The Rake and the Recluse REDUX (a time travel romance) (90 page)

“Good God, man, how long were we to endure that?” Lord Timothy Wyntor, Earl of Vaughn, asked. “Your summons didn’t refer to tea,” he said grumpily.

“I was already to White’s. You could have found me there,” his brother Quentin added.

“I wasn’t entirely confident in what form our cousin’s need would surface. I merely assumed that Calder House would be the best place to find the result,” Calder answered. “Along that line, I won’t be quitting London with the family. I’ll stay in residence to assist Perry as need arises, until we all return to Eildon,” he said as he donned his top hat.

“Then I remain as well.” This from Grayson, the Duke of Warrick.

Calder nodded and gestured to the door. “Shall we?”

Lilly felt better after her bath. She started to dress for the evening, then realized it wasn’t yet needed. She picked up the book Perry had given her of Tennyson’s poems and sat in the chaise next to the fire. Some of the words popped off the page, while others sank into the delicate paper, hiding from her. She made some mental notes about which words she needed help with as she spent her time perusing the volume.

It was the most wonderful gift she had ever been given. It wasn’t the exceptional first edition Perry kept in his library, but to her this one meant more. He had inscribed the flyleaf, most of which she was still unable to read, and what words she could understand seemed inconsequential, up unto the last of them.

My something Lilly,

I something tell you how something I am with you something day. How something I am of you, how much I hope you have a something something, with a something something who will give you all the something and something your something something.

At times I wish that something be me, but as you keep something it can something be; it can something be.

Something something that I something you, you have something me much joy, and opened my eyes to a new sort of something.

I love you for that,

Perry

She sighed.
He has hope, and he loves me for—something.
She sank back into the cushions to rest her eyes, clutching the book to her breast.

Perry heard the long case clock and stopped in the entry to his suite, the realization of his error slowly dawning on him. “No,” he whispered. His arms fell limp at his sides and his jaw clenched in a violent frown. He turned to stop Kerrigan, but realized quickly there was no hope of catching him. Kerrigan was faster on his mount than any man in London, an asset that made him an invaluable man to keep.

He shook his head and shut the door behind him, then walked to his chest of drawers. He pulled the amethyst pin from his cravat and placed it in the tray as he unwound the long grey fabric.

He was shrugging out of his jacket when he heard a bloodcurdling scream. He bolted without thinking, tearing his jacket clean in two. He slid through the bathing room, the floor still wet from Lilly’s bath, and landed with a loud thud in the doorway, looking around the room.

Lilly was stretched out on the long chaise by the fire, her hands held out in front of her, her face twisted in terror. He stood, daring to breathe again when he realized that Lilly’s attacker was only in her dream. He strode swiftly to the chaise and rested on the edge next to her, taking her hands gently in his and pulling her forward.

She fought against him as he pulled her up. He wrapped her hands around him, holding her as close as he could.

“Wake up, I beg you. Shh, sweetheart. It’s a dream, Lilly, naught but a dream.” He felt her tension fade, then shift, and her hands clutched at the back of his shirt.

“My lord, I—” She sobbed. “‘Twas him, I thought he were here, I thought as how he’d followed me. I—” She shook in his arms.

“Shh, sweet, shh. I’m here, he is not. And he never will be. I’ll protect you,” he said quietly, brushing her hair from her face.

“No, you can’t. You can’t possibly always be there. I don’t want you to always be there. I don’t want to feel trapped by your presence. I want to enjoy you, I want to be near you, I don’t want to feel as though you
must
be there to protect me. You must understand the difference.” She twisted her fingers together.

He nodded. “I do understand the difference, which means we’ll have to see to Hepplewort in a more permanent manner.” His hands fisted. “And we will—we have plans for him. For now, however, I will protect you. If I am not close by, then my men will be there in my stead, as will Her Grace.”

She looked up at him and nodded, then reached for her book, which had slipped to the floor while she slept. “Will you read to me?”

“Of course, what would you like to hear?”

“The inscription.”

“No, sweet, I’ll not read that for you. You have to learn those words for yourself. It is...important.”

She frowned, then turned the pages to find a poem that had some of the words she needed to learn and handed it to him.

“Clever girl.” He stretched out along the chaise and pulled her atop him. Her head and hands rested on his broad chest as he started to read, pointing to each word as he spoke
.
When he came to the word she wished to learn he slowed, teasing her.

“Beautiful,” he said, stroking her jaw softly.

She smiled and reached for the book, turning to the inscription. “I hope you have a beautiful
something.”
She sighed and looked up. “Just one?” she pleaded.

He laughed and it shook her head to toe. “All right, one. But remember, sweet, I wrote this inscription days ago. Things have changed.”

She looked happily into his eyes and nodded.

“I hope you have a beautiful future.” He set the book on the side table.

She stretched toward him, their lips meeting halfway. His hands wrapped around her, finding her soft round bottom. He lifted her, sliding her along his rigid form until her mouth melded solidly with his. Her legs fell to both sides of his thighs, drawing her body down. He groaned, pushing against her, and she felt the evident ridge of his arousal pressing between her legs.

She arched away from his chest, bringing herself down hard upon his erection. She could feel it close to where she wanted it, and she shifted forward, crying out as his hands kneaded her backside and pulled her tightly to him.

“Ah, Perry!”

“Lilly, sweet, wait. I beg you.”

“No, Perry, I need you, I need you now.” And she did. Beyond anything else she could feel, beyond anything else she knew, she needed him inside her. Her body ached for the missing thread of him between her thighs. She reached down and pulled at the hem of her chemise, hitching it to her waist. “Now, Perry, now.” She took his shirt and sent buttons flying, then helped to remove it.

“Lilly!”

“Shh.” Her hands went between them, feeling along the front of his trousers, unbuttoning them.

“Lilly, I need to—”

“Please. Now.”

Her frenzy startled him, and he moved his hands between them. “Lilly, just wait— just...” He slid his trousers down far enough and she grasped his shaft, guiding him to her entrance. She sank down, crying out, and he clutched her hips to slow her descent.

“Oh God, Lilly, you are so…perfect,” he groaned as she rested fully on him.

Her legs straddled his and the chaise, stretched wide, and she bent her knees and hooked her feet on his legs behind her, then she shifted forward with a shriek.

“God, Lilly, please. You—” He grunted.

She shifted again, rounding her back and pressing her hands into his chest. As she moved forward she arched and felt his hands reach up to her breasts. She shifted and pushed down as hard as she could, taking all of him.

“Slow— Slow down.”

“I can’t,” she cried. “I need, ah! I feel... No, I can’t.” She needed him, she needed to feel him, all of him in a physical, tangible way. She pulled at her gown. “Take this, get this off, I need to feel your skin against mine.”

He grabbed the gown, tearing it asunder. Her rhythm increased, and he reached back up to grasp her breasts.

“Stay with me, Lilly.”

“Perry, Perry, Perry!”

“Come off for me, Lilly, come off for me.” He lifted and closed his mouth around one nipple, then the other. She arched away from him, her screams deepening as her body clenched tightly around his. “Oh God, yes, Lilly. There, sweet—there.”

He leaned back on one elbow, his other hand holding her hip, his thumb resting by her belly button. He held her down and thrust up into her one last time before she collapsed on his chest and his release spilled, flooding her womb. He groaned and fell back, wrapping his arms around her sated body, his hands running up and down her back, his eyes wide. He was quite sure she wasn’t aware of what she’d done, while he was all too aware of the cad he’d been for allowing it.

“Lilly, that wasn’t exactly a good idea.”

She lifted up suddenly, a blush painting her cheeks. “Why?”

“Well— Before, I took measures to help prevent you becoming with child.” He moved slowly, still buried within her. “But you didn’t give me a chance to do so here,” he said quietly.

“Oh,” she said, the realization sinking in. “Oh!” She pushed against his chest.

He groaned. “Oh, Lilly, you… You probably shouldn’t move like that.” He wrapped his arms tightly about her to hold her still.

Her eyes grew wide and her mouth opened in another
O
.

He cleared his throat and grasped her hips, lifting her up from him.

A small cry of disappointment escaped her as he turned to his side and set her on the chaise facing him, his erection cradled by her soft belly. He breathed slowly, willing his passion to subside until a more convenient moment.

“You would be disappointed if I were to become with child.”

“Not for the reasons I assume you are thinking. And don’t think for one moment that this is a disappointing turn for me.”

“For what reason, then?” she implored, shifting her hips to become more comfortable.

His hand grasped her hip again, this time more firmly. “You must stop wiggling, or we will not be leaving this chaise anytime soon.” He grunted. “The reason being that I would prefer you were not with child until
after
I take you to wife. I would think that to be obvious. I don’t want Society to think for one moment that I wed you only because I bedded you.” He rubbed his temple. “Is that understood?”