Seventeen

SEVENTEEN

Penfords’ House, Mayfair—London

Almost half five the next afternoon

Jack brushed a hand over his jacket pocket, where a pearl-cut engagement ring lay tucked inside a crimson velvet box. It had taken longer to conclude his business, follow up on Francine Willoughby, and shop for the ring than he had expected.

Nevertheless, the soft golden glow shining in the Penfords’ windows eased the tension in his chest.

Aubriella had kept her word and waited for him.

After Jack’s brisk double rap upon the door, Styles, the Penfords’ diminutive butler, opened the door. Expression benign and his head barely reaching Jack’s shoulder, he stepped aside with the grandeur of a prince. “Mr. Matherfield.”

Jack entered, coming up short at the trunks and crates stacked in the foyer on the D’Aremberg patterned parquet floor.

Aubriella had been busy, it seemed.

“Miss Penford’s, I presume?” Jack swept his hand toward the stacks.

Alarm mixed with trepidation assailed him.

At least Aubriella hadn’t left already, but from the array filling the entry, she fully intended to. And this was no visit. She meant to move for good. That she’d been so unhappy she would leave the bosom of her family made his lungs cramp with empathy for her. She was of age. Legally, there was nothing anyone could do to stop her.

“Indeed, sir.” Styles nodded, his expression folding into concerned creases. “She is most determined to vacate the house today.” He darted a hasty glance down the corridor before stepping nearer. “I’ve taken the liberty of sending a message to her parents, but they won’t return in time to prevent her departure.”

If they returned.

Nonetheless, the Penfords’ sincere reactions two nights ago gave Jack hope they truly cared about Aubriella. Besides, the Penfords needn’t cut their holiday short if all went well. He and Aubriella would return to Stockworth Manor betrothed. There, they’d celebrate the most marvelous Christmas ever.

Jack cupped the butler’s thin shoulder. “I have something that I hope”— pray —“will change her mind. Is she in the drawing room or library?”

Naturally, she couldn’t receive him in her bedchamber.

Tipping his lips upward a fraction and amusement gleaming in his eyes, Styles said, “The library, sorting through books to take with her.”

Of course, she was.

“I know the way.” Going over his rehearsed speech one last time, Jack pivoted toward the stairs.

“Shall I request refreshments, Mr. Matherfield?”

Jack paused, then nodded. “Yes, please. Champagne if you have it.”

“ Champagne , sir?” Styles’ considerably grizzled eyebrows crawled up his forehead and wriggled there like a pair of great hairy caterpillars in the throes of death. “That’s rather celebratory, is it not?”

“I intend to propose to the most remarkable woman alive.” Smiling like a giddy idiot, Jack patted his pocket. “Wish me luck.”

An unfettered grin split Styles’ face. “Champagne it is, and the best of good fortune to you. How long shall I wait?”

Likely, news of Jack’s intentions would spread throughout the house within minutes, and the servants would brazenly eavesdrop outside the library door.

“I shall ring for you.” Jack continued down the corridor, the confident click of his boot heels echoing with each step. How often had he walked this same path, but never for a reason as important as what brought him to Mayfair today?

He hadn’t even considered what he’d do if Aubriella said no to his proposal.

He wouldn’t give up. That was for certain.

Persistence and patience.

That was how he’d win her over.

Outside the library, he took a calming breath and wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers.

My God, he’d never been so nervous in his life.

Peeking in the half-open door, he spied Aubriella sitting on the floor, piles of books surrounding her. She wore one of her work gowns, as she called them.

She could’ve worn a beggar’s filthy and tattered rags and still would’ve been the most beautiful woman on earth to him. Her expression a mélange of desolation and resignation, she gazed out the window where the winter breeze caressed a barren dogwood’s branches.

Jack slipped into the room, drinking her in. This woman had set up house in his heart, and he couldn’t fathom a future without her now.

“Aubrie?”

“The sun set over an hour and a half ago.” She didn’t turn around. “I thought you weren’t coming.”

“I’m sorry I’m late. Things just took longer than I anticipated.” Yielding to the urgency thrumming through him to be near her, Jack crossed the room, kneeled on one knee, and touched her shoulder.

“Why are you here, Jack?”

She still didn’t look at him.

Unease scraped along his spine, but he shrugged it off.

After shoving a stack of books aside, Jack lowered himself to the floor and grazed a finger down her velvety cheek. “Won’t you look at me?”

Sighing, she finally met his gaze.

He gave her a tender smile filled with all the love he held for her. “I told you I had something important to discuss with you, darling.”

Her gorgeous hazel-green eyes widened at the endearment, and her pretty mouth parted in surprise. Jack’s heart soared heavenward at her unconcealed pleasure. Nevertheless, in typical Aubriella fashion, she composed herself in the next blink.

“What is this important matter?” She waved a hand toward the books. “I’m almost done here. I’d intended to leave tonight…”

But she’d waited.

For him.

She didn’t need to say it.

Her soft, adoring gaze revealed the truth.

“I love you, Aubriella.”

The crackling, spitting fire emphasized the pregnant silence that descended on the room. Several seconds crept by with infinite slowness.

“ What ?” she finally asked breathlessly before skepticism created two lines on her forehead, and bleakness replaced the light in her eyes. “Ah, I see. Back to your old mocking tricks again? I thought we’d put that behind us. More fool me.”

“Not a bit of it.” Jack took Aubriella’s hand and pressed his mouth to her smooth wrist. Her pulse beat a frenetic staccato beneath the skin.

“I adore you, Aubrie. I have loved you for so long. But fool that I am, I didn’t realize what I felt was love. I just knew I was happiest when I was with you. You made me smile and brought joy and excitement into my life whenever I was near you.”

So much for rehearsed, romantic speeches.

“I thought you felt sorry for me, and that was the only reason you spent time with me.” A tremulous, nascent smile bent her mouth.

He cradled her hand in his—no sense lying.

“I did pity you at times. But when you left the Templetons in the snow, I was so afraid for you. It struck me then that what I felt for you was soul-shattering love.” He quirked his mouth into a boyish grin. “And I hope that you love me, too. Just a little.”

“I do.” She laughed, a watery joy-filled warble, and swiped away the lone crystalline tear trailing down her cheek. “I tried to convince myself it was annoyance and irritation, but I finally had to admit I loved you.”

Thank God. For a moment there…

Aubriella, who never wept, brushed away another teardrop. “I didn’t dare hope that you felt the same, and it nearly killed me to think you’d fathered Francine’s child.”

“Impossible.” If Aubriella was to be his wife, she should know everything about him. “The truth is, I’ve never been with a woman. My love, I’ve never wanted to be intimate with anyone except for you.”

A tiny gasp escaped her before a radiant smile lit her face.

“ Never ? But you’re so handsome, and the way women flock to you.” She lifted her shoulder an inch. “I assumed you were a man of the world.”

Jack shook his head.

“It’s not something I speak of, but the woman I intend to marry should know the truth.” Nerves turned his fingers to jelly, and he fumbled in his pocket, finally grasping the burgundy ring box. After extracting the velvety square, he opened the lid and held the twinkling jewel nestled in ivory satin before her.

“Marry me, my darling, Aubrie. You can study the human form as much as you like. I’ll buy you copies of every rendering da Vinci ever drew and as many books on anatomy as your heart can stand.” He waggled his eyebrows and gave her a devilish grin. “Other less respectable books and drawings I know of might interest you too, and I’d be happy to pose for you sans my clothing.”

She released an unfettered giggle, an adorable hint of pink appearing on her cheeks. “My heart doesn’t need those things anymore. It has you to fill it now, though I fully intend to draw you, but not naked. Someone might see the sketches, and your body is for my enjoyment alone.”

“Indeed.” Desire sparked, causing a predictable physical reaction to the unintended erotic images she aroused.

Aubriella lifted the ring from its velvet mooring and slipped it on her finger.

“It’s gorgeous,” she murmured in awe. “Almost exactly like the one I described to Roxina many years ago when we were still in finishing school and visiting Mabel and George for Christmas.”

Jack had been there.

She lifted her misty-eyed gaze to his. “How did you know?”

“I overheard you.” Jack pulled Aubriella onto his lap, and she let out a tiny yelp of surprise before settling into his chest like a contented kitten. “Even all those years ago, my heart knew what my mind did not. You are my soulmate.”

Eyes glistening, she lifted her mouth to his.

“Kiss me, Jack.”

The scintillating sexual current between them, since he’d entered the library, erupted into a full-blown conflagration at her bidding.

Ravenous, he plundered her mouth, stroking her tongue with his even as he caressed her rounded curves. Clutching his shoulders, Aubriella moaned into his mouth. The sound caused a primitive, animalistic growl deep in his throat. Several passionate minutes passed in which he laid her on the floor and covered her body with his, showing her with his mouth how much he loved her.

A sneeze followed by frenetic whispering made him lift his head from nuzzling her delectable bosom.

Quirking an eyebrow, he jerked his chin toward the closed door and whispered, “I think we have eavesdroppers. I might’ve told Styles I intended to propose and asked him to bring us champagne.”

Her eyes flew open and locked with his before veering toward the paneled door. “The servants? Oh, dear.”

She slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles.

Of course, she wouldn’t blush from embarrassment.

This was Aubriella, after all.

Jack scooted into a sitting position and then stood. He helped her to her feet, and she tried to tidy her hopelessly mussed hair.

“When you are ready, I’d like to hear about your secret enterprise.” Jack caressed her cheek. “I suspect Roxina and your other friends are also involved.”

“Oh, Jack.” Aubriella bit her lower lip, her indecision and apprehension apparent. “If we are to wed, I cannot keep secrets from you.” Sighing, she shook her head. “Similar to men’s betting books, we hold the bank for bets placed by women. It’s to supplement their income, or in some cases, it is their only financial provision.”

“A betting book ?” Jack couldn’t keep the astonishment from his voice. “For women?”

She gave a cautious nod.

“We have strict rules about what wagers we accept, who we accept them from, and how the funds are dispersed.” She laid her palm against his chest. “For some women like Roxina, they have no other source of income, Jack.”

He blew out a breath. Aubriella and her friends ran a gambling ring. “I shan’t forbid you to continue with your venture, but I would like to have a discussion and learn the details.”

“Of course.” Relief washed over her features. “You’d be amazed at our clients and the things I’ve learned.”

“I’m sure I would be.” Not entirely happy with this turn of event, Jack set his concerns aside for now. There’d be plenty of time to examine the situation later. He’d just become affianced, and nothing would ruin this occasion.

“Shall we invite the servants in and share our good news?” He encircled her waist and drew her close, speaking into her hair.

“I suppose we must.” She tilted her head to look up at him. “Then I want to discuss how quickly we can marry. I quite like that kissing business, and I know there’s much more to lovemaking.”

“Is my future wife a wanton?” Jack chuckled as he angled them toward the door. “I certainly hope so.”

“Perhaps.” Aubriella gave him a seductress’s smile. “I cannot wait to find out.”