A Necessary Husband (5 page)

L
ucinda made her way to her room, having deftly avoided Garrett’s attempts to speak to her privately after the dance lesson. She was well aware of the lusty gleam in his eye, and her own emotions were so churned up that she dared not be alone with him. Needs she had not felt in years had awakened with a vengeance, demanding immediate attention.

She was not some green girl to be bowled over by a handsome man, she chastised herself. She had been married for ten years and knew what the world was like. Even if her marriage had been mostly a sham, she had learned much about the ways of men and women during that time, and there was no need to become moony-eyed over broad shoulders.

No matter how much she had longed to stroke her hands over them.

Stop it!
She was a grown woman, well able to take care of herself.
Then why did you deliberately use Meg to avoid being alone with him?
She had stayed with the young girl until he’d finally given up trying to get her attention, and gone upstairs to dress for dinner. Lucinda had just left Meg to do the same.

Coward
.

“Practical,” she argued aloud. “You know what would happen. Better that you stay away from him.”

But she wouldn’t be able to evade him forever; she couldn’t avoid him at dinner or when Meg desired his company. All she could do in those situations was maintain a disapproving exterior when he looked at her with those blue eyes that hinted at such sinful delights.

Even if her woman’s heart melted beneath her icy veneer, making her yearn to lose herself in the pleasure promised by his single-minded pursuit.

A vigorous man like him would soon get bored with a battle he could not win, and take himself off to the village for female companionship. And if not—well, London was full of demireps who might entertain the American. All Lucinda had to do was maintain her position of chastity.

Easier said than done.

She arrived at her chamber and reached for the doorknob.

“Mrs. Devering.”

She jumped, letting out a little shriek as she whirled around. Garrett leaned against the wall opposite her room, his arms folded across his impressive chest. His dark coat blended in with the shadows, as did his ink-black hair. He grinned, his teeth a flash of white in the semi-darkness, and he moved away from the wall.

“Calm yourself, Mrs. Devering,” he said as he walked toward her. “Or may I call you Lucinda?”

When had the hallway gotten so small? She wet her dry lips. “You may call me Mrs. Devering,” she said weakly. “What are you doing here, Captain?”

“Surely you know the answer to that.” He stopped only inches away and reached for her hand, then raised it to his lips, his eyes fathomless in the dimly lit hallway.

She should snatch her hand away. She should give him the sharp edge of her tongue. Instead she only whispered, “No.”

“No?” He cocked his head to the side, his long hair sweeping his shoulders with a soft swish. “No, you do not know the answer? Or are you saying no to something else?”

“Give me my hand.” She tugged, but he did not release her. “You should not be here.”

“You knew I would come.” He took a step closer, releasing her hand only to crowd her back against the door of her room.

“My lord,” she said, “please go. What if someone should see us?”

“Always the proper English lady,” he teased, and leaned closer. “Tell me, Lucinda, have you ever been tempted to be less than a perfect lady? Haven’t you ever wanted to strip off propriety and give in to your innermost desires?”

His voice lowered on the last words, vibrating through her with the echo of her unspoken longings. She should be shocked. She should scream or slap him or
something
, but the image of both of them naked and bared of all inhibitions had taken control of her imagination and would not let it go.

“You are impertinent,” she managed to say breathlessly, as her body flooded with the heat of long-denied desire.

“I’m a man,” he corrected. He reached out, stroking his fingers down her cheek. “And you, my dear, are very much a woman.”

Her knees turned to pudding, and she struggled against the urge to press her lips to the delicious masculine mouth that hovered so close to hers. “How clever of you to notice,” she breathed. “Now that the biology lesson is over, I must change for dinner.”

“Perhaps you would allow me to assist you.”
Those strong fingers trailed down her neck, paused at the pulse that pounded in her throat, then continued down to trace teasingly over her bare shoulder, along the edge of her gown.

Lucinda clenched her hands into fists at her sides and leaned heavily against the door as her body melted beneath his touch. “Please, I cannot,” she whispered, no longer able to maintain even the slightest façade of resistance. “My lord, I beg you.”

“Garrett,” he corrected. He leaned in and inhaled the scent of her hair, his mouth hovering above her ear. “I want you, Lucinda.”

She squeezed her eyes closed as his warm breath swept her ear. “No. Impossible,” she said weakly.

“Not impossible,” He cupped the back of her head in his big hand and tilted her face back so that she looked at him. “We are adults, you and I. You’re a widow, and I am a man alone in a strange country. Perhaps we can make this trip to London more interesting for both of us. I want to be your lover, Lucinda.”

The blunt words devastated any arguments she might have summoned. He lowered his head, hesitating for the briefest instant before taking her lips in a sweet kiss laced with unmistakable hunger.

He kissed the way he did everything else, powerfully and without apology. He pressed her
back against the door with the weight of his body, his hand still cupping her head as he devastated her defenses with his mouth. His other hand rested along the curve of her hip, and she brought her own hands up around his waist to find balance in her tilting world. His lips were appealingly soft for such a large, strong man, and she willingly opened her mouth to him, surrendering to the desire between them.

Their kiss went on and on, and with every stroke of his tongue, every nibble of his teeth, her passion overrode her common sense. Finally, he broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers, his breath coming in fast pants. Sandwiched between him and the door, she could easily feel his arousal through their layers of clothing. For one wild instant, she was tempted to open the door behind her and take Garrett into the intimacy of her chamber.

A footstep down the hall and the voice of one of the maids jerked her back to reality with a violent jolt. What had she been thinking? She had been about to jeopardize her entire future for a few moments of passion!

She attempted to push Garrett away, but he was heavy and not inclined to move. “Someone’s coming,” she hissed.

He took a reluctant step back, his fingers lingering to stroke her cheek. “I will come to you tonight.”

“
No
.” She shoved at him, and his surprise at her answer made him fall back a step.

“What do you mean, no?” he demanded. “What about—”

“No,” she said again, shoving open the door to her room. She darted behind it, peering at him from behind the sturdy wooden shield. “I want no lover, Captain Lynch. What I need is a husband.”

“Husband!”

“Yes, a husband. Now please take yourself off before someone sees you and starts gossip.”

He slapped his hand on the door, holding it open. “You may want a husband, Mrs. Devering,” he growled, “but what you
need
is a lover. And I am just the man to accommodate you.”

“I am not some tavern maid for you to tumble at your whim,” Lucinda snapped. “I am a woman of good family, and here in England, a man marries such a woman if he wants her.”

“I have no intention of getting married.”

“And I have no intention of being your lover,” she shot back.

He gave her a scorching look that was a combination of lust and anger. “We’ll see about that.”

“Indeed we will.”

She slammed the door in his face, then leaned against it, her heart pounding and body singing with unbridled passion, until she heard him storm down the hall.

She had won this battle, but he would be back. And she needed a husband to survive, no matter how tempting a lover might be to her now. In the end, a lover would probably be disappointed in her anyway. Besides, the duke planned to see Garrett wed to Lady Penelope. She shuddered to think what His Grace might do if she interfered with those plans.

Everything depended on her keeping a level head. She
must
resist Garrett’s seduction. No matter what.

A husband!

He should have known, Garrett thought darkly, as he made his way to the drawing room where everyone gathered before dinner. Was there not one woman on earth who could honestly enjoy a man’s attentions without attempting to trap him?

He had presented Lucinda with a simple proposition. She had been a widow for over a year now, and he had been at sea for almost as long. It seemed a neat and enjoyable solution to him.

Leave it to her to complicate the situation by mentioning marriage!

Garrett strode into the drawing room and stopped just inside the doorway when he saw that the only occupant was his grandfather. Blast
it all! The last thing he needed now was a battle with the duke. Garrett’s black coat and trousers, which he reserved for business dinners, were not as formal as British evening wear, but it was all he had with him.

The duke also wore plain black, but there the similarity ended. The stark color, relieved only by his snowy shirt and cravat, emphasized the harshness of his features and his white hair. The old man stared somberly at the portrait of his younger self, which hung on the wall above the mantel.

Garrett moved to step out of the room unnoticed, but suddenly his grandfather looked up.

For an instant Garrett thought he glimpsed anguish in the old fellow’s eyes, but then the proud aristocrat was back, his gaze coolly polite, his smile bland and practiced with only a hint of arrogance.

“Good evening, grandson.”

Garrett gave a curt nod, but said nothing. He uncurled his hands, which had somehow formed into fists, and relaxed his stance, realizing that he had automatically shifted to the balls of his feet as if preparing for a fight.

A smile of genuine amusement tugged at his grandfather’s lips for a brief instant. “So,” Erasmus said with polite interest, “I am told you have decided to accompany us to London.”

“Yes.”

“Excellent! Will you stay with us at Stanton House, or would you prefer your own rooms?”

“I’ll be wherever Meg is.” The words were a warning, and the duke’s raised eyebrows indicated he had received it.

“Margaret will naturally be staying at Stanton House,” the old man replied. “As will my sister, though she has her own home in London. And Mrs. Devering, of course.”

A new thought occurred to Garrett. Good Lord, what if Lucinda’s aim was
marriage
to the duke, and not a simple affair as he had surmised? “Mrs. Devering is a beautiful woman,” he commented casually.

“So she is.”

“A beautiful widow, who lives in your house, even though she is not a member of your family.” His tone rose at the end of the statement, making it more of a question.

The duke let out a startled laugh. “Devil take you, boy, are you implying that she’s my mistress?”

“Is she?” If Lucinda was involved with his grandfather it would explain her reluctance to enter into a perfectly harmless affair with
him
, especially if her goal was marriage.

The duke shook his head, unable to disguise his amusement. “I thank you for the compli
ment, my boy, but Mrs. Devering is too young for an old man like me. She is merely the daughter of an old friend and is teaching your sister to get on in society. That is all.”

So, even if she did plot to wed the old man, her plans would come to nothing. Good. “I like to know who the players are,” he said with a careless shrug.

“A wise precaution.”

“After all,” Garrett continued, frowning, “just because you aren’t a young man, don’t assume that a woman wouldn’t be interested in your company. Many women go after wealth and position rather than physical appearance.”

“Ah, yes.” Erasmus gave him a considering look. “No doubt you have encountered such females yourself. I understand that you have done quite well in America. You have your own business and a fine house in Boston. No doubt there were women who found a young man of such means to be irresistible.”

“They found my coffers irresistible,” Garrett scoffed. “It was one of the reasons I went to sea. There are no women there.”

“I daresay it’s not much better in London,” the duke warned. “You will encounter the same type of female, who hungers for riches and longs to increase her social standing. Especially now that you are the Marquess of Kelton.”

“I’m not interested in the blasted title,” Garrett ground out. “I’m going there for Meg, and that’s all.”

The duke drew himself up and looked down his blade of a nose at Garrett. “The ‘blasted title,’ as you put it, has been in the Stanton family for six generations. And my own title goes back to the Conqueror himself, some eight hundred years. While you are in London, you shall not disgrace either. Do I make myself clear?”

“I have no intention of disgracing your precious title,” Garrett retorted. “I just don’t want it. Meg is the only reason I have remained beneath your roof.”

“You have made no secret of that. Just remember, no matter what your feelings for me, your behavior directly affects your sister’s reputation.”

“I am aware of that.”

“We shall have to get you some clothes and a proper valet, and I shall see that you have membership to all the clubs. I’m certain Mrs. Devering will be more than happy to teach you what you need to know.”

“I know how to eat with a fork and dance without stepping on anyone’s toes,” Garrett said tightly. “Mrs. Devering doesn’t need to teach me anything.”

“And I think you will find it convenient to answer to ’Kelton’ while in London,” the older man
continued. “The Stanton name has more power in London society than you realize.”