The Hellion and The Heartbreaker (14 page)

When he finished, Scarlett raised her hand and trailed it
lightly down his cheek, wishing she could say the words that she was feeling.
 
I love you Alec
. 
I love you with all my heart and
soul. 

Alec saw the dreamy, almost blissful expression on Scarlett’s
face, and it gave him pause.  Gradually, as his head began to clear, the
sensual haze of the past hours slowly began to dissipate and reality took its
place little by little.  Although he could hardly deny that he’d just had
one of the most incredible sexual experiences of his life, he would never allow
himself to confuse passion with love.  He couldn’t allow Scarlett to do
that either.  The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her, but he had to
make sure she understood that what had just happened between them hadn’t changed
anything.

“Scarlett…”

Alec’s expression had grown serious, his tone suddenly
somber, and Scarlett instinctively knew what he was about to say.  Despite
what they had just shared, she knew better than to presume that anything had
changed, at least for Alec, at least not yet.  Gently she pressed her
fingers to his lips.  “You don’t have to say anything.”  She met his
gaze unflinchingly.  “This was my choice, and I understood the
terms.  I have no expectations and no regrets.”  She could only hope
that she sounded convincing.

Alec gazed into the depths of her incredible blue eyes and
realized just how fortunate he was.  Despite her innocence, Scarlett had
given herself to him with wholehearted abandon and without reservation. 
He should have felt remorse, and a part of him did, but there was another part
of him, a smaller selfish part that felt only joy.  Pulling her tightly
into his embrace, he kissed her with the care and reverence of a man who had
been given a priceless gift.

All too soon, knowing that dawn was but moments away, Alec
helped Scarlett into her rumpled dressing gown, and then tugged on his
discarded breeches.  Barefoot, they walked to the door, kissing once more
before Scarlett turned and slipped silently from his room.  As the door
closed softly behind her, he silently counted the days before he was to return
to London.  Then, a moment later, his head fell forward to rest against
the closed panel.  He closed his eyes, his hands balling into fists at his
sides as he fought the guilt that tore at him like a
knife.    

When Scarlett awoke, she turned her head toward the small
porcelain clock that sat on her bedside table.  Her room was awash in
light and she was stunned to see that it was well past ten.  She had
always been an early riser, rarely sleeping past six-thirty or seven, and
though she was grateful, she was a little surprised that no one had come
knocking on her door to check on her.

Turning onto her side, she snuggled into her pillow, smiling
as she felt the slight tenderness between her thighs and memories of the night
before came flooding back.  She had never imagined being intimate with a
man could feel so magnificent.  She had overheard her bothers on occasion,
talking and joking about sexual matters when they didn’t know she was
listening, and had assumed that the act was something quite enjoyable, at least
for men.  However, nothing, absolutely nothing could have prepared her for
the magnitude of her own pleasure.  Despite the fact that she had given
her virginity to a man who had made it clear that he wasn’t interested in
commitment, she didn’t care.  She was madly, helplessly and hopelessly in
love with Alec Weston, and she knew with absolute certainty that in time he
would realize that he loved her too.

When she finally made her way downstairs at half past eleven,
she learned that her brothers had taken Alec bird hunting in the dense woods
beyond the estate.  The woods surrounding Grey Oaks were ripe with wild
turkeys, pheasants, grouse and numerous other types of game, and although her
brothers had taught her to shoot years ago, she rarely accompanied them on
their hunting trips.  She was an excellent shot, but had quickly
discovered that she preferred firing at inanimate targets far more than shooting
at wildlife.

Having missed breakfast, her stomach was beginning to rumble,
so she quickly made her way to the kitchen.  Snatching up an apple tart,
leftover from the morning meal, she spent several minutes chatting with the
kitchen staff, most of who had been at Grey Oaks for as long as she could
remember.  They were like her extended family and she was just as
comfortable sitting with them at the large wooden kitchen table as she was
seated in the grand, formal dining room, perhaps even more so.

A short time later however, Tess came looking for her and
quickly hustled her back upstairs.  She had been pestering Scarlett for
days to start preparing for her upcoming trip to London, and today was clearly
no different.  Tess was leaving the following week to spend the next two
months visiting her sister in Wales and would not be accompanying the family to
London.  Though Scarlett wasn’t leaving for the city for another three
weeks, Tess was determined to make sure the packing and other preparations were
well under way before she left for her sister’s.  The fact that Georgie
would be temporarily residing with the family in London, as well as acting as
Scarlett’s chaperone, was the only reason Tess had agreed to take the
well-deserved vacation that she and her brothers had been trying unconvincingly
to get her to do for years.  This would be the first time that she and
Tess had spent any length of time apart, and it was a big step, for both of
them.

Now, watching as Tess mulled over the various gowns within
Scarlett’s wardrobe, the majority of which had been specially made for her
debut, she couldn’t help feeling a bit wistful.  She wasn’t a little girl
anymore.  She was a woman now, in every sense of the word. Turning toward
the window, she gazed thoughtfully outside, her thoughts turning to Alec and
her future.

When she eventually turned back around, she saw that her bed
had disappeared beneath a dozen or more gowns of nearly every color of the
rainbow.  There were morning gowns, evening gowns, ball gowns, riding
habits, silks, satins, taffetas and more.  It all seemed so silly to
her.  Just one of the elaborate ball gowns alone, had cost a small
fortune.  For a girl who had grown up on a quiet country estate, the
lavish excesses dictated by Society seemed absurd.  However, knowing that
Alec would be in London with scores of beautiful, fashionable women swirling
around him at every turn, made the extravagance slightly less difficult to
bear.  With so many women vying for Alec’s attention, she wanted to look
her absolute best.  And so, with a sigh of resignation, she began fetching
the silk stockings, lacy undergarments and numerous other requisite fripperies
a well-dressed lady required, and added them to the pile on the bed.  When
Tess finally summoned a couple of footmen to bring up her trunks, Scarlett’s
bed was nearly indiscernible under the enormous mountain of clothing and
accessories.

Once the trunks had been delivered, it took her and Tess, as
well as two additional maids, the remainder of the afternoon to carefully pack
the seemingly infinite number of garments into a half dozen large traveling
trunks, all of which would have to be steamed and pressed once again when they
reached London.  Despite the fact that she stayed busy, the day seemed to
drag on endlessly as she waited for the sound of the men’s return.

By late afternoon, Tess finally seemed satisfied that the
bulk of the packing was done and that Scarlett could adequately handle the last
minute details herself.   After summoning several footmen to carry
the trunks to one of the large upstairs storage areas to await their departure
to London, Tess followed doggedly on their heels, and at last the room was
cleared.

With her room once again restored to order, Scarlett took the
welcome solitude to once again daydream about Alec and the night ahead. 
For her, it couldn’t come soon enough.

Scarlett was seated in the front parlor, trying
unsuccessfully to focus on the book in her hands, when the men finally
returned.  Having already relinquished the spoils of their hunt to the
kitchen staff, they entered the foyer, talking and laughing as they shed their
heavy clothing.

“I don’t know about you boys, but I could use a drink to warm
these cold bones,” Rory told them, heading into the parlor.  He spotted
Scarlett an instant later as she rose from her chair.  “Well, well, look
who’s up and about,” he teased, as he made his way to the sideboard.

“Pour us all a glass, Rory,” Gavin directed, short on Rory’s heels. 
“My entire body has gone numb.”

“Well hello there sleepyhead,” Conner said, as he entered the
room with Colin and Alec right behind him.

“As if any of you have room to talk,” Scarlett chided,
wishing at that moment that the ground would open up and swallow her. 
Leave it to her brothers to make a big deal out of the fact that they were all
up and about before she was for once.

“Well it
is
a rare occurrence when you’re the last one
up, Scarlett,” Colin added.  “Did you have trouble sleeping last night?”
he asked, always the concerned older brother.

“Perhaps a little,” she murmured vaguely.  “I’ve just
had a lot on my mind with the trip to London coming up so soon.
 
Deliberately keeping her eyes away from Alec,
she strove to appear nonchalant, praying no guilty blush was staining her
cheeks.
 
“You needn’t worry about me so
much Colin,” she told him with a sweet smile.

“Not like that will ever happen,” Rory told her, with a
sardonic grin, as he handed a glass to his brother and another to Alec. 
“Big brother’s already a nervous wreck about your debut.”

Scarlett was well aware that
all
of her
over-protective brothers were more than a little anxious about her launch into
Society, even Rory and Gavin.  The thought of their darling little
Scarlett, soon to be inundated with male suitors, made them all a bit
uneasy.  If they’d had the slightest inkling of what had transpired
between her and Alec the night before, well, she didn’t even want to imagine
it.

“And
you’re
not?”  Colin retorted, with a derisive grin of his own.

“Of course I am,” Rory admitted affably.  “I well expect
to have my hands full keeping all of Scarlett’s ardent suitors at bay.”

“Let’s change the subject, shall we.”  Scarlett
interjected, eager to turn the conversation in another direction.  The
last thing she wanted to do was discuss potential suitors in front of
Alec.  The Duke of Worthe was the only man she had any interest in, and
she couldn’t imagine anything or
anyone
ever changing that.  “Tell
me about your day,” she requested with exaggerated exuberance, gladly willing
to listen to the details of their hunt, if it would serve to divert their
attention.  “How was the hunt?”

She did her best to appear interested as the men regaled her
with the morning’s events.  While they lauded each other on their stellar
marksmanship, and occasionally ribbed each other for the inadvertent missed
shot, she finally allowed her gaze to linger on Alec.  He looked as
handsome as ever in his sporty hunting attire.  His white lawn shirt,
unbuttoned at the collar, revealed a tantalizing hint of the muscular chest she
had caressed just hours ago, and a lock of his rich black hair had fallen
against his forehead, adding to his raffish appearance.  She wanted to
reach out and touch him more than anything.

Sensing her eyes upon him, Alec looked up and captured her
gaze for a mere instant.  As his mouth curved into a nearly indiscernible
smile, a silent message passed between them, a shared secret between two
lovers.

As the week progressed, she and Alec spent their days acting
the part of friendly acquaintances and their nights wrapped in each other’s
arms.  During their passionate assignations, Alec made no false promises
and Scarlett did her best to disguise the fact that she was head over heels in
love with him.

By the end of the week Scarlett was exhausted, for she was
woefully disinclined to leave Alec’s bed until dawn, but then forced to crawl
out of her own bed a short time later so as not to raise her brother’s
suspicions.  Sheer adrenaline kept her going, as did the fact that her
time with Alec was quickly coming to an end.  Alec however, obviously well
accustomed to late city nights and functioning on minimal sleep, seemed to have
a boundless supply of energy.

Two nights before Alec was scheduled to return to London, her
brothers finally hauled him off to the local village, leaving Scarlett at home.
 She knew that her brothers occasionally enjoyed the “private” services of
a few of the local tavern wenches on their treks to the village, and could only
hope that Alec didn’t choose to partake as well.  Though she certainly had
no claim on him, the thought of Alec in bed with another woman was nearly
unbearable.

Every time she looked at the clock, her anxiety
increased.  She tried to read, but found herself scanning the same page
over and over, unable to process the words.  Eventually she gave up and
tossed the book aside.  She wandered aimlessly around her room, stopping
every few minutes to push aside the drapes and glance out the window.  She
told herself to stop, but she couldn’t seem to help herself.