Chapter Fifteen

“ A lady to see you, Sir Charles,” his butler said from the library doorway.

Charles glanced up, an exquisite octavo edition of Petrarch’s sonnets in his hand. He was sorting through the books he was sending on to Venice where he planned to rent a palazzo.

It was late, past midnight, but he wasn’t sleeping much these days. The week had been hell. Giving up on his heart’s desire made a man poor company.

“What lady?” he asked impatiently.

“She wouldn’t say, sir. And heavy veils prevented me from assaying her identity.” The butler cleared his throat. “She appears very eager to speak with you.”

Brief curiosity surfaced, then sank back into the mire that his life had become lately. He put the Petrarch in a box and picked up another book.

“I don’t have time for ladies right now,” he said in a flat tone. “Tell the wench, whoever she is, to go away. I’m surprised you didn’t tell her yourself, Willis. You know I’m leaving in the morning.”

“She asked me to give you this note.”

With an irritated sigh, Charles put down the leather-bound book and lifted the scrap of paper from the salver Willis extended toward him.

Swiftly he unfolded the paper. He didn’t know the writing, but what he saw made his heart swell with an emotion he hadn’t felt since he’d left Leicestershire.

Sir, I have no right to your consideration, but I’d appreciate a moment of your time. S.

A cryptic message. Good news or bad?

Hope rushed through him and set his blood pumping. Was Sally here to tell him she carried his child?

As quickly as anticipation rose, it crashed again. No, surely not. It was too soon.

“Sir Charles?” Willis prompted, and he realized he was still staring at the note.

He looked up to meet his butler’s impassive gaze. Willis could convey all the animation of a block of wood, when he wanted to. “You haven’t left her on the step, have you?”

“No, sir. I showed the lady into the drawing room.” He added with purpose, even if his expression didn’t change. “Nobody else observed her entrance. I was in the hall when she arrived.”

“Good man.” Charles suddenly smiled at his butler. “Remind me to raise your salary.”

Willis blinked at this sudden change to cheerfulness in a master who had been like a bear with a sore head all week. “Yes, sir. Thank you. Shall I show the lady in here?”

“No, Willis. I’ll go to her. You and the rest of the staff may retire for the night. I won’t require anything more, and I’ll be happy to show my visitor out, once our business is concluded.”

He hoped to hell he wasn’t lying about being happy. Although given Sally had delivered his marching orders a week ago, he couldn’t imagine what she was doing here unless she’d changed her mind about accepting his proposal.

“Yes, Sir Charles.” Willis bowed. “Good night.”

“Good night, Willis.” He paused. “And thank you.”

Was that a glint in his butler’s gimlet eye? “My pleasure, sir.”

What the devil did this unexpected visit mean? Charles’s gut churned with an unsettling mixture of expectation and trepidation.

Had Sally come to accept his offer of marriage? Or had she called to say a final goodbye?

No, by God, he wouldn’t let that be so. He shouldn’t have given up on her – although the woman who left Sans Souci had been locked away behind an impenetrable wall of ice, thicker than ever after her lapse of control.

Well, ice could melt, and there was a key for every lock. Sally had met her match, even if she didn’t know it yet.

Once he was alone, Charles sucked in a deep breath as he ran his hands through his hair in an attempt to settle its wild disorder. In the last week, he’d barely picked up a comb, and he was wearing an old shirt, definitely not suitable for receiving company. But be damned if he’d waste time going upstairs to tidy himself up.

With a purpose that had deserted him during these vile days of yearning and despair, he marched out of his library, across the shadowy hall, and into the drawing room.

He paused in the open doorway and took in the tall, slender woman swathed in black veiling. It had only been a week since he’d seen her, but the immediate power of Sally’s presence struck him like a blow from a mallet.

His heart crashed against his ribs and every drop of moisture dried from his mouth, so it was an effort to speak. “How the devil you can see an inch in front of your face with all that falderal floating around you is beyond me.”

She lifted away the funereal bonnet, and he stepped forward to take it from her and place it on a chair. She was pale and resolute, and her eyes were huge in her thin face. He couldn’t read her expression as she stripped off her black kid gloves, but he didn’t sense any hostility. “I didn’t have to come far.”

She didn’t sound upset at his unloverlike greeting. He was beyond hedging his questions. “So why did you come?”

“I needed to talk to you.”

“Just talk?”

The look she sent him was guarded. “I wasn’t sure you’d see me. I’ve been horrid to you.”

So perhaps not just to talk. It was a good sign that she avoided his question.

He curled his hands into fists and fought the urge to seize her and demand she tell him that she was coming back to him. “I’ll always welcome you, Sally. Don’t you know that yet?”

“So you forgive me for being so cruel?” She linked trembling hands at her waist, and he realized she was nervous.

He shrugged. “It’s forgotten.”

Charles meant it. With her here, old resentment found no place in his heart.

He read the signs of recent strain in her face. A tightness around her mouth, and blue shadows under her eyes. Was it too much to hope that over these last days, she’d suffered just as he had?

“You’re so generous, Charles. When I don’t deserve your kindness.”

He stepped further into the room and shut the door behind him. Had this lovely, spirited, fragile creature come to entrust herself to him? He prayed it was so. But he remained careful. He’d come so perilously close to losing her once. He didn’t want her running away again.

Because if she did, this time it would be forever.

“Did you only come here to ask my forgiveness? You could have done that in a letter.”

“I…” She swallowed, and the hands she raised to undo the long line of buttons on her pelisse were shaking so badly, they fumbled. “I heard you were going to Italy.”

“I couldn’t see any point in staying in England,” he said somberly, then with sudden impatience, stepped closer and brushed her hands aside. “Let me do that. You’ll be there until Doomsday.”

“Yes, Charles,” she said, with a docility that he’d never heard from her before.

Quickly and efficiently, he released the buttons and helped her out of her coat. Then he stood back, awe-struck. “Good God, I’m glad Willis didn’t see that dress, or he’d have had a heart attack.”

Sally glanced down at the bright red silk gown and made an apologetic gesture. “It seemed a gown a scarlet woman would wear.”

He paused to admire the sight of her lean, graceful form in the scandalously low-cut dress. The vivid color made her skin look like new cream. It had been difficult enough keeping his hands off her before. Now she stood before him dressed for seduction, it was nigh impossible.

He swallowed and strove to keep his tone light, when all he wanted was to sweep her into his arms and kiss all the nonsense out of her. “It’s certainly scarlet.”

“I…I didn’t want you mistaking my motives,” she muttered, a delightful blush staining her slanted cheekbones.

Shock slammed into him, along with a huge wave of desire. And a renewed surge of hope.

But he’d learned the hard way that they needed to establish some rules before he rushed her into bed. They wanted each other, but passion wasn’t their problem, trust was.

He drew himself up to his full height and fought to steady his voice. “Just what are your motives, Sally? A quick tupping, then goodbye, and me off for Italy in the morning? Or something…else?”

“Is something else still an option?” Her expression was searching, and she bit her lip. “Or has my behavior proven that you’re better off making for the hills and never seeing me again?”

He inhaled to feed his aching lungs. The damnable thing was he kept forgetting to breathe. “I told you – there’s no blame.”

“There should be.” She went back to twisting her hands together. “I hurt you.”

What was the point of lying? Without looking, he dropped her pelisse over a chair. “Yes.”

With a remorseful gesture, she spread her hands. “I can’t bear that.”

He frowned. “So you’re here as a way of apologizing?”

“Yes. No.” She sucked in an audible breath. “Oh, Charles, will you really make me say it?”

“It depends what you have to say, doesn’t it?” He folded his arms and regarded her with unwavering attention. “We’ve had too many misunderstandings already. It’s time to be frank. What do you want from me, Sally?”

Her shuddering breath threatened to send her bosom overflowing from that daring dress. Then she stiffened her spine, and the nervously twisting hands dropped to her sides.

“You. I want you.”

Another jolt of desire. The words sizzled through him like flame. But he remained chary about seeing only what he wanted to see. He’d done that at Sans Souci and paid an agonizing price.

“Tonight? Or forever?”

She licked her lips, and he fought the urge to grab her and kiss her and have her, whatever her intentions in coming to him tonight. The quiet house around them did nothing to shore up gentlemanly impulses.

“Tonight.” She paused as devastation made his heart slam to a stop. Then she went on in a faint voice. “And forever. If you’ll have me.”

It took him a moment to realize what she’d said. He’d braced for an answer that dashed his dreams all over again.

Still, he didn’t move, although the need to touch her was a fever in his blood. “You’d better mean that, Sally. I’m not going through this again.”

To his surprise, amusement lit her green eyes. “Good God, Charles, this is like negotiating a legal contract.”

He smiled back as certainty, solid as a mountain, settled deep and eternal inside him. “You are, my love. The sort of contract that lasts till death do us part.”

She frowned faintly. “So you still mean marriage?”

“I do,” he said, echoing the vows he soon hoped to speak in front of a vicar. “Do you?”

She raised her chin and regarded him directly. “I do.” Her slender throat worked as she swallowed again. “Now, for pity’s sake, Charles, kiss me.”

A bolt of happiness struck him, made his head reel. “My darling,” he whispered reverently. “You make me the happiest man in England.”

With unsteady hands, he caught her by the waist and dragged her up for a hungry kiss. She sighed in satisfaction and wrapped her arms around him with unconcealed possessiveness.

It felt like an eon since he’d touched her. The heat flaring between them was even more incandescent than he remembered. And in seven sleepless nights, by God, he’d done a lot of remembering.

Her familiar scent, smoky rose, flooded his head. Her salty taste fed his rapacious senses. As if she, too, had starved for this connection, her eager tongue swept into his mouth.

His heart pounding, he edged her back until she met the wall behind her. Greedy hands wrenched her bodice down. They both groaned their pleasure when he cupped her breasts.

Breathlessly, she pulled far away enough to see his face. Joy transfigured her. He’d never seen her look so beautiful, nor so open. At last, she’d stepped beyond that wall of glass that had kept her safe from hurt.

She hadn’t yet spoken her love, but as he met her glowing eyes, he saw what she felt. Poignant emotion mixed with rising desire.

Damn him for a lucky dog. She was a woman in a million.

“Sir Charles, what on earth are you doing?” The mocking smile curling her lips only made his blood beat harder.

He dragged his hands through her hair, sending a hail of pins scattering over the carpet. Dark gold silk tumbled down around her unforgettable face, turning her into a wild creature. “My dear Lady Norwood, I believe the technical term is pouncing.”

* * *

Sally had time for a gasp of laughter, then Charles was kissing her again, with more of that tumultuous passion that she craved. A throbbing, now familiar weight set up in the base of her belly, and she shifted to ease the hungry itch between her legs. He was hard and ready, and excitement fizzed through her as she reached down to shape her hand around the impressive bulge in his trousers.

“Oh, yes,” he hissed, leaning into her in encouragement.

He pulled away far enough to haul his shirt over his head. She gave a soft growl of appreciation and ran her hands over his chest. The rasp of crisp dark hair beneath her palms was one more glorious sensation.

He kissed her again. She shivered with anticipation when she felt the slow upward slide of her silk skirts.

His hands reached her thighs, and he paused. Then he released a soft exclamation of surprise against her lips. “By heaven, I love you.”

A breathless giggle emerged. “Now you know I arrived with wicked intentions.”

“Do your worst,” he said, stroking along her bare legs and making her shiver.

Deciding not to wear drawers tonight had seemed like boneheaded optimism when she’d left her house. She hadn’t even been sure Charles would see her, let alone want to touch her. Now the glitter in his eyes made her glad she’d chosen such a brazen course.

His seeking fingers found her cleft, and she shuddered as he explored her with sensual purpose. She trembled when he slid one long finger into her, then two. As liquid female pleasure greeted his incursions, she tugged his trousers open and closed her hand around rampant flesh.

He groaned and bent his head to her neck, scraping his teeth across her skin until she cried out and tightened her grip on him. The combination of the sting with the rhythmic thrust of his fingers sent her toppling over into a climax that left her knees like water.

“Charles…” she breathed, clinging to him and tracing a line of kisses across his collarbone. “Oh, Charles.”

“I love it when you say my name,” he gritted out. “I thought you’d call me Sir Charles until the day I died.”

“Sir Charles was too much of a gentleman to do this.”

“Don’t you believe it, darling,” he said. “Lift your leg and hook it behind my hips.”

“Yes, Charles.”

A soft huff of laughter escaped him. “You’ve become very biddable lately.”

She gave a choked giggle as she curled her leg around him, allowing him wanton access. “If you keep me feeling like this, I suspect I’ll always be biddable.”

“Now there’s a delightful challenge,” he murmured.

He caught her under her buttocks and lifted her into his body. She strained toward him as need blazed through her, incinerating everything but love.

She gasped as he pushed forward, and her grip on his shoulders tightened. The pressure between her legs turned into a rapturous fullness.

Once they were fully joined, he went still and lifted his head to stare down into her face. His eyes blazed brilliant in his face, and he looked breathtakingly fierce. “Say you’re mine.”

She met that uncompromising gaze and read an unconditional love she’d never until this moment believed existed. “I’m yours.”

“Always remember that.” He drew out so slowly that she saw stars. Then he slid forward with a ruthlessness that left her gasping. The torrent of thrills rippling through her began to build into a tidal wave.

She closed her eyes and joined Charles on the journey to bliss. Just before the sensations inside her exploded into dazzling release, she opened her eyes. “I love you, Charles.”

“Sally…” he said on a long groan and thrust into her hard, sending her soaring into a realm of fire.

As the tremors subsided and she drifted down from the stellar heights, she felt wrung out, complete, sated.

Loved.

Poignant gratitude welled inside her, made speech impossible. To think, she’d nearly let her fears deny her this ecstasy, this unearthly closeness.

Well, she was no longer frightened. She was brave and forthright, and confident that she’d found the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

She hid her flushed face in his bare shoulder and kissed his skin, the tang of his clean sweat sharp in her nostrils. And she spoke again the words she’d never said to anyone until tonight. She was surprised how easily they emerged.

“I love you, Charles.”

“And I love you,” he said. When his arms closed around her, she knew she’d reached safe harbor at last.

* * *

Charles carried a sleepy Sally across to a large armchair beside the unlit hearth. Her declaration of love still echoed in his ears. The whole world glowed, now he knew that she loved him. He’d waited so long to hear those words, he couldn’t yet take them for granted. If fate allowed him the privilege, he hoped to hear her say she loved him every day for the rest of their long life together.

Happy beyond his dearest hopes, gloriously satisfied, he settled in the chair and arranged her in his lap. She looked thoroughly ravished. Her bodice sagged over her lovely breasts, offering him a glimpse of sweet strawberry nipples. Her gilt hair cascaded about her. Her lips were red and swollen after his kisses, and her pale skin showed pink where his whiskers had chafed her.

“That was lovely,” she murmured, resting her ruffled head on his bare shoulder.

“It was. Although I promise next time we’ll be in a bed.” He paused. “And I’ll take the time to undress you. In fact, I’ll just take my time.”

She gave a soft laugh and nestled closer. “That will be nice.”

“I’ll get a special license today. I don’t want next time to be too far away.” Nor did he place too much reliance on her claims to barrenness. He wanted no sidelong looks if she bore a child nine months from now. And after the last, difficult days, he intended to claim her as quickly and as permanently as he could.

“I don’t either.” When she sighed, her breath was warm on his chest. “I wish I could stay tonight.”

His hold tightened. “I do, too, but you have to set an example to Meg.”

“I know.” She met his eyes. “If we’re getting married in a few days, I suppose I’ll have to let her stay in London after all.”

His lips twitched. “And forgive her for interfering.”

“She’s a minx.”

“Undoubtedly.”

She gave a gurgle of laughter. “Oh, my goodness, everyone is going to be so surprised when they find out we’re getting married.”

Charles hid a secret smile. He had a suspicion the only person surprised at this particular outcome was Sally herself. Most of their friends knew where his interest tended.

Sally sat up and kissed him with leisurely enjoyment. “We have so much to do,” she said. “And you have to cancel your trip to Italy.”

He felt so elated, he was ready to take wing and fly to Venice. As long as she flew with him. “Not necessarily.”

“Charles?”

“We could go there for our honeymoon. It only means delaying my journey a week or so.”

Her eyes turned brilliant green. “Italy? Oh, Charles .”

He smiled down at her, pleased with her reaction to his suggestion. “I’d much rather have you for company than a broken heart.”

The light in her eyes faded, and she placed her hand on the side of his face in a gesture of apology. “Oh, my dear, I’ve hurt you so badly, and all because I was too stupid to know what I wanted.”

“What changed your mind? You sounded so certain that you wanted nothing to do with me when we left Sans Souci .”

When he saw the shadows come back into her eyes, he was sorry he asked. “I was such a fool. I should have believed you when you told me you loved me.”

“Didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did.” Remorse turned her voluptuous lips downward. “I just didn’t trust that your love would last.”

“But now you do.” It wasn’t a question.

When she smiled at him with a return of rapturous happiness, his heart crashed hard against his ribs. He realized that she’d at last left past sorrows behind and looked forward to their glorious future.

So did he, by God. She was everything he wanted. What a life they were going to have together.

“Now I do. I’ve been so unhappy all week – then Morwenna reminded me that real love is worth every risk.”

“God bless Morwenna,” he said fervently.

“Yes,” Sally murmured. “She gave me the courage to come to you. I’m sorry I was frightened for so long.”

He brought her head down for another kiss. “You can spend the next fifty years making it up to me.”

She smiled against his lips. “I promise I will.” Then in a low, urgent voice, she said, “I love you so very much.”

He drew away, cradling her face between his palms and studying those fascinating features that had caught his heart from the first. “I swear I’ll make you happy, my love.”

Her wanton glance whipped his blood into a hot storm of desire. “There’s no time like the present to launch such an admirable project.”

Supreme happiness rang in his laugh. “Then, my darling, you and I are in complete agreement.”

THE END