Secret Pleasures (31 page)

After they caught their breaths, he kissed her face, her eyelids.

“I love you, Arianna
.
Nothing will change that.”

Arianna’s throat instantly tightened
.
She gasped against the tears but they came hard and fast
.
She had made a terrible miscalculation
.
How would she be able to look into the same brown eyes swimming before her and commit herself to cherish another man?

***

Darien kept one arm wrapped firmly around Ivy’s corseted waist, holding her against his hip while bracing his boots on the driver seat’s footboard
.

“Loosen the reins,” Darien yelled over the horses pounding hooves and jangling harnesses
.
The carriage rocked over the dark country road
.
“The horses want to run.”

Instead of whipping the frothing beasts into full gallop, something Ivy would not have hesitated to do in her youth, she tugged on the reins, slowing the horses to a brisk walk
.
Their hot breath puffed white smoke in the glow of lantern light.

“Has Miss Templeton lost her nerve
?
Say it is not true.
”
Darien brushed her hair away and kissed her neck, damp from their wild ride in the middle of the night.

“It’s been a while since I handled a coach-and-four, nor do I know the road all that well.”

“Marcus never let you drive?” he said teasingly, kissing down to the hollow of her neck
.
The perfume she wore mixed with her own heat stirred Darien’s lust
.
“You may drive me anywhere, anytime
.
I’ll even provide the horse power.”

“Perhaps we should stop by Evelyn and Hank’s before it’s too late to call.” Ivy disengaged herself from Darien’s most ardent attention and handed him the
reins
.
“Melody might be fussy.”

“Dear, sweet, screaming Melody.
”
Darien sighed and shifted on the seat
.
“Hank and Evelyn have been asleep for hours
.
They’ll both be up well before dawn if you’d like to fetch her then
.
You certainly love that little ankle-biter.”

“She does not bite.”

“Yes, but with lungs like that, I’m sure she will grow up to be a man eater just like her mama
.
Speaking of eating men
…
” Darien leaned against her shoulder.

“You really are insatiable.”

“For you, yes
.
I have to get all I can before you disappear from my life.”

She lowered her gaze and said nothing more
.
Darien wanted to prove to her that he could be the man she needed, had hoped he’d done so tonight
.
Unfortunately she seemed more distant than ever
.

Weighty silence settled between them
.
The night sounds filled in the empty space
.
A chorus of lonely frogs called from a nearby pond
.
Ivy found his hand resting on his thigh and gripped it with both her hands
.
Darien wrapped his fingers around hers, amazed at how solid she felt
.
He could not let her disappear from his life again.

She brought their joined hands to her mouth, brushing her lips against his knuckles
.
The tip of her tongue slid between his fingers with erotic promise.

Darien moaned for effect
,
but it sounded more like a desperate growl
.
No wonder the Maddox girl found him frightening.

“The wedding is to be tomorrow.
”
Ivy turned Darien’s hand and kissed his palm
.
“We did not stop it.”

“That remains to be seen,” he said, not liking the tone of her voice
.
Though she had snuggled closer against him, she had stopped lavishing her attention on his free hand and held it tightly in both of her own.

“Robert will not betray his family
.
How can he
?
Everyone is not like you, Darien
.
No matter if you chose to live on the outskirt
s
of your father’s estate like a peasant, everyone knew you were the heir to an earldom.”

“Are you truly speaking of Robert or yourself?
”
Darien kept his gaze focused on the dark deserted road, though the horses knew the way without him.

“Our original agreement was formed to stop the wedding
.
I know I consented to stay a month, but perhaps that was a mistake.”

“There is still the matter of Philip.”

“Perhaps his death merely was a hunting accident, Darien.
”
She leaned her head on his shoulder.

“There is more to it,” Darien said flatly
.
This was not how he intended spending the evening with Ivy, but if it got her off the subject of leaving him, he’d discuss his dead brother all night long
.
“Have you forgotten that I was sent an anonymous note
?
It could be the murderer bragging
.
How could I not try and find out what I can?
”

“Perhaps someone is playing a cruel joke
.
You have always had a reputation as being a hothead.”

“No, it was no joke.
”

“Perhaps the truth will only hurt you.”

“What do you know?”

“Nothing.”

“Please don’t lie to me.”

She sighed deeply
.
“Stop the carriage.”

He guided the horses to the side of the road, tied off the
reins
then turned to face her
.
“You have something to say.”

“You know of the rumors.
”
She stared directly into his eyes.

“You of all people should not listen to such things
. 
Look what everyone said about you.
”
Though she probably heard the same gossip as Maddox, he still felt some insane need to protect his brother’s reputation
. 

“In the end, those people were right, weren’t they?” The sadness that had shadowed Ivy all night crept back into her voice
.
“Perhaps not about my involvement with your father, but about my chosen path.”

“What happened
?
What’s changed
?
Did someone say something to offend you tonight?”

Ivy rubbed her bare arms and shivered
.
Now that the thrill of the ride faded, the night’s chill crept
beneath
their clothes
.
He shrugged off his jacket, intending to wrap her in it.

“Let’s stop pretending,” she said without looking at him
.
“We never used to do that with each other.”

Darien jumped from the coach, needing to do something
.
He hadn’t been pretending anything this last week and he’d wager neither had she
.

“Come,” he held his hand up to her
.
“The carriage is warmer
,
and the dark interior better for confessions.
”

He helped her down and they climbed in
to
the carriage.

“You know the rumors about Philip’s death,” he said, once he settled on the opposite side of the carriage.

“That your father shot him because he caught him with a male lover and tried to make it look like a hunting accident.
”
She lifted her gaze to him
.
“I heard some of your conversation with Henry Maddox.”

He touched her chin
.
“I know about my brother’s preferences, if that’s what you are worried about
.
It didn’t change my feelings for him
.
He was a brilliant brother and an even better man.”

“Then what do you hope to gain by attending that hunt tomorrow
?
I think your father suffers too
.
Perhaps it really was an accident.”

“Don’t tell me you are making excuses for him
.
You should hate him.”

“I only hated myself,” she said in a small voice that broke Darien’s heart
.
How could he have distrusted her all these years
?
Let her suffer for his father’s heavy handedness
?

He touched her face and she grabbed his hand.

“I want peace for you, Darien
.
You could have so much if you could just forgive
.
Don’t go on the hunt tomorrow.”

“I have to
.
I have to know the truth
.
For Philip
.
I never told him that I knew about him, you know?
”
He shook his head
.
“I don’t intend to call anyone out, if that’s what you are worried about
.
I’ve sworn off dueling since the incident in Cornwall.
”
He hoped to gain a smile from her
.
To know that she had forgiven him for causing such a stir
.

“I wish I could fix you, Darien, but you are a grown man
.
My priority is Melody and I want to remove her from England before anyone finds out about her.”

“Who is her father
?
Has he contacted you
?
Does he know about the child?”

Ivy blinked rapidly as if the answer to his question was a painful one.

“She is the illegitimate offspring of a whore
.
That’s all anyone will want to know if the truth of her birth is revealed
.
Sometimes, Darien, the truth can be more devastating than not knowing.”

Tears formed in her eyes and she looked away.

“Has it been that bad being with me?
”
He gathered her hands in his, kissed her knuckles.

“Our time together has been wonderful.” The tears streaming down her face said otherwise
.
“I’m not sure how I will manage living without you again.”

“Then don’t
.
Stay.”

“And be your mistress
?
I don’t think so
.
That is not the life I want for Melody.”

“And what do you want, Ivy?”

“Someone to love me, and for me to love
.
Someone who needs me.”

“You are looking at him.”

She kept her face lowered
.
He pulled her over to him, settl
ing
her on his lap
.
“Marry me,” he whispered in the tangled curls near her ear
.

“What about Melody?
”

“She needs a father
.
I will claim her as my own.”

“Darien,” she paused and that’s all the hope he needed.

“Don’t say no at this moment
.
Think about it
.
I shall go to the hunt and behave myself because you will be waiting for me
.
After the wedding, I will take you to Italy and we will come back married and with a child in a few years
.
No one will know the difference.”

“You aren’t serious?” Ivy said, but Darien heard the hope in the excited timbre of her voice
.
“Do you sincerely believe you could love her as your own?”

“I have not tossed her out the window during one of her prolonged screaming episodes, have I?
”
He laughed, but Ivy had to know he was serious
. 
Loving little Melody would be the least difficult obstacle they had faced by far.

Ivy stared into Darien’s eyes and the absolute yearning there staggered him
.
He would not let her down again.

But before he could breach further past her emotional borders, Ivy’s grin turned wicked and the green in her eyes sparked
.
She hiked her skirts and
shifted,
straddl
ing
him
.
He gripped her hips, pressing into nothing but moist woman
.
Of course, she would not wear cumbersome pantaloons beneath her
clinging,
seductive gown
.