Almost a Princess (19 page)

“Be thankful that one of us knows what to do.”

She laughed. “Oh, I am, Case, I am.”

When his shirt and trousers had joined her nightgown on the floor, he stretched out beside her on the bed.

The feel of bare skin brushing over bare skin made her catch her breath. She could hear his heart thundering against hers. His kisses were hot and heady. And she responded. Her mind emptied itself of everything but the sensations he aroused in her. Her breasts were heavy; she could feel the dampness pooling in her loins. She’d known helplessness before, but not this kind of helplessness. She wasn’t afraid. She felt liberated.

Case was deliberately prolonging her pleasure, though it cost him more than he anticipated. He’d wanted women before but never like this. But there was something more he wanted. He wanted to erase every memory of Jack Campbell as though he’d never existed. She would never bring the memory of another man to their bed again.

When she began to struggle for breath, his touches became more intimate. He cupped her breasts, stroked them, kissed them. If she’d shown the least resistance, he would have given her time to adjust, but far from resisting, she drew him closer and gave him back caress for caress. When he parted her thighs and probed, air rushed out of her lungs in a low keening sob. Shocked, love-dazed, she stared up at him.

He touched her again. She shuddered once and reached for him. He murmured something—a warning? a caution?—but her need was too great to heed him. With her hands on his shoulders, she urged him to take her.

He rose above her, and just for a moment, watched the play of candlelight over her face. This was what he wanted to see, he thought fiercely. Her skin was love-flushed, her eyes were dark with passion. A memory flashed into his mind—how she’d looked the first time he’d met her, teetering on a chair in the pantry of the Ladies’ Library.

“It must have been those blue stockings,” he said.

She had no patience for humor. “Case?” she pleaded.

Slowly, carefully, he entered her. He gave her a moment to adjust to his body imposing itself on hers, and another moment to accept the full press of his weight as he came down on her. Her eyes went very wide, and for a moment he thought she might resist him. But another shudder shook her, and she wrapped her arms and legs around him. Only then did he begin to move.

Until that moment, every kiss and caress had been to pleasure her. Now he pleasured them both. Restraint and gentleness were forgotten in the frantic need to possess. When she responded, he thought his heart would burst.

At the last there was no more thinking, only sensation and the frenzied race for release.

A long time later, he braced himself on one arm and studied her face. He wanted a clear look at her, this woman who had turned his life upside down. She looked serene. He wondered if she understood how ferocious the storm would be when it became public knowledge that they were lovers. He hadn’t been completely frank with her. It was possible that if they fought the divorce action, they might win. But that was not what he wanted. She’d still be married to Campbell. He wanted her to belong to him, utterly and irrevocably.

She lifted her head from the pillow and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “Don’t think,” she whispered. “No regrets. For a little while, let’s shut the world out and think only of ourselves.”

The knot of tension inside his chest quietly dissolved. She wasn’t naive. She understood how cruel the world could be. He would do his best to protect her from the worst of the storm, but he didn’t know if his best would be good enough.

“Tell me what you’re feeling,” he said.

Her lips curved in a complacent smile. “I feel tipsy,” she said. “Drunk with my own power.” Eyes sparking, she looked up at him. “Do you know, if I’d known that what men and women do in bed could be so wondrous, I wouldn’t have remained chaste all these years?” She planted a kiss on his chin. “I would have had a string of lovers to my credit by now.”

Her answer delighted him. He brought his lips to hers. “Let’s make up for lost time,” he said.

She was sleeping when the knock came at the door. As he expected, it was Ruggles, come to find out what was keeping him. Lance padded into the room and settled himself in his usual place on the hearth.

When Ruggles saw that Case was wearing only his black trousers, his jaw went slack, and when he looked over Case’s shoulder and saw the bed, his eyes went round.

Case said, “Ah, Ruggles. I’d forgotten about you. I’ll be out in a minute or two.”

He closed the door. On his way back to the bed, he stopped and looked at Lance. “Good dog. You did well today.” A thought occurred to him. “You’d better get used to me, Lance, because I’m not giving her up for you or anyone.”

Jane said drowsily, “What did you say?”

“I said, my love, the die is cast.”

That brought her awake. She looked at the door. He nodded. “Yes, Ruggles was here. I have to go now. Don’t do anything or say anything until I come for you. Do you understand?”

“When will that be?”

“Tomorrow morning.” He looked at the clock. “No. Make that later this morning. Be ready for me at, oh, let’s say, eleven o’clock.”

“Where are we going?”

“To Highgate, to inspect your house.” He sat on the edge of the bed and ran his fingers through her hair. He didn’t want to leave her. He wanted the right to get back in that bed without having to worry about Aunt Sophy walking in on them. He would never be satisfied until Jane was his wife.

He got up. “But our real purpose is to give Campbell the evidence for his divorce.” He kissed her softly. “It’s the only way, Jane.”

“I know.”

When he left her, all the warmth in the room seemed to go with him. She snuggled down and pulled the covers up to her chin.

Chapter 16

Case arrived later that morning to find Jane waiting for him in the front hall. She was wearing the rose-colored coat again but it wasn’t the coat that tinted her cheeks a delicate pink. Her skin glowed with happiness. He couldn’t resist dragging her into the small waiting room just off the hall. The first thing he did was remove her bonnet and toss it on a chair, then she was in his arms.

His mouth was hot and hungry on hers, and she closed her eyes as the familiar ache spread through her, making her dizzy with love. When he set her away from him, it pleased her to see that she had the same effect on him as he had on her.

He took a deep breath. “I can’t think when you look at me like that.”

She closed her eyes. “Is that better?”

Of course, he kissed her again, lingeringly, but this time with less passion. Against her lips, he said, “I was afraid you might have changed your mind. Then, when I saw you there, waiting for me, how could I resist you?”

She smiled into his eyes. “Would you let me change my mind?”

His gray eyes darkened to slate. “No,” he said, “not after last night. I’ll never let you go now.”

Coming from Jack or any other man, those words would have terrified her. But she was coming to know Case and she knew, deep down, that he would take nothing from her against her will.

“Good,” she said, “then I don’t have to agonize over whether I’m doing the right thing or not, do I?”

“No. It’s too late for that.”

He fetched her bonnet and tied the ribbons under her chin. “What did you say to my aunt?” he asked.

“That you were taking me to Highgate to inspect my house. She’s spending the day at the library anyway, and that’s where I’m to meet up with her after we’re finished at Highgate. What else are we going to do?”

“We’re going to make a convincing case for your husband to win his divorce action.”

She felt equal to anything. “And how are we going to do that?”

“You’ll see. Shall we go?” He offered her his arm.

The carriage that was pulled up in the drive bore the Devere coat of arms. Harper and his assistant were on the box, in blue and gold livery. Since she wasn’t sure what they’d be doing or where they were going, she’d left Lance in Ben’s care.

She soon came to see that more was involved than she had realized. Case was laying a trail of evidence to prove that she was a kept woman and he was the one who was paying her bills. They went from one expensive shop to another, the jeweler’s, the milliner’s, the bootmaker’s, the dressmaker’s, and everywhere they went, Case spent lavishly. All accounts and merchandise were to be sent to him.

It astonished her that she could accept this course of action without a ripple of conscience. She didn’t feel guilty, she felt grateful. At long last, she had found a way of severing all ties to a man she feared and detested. Without Case, it wouldn’t have been possible.

She could escape the pangs of conscience, but she couldn’t help feeling embarrassed. In the past, she’d looked down her nose at women who sold their favors to men. Now, those shopkeepers were sizing her up and she knew what they were thinking. It took every ounce of willpower to look them in the eye and pretend that she was enjoying spending her protector’s money.

Protector. Mistress. Horrible words! In her heart, she thought of Case as her lover. Even when he became her husband, she would still think of him as her lover. She’d had one husband, but no man had ever loved her before.

She balked when their carriage pulled up at the furrier’s. “No,” she said.

Case looked at her bent head. “Don’t you like furs?”

“It isn’t that.” She looked up at him. “The point isn’t to buy me things. The point is to convince the courts that you’re paying my bills. I think we’ve done enough to make that point.”

“What?” she said when he chuckled.

“I love spending money on you. It gives me great pleasure. And that’s the first time I’ve ever said those words to any woman.”

“And,” she said coolly, “I suppose there are many women you might have said those words to in your time?”

His eyes sparkled. “Dozens of ’em,” he replied. “But you’re the only one who has ever been worth twenty thousand pounds to me.”

They stopped for something to eat at The Gatehouse Inn in Highgate, and dined in the public dining room so, Case said, all her busybody neighbors would have something to gossip about. It was one thing, however, for Jane to return stare for stare with people who were strangers to her. This was different. She had friends in Highgate, people she liked and respected. She kept watching the door, afraid that the doctor would enter, or the vicar, or one of Highgate’s leading citizens.

After a few minutes of this, Case got up. “On second thoughts,” he said, “I think I’d prefer a picnic.”

He had finished his soup, but she had hardly started hers. Puzzled, she gazed up at him. The look he returned was intimate and full of amused understanding.

She spoke to her soup. “I’m not very good at this.”

“No,” said Case. “I’m happy to say that you’re not.” He held her chair as she got up. “We’ll buy provisions in the local shops and eat at Hillcrest,” he said.

She stayed in the coach while Case did the shop - ping.

There was no barn, only a deep depression in the ground where it had once stood, and there were no workmen in sight.

Case said, “I’m afraid it’s going to be some time before the workmen return to build the barn. The ground is waterlogged.”

“Well, I hope you’re not paying for it,” she said. “I’m only a tenant. My landlord should settle the bill.”

He smiled at this and, as she walked up to the house, turned to Harper and told him to return in an hour. “You can stable the horses at the Gatehouse if you like, and have dinner on me.”

This did not suit Harper at all. In a low, confidential stage whisper, he said, “I’m your bodyguard, your lordship, in case you’ve forgotten.”

Case let out a slow, patient breath. “Suit yourself.”

Harper watched as Case followed Jane up the steep incline to the front door. When the young coachman beside him let out a low whistle, Harper turned on him with a ferocious scowl.

“Not a word out of you, Bernie, m’lad,” he growled.

“No, Mr. Harper, sir. I wasn’t going to say nothing, noways.” After an interval of silence, he said, “So what do we do now?”

“We waits,” said Harper.

The house looked much the same, although there was the lingering smell of fresh paint. Closer inspection, however, also revealed the lingering smell of stale smoke—on the velvet curtains in the parlor, inside cupboards, on a shawl that was draped over a chair in Jane’s bedchamber. She picked it up and put it to her nose.

“What this house needs,” she said, “is a good airing. Look at the windows. They’re all closed. No wonder the house still smells of smoke.”

When she heard Case shut the door, she replaced the shawl and slowly turned to face him. The look in his eyes made her catch her breath. She couldn’t look away.

He crossed to her in two strides. She sucked in a breath when he dragged her into his arms, pressing her so tightly against him that her breasts were flattened against the hard wall of his chest. Then he crushed her mouth beneath his.

This wasn’t the careful, gentle lover she’d known last night. This was a powerful male animal in the grip of lust. For a moment, she hovered on the brink of fear, then he muttered something hoarse about loving her too damn much and wanting her too damn long, and the moment passed. This was Case. Of all men, this was the one man she
could
trust.

When he pushed her down on the bed, she reached for him and drew him down beside her. Eyes locked, they began to undress each other. This was for him, she was thinking, not for her. He’d outpaced her. But there was joy in giving. There rose in her the desire to please this man, to love him as he’d never been loved before. There was no one like him. He was everything to her.

Suddenly, his ardor became muted, and his caresses gradually stopped. Against her lips, he murmured, “Slow down, you’re going too fast for me.”

She couldn’t help it. She gurgled with laughter. There was laughter in his eyes too. But their smiles disintegrated when he began to touch her intimately, exploiting all her vulnerabilities with a lover’s knowledge.

A fire ignited deep inside her. “Case,” she whispered. “Case.” Her hands fisted and unfisted on his shoulder.

He gave her what she wanted, what they both wanted. As his lean, hard body moved on hers, she held him close, and at the end, when the pleasure engulfed them, she cried out his name.

Replete and drowsy, Jane said, “I didn’t know it could be like this. I wouldn’t have believed it even if you’d told me.”

“Like what?” asked Case. Smiling, he cupped her breast.

She brushed his hand away and pulled herself up, bracing herself on one arm as she looked down at him. “That’s part of it,” she said, “but I never expected to laugh at myself or laugh at you when we were making love. If I’d laughed at Jack—”

When she stopped, he pulled himself up to see her better. “What about Jack?” he said quietly.

She sighed. After a moment, she went on, “I wouldn’t have dared laugh at Jack. That’s the point. I was too frightened of him, especially when he came to my bed. He believed there were two kinds of women, the kind men marry and the other sort. A wife was supposed to tolerate the intimacies of married life, endure them, in fact. When he wanted pleasure, he went to his mistress.”

A pensive look came over her face, and he said in the same gentle tone, “What is it, Jane? What are you thinking?”

The look cleared and she smiled. “I was thinking that I would never have believed I could be happy in an illicit love affair, and now look at me.”

His hands closed around her shoulders and he looked directly into her eyes. There was an edge in his voice. “I don’t think of this as an illicit love affair. I don’t think of you as my mistress, and neither should you. You’re the woman I love, the woman I’m going to marry.”

“I know. Don’t give it another thought. I know I won’t.”

He knew what had brought this on, and he gentled his tone. “Listen to me, Jane. What happened today is all there is to it. We won’t go shopping again. I won’t shame you by showing you off in a public place. We’ve done what we set out to do. We’ve given your husband evidence for the divorce. Anything else that needs to be done, I can do by myself. Even when it comes to court, you won’t have to be there. I’m the one he’s suing.”

She silenced him by putting her hand over his lips. “I don’t care about the shame! All I want is to be free of Jack! All I want is the freedom to choose my own way. And I choose you.”

“You
will
be free of him. I promise.”

She shivered. “If only I could believe it.”

“Look, you told me that his father holds the purse strings and his father wants his line to continue. And he’s the only son, isn’t he? How can Campbell argue with that?”

“That’s true.”

When she lowered her head to the pillow, he drew the quilt up to cover them both. “What sort of man is Sir Archibald?” he asked.

“Nothing like Jack,” she said at once. “What I mean is, he never tried to be charming. Stern. Intimidating. I don’t think I ever saw him smile. I only met him a few times, but I know that when he said something, Jack jumped.”

“There you are then. And really, it doesn’t make any difference, does it? You’re free of Jack Campbell, whether he wants you to be or not.”

Her eyes searched his. He met that look with an unfaltering stare. “Trust me,” he murmured. “I’ll take care of everything.”

As ever, the intensity of his gaze made her breathless. “What happens next?” she asked.

“I see my attorney and give him a new set of instructions.” He slid his fingers into her hair and kissed her softly. “Then I see my father. I don’t want him to hear about us from anyone else.”

“No, of course not. But—”

He stopped her words with another kiss, and soon after, all she could think of was the present moment, and the joy she found is his arms.

Gideon Piers had been feeling rather mellow before Merrick made his call. Everything was falling into place. Castleton didn’t know where to begin to look for him. The earl was running in circles, going nowhere. But he knew all about Castleton, about his women, especially Jane Mayberry and the measures he’d taken to protect her; about his friends and acquaintances. Now, he was staring at Merrick, wondering if he’d been too complacent.

“Sit down,” said Piers, indicating a chair. “Start over. Tell me again.”

When Merrick was seated, Joseph placed a glass of brandy in front of him, then left the two men alone while he went downstairs to act as lookout.

“It isn’t necessary,” said Merrick, referring to Joseph. “I have my own men with me.”

“It makes him happy,” said Piers. “He likes to feel useful. Now tell me again about these two men.”

“Their names are Lord Reeve and James Campbell. Last night, they tried to enter the gates of Twickenham House. The gatekeepers wouldn’t let them pass, but one offered to take a message to Lord Castleton because the younger man, Campbell, was in a foul temper and was threatening to sue the earl and ruin him. At any rate, Campbell and Reeve left, but returned not long after with a sealed letter.”

“What was in the letter?”

“We don’t know. All we know is that after handing it over, Reeve and Campbell left, and shortly after receiving the letter, Castleton left with a friend.”

“Your informant is one of the gatekeepers?”

Merrick grinned. “He is,” he said, “but he wouldn’t thank you for calling him an informant. He thinks I’m with Special Branch, and we’re involved in a secret mission to protect the earl.”

“Well done,” said Piers. “Go on. What happened next?”

Merrick spread his hands. “If you mean, was there someone hiding in the bushes outside the gates with orders to follow Castleton, then the answer is no. It would be too obvious. The house is fairly isolated. The earl would know he was being followed.”

Knowing that Merrick was right didn’t soften Piers’s annoyance. “So you don’t know where they went?”