

  “Lady Macy?” the dowager asked in surprise.

  “We are good friends,” James said. “I see her quite often.”

  That seemed to surprise Kim as well as the others, though she did well to hide it.

  “I read about what happened to your face,” Lord Peckshire said. “It was a brave thing you did, going back to look for the other lords.”

  “Thank you.” James was glad the other man hadn’t thought to apologize for James’ face, like many others did when they saw him. As though it were their fault.

  Kim narrowed her gaze in confusion and then knowledge bloomed on her face.

  “The missing lords,” the dowager whispered. “Of course. It was in the paper.”

  One hadn’t needed to have read the papers to know of what took place two years ago.

  James had been drugged and kidnapped. Four other lords had also been taken, but only James had been tortured. They’d been taken by Mr. Goody, a gentleman who’d been jealous of the peers of London and had wished to make them suffer.

  The news had spread throughout London and likely abroad. Some of the other lords had been missing for years. James had only been missing for a few weeks before he’d found his freedom.

  Yet still, he’d been the only man visibly scarred by the experience.

  He noticed the moment a deeper sadness set into Kim’s eyes.

  Suddenly, Lord Louvell was closer. “Yes, I recall the story. Tragedy. Not something we should focus on at the moment, however. Especially with such a happy occasion about to take place. Miss Clemens?” He held out his hand to Kim.

  James moved and stepped between them. He’d hadn’t even allowed her to consider leaving his side.

  Kim let him go… only to take hold of his other arm. Their position was united and firm, supporting one another, though James was unsure of where it would all lead.

  Louvell’s nostrils flared. “Miss Clemens, unless you wish to begin this marriage on the worst of terms, you will come here this minute.”

  “No.” Kim’s voice was strong. “I’m sorry, Lord Louvell, but I won’t be marrying you. I’m marrying the marquess.”

  ∫ ∫ ∫

  1 1

  James stiffened at the declaration and the certainty in her voice.

  Everyone pulled in a breath at Kim’s words, including him.

  Her words were as much as a claim as her hand.

  And in James’ mind, it was sealed.

  She was his.

  He stared down at her and found her eyes to be on him. They blazed with life.

  And he vowed he would preserve that life, care for it, so that it would never leave. The vow was more sacred than any he’d give to a man of the clergy. Yet, he would make his proper vows nonetheless.

  Louvell, on the other hand, stilled. “You will not embarrass me this way. You will not choose this thing over me.” Then he moved, as if to grab for Kim and force her compliance.

  James would have allowed the insult to his humanity, since Louvell was partly right. James, at times, was more thing than man, but Louvell would quickly learn he was mistaken if he thought he would put a hand on a lady in front of James.

  And not just any lady.

  His lady.

  He had Louvell across the room and against the wall in a blink. The man’s head hit hard, a thunderclap across the room, shaking it. He rocked back and forth in pain until James shook and straightened him. Anger filled James’ blood, rushed to his muscles, and swelled his arms.

  How dare Louvell think to touch what was his!

  How dare he think to bring his lady harm!

  James had lost so much.

  He’d lost everything.

  But he would not lose Kim.

  Not ever.

  He’d maim and murder anything and anyone who dared think to cause her harm.

  James had never been a deadly man, but death had stared him in the face two years ago and left its ugly marks. Now, he was changed. A lord whose more basic urges had been unchained.

  An uncivilized situation had left him uncivil, his body and mind in an unending state of unrest.

  Only Kim’s humor and kindness could soothe him.

  Louvell had made a grave mistake.

  James might be a marquess, but while chained to the damp floor of a basement, with little food and water, and left to breathe in his own filth, he’d become more animal than gentleman.

  Leaning close, he whispered, “You will not touch what is mine.”

  Louvell’s complete and visible fear fed something wicked within James. He enjoyed gazing into that fear, certain his message had been delivered.

  But perhaps… perhaps he should leave Louvell with a reminder of his mistake.

  Perhaps, he should mark the other man so that he’d forever know the consequences of his fatal actions.

  Louvell began to tremble, as though he could see the vicious thoughts that went through James’ mind.

  One of James’ hands had already made its way around the other man’s throat.

  It was warm and pulsed underneath his fingers.

  All he had to do was squeeze...

  “James.” The voice of his lady doused every part of his anger, quenching it until it was no more, feeling him with a pleasant calmness. “Let him go.”

  He dropped Louvell. Just as she’d commanded.

  Louvell fell to the floor and then crawled backward while he struggled to breathe.

  “Kimberley, you can’t marry him,” Lord Peckshire shouted from his position by the door. He helped a stumbling Louvell. “He may be a lord, but he is not for you.”

  Louvell straightened is clothes. “I’m leaving. Don’t bother to come for me when you’ve changed your mind.” Then he was gone.

  The house shook when the door slammed at his departure.

  “Kim,” Lord Peckshire called, seeming to be at the end of his wits. “You can’t understand what you’ve just done. Come. We must straighten this out.”

  James turned to glare at the other man. Was there yet another who thought he could take his sweet Kimberley from him?

  Kimberley moved in front of James, blocking his path to her brother. James settled his hands on her shoulders. She started, but then seemed to lean into his possessive hold.

  Good. It was good that she accepted what he was. Who he was and who she was to him.

  She was his.

  “Charles,” Kimberley said. “I’m old enough to make my own decisions.”

  “Kim,” her mother protested. She’d not left her chair, but her color had faded with fear. She swallowed. “Are you certain you wish to marry him? Over Louvell?”

  James’ fingers tightened on Kim. “I would never bring her harm.”

  “My lord.” Lord Peckshire stepped closer. “This is all happening far too quickly. Perhaps, you would like to come back tomorrow? We can discuss it then.”

  James shook his head. He didn’t know what would happen when he left, but he knew that if he left without Kimberley, he’d likely never see her again.

  That was not an option. It had been an option before she’d claimed him, but now he was claimed. He was hers just as much as she was his.

  He would go nowhere without her.

  * * *

  Kim turned around to look at James. His fingers barely left her through the move, simply glided across her until she was in a position where he could hold her again.

  His face had been such a shock when she’d first seen it, but she was already getting used to it. The lines had likely once been a vicious red, but they were pale now. The light and shadows that played in the room made them seem deeper. She wondered if he felt any pain or if after all these years the pain was gone.

  She hoped it was.

  His black eyes held hers, patiently waiting for her to say something.

  She bit her lip. “What do you think of my brother’s idea?” She hoped James didn�
��t accept it. She had a feeling that instead of leaving for London tomorrow, her family would leave tonight.

  And would James come for her there? She wasn’t sure.

  “I’m not leaving without you,” he whispered just loud enough for her ears. “We stay together.”

  A shiver passed through her. She liked these words so very much. After years of feeling so alone, a loneliness she knew had been made by her own foolish choices and lies, she wanted someone to care for her. To wish to stay with her.

  “All right.” She placed one of his hands on hers. “We stay together.” Her voice was louder.

  “Kim,” Sarah called. “Passions are high.”

  “Yes,” her mother said more firmly. “Let us take the night to think on all of this.”

  Kim turned to look at her family and shook her head.

  They would never understand the connection she had with this man. She knew it. Even if she explained it, all they would see was his face, because they’d not been able to get to know the man underneath first.

  And then he’d attacked Louvell, which hadn’t helped their case.

  Still, she was certain she was making the right choice.

  “Do not make me choose,” she told her family. “I do not wish to marry Louvell. I do not wish to join the marriage market in London.”

  Her mother straightened. “But, Kim, you must marry...” She looked at James. “The right gentleman.”

  “We made a mistake,” Sarah said. “We should have told you about Louvell’s plans, but it will be different in London. You’ll have so many choices.”

  Could none of them hear her? Could they not hear themselves and understand the pain they were likely causing James?

  She’d heard enough. She turned back to James. “They won’t understand.”

  James was staring at her family, but his gaze slowly fell to her. “What is your wish?”

  That question, that simple act of understanding, firmed her resolve. “We’re leaving.”

  “I did not mean to tear your family apart,” he said.

  “You’ve not,” she told him. “You are not to blame. Let’s go.”

  His expression was mournful. “I don’t believe they will let me take you with their blessing.” And clearly, he wanted that. He’d acted quite the beast, but clearly, he was a gentleman.