The Desperate Love of a Lord (6 page)

He touched her cheek, his palm flat against it, as his thumb gripped beneath her chin. This woman had the same face as Violet, her eyes were blue and her hair the colour of spun gold, with the perfect pale skin he knew covered her entire body. Yet, it was not Violet speaking to him. It was not the confident, dressed in vanity woman he’d known in London, whose whole demeanour said
come-love-me
.

He took a breath. “Why are we here, Vi? Why not tell me this in London. There is no one else?” He was completely unable to fathom what was going on here. “Why are you dressed in black? I don’t understand.”

His touch fell to the clear outline of a small bulge beneath her gown. How had he not noticed, for God’s sake? He had made love with her only just over a week ago. But then his sister had had pregnancies like that, usually with boys, when the child suddenly turned and shifted to show more prominently.

Was this his son? His fingers spread wide over Violet’s stomach, and
my God
, he felt the child move.

Looking up he met Vi’s gaze and the blue shone with doubt, but even so, her hand covered his. “It is yours Geoff. I only knew for certain I was with child before I left.”

“But you must have suspected. Were you denying it?”

“Yes.”

“Violet.” His fingers left her stomach and instead he held her, tightly.

Her face buried into his neck and then he heard her sob and felt her shoulders shake. Violet was not a woman to weep, she was strong and brash. She was known for being callous, not this.

He held her for a little while and then his fingers tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“I’m here, darling. No need to worry now.” She had been enduring this burden alone. Worrying. Alone. But why? Why had she run? Did she not trust him? “Darling, I’ll say it again, why are we here?”

She pulled away and her blue eyes shimmered with tears as she looked up at him. Those eyes which had always burned with self-confidence and said take me as I am or go away, now looked vulnerable and afraid.

“I will not let you take the child from me,” she whispered as his fingers cradled her cheek. “I want it, I want to keep it.”

Ah.
“Violet –”

“I shan’t listen to any arguments Geoff. I will not give the child up. I’ll disappear again if I must.”

So this had been Violet crafting a new life for herself, one in which she could be a mother without judgement. “The blacks…” he answered.

“I want my child to be accepted and respected.”

“Our child, Vi. This is
our
child.”

Her chin tilted, her old fire returning. “It is mine. I’ll not give it up.”

He took a hold of her hands. “I am not asking you to. Have I said such a thing?”

She shook her head, sighing and appearing uncertain again, and so unlike Violet. Was it him she was uncertain of – or them? But was that surprising, they had never discussed any future in London. They had only lived each day for what it was all through the summer months.

“But what we –”

“What we did in the beginning, was not what we were doing in the end, was it? I have told you, now, I love you. I should have told you before. I am sorry I did not, but I was terrified of you running a mile if I said it. I was always waiting for the right moment and it never came. Here…”

He withdrew the ring he’d purchased in Bath from the inner pocket of his morning coat, where it had rested close to his heart with her painted image. It was his heart he was giving to her as he dropped down onto one knee. She made a little, “Ooo,” sound, and when he looked up she was biting her lip.

Was she going to say no and keep the child to herself? Was that what she wished, to be without him? He hoped not. He prayed not.

“Violet, I shall say it again. I am in love with you. I have been for weeks now. I’ve been shattered without you. He took her hand. I do not want to lose you. I cannot stand to ever see you with anyone but me now. Be mine…” He met her blue gaze. “Honour me and accept my hand? Will you be my wife?” With his free hand he lifted the ring, hopefully holding it before her finger, but her hand slipped free of his. He knew she’d often said in the past she had no wish to marry again.

“I lied about my age,” she whispered. “I am seven years older than you, not three.”

“I know.” His gaze held hers as determination thrust from his heart.

“Geoffrey, you cannot want me.”

“I do, Vi.”

“You have a life –”

“I love a woman who is more important to me than anything else.”

“Your sister? I am not equal to you in status.”

“She will be glad for me and you ought to know I care nothing for such things.”

“Geoffrey?”

“Are there no more excuses, Vi, because if not my knee is starting to hurt. This floor is a bit hard?”

She laughed.

He held his hand out for hers and she took it. “I love you, Violet. I will love our child, and I will take care of you both.”

“It is just…” She hesitated again and bit her lip. “Geoffrey –”

“Do you think it is your fortune I am after?”

She shook her head. “No, I know exactly what you’ve been after, what I wished…” She laughed again, the true Violet shining through, her voice brimming with innuendo.

“But not now, Violet.”

Her expression changed, shifting back to wariness and pain. “You will tire of me? And I could not bear infidelity.”

No, he could imagine she would not. She always wished to be treated as though she was a precious jewel, she could never bear to be second best. “Violet, I promise, I shall never look elsewhere. I swear it to you.”

She held her breath and he could see her searching for trust, and sifting through further excuses not to.

“Violet,” he said, in a cracked voice. “Was I wrong? Do you not feel what I feel? I have thought you must because my own emotions have been strong. I cannot bear to be without you. Say, yes.”

Her eyes gleamed suddenly as her smile lifted. “Yes. Yes, Geoffrey.”

He slid the ring onto her finger, sapphires, diamonds and gold, like her, and then he was on his feet and hugging her, and her arms were about his neck, and his mouth was on hers. It was a heated, hard kiss.

She broke it. “I love you too. I have loved no one like this.” Her cheeks glowed with a blush. “But I am afraid of it. I cannot believe it will last, and what then? What about when I am older?”

“I will love you more. That is what. And we shall have an army of children.”

Her forehead dropped to his shoulder. “I am going to have to face ridicule in London. We will not be able to hide how quickly the child is born.”

He leaned back and lifted one eyebrow. “And Violet Rimes cares about such a thing? I thought you loved creating gossip.”

“I am thinking of the child.”

“The child will be loved and adored by us, Vi, we have no need to fear what others think.”

She nodded, a nod which expressed conviction and a desire to do battle for their son, or daughter. His hand pressed to her stomach again as he kissed her once more, embracing their child as he embraced her too. “Vi.” Her name was an echo of need slipping from his lips into her mouth. “Let’s go up to bed.”

She laughed.

He smiled.

“Geoffrey Sparks, you are a rogue.”

“A rogue who thinks we ought to consummate our engagement.”

She tipped her head to one side and then shook it. He thought she was saying no but then she smiled in that swift sudden look of appreciation which was
all her
. Her eyes burned just as he’d remembered them doing the very first night she’d walked up to him.

“You are irresistible, Geoff.” She laughed again, then kissed him.

This was a slow kiss, one of longing and love. He wished to reiterate that things had changed between them. He pulled away, lifting his eyebrows. “I love you, Violet. This is nothing more or less than that, the need a man has to show a woman he loves her.” She smiled and tears brimmed in her eyes as they widened. “And just to make this very clear, I am always going to love you. I am never going to look elsewhere. We will be a pair from now on. I will always expect you to warm my bed, even if it is only to sleep.”

Her smile lifted higher. He could see she recognised this was him taking the reins she’d always held. “I’ll not play master to you. We’ll be a partnership.”

Her smile suddenly tilted and shone in her eyes, then she said, “I’ll let you,” before pulling his mouth back to hers.

He laughed, the moment before his lips touched hers.

They went upstairs as they had gone upstairs the first night, with her leading him by the hand. Then in her small humble room, which bore nothing of Violet’s nature, she stripped off his neckcloth as he began undoing the buttons at her back, and then she pushed his morning coat from his shoulders and his arms.

When he exposed skin he worshiped it, with his fingers, tongue and lips. It had not been that long since they’d last done this, yet it felt so different. She loved him, he knew that now.

She said, “I do love you, Geoff,” as he stripped off his shirt, as if she thought the same. “I have for weeks,” she continued, when his shirt fell on the floor. “I have known it, but been afraid of it. I thought it would grip
you
with horror.”

He laughed as she raised her arms, then he lifted off her chemise. “Horrified, Violet?” His voice had lowered an octave or two, with need. “Look at you, why would I be horrified…”

His gaze dropped to the outward curve of her stomach. The back of his fingers ran across it. The skin was stretched, and beneath there was no give, just a hard little bump. His child. Theirs. What a fool not to have noticed in London? Emotion welled inside him and his fingers trailed upwards as his gaze met hers.

With an odd smile, as though she thought he might change his mind about taking her to bed, she unbuttoned his falls.

He was in her hand, aching and throbbing with need as she touched him.

He knew exactly why Violet had favoured him in the beginning, because of his looks, his size and his prowess in a bed. He smiled down at her as she looked down, her slender hand, now bearing his ring, ran upward, then her thumb brushed over his tip. His stomach muscles clasped, in a sudden sharp spasm of need.

Bracing her face in both his hand, he lifted her gaze, then he kissed her, deeply, his tongue slipping into her mouth. When he broke it he whispered over her lips. “Do you wish to go on top? Would it be easier with the child?”

She shook her head. “We only did this a few days back, Geoff, it is no different.”

Her eyes shone with the emotion that churned inside him too. “And yet it is very different. Isn’t it, Vi?”

Her breath came out on a sigh. “Yes.”

In a moment they were on the short narrow bed. She with her legs splayed wide as he knelt between them, leaning over her with one palm pressing into the mattress beside her shoulders.

Looking her in the eyes, he said, “Violet Rimes, I shall warn you, I consider myself bloody lucky to have won you. I am not having any
hide-it-away
wedding. We shall be married in St George’s. I shall get a special licence and we’ll plan it all as soon as we get back to London, but I wish my family there and our friends. I am going to make a statement, Violet. You have chosen me over anyone else and I you.”

Her fingers brushed through his hair. “Do you feel threatened by others, Geoff?”

It was the sort of question she would have teased him with in the early days. This wasn’t teasing though, he saw it, she wanted to know.

Honestly. “Yes.”

Her fingers brushed through his hair again, then rested against his cheek, one of them baring the ring he’d chosen for her. “You should not be jealous,” she said quietly. “No one compares to you. You have been all since the first night I met you. I have been in denial about that too.”

He smiled, gripping the back of her knee with his free hand and slid slowly into her, looking down to watch. His senses reeled at the engulfing warmth.

He looked up, “Violet.”

She’d closed her eyes. They stayed closed as he moved.

This was heaven, being in her body like this, but he dare not press deep, he was afraid of touching the child in her womb.

She bit her lip, then her fingers slid down his arms as her legs lifted to grip his waist.

With more vigorous strokes he took them forward. Her fingernails cut as her mouth fell open. She was never quiet. Her breath was hot heavy pants.

Beautiful Violet.

Her eyes flew open when he pressed a little deeper, too eager. He thought he’d hurt her, but she smiled – her
I-am-enjoying-this-very-much
smile,
but-not-enough
.

He shook is head and lifted the tempo, taking her hand and pressing it between them, holding her fingers to press against the place where he worked, adding intensity for them both.

Her fingers suddenly gripped his, grasping, as she fell over an edge where he was not yet ready to follow.

His parted her thighs wider, forgetting about the child, and thrust in, gaining another inch in his invasion. She was breathless, quivering, aspic and he was granite, steal and heat.

“God, Violet,” he said as she broke again on a keening cry.

He bent and kissed her, sweeping his tongue into her mouth, before he lifted again. He still held her hand between them.

“Geoffrey, you are –”

“The best man you have ever taken to bed.”

Her eyes opened and she laughed. Then her fingers swept back his hair as he kept filling her again and again, relentless, firm and heavy. He could see she could hardly think and form words but she managed some. “The best man ever… Geoff… ever. But then I am bias because I love you.”

“And I love you.”

She dropped into the well of pleasure again and left him behind.

Pressing her legs even further apart and winning a little more of her ground, he thrust and thrust and thru – God. “Violet!”

Geoff was sweaty and hot when she curled into him. She didn’t care. Janet might be back any moment. She didn’t care. She didn’t care about anything but him.

Her palm rested on his pectoral muscle, over his heart.