The Wedding Runaway (21 page)

She made a sound of protest.

He held up his hand.
"
I know you are compromised living under my roof
,
but I will not violate your virtue. And I will not marry ever again
,
so do not think to turn this situation to your advantage.
"

"
I didn
'
t
,
I never thought—
"

"
Yes
,
well, I have no particular reason to trust you as you have lied to me about who you are from the beginning. Be warned
,
I am known to have deflowered virgins and not offered them the shelter of my name.
"

"
Oh
,
but I need have no fear of that
,"
she said sarcastically.
"
You are not likely to...to...seduce someone like me.
"

Oh
,
yes
,
he was likely. She had every reason to fear he would seduce her. He wasn
'
t even sure that he could keep his hands off of her for the duration of her healing. Really, it was only one virgin
,
one willing
,
encouraging virgin and he
'
d been deep in his cups.

"
Not while you
'
re injured
,
cub
,
and not while I don
'
t know your name.
"

"
If I tell you my name
,
you
'
ll just send for my family to come and take me home.
"

He had no answer for that. Were they so awful?
"
I cannot keep calling you Leonard.
"

There was a sound behind him that was suspiciously like a sniff. He turned to find the bedcovers tossed back
,
and her out of bed.

"
What did you do with my clothes?
"
she demanded.

"
You are not leaving.
"

"
Where are my clothes?
"
she repeated as she yanked out a dresser drawer.

He moved behind her to push the drawer shut before she started pulling out his things.
"
For the most part, they
'
re ruined
,
cub. Your maid will likely bring your things.
"

He put his hand on the blond curls covering her head.
"
Your unmentionables might be salvageable if the blood may be got out
,
but you should be in bed.
"

Not-Leonard put her hand in front of her face.

Her hair was feather soft and the curls twined around his fingers as he touched it. For such a tough woman
,
able to meet the demands of a male world without flinching
,
and bearing her wound better than a soldier
,
she was incredibly soft
,
touchable.
"
What is it
,
pet? What would convince you to stay?
"

She dropped her hand and looked searchingly at him out of those big blue eyes of hers. That look from her when he thought her a boy had driven him mad. Now, it caused a heady current of desire to thrum through his blood.

"
You don
'
t want me here. You have made that abundantly clear. You want me to go back to America
,"
she said.

"
That was when I thought you a boy.
"
He trailed his hand down her neck. He really should stop touching her.

She turned to face him
,
twin vertical lines appearing between her brows. Her right hand was on her left shoulder
,
holding his nightshirt together. He was reminded how very little barrier there was between him and her skin. Her gaze dropped to his lips and sanity fled his grasp.

It was a simple matter, really
,
to move his hand to cup her head and bring her forward. With her height
,
there was an easy fit
,
and no long delay to the meeting of their mouths.

She kissed with innocence that shifted to eagerness and her essence swirled on his tongue. Her willing participation was like ambrosia to a starving man. Need throbbed through him as he pulled her closer and deepened his kiss. He urged with a persuasive touch to loosen her hold on the slit nightshirt. She complied, wrapping her arms around him.

He wanted to touch every inch of her skin
,
to trace the lines of her every curve
,
to taste her flesh. The material slipped from her shoulder and offered him a tantalizing glimpse of heaven. He wanted inside of her so bad he hurt.

Only the glimmer of an awareness that she was both innocent and injured kept his pace slow and gentle
,
yet he had her tight against him. She ran her hands down his back and he was lost to sensation. He knew he should be caring for her
,
but all he could think and feel was how her touch blazed through his skin
,
burning past the layers of bone and muscle
,
firing his blood
,
flaming his loins and fevering his heart
,
and she kept stroking his back as if she wanted him.

In one smooth move
,
he lifted her onto the dresser, then yanked the bottom of his shirt free of his waistband. He would pull his shirt over his head as soon as he could stand to free his mouth from hers for long enough. Yet
,
she seemed to have the idea as her palms slid against the bare skin of his stomach.

His breathing rasped in and out
,
with half his intoxication coming from capturing her breaths in his mouth. Her touch made him quiver and throb and ache. Controlling his gentle easing of her gown down and caressing the soft curve of her breast
,
made his feelings soften and swell and become a thing of their own power.

Her kissing his scar and the memory of her naked flesh swirled in his mind
,
would that he had a thousand hours for her seduction
,
yet an unstoppable urge made him push forward and think seconds would be too long. Her knees opened at his pressure and he ground against her
,
hiding nothing of his thick
,
swollen desire.

Let her pull back and fight now
,
if she didn
'
t want that part of him too. She made a sound deep in her throat
,
that could have been protest
,
could have been shock
,
and he tried to ease back.

Instead, she wrapped her long
,
long legs around his hips
,
cradling his hardness against her soft woman
'
s core. His bed was just behind him
,
and he lifted her and took a step toward it when the rattle of the doorknob sent ice stabbing down his spine.

"
Victor
,
are you in here?
"
asked Keene.

Chapter Nine

Victor didn
'
t know if he had ever moved so fast in his life. He dumped not-Leonard on the bed and ran to hold the door from opening all the way.

Keene stared at him
,
his dark eyes narrowing as he took in Victor
'
s heaving chest and general disarray.
"
What are you about?
"
he asked, his voice low and riddled with shock and fury.

"
It
'
s not what you think
,"
said Victor.

Keene crossed his arms and glared at him.

"
Give me a moment.
"
Victor shut the door, then turned the lock.

He leaned back against the door as he glanced at his guest
.
He had staked his honor upon offering shelter without assaulting her virtue. A gentleman who wasn
'
t worth his word
,
was not worth anything.

The door jumped behind his back as Keene pounded on it.
"
Get out here
,
now!
"

"
Are you all right
,
pet?
"
Victor whispered.

She was curled up on her knees
,
looking frightened and bemused and oh
,
so damn tempting. She turned those liquid blue eyes toward him and nodded. He wanted to comfort her
,
but he didn
'
t dare touch her
,
not with the state he was in.

"
Leonard
,
are you in there?
"
yelled Keene.
"
Are you all right?
"

Victor released the lock, then planted his hand squarely in Keene
'
s chest and pushed him backward.
"
You may be my elder brother
,
but you have no business barging into my bedroom.
"

"
Oh
,
hell with it. You have barged in on Sophie and me before
,"
Keene paced down the passageway and pivoted.

"
I have stood guard more often.
"
Victor leaned over and put his hands on his thighs, trying to slow his breathing and get control of his wayward body. Obviously his half-brother could guess what was going on in the bedroom.
"
Thank God you are here.
"

Keene stopped and stared.

"
It
'
s not what you are thinking.
"

"
Yes
,
you said that before. Perhaps you
'
d care to explain why you look as if you are engaged in an...an...amorous encounter.
"

"
Not to put to fine a point on it
,"
replied Victor
,
amused by Keene
'
s delicacy of language. He headed down the stairs to the library and hoped a brilliant shim-sham story arrived in his brain box before he made it all the way there. He didn
'
t know why he bothered. The truth would blurt out in spite of any tale he thought to spin.

"
Do you mean to explain?
"
Keene trailed behind him and eyed him as if he were a monster of the most depraved sort.

"
Not here.
"

Keene might not be wrong on the depraved part.

What had he been thinking? All right, he hadn
'
t been thinking
,
he
'
d been feeling. Feeling urges he
'
d suppressed for years
,
feeling softer feelings of wanting to hold and comfort a woman.
Yes
,
that was so obvious
,
he told himself sarcastically. Feeling like he wanted to
know her
in the biblical sense was hardly a desire to comfort and protect her.

Bloody hell
,
she was injured
,
drugged and probably a little desperate. And he was a lot desperate
,
but he knew better.

They reached the library and Keene pushed the door shut.
"
Do you mean to tell me what is happening?
"

"
I should rather not
,"
said Victor as he walked toward the brandy decanter. He glanced up as if he could see through the floors to her. Was she still huddled on the bed like a frightened rabbit?

Remorse and guilt poured through him. When had he ever been good for anyone? He
'
d very nearly stolen her virtue because he needed a woman
'
s touch.

He picked up the decanter and stared at the amber liquid.

"
For the well-being of Mr. Hall
,
I must ask...
"
Keene hesitated.
"
I must ask if you are misusing him?
"

Victor swirled the alcohol. He didn
'
t want a drink. He didn
'
t want to numb his feelings anymore and he didn
'
t trust his control if under the influence. Hell
,
he couldn
'
t trust his control when he was sober.
"
Misusing, yes
,
but he is not a him.
"

All right, he had only to look at his brandy and he started talking as if he were three sheets to the wind.

"
What?
"
whispered Keene.

"
She
'
s a girl. Leonard is a woman.
"

"
Oh
,"
said Keene, and he sat down hard on one of the leather chairs flanking the fireplace.
"
Pour me a drink
,
then.
"

Victor complied.

"
How long have you known?
"

"
Since I ripped open her shirt after shooting her.
"

Keene winced.

"
My sentiments exactly
,"
said Victor.
"
Although
,
I have to say it was a relief.
"

"
A relief?
"
Keene echoed weakly.

"
My feelings toward him were rather untoward. I thought I had lost my mind.
"

Keene looked at him.
"
I see. You
,
perhaps
,
desired him when you thought he was a boy
,
hence your fanatical need to see him leave England?
"