The Belligerent Miss Boynton AND The Lurid Lady Lockport (Two Companion Full-Length Regency Novels) (21 page)

"Not good. No left hand, Freddie. None. You don't listen; told you that before."

Jared laughed with his friends before swearing them to secrecy about the real reason for their bruises, as it wouldn't do to upset Amanda. As for Freddie, perhaps he had overreacted. Cutting off the ungrateful fool's allowance would be punishment enough and, once he returned to Storm Haven the scandalmongers would find other fuel to fan the flames of their gossip as he and Amanda became models of circumspection.

A nagging thought still stirred in the back of his mind, though. What were Freddie and Denton doing rubbing shoulders? A more unlikely duo he could not imagine. Adding Blanche Wade to the mix just made everything more confusing.

He then shook off his concerns, deciding he was probably reading too much into what had been little more than a drunken brawl. He'd be better served to prepare himself for the coming confrontation with Amanda...

It was just past noon when the three horsemen reached the last hilltop and drew up at the sight of Storm Haven as it appeared below them. The midday sun winked at them from the sparkling windows that appeared larger than Jared remembered them, their massive frames all newly painted a dazzling white. Summer flowers bloomed in profusion on the grounds, and large planters of miniature evergreens mixed with geraniums banked the cheerful red-painted front doors, making the gray stones mellow instead of forbidding.

"Jared, this can't be Storm Haven, can it?" Kevin questioned him. "I thought you told me it was depressing. I find it quite delightful—don't you, Bo?"

"Indeed, Kevin. Very nice. Bit large, but very nice. Not a mausoleum at all."

Jared said nothing, but only sat very still on his horse and stared at his birthplace as if he had never seen it before. Amanda had wrought a miracle. Why, there were even a few shoots of ivy bravely making their way up the walls. He cleared his throat and told his friends, "You two stay here and rest in the shade for an hour. I wish to meet with my wife alone. Then come down and I'll properly introduce you to the new Lady Storm. If I haven't been thrown out on my head, that is."

He rode off at a canter, leaving Kevin to call after him, "Send someone up here with a bottle, friend, and we promise not to intrude on your domestic reunion."

Jared dismounted a few yards from the main doors and walked Devil to the entrance, where he handed the reins to a groom who ran to assist him. "Where is Lady Storm, James?"

The groom looked up at the sun, as if measuring the time from its position in the sky. "Her ladyship would be down to the stream, m'lord, learnin' the young'uns their lessons."

"Thank you, James. I'll join her ladyship there. Kindly take some refreshments to my friends up there on the hill, if you would, and make certain the housekeeper is advised of their arrival." He started to walk away, and then paused to add, "Oh, yes, and see that my wife and I are not disturbed."

James squinted in the direction of the hill and saw two gentlemen gaily waving down at him. "The gentry is surely queer," he muttered as he scratched his head and moved off. "Surely queer."

Jared first saw Amanda as she sat on the ground like a young girl, her muslin skirts spread out upon the grass. Her long, black hair was held back from her face by a pale yellow ribbon, and hung in silky curls down her back as she bent over what looked to be one of Jared's old schoolbooks. One arm was curled around the shoulder of a thin little boy who looked vaguely like Tom, only much cleaner.

As Jared watched, Tom read a few lines aloud from a book Amanda held for him, and his efforts were rewarded by an affectionate pat on the head and a kiss of dismissal before the lad rose with a grin and loped off—presumably on his way back to the stables. Amanda followed him with her eyes, then sighed deeply and started to gather up the books, chalk and slate that lay strewn on the grass.

Jared stood transfixed, watching his wife, until a slight sound at his feet brought his eyes downward and he saw a young gray-striped kitten rubbing against his boot. He reached down and picked up the small body. "Come along with me, little tiger," Jared said as he quietly walked up behind Amanda and dropped the kitten into her lap.

She scooped up the animal, which quickly buried its head in her hair and made her laugh as its small paws started a kneading motion on her neck. "Well, where did you spring from, Sampson? You certainly are a long way from the kitchens. Are you lost? Stop that, Sampson! You're tangling my hair, you naughty puss."

"May I be of some service, my lady, as it was my idea to present you with the beast in the first place?"

Amanda's hands froze in the process of removing the kitten, and the animal cried out in pain, dealing her a slight scratch as it wriggled to free itself.

"Allow me, imp," Jared said as he removed Sampson from Amanda's nerveless fingers. "You're crushing the poor creature."

"It's true," she murmured, looking up at him. "You are here. I thought I must be dreaming again. Did Aunt Agatha send you? I don't want you here on orders from your aunt. Besides, how dare you just waltz back into my life with no explanations? And stop standing there like that—grinning like the village idiot."

"At least you haven't hit me," Jared said, dropping to his knees in front of her and picking up her icy hands, pressing them to his mouth one after the other before she pulled them away. "I imagine I should be grateful for that. I rehearsed a long speech, Amanda, but it flew out of my head the moment I saw you. All I can say is you were never out of my thoughts for a moment while I was gone. These last months have been the most miserable of in my life. And from what you know of my life, imp, you must admit that is quite a statement."

When she didn't say anything he went on quickly, "Be that as it may—and
not
on Aggie's orders—I'm here now, Amanda, to offer you my heart and my pride and my life, if you'll have me. This is surrender, imp, complete and total. I won't even ask for terms."

Amanda continued to stare at him, her expression guarded. "I see," she said at last. "And you're telling me that there was no special special reason for you to be returning just one day after your aunt reached London?"

How he longed to touch her, to hold her. But he kept his distance, willing to take any punishment Amanda saw fit to deal out to him, as long as she didn't tell him to go away. Dear God, anything but that!

"Although I'm glad my aunt came to see me, I had already planned to return today. Truly. I decided to come home the moment my dull brain finally made me see reason. I was always a slow study, imp, but I made my own decisions." He relaxed a little as she gave a small laugh. "I love you, Amanda. I must—nothing else makes sense. And I want to be with you."

A single tear ran down her cheek, and she hastily wiped it away. "And children, Jared? Are you still of the same mind? Because if you are..." she let her voice die away and lowered her head.

This was it. Jared knew he had to say just the right thing to make himself sound believable. He put his hand under her chin and lifted her face to his. Slowly and clearly he said, "I cannot lie to you and say I'm not afraid for you to bear my children. My father did his work far too thoroughly for me to ever feel easy on that head. But I'm very proud that you wish to do me such a signal honor. I promise you, Mandy, I'll accept the will of the gods in this matter, and do my level best to stop running from my ghosts."

Her deep golden eyes searched his face as he held his breath, waiting for her answer. "I believe you, Jared, and I pray you won't hate me now. You see, if you can admit to being a slow study, I suppose it's now my turn to confess that I have ever been one to rush my fences. Our first child is due to be born just a few weeks after Christmas."

Until this moment, up to the moment of this artless admission, Jared had clung to the hope his aunt had been wrong. Gone was his playacting as the truth was brought home to him like a stunning blow to his midsection. He took hold of Amanda's shoulders, squeezing them. "Are you sure, imp? Are you quite sure?"

Amanda put her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "As sure as I can be, having never carried a child before. Jared? Jared—are you all right?" She covered his hands with her own. "Let me go, please. You—you're hurting me."

He pressed her head against his chest. "I'm sorry, imp. What did you ask me? Am I all right?" He chuckled ruefully. "My only answer to that is that I don't know. I honestly don't know. I look at you and you're even more lovely than I remember. I can see a new light in your eyes, a new happiness. I'm a little frightened, yes—perhaps even a bit jealous of another person being capable of making you so happy—but if you promise to always love me I imagine I'll survive."

She struggled to be free, cupping his cheeks as she smiled at him through her tears. "I'll always love you, Jared. You and our child. All of our children. And they'll all love their papa, too, very much."

"I don't deserve you," Jared said huskily and he lifted her up, swinging her in a circle before setting her on her feet. It was all well and good to try to convince his wife that he was not overly concerned for her health, but the reality that, after all his years of believing this day would never arrive, he was about to become a father was a bit too much for him to comprehend.

A
father
? That meant that Mandy was about to become a mother! "Oh, my God," he exclaimed, backing up a step. "Have I hurt you? Here, Mandy, sit down again and I'll call someone. Why didn't you stop me? You shouldn't be so active. No, don't sit down! You shouldn't be sitting on the damp ground. You could have caught a chill—"

Amanda pressed her fingers to his mouth, giggling. "You goose, I'm quite fine, really." The laughter left her eyes and they became dark with remembered passion. "Oh, Jared, I missed you so much."

"And I missed you. I'm sorry, imp," he apologized, realizing he'd been behaving like a madman. "But it's going to take some time on my part, getting used to all of this." He kissed her palm, and then lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her with a deliberate gentleness that inexorably grew into passion. He held her close, unable to let her go, proclaiming his undying love again and again, begging her to believe him. "God, how I want you," he whispered into her ear as his hand closed around one small, perfect breast. "But I don't want to hurt the child."

She pulled free of his embrace, taking his hand and leading him toward the house. "I don't think we need fear that just yet. The child will soon tell us when such, um,
activity
is no longer possible."

Jared looked down at her, smiling as he watched her cheeks turn pink in a flustered blush. "Are you sure, imp?"

She averted her head. "Oh, yes—yes. Quite sure."

"Well, in that case—" Needing no further invitation, Jared lifted Amanda high against his chest and headed for the house. As he made his way through the doorway held open by a footman and headed toward the broad staircase Bo and Kevin came out of the blue room, glasses in hand.

"What have we here, Bo? Could that be Lord and Lady Storm we see tripping stealthily up the stairs?"

Jared looked over his shoulder at his two friends and grinned. "Make yourselves comfortable, gentlemen. Lady Storm and I will do the civil by you at dinner tonight, but for now we have, um, well, we find we have some pressing matters to attend to. Estate business."

"Jared!" Amanda choked out, hiding her face against his chest.

As the sound of a door being kicked shut came to the pair waiting below, Kevin lifted his glass to the empty stairs. "Estate business. Did you hear that? A fat lot of estate business they'll be doing in bed. Drink to the occasion, Bo, old boy. You have just seen true love."

Bo looked confused but drank deeply anyway. "Bed, you say? Dashed early to go to bed. And with one's wife, too." He shook his head. "Ring for the servant again, Kevin, will you. I'm hungry."

#

The setting sun cast its fading light over the tangled clothing that lay in an untidy trail leading to the foot of the huge bed. From its depths rose the lilting laugh of a well-loved female.

"My lovemaking amuses you, imp? Now that is lowering," came a deep voice striving in vain for sternness.

"Oh, no, no. I was just recalling the look on your friends' faces as we passed them on the way upstairs. I can't imagine how I'll ever be able to face them across the dinner table tonight. Why are they here, Jared? Although I don't mind."

He pressed a light kiss on her forehead and explained. "I asked them to come along as protection, if you must know. I assumed, cravenly, I admit, that you wouldn't throw me out if I brought guests.

"Why, Jared Delaney! Do you mean to say you were actually
afraid
of me?

He kissed the tip of her nose. Her lovely, irresistible nose. "Quivering in my boots, yes."

She giggled. "That's just silly."

"Yes," he agreed, "it seems silly now, though at the time it appeared a good idea. But now that they're here I suppose we'll have to entertain them. Have any of our near neighbors dropped by to introduce themselves?"

Amanda slid her fingers into the black cushion of hair on Jared's broad chest. "A few. Squire Bosley, and Lord Close. They seemed a bit puzzled to hear you weren't in residence, but I explained you had pressing business in London, you reprobate. Their wives are nice, although we have little in common. But young Anne, Squire Bosley's daughter, is becoming a good friend." She pushed herself up on her elbow, her long dark hair falling forward to conceal one breast. "You know—I think she and Bo would deal famously together, as she's also quite shy. She's very sweet, and—"

"Oh, no, you don't! None of that, thank you." Jared interrupted, playfully pulling her down onto his chest. "Bo and Kevin are here as my guests, to hunt and ride at their leisure. I can see I've left you alone with Aggie too long. I won't have you matchmaking. I won't inflict such punishment on my friends."

"Yes, my lord," Amanda murmured meekly, and was silent for some time, until he thought she might have fallen asleep, using his body as her pillow. "Jared," she murmured at last, "when did you know you loved me? I mean,
really
love me."