One True Love (3 page)

The music wrapped them in a cocoon, and bound them together in a moment of sweet captivity, but soon, the song ended, the piano stopped playing, and the magic broke. The applause roared in her ears as they broke eye contact and turned towards their audience. She forced a smile while gripping her shaking hands together.

Lord William took her hand again and bowed, "Miss Chambers. Thank you for the pleasure of accompanying you. I enjoyed it immensely."

"Yes. No. I mean, thank you," Cassie whispered. He raised her gloved hand and did not kiss the air above it, but put his lips to her fingers, and in a movement only she could be aware of, he circled the underside of her wrist with his thumb. Her skin tingled. Her breasts swelled. Never before had she experienced such a strong sensation based on a mere touch. The flush of inner heat that crept up her neck surely burned her cheeks. She pulled her hand away, nodded, and turned towards her mother, who lifted her brow in question.

***

William sat in the library with his brothers, sipping a brandy and brooding. He did not believe in the damned curse, yet the strange occurrence of so many women rejecting him gave him pause. Of course, Miss Chambers did not exactly reject him. He simply met her too late.

He smiled as he thought of her hair arranged in a coiffure that framed her lovely face in ringlets of golden curls. He wanted to touch her hair, to remove the pins from each golden strand and run his fingers through sunshine. Her green eyes reminded him of spring. Her naturally pink tinged cheeks atop milky white skin, and her deep red lips, full and lush and kissable, affected him with more than just interest. The idea seemed ludicrous, but he knew it in his bones –she was born to be his.
His
.

He swallowed the rest of his brandy and struggled to contain the growing erection in his pants. He wanted another glass, but he did not dare get up from his chair and risk his brothers noticing the hardened bulge. How is it that one woman, a woman he had only met this evening, could have such a powerful effect on him?

"Our new vicar will be good for the parishioners. He is a thoughtful man. His wife seems kind enough, and of course, his daughters are lovely." Stephen, the eldest Prescott brother stated his observation while taking William's glass and refilling it. "You look as if you could use a little more refreshment. You seem quite agitated William. Is something wrong?"

"Nothing more than usual. I find the woman of my dreams and she is taken." William drank deep from his glass and blew out a disgusted breath.

"Miss Chambers? I thought I saw a glint in your eyes. She is quite stunning," said Stephen.

"I do not understand why you are so determined to get yourself leg-shackled," said his younger brother James. "I would think you would enjoy sampling the feast rather than selecting the main dish."

"Samples alone cannot sustain a man," said William.

Both of his brothers laughed. They were determined to remain bachelors for as long as possible. Stephen would have to marry and produce an heir one day, but James could keep sampling into his old age, as long as one or both of his older brothers produced sons.

William wanted something more. He wanted the same kind of love and lasting companionship his parents had. If only he had met Miss Chambers before her Mr. Parker. He shuddered to think of her married to another man, in bed with with him, with her glorious golden hair spread across the man's pillows, and her body a naked feast for another man's eyes.
As if he had a right to think it.
Perhaps this last rejection from Miss Peterson affected him more than he realized. He was beginning to wonder if he would stay a bachelor forever or head to bedlam.

"Shall we go into town and find some sweet nectar?" James stood up, randy and ready to go as always.

"You two go on. I think I shall retire. I feel rather tired." In truth, he had no desire to sink between another woman's thighs tonight, or any night. He was positively ruined for any other woman, and he had only met Miss Chambers this very night. He shook his head and tried to make the image of her go away.

"What about you Stephen? Are you joining me?" asked James.

"No, not tonight, but you go ahead and enjoy yourself, and try to stay out of trouble." Stephen poured himself another brandy and sat across from William.

James rose and headed for the door. "Suit yourselves. Good night brothers."

"Good night," William and Stephen said in unison. They sat in comfortable silence, finishing off their brandies, each reflecting in their own personal thoughts.

William could not take his mind off Miss Chambers. The green of her eyes sat in his vision like a dream from which he could not wake. He tried to think of something else, but nothing would come. He could not recall a time when a woman attracted him this way.

"You do not seem heartbroken over Miss Peterson's rejection," said Stephen.

"Miss Peterson is a fine specimen of a woman. Lovely face and figure...raised quite proper with a decent sense of humor. She would have made a fine wife."

"Your disappointment amazes me. You are thinking more on Miss Chambers, a woman already betrothed when you met her,
only
this evening, than the woman you courted the past three months."

"Yes, well, I suppose I like Miss Peterson. I did offer for her after all, but she is not and never would be the love of my life. I think perhaps that I am allowing desperation to set in. After the last eleven rejections, I am beginning to believe I will never find a wife to take home to Rosehill Manor." He looked in his brandy, thinking he might like to drown in the dark liquid.

He thought himself in love once, when he was a youth, but his intended married a duke. After his first failed romance, he decided to search for a wife who would physically please him, then work at falling in love with her.
How do two people come to love each other?
If only he knew.

Somewhere deep down he truly believed he would know when he found "the one". The rejections frustrated him, but they did not leave him feeling hopeless or heartbroken. The women he courted and offered for in the past were not meant for him. He would continue his search for the perfect mate.

Then he met Miss Chambers. Deep in his gut, he experienced a tug he could not deny. She was his soul mate. She had to be, but how could she be? She was betrothed to another man. William made a fist and searched the room for something to punch. He could hit Stephen. Surely, his older brother would forgive him for pummeling his frustrations out on him.
Well...maybe not.

It was no use dreaming of something he could not obtain, or of someone he could never touch, but oh, how he would love to take her in his arms and into his bed. He finished off the brandy and rose. "I am done for this night. I will see you tomorrow."

He startled Stephen out of his own thoughts. "Oh, yes, goodnight William. Try not to dream of her. It will only make matters harder." Stephen's smile indicated what he truly meant by
harder
.

William rolled his eyes. "I shall try to have nightmares of an old woman with shriveled tits. That should shrink my dreams well enough." He headed for the door with Stephen's laughter at his back.

***

The next morning, William walked to clear his head. Despite his best efforts, he could not shake Miss Chambers from his thoughts or his dreams. His erotic dreams woke him in the night so hard he had to use his hand to relieve himself. Why did he have to have such a powerful attraction to a woman who is betrothed? Perhaps he should have gone with James and found another woman who could relieve him of his misery. Somehow, he knew it would not be the same. Not even close.

How could one meeting with a woman torture him so?
A lit flame, an attraction, an interest –a connection he could understand; but, instead, he experienced an all-consuming fire that burned through his body, his dreams, and to his very soul. He wanted this woman like no other, and he could not for the life of him understand why. Why did "the one" have to be
her
?

He took off across the fields allowing the winter winds to cool his face and his lower region. A brisk walk would do him some good. After his obligatory family visit, since his mother would never forgive him if he did not stay a few days, he planned to head to London. He gave up his last mistress out of boredom, but now he thought it necessary to find another,
and fast.
Perhaps he would seek out Lady Quartermane. She was a beauty, an Incomparable in her first season, before she met and married the late Lord Quartermane, but now he was dead and she widowed. She flirted with him even when she was married, and more so since she shed her widow's weeds. Yes, a tumble with Lady Quartermane might be just the thing to clear his mind.

William walked down a winding path through the ancient skeleton trees leading to a quiet river. The echo of birdsongs and chirping crickets sang in sympathy to correspond with the changing colors of the sky. He snuggled deeper in his jacket and took a deep breath of crisp, clean country air. As soon as he rounded a corner, he ran straight into a body, a soft body, the same body he dreamed about all night.

She gasped and reeled backwards. Neither paid attention, so deep were they in their own thoughts. He grabbed her shoulders to steady her and fell into her eyes, not sure if he saw yearning or confusion, but knew what
he
felt –a yearning desire, and a roaring heat. He wanted her with every breath he took. Common sense edged itself into the corner of his mind and skittered across his vision. He let her go, "Miss Chambers, what a surprise!"

"Yes, this is quite a surprise. I thought perhaps I was the only soul awake at this uncommon hour," she said.

He followed her glance to where deep colors of red tinged with pink and purple and blue lit the sky. The sun just peeped over the horizon. It was an ungodly hour, even for the country.

"What on earth are you doing walking about at this hour?" he asked. Daylight just broke and here she was alone and trouncing about the countryside. Any manner of disasters might occur, and no one would be awake to hear her screams.

"I...uh...I could not sleep." She turned towards the winding river, but he did not miss her pinkened cheeks. Surely, she could not be having a tryst,
or could she?
He shook the thought away. She was betrothed and her fiancé was away in London, and really, she
was
an innocent vicar's daughter.

"It seems we are both afflicted with the same malady. I did not get a wink's slumber last night myself." He stifled a yawn, and wondered why she could not sleep. He certainly knew why
he
could not sleep. The reason stood in front of him. "Where are you going?"

"I was just taking a walk to clear my mind." Her lips trembled into a somber smile.

"A lady should not walk around alone without a proper escort. Since I happen to be taking a walk as well, may I escort you?" He offered his arm.

William noticed her brief hesitation before taking him up on his offer. "That would be lovely, my lord."

The simple contact of her hand on his arm sizzled beneath the material of his clothing. A woman never felt so perfect on his arm. He stole glances at her profile. Her lovely golden hair was pulled into a chignon at the nape of her neck. Her ears were tiny, delicate. He thought about circling his tongue around the outer edge before moving down her long neck, and swallowed.

They walked awhile in silence before she spoke, "What do you do for enjoyment, my lord?"

He knew what he wanted to do, but he decided he should not say such things, especially to her. "I have recently purchased an estate not an hour's drive from here. I have been up to my elbows in renovations."

"How exciting! Please tell me all about it."

Her lips were ripe as berries,
and oh,
how he wanted to taste.

Forcing himself to look away from her lips, he continued down the path, not for a moment forgetting how her hand on his arm affected his pulse. "I purchased the estate from the Duke of Wentworth. He once used it as a country diversion, but since his wife passed, he no longer had use for it. The house sits up on a hill overlooking a small lake." William loved his new home, Rosehill Manor, a home in need of a woman's touch. A home he hoped to fill someday soon with a wife and children.