Bronwyn Scott's Sexy Regency Bundle (151 page)

Scott

kettle of fish, which was the exact reason he felt so compelled to protect her, even to the point of going home to face Peyton and all the things he had to apologise for.

Whether she would admit to them or not, or was even aware of them or not, Julia had expectations. She needed a hero right now and he was more than glad to oblige for the short term. But he wasn't capable of being her hero for longer than that. There was too much restlessness in him. Paine already knew he'd leave England again. Maybe not tomorrow, or next month, but eventually within a few years he would leave again. There was a huge world to explore and Britain was well placed to conduct those explorations. Julia had grown up in the country. She would

a husband who was stable,

reliable, able to stay in one place and put down roots.

Whoa. Paine jerked on the reins, avoiding a near run-in with the ditch on the side of the road. Husband?

When had he gone from short-term hero to husband?

Commitments didn't get any more long term than that.

He couldn't be anyone's husband, especially not Julia Prentiss's. She would give him all her trust, all her passion, all her heart and he would hurt her. She deserved more than a restless man. Before he could consider being a husband, he had to find peace for himself. Maybe that peace was in Bombay, or Burma, or in some mystical place he had yet to explore.

Maybe it's with

Maybe she brings you peace,
a tempting voice quipped in his head.
That's why you
showed her 'splitting the bamboo' and the 'yawn.' You
know that position lets each lover view the other's re-

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Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady

actions without any obstacle. The position renders you
emotionally exposed.

why you climax so intensely

with her and her alone. Go on, slay her dragons and win
the fair maid's hand.

Paine yanked hard on the reins, pulling the coach away from a deep rut in the side of the road. Lucifer's bells, he was going crazy! He'd nearly wrecked the coach with thoughts of playing husband to the delectable Julia. Now, his mind had wandered from eastern sexual sutras to the chivalry of England. What was he Oh, he knew
what
he was thinking, and he knew what he
ought
to be thinking. He ought to keep his thoughts on the tasks at hand; goodness knew there were several of them more worthy of his time than impossible fantasies about peace and Julia Prentiss.

London was already seven hours behind him.

Tomorrow's sunset would see them on his brother's doorstep. He was cognisant, too, that the game with Oswalt was irrevocably in motion now. Tomorrow would see him and Julia at

a day closer to both a reunion

and a reckoning that had been twelve years in coming.

Paine drove all afternoon. The idea of a reunion with his brothers, coupled with the soft rolling green hills, proved to be too potent of a temptation to resist, it easy to indulge the memories he loved so well.

Around him, waving fields of golden summer wheat not yet knee high spread like a haphazard quilt, so similar to the landscape near his home. In his mind's eye, he saw three boys

in the fields, trousers

Scott

rolled up and fishing rods slung over their shoulders.

stranger would not see much difference in them. Not much separated them in physical appearance except for their stair-step height. All had jet-black hair and blue eyes that sparked with constant mischief.

Those had been halcyon days when they'd lived as brothers and friends under the spell of an English summer. Each year upon year, it had always been that way for as long as Paine could remember. The tutors dismissed for the warm months and the boys free to roam at will. Paine was six years younger than his oldest brother. He'd thought such summers would last for ever.

But they ended when he was eight and Peyton left for school that autumn, leaving a huge chasm behind.

Peyton had been the mortar that bound all three of the boys together. Without Peyton, he and were

lost. Peyton had been the one to create their fantastical adventures, to lead the way on their expeditions. He'd been the one, because of his age, to act as both brother and father in the absence of a real father who lived almost exclusively in London.

Paine recognised now that, if his father had been home more often, Peyton wouldn't have been allowed to attain the ripe age of fourteen before going off to school. Most heirs were long gone from the family estate years before then. Still, everything had started to change the day the coach pulled out of the drive, taking Peyton away.

He didn't want to think about those dark days today, not with the sun shining on a perfect mid-morning

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Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady

summer. He wanted to be a boy again, innocent and fresh-come to the world. Not too young, though-not so young he couldn't celebrate this glorious day with a maid.

Paine laughed out loud, startling the horses. If it was his fantasy, he would do it right. He'd be sixteen and only modestly experienced in the ways of the world and flesh. Yes, he'd be sixteen and in love-a pure, unadulterated love with a girl as pure and curious as he was. She'd be a country girl, of course, so they could pack a picnic and hike through the woods to a field of wildflowers. They'd lay out their picnic of brown bread, a cheese wheel and a jug of cold ale on an old faded blanket. There'd be no need for chaperons or fancy del-icacies or mating games with intricate negotiations.

Paine thought of Julia, snug in the carriage. Of all the women he'd known, she'd perhaps like such a picnic best. Certainly, she was by far the most innocent he'd ever known. It seemed something of an irony that she'd come looking for him to ruin one of the qualities he admired about her most. He knew as she did not that innocence was more than the physical manifestation of her maidenhead. He'd met virgins who weren' t innocent in the least. She'd meant for him to take her innocence and now, he'd wound up protecting it. He would fight Oswalt with every weapon at his disposal before he'd let Julia see what that man could do. He would examine the reasons for such motivations later.