The Scandalous Duke Takes a Bride (29 page)

Soon,
he told himself. Soon she’d be his fully, because there was no way in hell after all that had happened between them that he’d let her slip through his fingers. She was already his. She could deny their mutual attraction all she wanted, but in the end she’d come to the realization that she was fighting him for no good reason. It was a losing battle, that.

Placing his hands on both of her thighs, he gathered up her heavy skirts. She didn’t protest. In fact, her look grew darker with need as he revealed her underthings inch by agonizing inch.

“We shouldn’t be doing this.” Her lips were damp from nibbling on them, and tinged red like the skin of an apple.

He held the material with one hand and snaked his finger around her upper thigh until his hand cupped her womanhood through the cambric and lace drawers she wore. “Then tell me to stop.”

Her lips parted revealing the neat rows of teeth top and bottom. He rubbed her cloth-clad mons, hard and slow.

“I can’t,” she said breathlessly.

“Then I won’t stop till you come apart in my arms. Till you lose control of yourself for me to see.”

Placing her hand atop his, she pressed him harder into her core, stopping his motions. Her eyes closed, as though she warred with her decision to let him continue or to pull him away and stop their intimacy altogether.

Her breath was jagged as she inhaled, causing her breasts to quiver where they were plumped up at the front of her dress. Pulling his other hand away from where it held up her dress, he slid it over her bodice so he could cup her breast. He squeezed it, wishing she were naked so he could feel her in his hands.

It appeared that her desires had won over her better judgment. Her gaze broke away from his as she turned her head to the side to catch his lips with hers. He kissed her deeply as his hand found the slit in her drawers so he could touch that sensitive part of her without impediment. Her tongue rolled around his, tasting and searching his mouth with an intensity that had them both panting.

His fingers slid through the moisture of her desire, making him groan into her mouth. He had a sudden urge to taste her there but didn’t want to stop the sweet friction of rubbing her, making her wetter as his forefinger found its way into her sheath while the palm of his hand rubbed her clitoris.

As he yanked the front of her dress down on one side the top part of her breast plumped out and the very edge of her pink areola was revealed. He shoved his hand under the delicate material, tearing it at the side. He needed to touch her; that was all there was to it. He needed to taste her. Fuck her. God, he had never wanted her more than he did now. But he knew if he did more, broke away from their kiss, removed his hand, reality would flow back in and she’d stop his exploration.

This was no different from the night he’d slept in her bed, only this time he was willing to take her without the piece of paper saying she was pledged solely to him. No, he’d bind her another way if he must, because it was about bloody time the Duke of Alsborough took a bride.

“God, I need you,” he said just before twining his tongue around hers once again.

Jessica turned slightly in his arms, his hand losing hold on her breast as she faced him.

Lips swollen, breasts rising fast and furious in her heightened state of pleasure, she pressed one hand against the vanity behind her and used the other to pull up the material of her dress where it had fallen back down around her thighs.

That was all the invitation Hayden needed to reach for the bodice of her dress and tear down the front enough that he could free her breasts. He sucked the tip of her right nipple into his mouth, bringing it to a firm peak, then released it with a sucking pop before tasting the other.

When he reached for her center this time, he thrust two fingers into her core so hard and fast with the aid of her juices that she made a sound between a moan and a cry that had his cock throbbing in his trousers.

“I want you.”

Rear end precariously balanced on the edge of her vanity, Jessica’s hands tangled in his hair and she pulled him away from her breasts so that she could look him in the eye.

Her gaze was fierce with lust and desire. Determined.

He knew then that she wanted this as badly as he needed her. What kind of man would that make him, taking her before they were properly wed? Did that matter? He would make her his bride in the end no matter the outcome of today.

If he could think rationally he would definitely pull away—as that would be the right thing to do. But his ardor was high, his need overbearing, and he’d wanted her for more years than he could count at the moment.

He lowered his head enough that he could lick the tips of her breasts and tongue the tight peaks.

“I want to tell you to stop, but I can’t,” she said breathlessly.

“Then don’t. Tell me you need this as much as I.” She released her hold on his hair so he could kiss and suck at her other breast. “Tell me to take you once and for all.”

Instead of answering him, she lowered her hands between them and pulled at the buttons of his trousers. Her hand easily found its way inside and slid along the smooth length of his cock. He nearly fell over from the pleasure her touch gave him. Her hand curled around the base and slid over the length. Hayden had to grip the edges of her vanity to hold still.

“Make me yours, Hayden.” Her voice was just above a whisper and hoarse with desire.

He needed no more urging than that. “Wrap your legs around my hips.” She did so, poising his cock at the right spot to enter her. He felt compelled to remind her, “We can’t go back from this.”

“Just show me how good this can feel. I need you, Hayden.”

The head of his cock brushed against her damp center, ready, so ready to claim her as his own once and for all. He took his time, sliding the head around the opening, slickening her entrance, and drawing little whimpers from her lips as he did so.

Jessica locked her ankles around the base of his back and pulled him in close enough to lodge the head of his penis inside her. He groaned and held still, wanting to call the shots in this. He’d waited nearly ten years for this moment; Jessica could wait a few minutes as he indulged in the very feel of her hot, wet sheath clasping his cock. He pressed his forehead to hers. “You feel so damn good.”

“Then take me.”

“Only if you beg.” He wasn’t sure why he’d asked her to do that, but it might stem from the fact that she’d done nothing but deny her attraction to him since he’d confessed his true feelings. He did want her to beg.

The tips of her fingers combed through his hair. Her touch was firm but gentle, needy but reserved. “I want to feel you all the way inside me.”

And then she gave him what he wanted, her little moans and whimpers enough to propel him forward and finally take her. Her thighs were tight around his hips as her arms wrapped around his shoulders and held him tight against her body.

The rhythm of their pelvises joining was steady, hard. He rubbed the bud of her desire and swallowed her pleasure noises with hard kisses. Her sheath clenched around his cock, pulling him so close to the edge that he rubbed her clitoris harder, faster, till she came undone in his arms, nearly screaming out her pleasure as he pumped harder into her, finding his own end.

They stayed that way for some time, her legs wrapped around his hips, his legs growing shaky holding her against the vanity as his manhood throbbed inside of her, not nearly sated enough. Could he ever get enough of Jessica? He doubted it. He still couldn’t believe this had happened.

He pulled slowly out of her; otherwise he’d want to go again. And again, until he was truly sated. That could keep them in here a week at the very least.

“The next time we do this, I’m undressing you to the buff.”

Jessica blushed. “We should get dressed. Louise could come back at any moment.”

“She won’t. You sent her away and she’ll not be back until you ring for her.”

He lifted her from the vanity and pushed her skirts down. Her breasts were pink from his ministrations, the nipples still firm and jutting above the edge of the dress. And just with that view alone, he knew he needed her again. She didn’t hide her knowledge of that, either, for her gaze dropped to his groin area and when she looked at him one eyebrow was raised. She halfheartedly fixed her dress, pulling the material up as much as she could. Her areolas still kissed the air, begging for his touch.

“I’ll have to assist you in donning another dress.” He brushed his finger over that tempting pink flesh revealed by her décolletage. “We’ll have a hard time explaining the tatters of this dress to your maid.”

“I don’t for one second believe they thought we were innocently conducting ourselves in here.”

“Think about what this means, Jess.”

She spun around, giving him her back. “Release the buttons. And I know what I’ve done. Give me some time to sort through this, Hayden. Good God, I barely know what to say to you and I feel like a stammering fool.”

He turned her about, hands cupping her arms with a firm grip so she couldn’t look away. He’d make her face this head-on and he would no longer allow her to hide from him. “You’ve never been a stammering fool. Look at me, Jess. I’m the same person you’ve always known. And while this changes things between us, changes how we move forward, you weren’t denying the desire between us any more than I was.”

“I believe any normal woman would hide her face in shame for what we’ve just done outside the sanctity of marriage.”

“You’re the most brilliant, adoring, kind, and annoyingly perfect woman I’ve ever known. And there’s no shame in what happened between us. It was inevitable after that first kiss. Surely you see that for the truth.”

“I do.” Her gaze dropped and she spun around again. “Please undo the buttons. I want to find something else to wear before anyone chances upon us.”

He didn’t argue again that no one would dare interrupt them. Instead he assisted her in removing the bodice and skirts. She kept all her underclothes on, which was fine, considering he hadn’t damaged them, just the stitching on her outer clothes. And this was the perfect way to show her what he’d brought along.

*   *   *

After he helped with the buttons on the new dress Hayden reached into his breast pocket and pulled free a folded piece of paper and handed it over to her.

“What is it?” she asked, genuinely curious.

“Open it.”

She did just that. The parchment detailed both their names delicately scrolled one atop the other.

What could she say to such an offer? The only thing she could do was walk away. She set the paper on her vanity in front of her and ran her fingers over their names inked on the paper. She’d never imagined what their names would look like side by side. Never imagined herself as the Duchess of Alsborough … but here it was, written out in bald evidence of what could and should be.

“When did you do this?”

“After I spent the night,” was his easy answer.

Had he really known they were meant to marry after one night in each other’s arms?

“But I haven’t given you my answer yet.”

“It doesn’t change the facts, Jess. I know how I feel about you. About us. Marriage would work between us.”

Up till now her back had been to him. When she faced him after a long silence she still couldn’t find the words she needed to express how this made her feel. Her thoughts had been scattered the last few days as she sent letters back and forth with the Duchess of Randall on how precisely they would deal with the Mayfair Chronicler. The only thing Jessica had told the older woman was that she knew who the Chronicler was and wanted to find a way to stop the
Chronicles
from being printed going forward. She’d not once mentioned the damning letters she had in her possession written in Lady Montant’s hand and addressed to Jessica’s late husband.

Now Hayden was here with a special license for them to marry in the midst of everything.

She searched his eyes. What other reason did she have for denying him this? “Did you know I’d eventually say yes? Or were you hopeful I would come around to your way of thinking?”

When his hand cupped the side of her face and his other rested lightly upon her hip as he searched her gaze … it was as though he willed her to see just how he’d always seen her. Just how he’d always felt about her, yet she’d been too blind to truly see.

“Why did you wait so long to tell me anything?” she asked.

“What purpose would it have served when you never saw me in the same light?”

“Was our friendship a lie?”

“Never think that. Your friendship has been the one I value above all others, Jess. We were and will remain friends first. And we’ll be partners in marriage.”

“I don’t understand why I didn’t see it before.”

“Take a leap of faith with me in this.”

There was shouting coming from the main level of the house that drew both their attention to her bedchamber door where a knock reverberated.

“Come,” she called.

Wilson came through the door, short of breath, hand extended with an envelope between his fingers.

“This came urgently for His Grace.”

Jessica raised one eyebrow inquisitively as she plucked the parchment from her butler’s hand and gave it over to Hayden without a word.

*   *   *

An urgent post arriving at Jessica’s was definitely not out of the ordinary. But one arriving for him was odd.

“Is a response required?” Hayden asked Wilson.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Hayden flipped over the envelope, seeing Tristan’s seal.

“Give us a moment, please.”

He knew Tristan was at his country estate until news of his hasty marriage had a chance to settle down and become old news. Jessica came forward and saw the seal but didn’t say a word or ask if Hayden knew what was urgent. Sliding his finger beneath the flap, he tore the parchment open and read it with a curse falling from his lips.

Hayden,
I call on our friendship in a moment of great need. Ponsley has seen it to have my head on a platter for stealing away his only daughter and has called for seconds. I need your level head and negotiating powers. Come north without delay, for this is a summons I cannot ignore for long.
With gratitude,
Tristan
“What does it say?” Jessica asked.

Hayden handed her the letter—better that she read the news for herself.

She skimmed over the contents and looked up at him with narrowed eyes. “He can’t seriously entertain this idea.”

“It’s not so easy to ignore Ponsley, Jess. Tristan will have to respond to the challenge or be ridiculed and accused of having no honor—something neither he nor his new wife can afford considering the scandal their marriage has caused.”

Jessica handed the letter back to him and sat on the bench at the end of her bed, hand pressed to her mouth.

“It’s sickening that any man would resort to this type of violence.”

“Sometimes it’s necessary. Especially when one must consider their honor.”

“I couldn’t agree less.” It was useless debating this point, since she could well guess how Hayden had
persuaded
Miller to leave London. Perhaps he preferred to use force if his silver tongue couldn’t get him what he wanted. “What will you do?”

“I hate to leave you here with Warren now that Miss Camden has left.”

“I was surprised Miss Camden was able to persuade Warren to my favor while she stayed on. But there’s nothing that can be done about her absence now. I’ve always known that it was only a matter of time before Warren asked me to leave once and for all.”

He pulled her to her feet and into his arms as he planted his lips against hers. She clasped his arms as though to hold him close to her indefinitely. She couldn’t bear the thought of him leaving, no matter the circumstances. It was a selfish notion.

“Our walk will have to be postponed, for I’ll have to be off before the lunch hour.” He brushed his hand over her cheek. “Come with me. Miller is still wandering the city and Lady Montant can do a great deal of damage to your reputation if she continues to hold whatever vendetta it is she has against you.”

“Miller has either left London or he’s dead. I’m not worried about him.”

“Assumptions can be dangerous in this instance.”

“He’d have come back by now. I’m not worried about Miller. As for Lady Montant, she hasn’t the slightest inkling that I know her secret. The time will present itself eventually.”

He took her hands in his. “I’ll ask again, not as your friend but as your suitor, come with me.”

She could. But what would that mean with Lady Montant? While Jessica might be in no hurry to reveal Montant for the charlatan she was, she needed to deal with her sooner rather than later. Preferably before she ruined someone else’s name.

“I should stay, Hayden. I only have a few weeks left here. I want to pack up my things. Say my good-byes before I am introduced as your fiancée.” She looked around her sunny room, unable to meet his gaze. He hadn’t proposed again, though he’d shown her the license.

He gathered her in his arms and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll worry about you if you don’t come.”

“I’ve taken care of myself this long.” When his eyes narrowed she added, “I’ll be fine until your return.”

“There’s so much we need to discuss.” He looked pointedly toward her vanity where the special license was laid out. “I won’t leave without making a proper fiancée of you.”

Hayden knelt in front of her, clasped her hands with his, and asked, “Would you make an honest of man of me and be my wife?”

Why hadn’t she said yes when he’d gone down on bended knee in the garden-surrounded verandah all those weeks ago? How stupid and stubborn of her to refuse this man. She could never refuse him again. Tears pricked her eyes as she nodded.

“Don’t cry, darling.” He used his thumb to brush away the tears that welled over. “You should be happy.”

“I am. I just … I will never be deserving of you.”

“Come to Tristan’s with me. I can’t bear the thought of leaving you here with Warren.”

She shook her head. While she agreed to marriage, she still had things to take care of in Town. “A few days apart, even a week, won’t hurt. When you come back we can sort out the details for the wedding, but Tristan needs you right now.”

She could tell Hayden was torn. Between two friends. Between the woman he loved and the man he considered a brother. But Hayden’s brother was in much greater need of his company than she was. Besides, it wouldn’t be for more than a week. Just enough time for her to pack up her home and leave behind the part of her life that was the Countess of Fallon.

“I’ll be back in London before you know it,” he promised.

She curled her fingers around his.

“Will you take the train out?”

“It’s quickest that way. I can have a horse readied in Birmingham this evening and be at Hailey Court tomorrow morning.”

“It makes sense. Will you do the same coming home?”

“Yes, the faster I’m home to you the better.” He pressed his palm against her cheek. “I’ll miss you while I’m gone.”

She closed her eyes as she stood from the bench so she could kiss him lightly on the mouth. “Godspeed. And keep Tristan safe; he never was one for weaponry.”

“That I can promise.”

His head leaned in, his forehead pressed to hers so fleetingly before he stepped away from her. He looked reluctant to leave, and she could tell that he wanted to ask her to go with him.

“The moment I’m back, we’ll fix everything. Us, your reputation, your living situation.”

The promise in his voice brought fresh tears to her eyes. This man turned her into a watering pot. The tears were not derived from sadness but from her stupidity at being so blind to the man before her … all these years. Not that either of them could have acted sooner. She’d not have cuckolded her husband, despite her hate toward him.

Could they ever fix the damage that had been done to her reputation? She didn’t think so but didn’t want to sour his good mood before he left, so she said nothing.

Hayden planted one last kiss on her mouth before departing.

Chapter 20

Jilted before making it to the altar. Can you fathom such a thing? Lord P——’s daughter has created quite the stir hieing off and marrying the Marquess of C——. One must wonder what wickedness the man committed to make off with the daughter of someone who’s always loathed him. Though I do believe the feelings are mutual between the men. All that remains to be seen is what type of retribution will be sought.
Mayfair Chronicles,
August 1846 The moment Hayden left, Jessica immediately regretted not going with him. Sitting at her vanity, she pulled a sheaf of paper out of the drawer and picked up her pen. Hayden was right: she could escape the city, leave it all behind, and build the kind of life that made her a hell of a lot more content than her current circumstances allowed for.

Jessica penned the first note to Warren, explaining only that she had been called away from London and that she’d taken a maid for a companion on her travels. She did not commit to pen and paper the fact that she didn’t plan on coming back to this house—she’d let him stew on that and wonder if she would return. She did technically have two weeks left.

She penned a second note to Leo and Genny, the woman who had captured Jessica’s friend’s heart. She would require his attendance for what she had planned. It was amazing that once she made up her mind on something she tended to charge forward without thought to anything else.

Jessica rang the servants’ bell to call up her maid. She had a long list of things that needed to be taken care of before she left. Because she knew that once she left she’d never be able to come back. And if she didn’t act now … she would regret not spending the coming days with Hayden. She couldn’t put him off a moment longer; she wanted to be by his side, as his partner. As his equal. The thought made her smile. She’d never stood on even footing with her late husband. Fallon saw her as inferior. Hayden would never think of her that way.

“My lady,” Louise said on entering the bedchamber.