Regency Scandals: Touch Me, Tempt Me & Take Me Box Set

by Lucy Monroe

  "Clairborne." Ellen’s voice cracked like a whip into the anger-charged atmosphere, though she spoke in the well-modulated tones of a perfect duchess. "Remember your position."

  Calantha could not make herself back up even an inch and her eyes fixed on Henry with her own fury, although she sensed her position was a precarious one.

  "Sit down, duke. You will give Calantha’s servants fodder for gossip of the basest nature."

  Surprisingly, Henry listened to his wife and sat. This woman truly would have made a more appropriate wife to Deveril.

  Ellen spoke to Calantha, her attention firmly fixed on her spouse. "The duke and I are aware that your marriage was not as happy as it could have been, but you must understand that Henry cared deeply for his brother. Please excuse his emotional comments."

  Henry nodded, visibly swallowing his anger. "I didn’t mean to offend you, my dear."

  Calantha refused to give in so easily. "I will have your word that you will not refer to my fiancé in an insulting fashion again," she spoke directly to her brother-in-law, ignoring Ellen’s apology.

  "You have it."

  "I am quite shocked," Ellen said, "You have not shown the least desire to wed again in the last four years."

  "I did not have the desire to remarry until I met Jared," Calantha responded in all honesty. She didn’t have the desire now, but she had even less desire to hurt Jared or Hannah.

  "Surely you realize that had I known you were thinking along those lines, I would have done all I could to help you find a suitable husband."

  What would Ellen’s reaction be if she learned her husband had made a similar offer regarding finding Calantha a paramour? She did not believe that Ellen would find his offer to warm Calantha’s bed nearly as acceptable.

  "I know that you do not mean to imply that the viscount is unsuitable in any way. He is, after all, heir to an earldom and that is quite an advantageous match for the penniless daughter of an unknown clergyman. However, let me assure you, even as Calantha, Duchess of Clairborne, he is the only gentleman I would ever consider marrying." That also was the truth.

  She did not learn what Ellen’s response to her words would have been because at that moment, Thomas announced Jared and Hannah.

  Calantha turned to greet them. Jared’s massive body filled the doorway, his shoulders almost touching either side of the jamb. His face wore an arrested expression and he had not moved forward into the room. Hannah squirmed in his arms and he let her down, his gaze fixed on Calantha.

  What had put that look of intensity in his eyes?

  She did not get time to ponder it as Hannah rushed across the room and threw herself at Calantha’s legs, hugging with all her might. "Hi, Cali. Jared brung me to visit. Can we have tea?"

  Calantha bent down to press the little girl close before releasing her. "What a lovely surprise to see you, sweeting. Of course we shall have tea."

  She straightened and her gaze collided with Jared’s.

  He had come near and now leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Good afternoon, mon ange. I trust I am not interrupting."

  Shocked at his casually possessive greeting, she almost reached up to press her fingers against her cheek where he had kissed her, but stopped herself from the telltale action.

  "The duke and duchess are eager to meet you, Jared."

  Jared smiled and the wicked gleam of laughter in his eyes told her he didn’t believe her. She found herself smiling in return and he went still.

  He reached out and brushed her bottom lip with his forefinger. "You have a very sweet smile, mon ange."

  And it was her turn to go still, even the breath in her chest momentarily arrested.

  She heard Henry’s disapproving snort and felt Hannah’s small fingers clutching her own, but she could not make herself look away from the warmth in Jared’s eyes. She forced her lungs to take in air once again. "Thank you."

  He broke eye contact to face her guests, keeping one possessive hand on her arm. "Introduce us."

  "Jared, may I present the Duke and Duchess of Clairborne?"

  Jared bowed, but it was more a movement of his shoulders and head than his upper body. Henry was bound to be offended, just as he would be offended that she began the introductions with her fiancé rather than following propriety and presenting the viscount to the duke.

  "This is the man I intend to wed, Lord Ravenswood." She pulled Hannah forward. "And this is Hannah."

  Jared tensed. Was he thinking of what Deveril had done in siring a daughter?

  Funny, but she could not even see the duke and duchess as Hannah's family. Deveril's cruelty had died with him and Calantha would not allow the past to creep into the present to taint Hannah's life. She would not cede that power to the monster.

  She turned to Hannah. "Curtsy for to the duke and duchess, sweeting."

  Hannah did as instructed, dipping down and raising her skirts enough to reveal her little dimpled knees. Then she straightened and turned her face up to Calantha. "Did I do it right?" she asked in a loud whisper.

  "Just right, darling," Calantha assured her before leading Hannah and Jared to the sofa.

  She meant to get another chair from the table in the corner for her own seat, but Jared’s hand snaked out and grabbed her arm, halting her. He shifted Hannah from the sofa to his lap and pulled Calantha down beside him, pressing her close to his hard thigh because there was so little room.

  Ellen's lip curled in a well-bred snear, but she said nothing. Neither Clairborne acknowledged Hannah in any way.

  "Can we have tea now?" Hannah asked.

  Calantha nodded. "I’ll call for the tea tray immediately."

  When the tea tray arrived, Jared arranged Hannah on a cloth-covered footstool. She drank her tea, happily devouring several sugar coated rose petals.

  Ellen gave Jared a socially polite smile that did not quite reach her eyes. "My lord, we’ve just now learned that you intend to marry in only a week’s time." Ellen’s tone left no doubt what she thought of that plan.

  "I’m sure you want to wish us happy," Jared replied, his voice steely.

  Henry, who had been eyeing Jared with a certain wary caution since his arrival, immediately agreed. "Of course."

  A reputation for being a beast could be a useful thing.

  Ellen was not so easily cowed. "The hasty nature of the wedding will give rise to a certain amount of unpleasant gossip. Such a situation is hardly fair to our dear Calantha."

  Jared turned to Calantha, his gaze probing. "Are you concerned about the gossip?"

  She shook her head. "I am content with our plans as they stand."

  He smiled and winked, his approval warming her.

  She hardly ever felt cold anymore.

  Turning back to Ellen, he said, "It will be a nine days wonder, if it is anything at all."

  Ellen pinched her lips. "If you would but wait and give us sufficient time, I would be pleased to help our dear Calantha plan a wedding suitable for a duchess. She can be wed at Clairborne Park and the most notable members of the ton invited to the festivities."

  "There would be time to draw up proper marriage settlements as well," the duke added.

  "The settlements are being drawn up already. I’ve contacted my solicitor and he will have the papers ready for our signature on Friday."

  The news should have surprised Calantha, but it didn't. In his typical protective fashion, Jared had taken care of the matter.

  "As the head of Calantha’s family, I will go over the documents with my solicitor. We cannot possibly do so before Monday morning." Henry’s wariness dissipated in the face of his arrogant assumption of authority over her life.

  Calantha set her teacup down and clasped her hands together in her lap. "That will not be necessary."

  "Don’t be ridiculous. It is my duty to watch out for your best interests."

  Jared tensed like a predator ready to strike. "Calantha belongs to me now and I will look out for her."

  Henry eyes narrowed w
ith a crafty gleam. "I wouldn’t want you to be deceived either, Ravenswood. Calantha can bring very little to your marriage. She brought nothing to Deveril and in his generosity he left her provided for, although she didn’t give him an heir, but she’s no heiress."

  Calantha felt the blood rush from her face. Henry made it sound as if her lack of a child were her fault, as if she had somehow failed Deveril.

  Jared put his arm around her and squeezed her shoulders. It was totally improper behavior for a lord of the realm toward his lady, but she didn’t care. She felt comforted and inched infinitesimally closer to him.

  "I don’t want an heiress."

  But did he want her?

  Jared fixed Ellen with his penetrating stare, "I need to return to my estates soon and I have no intention of leaving Cali behind. The gossip is bound to be less severe in the event of our marriage than if I were to take her to my estates before we are wed."

  Ellen’s mouth dropped open and a breath of angry air hissed from Henry, but he said nothing. It was all Calantha could do not to laugh out loud. Jared’s outrageous comment had routed her in-laws quite thoroughly and they took their leave ten minutes later.

  Calantha turned to Jared after they had gone. "You have a singularly pleasing effect on the duke."

  Jared’s brow arched. "He didn’t say much."

  "Exactly." She couldn’t keep the profound satisfaction over that fact out of her voice.

  Jared threw his head back and laughed, the deep sound reverberating through her. She smiled in response and he stopped laughing. "Bloody hell, I like it when you do that."

  "What?"

  "Smile. You don’t do it enough. You’re such a serious little thing."

  "Hardly little." She was taller than most of the other women of her acquaintance.

  He reached out and touched her cheek. "You seem tiny to me and so bloody fragile I’m afraid to touch you sometimes."

  Feeling breathless for no particular reason, she was glad Hannah had gone off to tell herself a story on the other side of the parlor and wasn’t nearby to ask the reason for Calantha’s sudden blush.

  His hand cupped her chin. "You’re so sweet."

  She didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. She wanted him to kiss her too badly and was afraid if she opened her mouth, she’d beg him to do it.

  "Don’t look at me like that." He sounded angry.

  She blinked and ignored the impulse to pull away from him. He didn’t look angry. He looked like he wanted to kiss her too. "How am I looking at you?"

  "Like you’re mine for the taking."

  She was. Didn’t he realize that? She closed her eyes.

  "Why did you do that?"

  His voice sounded very close to her ear.

  "So I wouldn’t look at you that way."

  He swore. "You don’t know what you do to me."

  Then his lips were exactly where she wanted them to be...on hers.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Cali melted against him with the first touch of his lips and Jared gave into the urge to pull her onto his lap that he’d been fighting since they sat down. The feel of her lithe body nestled against his hardening male flesh was almost enough to make him forget where they were and take her on the carpet.

  Only the sound of Hannah’s little girl jabber kept his raging desire under control.

  Bloody hell, Cali felt good.

  She locked her hands on his shoulders, her fingers digging into the fabric of his coat and her mouth softened under his. He ate at her lips, feeling like a man who had been given his first taste of food after a forty day fast.

  She affected him like no other woman ever had. There was no way he could wait for her to plan a big society wedding. He’d have her in his bed soon, or go mad.

  Desperate to feel her, he pulled off his gloves and cupped her neck, rubbing his thumbs across her collarbones, the only exposed flesh he could reach without scandalizing the servants and Hannah.

  Squirming against him so that her breasts pressed against his chest, Cali moaned.

  "Is Mama all right? She’s making funny sounds." Hannah spoke from near Jared’s elbow.

  He stilled the movements of his hands and ripped his mouth away from Cali’s. She made a sound of protest and tried to recapture his lips.

  He held her in place with his hands. "Hannah wants to know if her Mama is all right."

  "What? Hannah?" Her gaze was as unfocused as her thoughts and he smiled in blatant male satisfaction.

  Cali wouldn’t find it any easier to wait to come to his bed than he would in getting her there.

  Cali's gaze sharpened and then turned misty. "Mama?"

  "Papa said you are going to be my mama and he is my papa. I want a mama again, but I still love my first mama. Papa said that was okay."

  "Of course it is. I still love your mama too. I always will."

  He'd made the right choice bringing Cali into Hannah's life on a permanent basis. She seemed to instinctively know the right thing to say and do to comfort their daughter.

  "Mama?" Hannah tugged on Cali’s arm. "Are you sick? You’re on Papa’s lap. Sometimes I sit on his lap when I don’t feel good. Are you gonna throw up?"

  Jared grinned as Cali seemed to realize where she was at. Her cheeks turned the color of her Slater’s Crimson in full bloom and she jumped off his lap. "I’m fine, sweeting. Your papa and I were just talking."

  "I thought you were kissin’."

  Cali’s blush deepened and spread to the skin of her bosom exposed by her square neckline. "Yes, well. That too."

  Hannah looked very serious. "I like kisses. May I have one too?"

  "Of course, poppet." Cali leaned down and kissed Hannah’s cheek gently, turning her face to receive the child’s affectionate gesture in return.

  Then Hannah came over to Jared and demanded he kiss her as well. Afterward, she lost interest in the adults and began playing with the tea things.

  Cali did not return to her seat next to him on the sofa, but went to stand by the window. He got up and followed her, stopping when he stood just behind her left shoulder.

  "Will you be ready to leave for Raven Hall after the wedding?"

  She spun around to face him. "So soon? I had thought you would stay in the district for a while longer. You still have to find the man that tried to kidnap Hannah."

  Familiar anger filled him when he thought of the bastard that had tried to take his daughter.

  "I’ve still got a week." He found it hard to believe the man was still in the district and had eluded them this long. "I’m needed on my estate. We’ll have to take a tour of my father’s properties in a month or so and I’ll want to make sure everything is in order on my own estate before going."

  "Why do you have to tour your father’s estates?"

  "He and my stepmother are on an extended stay on the Continent." He didn’t add that the coward had left England rather than face the consequences of his dishonorable conduct. "And I’m not the only one who will be touring his estates. I plan to take you and Hannah with me."

  Cali was his woman and Hannah, his daughter. They would stay with him. It wasn’t the way the ton operated, but Jared didn’t concern himself with society’s dictates. Those same dictates had made it possible for his mother to be treated like a pariah and his father to hide behind a mask of propriety, when his character was as flawed as broken glass.

  "My packing is coming along well, but I don’t see how I can be ready to move my household to Raven Hall in only one more week."

  "You aren’t moving your household, you’re moving you."

  Her usual composure cracked and irritation showed through in the frown she leveled at him. "I’ve lived on my own for four years, Jared. I’ve got an entire way of life to pack up and transport, not least of which are the plants in my conservatory, my books and my papers."

  "Leave your plants—" He’d meant to say he would send servants to transport them to Raven Hall, but she interrupted in a very un-Calantha-like way.
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  "I’m not leaving my roses and herbs behind."

  "Calm down, Cali. That’s not what I meant. It will take a while to ready the conservatory since it hasn’t been used in several years. I’ll send servants for your plants once we’ve arrived at Raven Hall."

  She didn’t look placated. Her eyes were frantic and she bit on her bottom lip in agitation. "Who will care for them after I’ve gone? Who will insure they are properly transported for the journey?" She spun on her heel and paced to the table. "You’ll have to leave me behind, Jared. It’s the only workable solution. I’ll come along once I’ve finished preparing them for travel and have made the arrangements to get them to Raven Hall without injury."

  "Are you suggesting we postpone our wedding?"

  Her eyes widened. "Of course not."

  "Your sister-in-law was right. It’s not exactly the type of wedding worthy of a duchess."

  "But I won’t be a duchess. I’ll be plain Lady Ravenswood." She sounded quite satisfied by that fact.

  "You’ll be my lady," he affirmed.

  "Yes."

  "So, you don’t want to put off the wedding in order to plan something more elaborate?" he pressed.

  "Don’t be ridiculous. The plans are already in motion. Your sisters and the Ashton servants have already put forth tremendous effort on the wedding."

  And Cali wouldn’t dream of putting his sisters out. "But you want me to leave my new wife behind while I travel to my estate so that she can watch over her bloody plants?"

  Try as he might, he couldn’t keep the anger out of his voice and he prepared himself for the look of fear he was sure would fill her eyes. Every time she looked at him that way it was like being kicked in the testicles by an untamed horse.

  She surprised him by glaring instead. "They aren’t bloody plants. They’re mine."

  He reached out and gently pulled her close. "And you are mine. There is no way I’m going to leave you behind."

  The look of fear came, but she didn’t try to pull away and he counted that as a victory in itself. One day she would trust him completely.

  "I’m just trying to be practical."