The Conquest of Lady Cassandra (25 page)

“They are Kendale’s servants, not mine. They need to return to him, along with this coach.”

“Lord Kendale will not mind your keeping them for a few days, I am sure.”

“You do not even know him, so how are you sure?” His voice must have carried his growing exasperation, because Cassandra, whose hand rested under his, turned her palm and gave a little squeeze.

“I am sure because he is a gentleman, and Cassandra told me he was an officer. Having involved himself in your skirmish, he would never remove his troops if you still required them. Write to him and explain. You will see I am right.”

So it was that Yates deposited Sophie and two footmen in her house on Adams Street. Cassandra took the opportunity to pack a portmanteau before joining him as the coach moved on to his family’s home.

“Do you plan to explain about us tonight?” Cassandra said as she looked up at the dark façade. Enough lights glowed inside to indicate the household had not retired yet.

“That would be best.”

“Do I have to come with you?”

“I think I will do it alone.”

“I expect that is wise.” She accepted his escort to the door. “Of all the things I have braved out over the years, I think this odd homecoming may turn out to be the hardest.”

“You are the next Countess of Highburton, Cassandra. Every person under this roof will treat you as such.”

“Your mother—”

“Especially my mother.”

A footman did the duty at the door at this hour, but the butler soon relieved him. Yates explained that they would
be staying a few days. “Put us in the third-storey apartment that overlooks the garden. Tell Mrs. Anderson to send someone up to help the lady. Send word to my chambers for Higgins to come here too.”

The butler began giving out orders. Yates took Cassandra aside. “I must go to my father now, and hope he is awake. It would not do for the servants to know first.”

“Of course. I will wait to thank you for today until I see you again.”

Her mischievous smile did much to distract him from the audience he faced. His mind began calculating that his father probably was not awake and it could all wait for the morning, or even afternoon. He set that notion aside and began mounting the stairs, wondering how bad this audience might be.

His father had been moved to his bed. His mother sat in a chair nearby reading to him. Yates regretted interrupting the peaceful scene.

His mother set down her book as he approached. “It can wait for the morning, Yates. He is almost asleep.”

“I’m awake enough,” his father muttered. He struggled to sit up. Yates went over and helped him and set two pillows behind his back.

“So what is it that brings you here at this hour?” his father asked. “I thought you had left town.”

“I just returned. There is something I must tell you, and it could not wait.”

His mother began rising, to leave them to it.

“You should stay,” Yates said. “It was fortunate to find you together.”

Watching him cautiously, his mother sat again. “Did you lose big at the tables?”

“It is not that, although all the same, I will be needing some money. I was married this morning, by special license. To Cassandra Vernham.”

His parents stared at him. No one spoke or moved. Of
the two, his father appeared more shocked. Yates hoped he was only stunned and this would not badly affect his health.

The silence hung awkwardly.

“I have brought her here. My chambers were not suitable.”

“I should say not,” his mother said. “Of course you had to bring her here.”

“Of course,” his father echoed.

His mother looked over and caught his father’s eye. Some silent communication passed between them.

“Special license,” his father said. “Was it an elopement? Did her family not approve?”

“Her brother was less than happy with my offer.”

“I expect he was.” His father found that amusing for some reason. “Well, it is done, so there is no purpose in discussing the wisdom of it.” His head lulled back on the pillows. “Bring her to me tomorrow, so I can welcome her.”

He seemed to doze off then.

“Come with me,” his mother said. “He may be finished with you, but I have a bit more to say.”

Yates followed her to the apartment’s dressing room. As soon as he closed the door, she turned on him and let her shock show.

“Really, this is the kind of thing we worried you would do when you were twenty, not now. What were you thinking?”

“I am sure you have heard the talk, so that is an odd question.”

“Of course I have heard it. There has been talk about each of you for years, so the current gossip is nothing new.”

“What is new is that the talk is about the two of us together.”

“So you had an affair. It was not your first, nor hers.” She sank onto a chair and shook her head. “
Cassandra Vernham
. Of all the women in England, you had to get entangled with
her
.”

“Actually, we did not have an affair, but her name was compromised all the same. I know about the past rumors that have surrounded her, but this talk is not like that. It is specific as to evidence, and I am named. It would have ruined her. She has never married—”

“By her own choice. As to ruining her, she was well on the way already. I do not see why you have to be sacrificed for her sake.”

“I cannot allow you to speak like that about her. Please do not do so again.”

To his surprise, she began weeping. He did not think he had ever seen her cry before.

“Father understands even if you do not. I know that you are not happy. You probably had a whole list of matches for me that you would prefer.”

“Dozens. Hundreds.”

“I know her better than you do, and I think she will suit me very well. She is my wife now. I am sure that you will welcome her as Father will.”

She wiped her eyes and collected herself. “Of course. There is nothing else to do. I expect you are taking over the large apartment on the third storey?”

“Until I find a house for us.”

“I will tell him to give you the money for establishing a household. It is past time, and keeping the purse strings tight did not make any difference with you anyway.”

He bent down and gave her a kiss on her cheek. She did not seem to mind, although it was not something he had done in years. Just as she had not patted his face the way she did while she peered intently at him with moist eyes.

“I will be kind to her, I promise.”

He took his leave of her. He went to the library and found some port. He drank it while he looked out the window to the lamps dotting the dark.

It had gone better than he expected with the earl, and worse than he had anticipated with his mother.

Thoughts of Cassandra soon pushed aside any memories of those conversations. He resisted the inclination to stride up the stairs and have her at once. Instead, he finished the port while desire taunted him. He lingered fifteen minutes more after that, so she might have time to be settled in.

Then he could wait no longer.

T
he maid held a large linen as Cassandra stepped out of the cool bath. Eschewing heated water had left her time to linger before washing, and she felt refreshed as she wrapped herself in the towel.

She sat at the writing table, and the woman began unpinning her hair. While her locks fell, she jotted a note to Emma. “I married Ambury this morning. I will explain everything when I see you next.”

After sealing the letter, she moved to the dressing room while her hair was brushed. Then she dismissed the woman and opened the wardrobe in which her few items of clothing had been placed. She tried to decide what to put on. The apartment had two bedchambers, and when Ambury walked the narrow connecting passage, she assumed he would be visiting for one purpose alone. Sexual pleasure would be his lone benefit in this marriage, aside from upholding his honor.

She did not expect him to stand on ceremony either. He had no need to seduce a virgin, did he? No requirement to pretend love, or even much affection. A man who does the right thing is a man coerced by society’s rules. Had she been an innocent, he might have at least tried to be gentle, but a woman of the world did not need such care.

I want you naked
. To take him literally would make for a vulgar beginning. Even his mistresses probably did not greet him totally nude. She flipped through her nightdresses and dressing gowns, and chose one that would perhaps do. Dropping the towel, she slid into it.

She had no idea how long he would be with his family.
There might be considerable discussions taking place regarding his unexpected marriage. It would be nice to find something to distract her, but she doubted he would take it well if he walked in and found her reading a book.

She returned to her bedchamber. The woman had turned down the bedclothes on one side. Apparently the servants still did not know that she and Ambury were married. She folded them down on the other side. The night was warm, and they would not be needed.

Finally, all was as prepared as it would ever be. Except her.

This was her wedding night, and its rituals spoke how her life had changed. This would be no impetuous passion raging out of control. Ambury would not be a man plying her with kisses and pleasure into agreement. There were no fantasies of love into which she could retreat.

Instead, tonight was about rights ceded and duties accepted. It could be nothing more than that. It might be cold and perfunctory.

Or not.

She sat waiting, her heart pounding hard, all of her senses shrilly alert, and wondered if she would have any say in which way it went. Perhaps so. Ambury assumed she was a woman of the world. It might be wise to act like one, instead of a frightened goose.

Returning to her dressing room, she removed the nightdress she wore, before slipping back on the sheer overdress. Back in the bedchamber, she laid in the center of the bed.

The waiting aroused her. The fabric veiling her body chafed gently against skin enlivened by anticipation. Memories of pleasure from their prior embraces and kisses teased her.

When she listened hard, she could hear faint sounds from other chambers that indicated someone moved about. It might only be his valet, but each muffled sound twisted her nervous excitement tighter.

Different sounds suddenly. Closer ones. She looked over,
and he was in her chamber, standing in the shadows. A prism of silver light leading through a nearby drape crossed his face and upper body. He wore a green robe de chambre of raw silk that hung loosely and freely. She doubted he wore anything beneath it. She remembered how he looked as he walked into the sea. The image made her stir with a deep, physical purr.

He came to the bed. He fingered the thin, transparent silk of the overdress’s hem. That caused the two sides to part until one of her legs was uncovered up to her hip.

“It is elegant,” he said.

“I thought it was bold.”

His fingertips glided up the silk along her torso until they skimmed the dark circle of her nipple visible beneath the film. Her breath caught in her throat at the vague caress. Her breasts swelled even more. Her nipple tightened harder beneath his touch.

“It is bold too.” With another pull, the fabric slid away, leaving half her body completely naked.

The way he looked at her created delicious prickles. She peeled back the other side of the overdress so his gaze would arouse her even more.

“You are beautiful, Cassandra. I have often thought you look good enough to eat.” He cast off his robe.

She had been correct that he wore nothing beneath. Also, that there would be no standing on ceremony. He made no effort to cover himself or to slide into bed quickly so her delicate sensibilities would not be shocked. He stood there, aroused and naked, while the robe fell to the floor.

She could barely find her voice. “Good enough to eat? I will take that as a promise.”

He knelt on the bed and leaned over her. “Definitely bold now. I will count on your giving as good as you get, once you are used to me.” He lifted her shoulders and gathered her hair and piled it on the pillow above her head. “I am curious to discover just how worldly you already are.”

Not worldly enough. Not so worldly as to feel sophisticated when his hips settled between her thighs and his shoulders loomed above her. Not nearly blasé when she felt the evidence of his desire pressing against her and saw it in the severity that passion gave his expression.

She had to force herself to remember what to do. Her embrace of him was tentative. His warmth and physicality startled her. The hard body she had admired walking into the sea turned her into a small, vulnerable woman. The combination of nerves and arousal robbed her of the ability to dispel her awe with conversation or humor. She could only experience amazement as he began handling her in ways that left her breathless. It was not her first time with a man, but it was the first time that she was with a man who deliberately sought to drive her mad.

He knew how to do that. With kisses that claimed and caresses that commanded, he vanquished every clever thought that tried to form. Her body welcomed his mastery too much. Her skin savored the rough warmth of his palm and the hot press of his mouth. She opened her lips so he could explore, and gasped when he turned his devastating tongue and mouth to her breasts and created a building pleasure too delicious to bear.

He succeeded then in conquering what little hold she kept on her self-control. Nothing mattered except the way her body pulsed with ragged hunger. She arched her back so her breasts rose to him. She fumbled a caress down his chest to where their bodies met. He shifted so she could reach lower, and she took his hardness in her hand. All of him tightened more, and became tense like desire coiled inside him waiting to break free.

His teeth closed carefully but clearly on her nipple. A sharp sensation shot low inside her, making her tremble over and over as it echoed through her loins and hidden flesh. She thought about nothing else after that, only that void that she wanted him to fill and that carnal itch desperate for relief.