Forbidden (Scandalous Sirens) (28 page)

On his real-life stage they were all helpless players in the plot that was unfolding. This morning Marianne had woken him hastily, warning him that Elisa might be in danger. She had hurried from the study straight to his bed to inform him of the interview Rufus had put her through.

After clearing his mind of sleep, Vaughn tried to put the pieces together. “How on earth did you know what to tell him?” he asked Marianne.

“Because Joshua listened outside the door and told me enough before I got in the door to let me know what my lady had told the master,” Marianne answered him as if it was perfectly clear and logical.

He was surprised at the maid’s complicity in this matter when she had made it perfectly clear that she thought Vaughn a no-good scoundrel. “You hate him that much?” he asked.

“He is a stoat in human clothing,” she declared calmly. Vaughn liked the analogy. Stoats were small, vicious creatures that attacked without provocation. They would take on a man if he got in the way and the creatures could do considerable damage. Fatalities were not unheard of. Luckily, there were very few of them left in the world.

He’d penned a note and handed it to Marianne with instructions to hand it to Elisa as soon as possible. Then he’d dressed and gone straight to the stable to collect his horse and ride here to the ruins. He would wait all hours of the day and night until she came, if that was what it took. Rufus would think he was out wooing Natasha as he had ordered.

Vaughn spared a passing thought for the young girl. True beauty she was, yet she compared not at all to Elisa. By giving into his seduction, Elisa had managed to entwine her presence ever more firmly into his mind. Taking her to bed had not cured him of the obsession, but merely intensified it. How could he have thought it would be easy to walk away from her?

How could he possibly leave her with Rufus?

The sound of an approaching rider brought him to his feet. Even before he could make out the features of the rider he knew it was Elisa. Her gown was tucked up to her thighs, her hair, coming lose of its chignon, flew behind her as she raced toward him as though the very devil were on her heels.

Was she being followed? He looked behind her, but the long flat plane that lead to the brink of the cliff was empty of all but Elisa. He released the breath he’d unconsciously been holding.

For a moment he thought she intended to ride him down, for she showed no signs of stopping or even slowing. But at the last possible minute she reined in and brought the mount to a stop in a flurry of sods. Without pause, she slithered from the saddle, straight into his arms.

Her words were almost a jumble, so quickly did she speak, her voice trembling.

“He knows, Vaughn. He knows! Marianne lied for me—god knows how she knew what to say, but she stopped him for the moment—but only for a moment. I could see it in his eyes. He knows and he waits only for proof. Vaughn, he warned me he would kill us if he found us together. You must leave Fairleigh Hall.”

He put her at arms length. “Shh, Elisa. Calm down, sweet one. Marianne told me what happened. There is nothing to fear yet. He is only guessing, or he would have taken his retribution this morning.”

“He waits only for proof!” she cried. “Somehow he knows.”

“No, he only suspects. He would like it to be true so that he can kill me with a clear conscious, but that is all.”

“You must leave then, before he decides he’ll kill you anyway.” Glancing over her shoulder, she scanned the horizon before turning back to him. “We’d best tether our horses and keep hidden.”

They walked the horses into the only standing structure left: the great hall, where it was rumored Henry and Eleanore and their feuding sons had once held court. One day he would tell Elisa all the stories his mother had shared about the castle’s past, but now she needed assurance, not talk of enemies or Greek tragedies. Yet he could not speak reassuringly here amongst the ghosts of another family that had torn itself apart through petty jealousies and squabbles. Taking her hand, he led her back outside to the shade of the old tree.

When he tried to take her in his arms, she shrugged out of his reach and took his face between her small hands. Her expression was resolute. “Vaughn, you have to understand. You must leave, or he will kill you…and me as well. He told me as much.”

“It’s just an old man’s bluff. Elisa, he knows nothing.”

She released him and shook her head. “We’ve only been together once at the hall and he learned something. He even knew I hadn’t visited Caroline. For all I know I could have been followed that day at the pond. He appears to have spies everywhere.”

Vaughn’s attention was caught by another matter entirely. He reached for her arm and pushed back the loose sleeve cuff to see for himself. Purplish bruises covered her wrist and the flesh appeared swollen. Anger rushed through him. “Did he do this to you?”

“He was angry—”

“You defend him?” His voice rose. “That son of a swineherd’s bitch!” He started toward the horses when she stopped him by grabbing his hand.

“No, Vaughn. Forget him. For a little while. For now. Let us enjoy the time we have.”

He stood locked to the spot by helpless fury.

“Make love to me,” she whispered. Stepping into his arms, she lifted her face to his. “Please, Vaughn.”

He could not respond to her request. His anger was too great. She covered his face with a flurry of kisses and he tried to move his mouth away from hers, although he could not bring himself to actively push her from him. She caught his face in her hands again and this time she managed to capture his mouth with hers. Her tongue slipped inside, exploring his teeth and tongue. She pressed herself up against him, her breasts flattening against his chest. The yielding swell of them and the protruding nipple told him that beneath the cotton of her dress she was again naked. Indeed, he could feel the mild rise of her mound pushing with gentle insistence against his thigh, bereft of any intervening petticoats.

He knew that if he was of the mind, he could slide inside her with three quick movements and experience once again her hot, moist sheath. The thought caused him to stir, even though his anger had not subsided.

Her hands were fumbling at his breeches and she proved yet again how quick a study she was.
 
Within seconds she had the fastenings undone and the breeches sagged around his hips, then her hands were inside, closing around him.

His resistance broke and with a growl he lifted her and pinned her against the tree. She gasped at the contact, but reached eagerly for him, wrapping her legs about his hips as he lifted her skirt out of the way. With the one thrust that he had conceived of, he buried himself inside her and groaned aloud his satisfaction. But she goaded him on with words and cries of pleasure. He thrust into her again and again in a venting of frustration, rage and obsession. He poured it all into each hard thrust. He freed her breasts from the low bodice and partook of them, feasting upon them with his mouth and hand.
 
He rubbed a nipple with his thumb while suckling on the other, drawing it into his mouth, and circling the tip with his tongue, flicking it, lapping at it.

Her head fell back against the tree in ecstasy.

The mating was frenzied, Vaughn setting a pace that was both savage and desperate in its intensity. Her fingernails raked into his back through the shirt as her climax began to build within her and explode. He gritted his teeth, the chords of his neck straining, and he moaned low in his throat as he came within her.

* * * * *

She rearranged her skirt as Vaughn dressed. He appeared calm again, not so apt to ride off wildly. He kissed her forehead. “You deliberately distracted me, Elisa. While I can’t gainsay the distraction, I won’t be deterred.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said, but she couldn’t look him in the eye.

“If I am to leave here, I will not leave without you.”

She looked at him, and swallowed. This was what she had been afraid of. “I cannot,” she said quietly.

“I will not leave you in the lair of that monster, Elisa.”

“Where would we go?” she asked practically.

He shrugged. “Who cares? London. I know lots of people in London. They would love you.”

Tears stung her eyes. “London? I can never return to London.”

“Why not? It’s not like you’d have to mix with the people you knew before. My townhouse is right by Hyde Park. The neighbor on the right is a good friend of mine—Henry Fitzgerald. And Jonathon Wright, on the other side, I went to school with. Oh, and Jonathan’s wife is about your age. You should get along marvelously. She has a wicked sense of humor.”

He was growing visibly more excited as he planned ahead, but Elisa could feel her heart sink with each sentence he spoke.

“Tell me,” she said quietly. “Henry Fitzgerald, if I remember correctly is the earl of…”

“Sussex,” Vaughn responded.

“And Jonathon Wright—I know his name, too.”

Vaughn frowned. “He’s the grandson—no, nephew, of the Prime Minister.”

“Vaughn, listen to yourself. These people would have even less reason to accept me than those who pushed me out of London in the first place.”

“That’s ridiculous. They don’t know you.”

“They know who I am. I was banished years ago, yet you saw the way I was treated at the soiree. The people there knew me as well as your neighbors do. I could never return. Not ever!”

He considered this, his head down, impatience thrumming through him, communicated by the tense set of his shoulders. “Fine. Kirkaldy then. Wherever. I truly do not care, Elisa.”

The tears that had been prickling her eyes for moments now finally escape to roll down her cheeks and she dashed them away with the back of her hand. “No, I cannot,” she repeated.

“Elisa, what happened in the past is exactly that…the past. Would you rather stay here with him?”

Her heart ached as she watched him. He was so certain that everything could be fine, but she was old enough to know better. “You know that’s not the case. You know what society thinks of me. You’ve seen it for yourself. Even you have said my past is not sterling. A plaything, you called me.”

“I said that out of anger.”

“I know, but you can’t possibly understand what it’s like to lose everything and then be branded a whore. Your father was the only person who stood up for me.”

Vaughn shook his head. “I will not leave you here.”

“You have no choice.”

He looked at her then, pain in his eyes. Just moments ago he had made love to her and already she missed him. How could she live without seeing him every day, knowing his touch, hearing his voice…

“Then we’ll stay away from society,” he announced. “I could sell my estate in Scotland and we could move to the—”

“Vaughn, stop.” For six years she’d been kept away from society and she had hated it. She wouldn’t let him do that to himself. She put a finger to his lips. “This is madness.”

He shook his head. “Elisa, we could do this.”

With every ounce of her being she wanted to go with him. There was only one reason to stay here, but it overrode any of the considerable arguments Vaughn could make. Besides, she had spoken truly; she couldn’t return to London, or society and she wouldn’t make him sacrifice his home on her account. He would only resent her.

“Vaughn…he can give me my son back. I will not—I cannot give up the chance of finding Raymond again.”

She could see in his eyes he could not counter this objection, as she had known from the beginning.

He sighed. “At least do not go back there without me, Elisa. I don’t trust Rufus.”

She gave him a reassuring smile. “I left word with Marianne I was riding to Caroline’s to speak to her on your behalf just as we discussed last night. We’d best go there before Rufus comes to check on us, as I have no doubt he will.”

* * * * *

Vaughn lifted Natasha’s hand to his lips. “You look beautiful today, Natasha.”

The girl beamed as she looked up at him, adoration sparkling in her dark eyes. A quarter of an hour ago he’d arrived with Elisa on his arm and asked to have a word with Caroline and William.

His request to court their daughter had been answered with wide smiles, and William’s “yes” had been completely without hesitation. Throughout the short interview, Elisa sat nearby, her face pale, her smile forced. She had donned a pair of delicate lace gloves, conveniently hiding the bruises that marred her soft flesh. He had thought it impossible to hate his father before, but the bruises had indeed taken his loathing for the man to a higher summit.

Now he walked in the garden with her, thinking of things to say, wishing he were still at the ruins with Elisa. Perhaps if they hurried here, they could return and spend the afternoon making love.

“Who could that be?”

Vaughn followed the direction of Natasha’s gaze and saw one of Fairleigh Hall’s footmen walking up the long tree-lined drive.

“I believe that is Harlan, one of my father’s servants. Perhaps he’s come to escort my stepmother and I home.”

She stopped in mid-step. “Oh! You don’t have to leave already, do you?”