The Wedding Affair (Rebel Hearts series Book 1) (26 page)

Louisa moaned, clutching her head. “Grandfather will put a stop to this.”

“Grandfather will likely watch too,” she called out to her sister’s retreating back. “Once you tell him about the match.”

“Do you think he will,” Lord Cameron asked, his tone excited for tomorrow. “Will the duke watch?”

“I do believe he might.” She shared a grin with him. “You have grown so dashing that we love watching everything you do. Let’s hope the captain spares your pretty face from ruin though.”

The young earl blushed a deep shade of red. “I wish you would not say things like that to embarrass me.”

“Why not? It is the honest truth, dearest Cameron. You should get used to adoration. Many ladies will agree with me when you meet them in London. I have heard a great many sighs from the local lasses too, even if you doubt me. Just ask anyone.”

“I did.” He pulled a face. “Your sister laughed as if the idea was ridiculous.”

“Well, she is a few days older than you. A wise and elder influence,” Sally said, rolling her eyes. “But she still thinks of you as a little brother.”

“And will never let me forget it either.” He glanced around. “I heard from Louisa that you will move away soon to marry Ellicott. Newberry Park will not be the same without you.”

Sadness filled her at this first good-bye. She could not tell anyone she was having doubts until she had decided what to do about them. “Thank you, Cameron. I will miss you too, but we will see each other often in London, I am sure, especially during the season.”

He pecked her cheek as if he really were a member of her family, a sweet, shy little brother, and stepped back quickly. “But where is your betrothed? I should congratulate him on winning one of the most beautiful women in the district.”

“You are too kind.” She glanced behind her to point him out. Ellicott had not returned. “I do not know where he has gone unfortunately.”

“Well, perhaps I will see him tomorrow morning.” He grinned. “Good night, Sally. I will expect to see you tomorrow too and to hear you cheer me on.”

He swung his arm in a mock sword strike and started saying his good-byes to the family before collecting his mother and hurrying out.

Around her, her family chatted and mingled with an ease she for once did not feel part of. Troubled by the feeling of displacement, she slipped from the room and approached the butler. “Do you know where Lord Ellicott went, Morgan?”

She should really talk to the man about her conflicted feelings. She was not being fair to him.

Morgan winced. “I could not say my lady, but he did ask for a carriage.”

He had left the estate? But to do what at this hour?

“Thank you.” Sally slowly ascended to the family wing, pondering how men kept running away from her. Felix, though, kept returning. She found herself at his door. Light flared beneath, proving he was still awake. Was he waiting, hoping she would come to him again? Hoping to start over with her?

She wavered a moment, then tapped once. Sally let herself inside, only to have Felix catch her up in his arms and sweep her off her feet. He kissed her, and thoughts of her engagement to Lord Ellicott fled.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

F
elix pinned Sally to the door and turned the key in the lock. “I thought you would never come.”

He brought his mouth down on hers before she could respond and kissed her hard and long, the way he had been aching to do for days.

Sally wriggled and he gave her room. “I wanted to talk to Ellicott,” she whispered.

“Ellicott?”

She nodded and moved away from him. “We never promised fidelity.”

“You and Ellicott?” Anger built in him. “So you said.”

“How can I marry one man when I am attracted to another?”

“It is possible to be attracted to more than one person at a time,” he suggested, still hoping she had not come to put an end to their affair.

“And if he discovers I am only attracted to one man particularly. How would that feel?”

“I do not understand.”

She wrung her hands and moved away. “I have not been as bold with him as I was with you. As I am with you still.”

Felix’s legs wobbled. “You have not shared his bed?”

“No. But he wants me to.”

A stupid smile swept over his face. He had the advantage if Sally kept coming back to him and turning aside her intended husband. “Is he pressuring you?”

“Not the way he might have done. I have managed to put him off. I told him I did not want to set a bad example for my sister, and he believed me.”

Felix perched on the edge of the bed. “He thinks you are innocent?”

“He suspects I am not, but I have managed not to tell him the truth.”

There was a wealth of pain underlying her word. Things that were
his
fault and could not be changed. “You should have told him about me.”

“I
should
have told him, and I do not know how to do it now or if it is better not to if I am having second thoughts.”

That was all he needed to hear. Felix tossed her over his shoulder and carried her to the bed like a barbarian. He was desperate to keep her in his life no matter what happened to his own prospects.

He deposited her gently on the mattress and threw himself down beside her. “I am glad. I cannot stand the fellow.”

And he meant that. Watching her on Ellicott’s arm had been painful. It was driving him mad the way he had spoken to her too.

She curled up on her side, facing him. “Well, I never imagined you could have reason to like him.”

“He is not right for you,” he told her, sliding his fingers along the edge of her face. “You are different around him.”

“I know.”

“Always be yourself with me.” He leaned in to kiss her softly. “I love the woman you are deep inside, but I can accept you might not want that anymore.”

She toyed with his shirt, rubbing the material between her fingers. “I do not know what I want anymore.”

“That is enough for me.”

“I missed you, Felix,” she whispered. “Why did I never see you again?”

He pulled her near. “I heard never seeing me was exactly what you wanted.”

She nodded. “I drove you away.”

They must never have told her the truth. As much as he hated to whine and complain, she deserved to know he had not been given much of a choice in leaving her. “No, Rothwell did that.”

She peered at his face. “What does my cousin have to do with us?”

“He took pains to send me back to my ship that night in quite a state. I was warned to stay away from you, by him and others since. Since Rothwell used his fists to do the explaining, I did not wait onshore long enough for your brothers to find me and deliver their own similar warnings.”

“Oh God.”

“Water under the bridge,” he promised her, meaning every word. “We cannot remake the past, only our futures. Make love to me tonight?”

“I thought you would not ask my permission. That you would take me no matter what I said to oppose you if we were ever alone again.”

“I was a fool. I could never force you to do anything,” he whispered, stroking the fine hair around her temple. Allowing his love for Sally to expand and thrive. “Not even to forgive me.”

He wished she would, but for now having her in his arms, in his bed, was enough.

“Make me remember what we were like before, Felix.”

He drew her more tightly into his arms and held her close. “Gladly.”

She leaned her head against his chest and allowed him to loosen her gown. He eased it over her shoulder and kissed her skin. “I always loved this moment. Undressing you.”

“I preferred the ones after.”

“I remember that very well.” He smiled down upon her, loving her with every part of his soul. “I do not want you to be disappointed in me. Give me tonight, and we will see if reenactment matches our memories.”

He slid his hand down her back, squeezed her bottom, and jerked her hips forward. He was already hard and aching. He had always been like that around her. He rotated his hips a little, grinding her sex against his erection.

“Yes,” she whispered, fingers curling around his head.

Felix rushed to undress her fully, carefully laying aside her gown and underthings at the foot of the bed. When he turned back, she helped him to undress completely too, and they quietly lay down side by side again before they began to kiss.

The taste of her was the same as they moved into a rhythm of kissing and brushing against each other. They had done a lot in bed together in the past, arousing each other to the point of madness. Tonight was no different as he cupped her breasts and took one nipple into his mouth. He sucked and teased until she moaned, pulling him closer with one arm.

Her other fingers wrapped around his length and stroked him firmly, the way he had taught her to excite him years ago. She was, quite frighteningly, even better at arousing him than she had been before.

He switched breasts and lavished her with attention, doing his best to ignore the skill and enthusiasm of her hand.

He slowly moved his hand down, sliding over her curves until he reached her thighs. He brought one leg over his and then slowly teased his way between her legs. Sally sped the movement of her hand as he caressed the opening of her body. She was wet already and his finger slid inside her easily. She arched her back and gasped as he teased her with one finger before adding another, then he added a little twist to every thrust, making his thumb brush over her clitoris.

They curled closer together as they pleasured each other with their hands, and the present was not exactly as passionate as their past. All-consuming bliss surrounded them. A cannon could probably be fired and they would not miss a stroke.

Sally kissed him and did not stop until he was moments away from completion.

She clenched around his fingers, gasping his name as her body shuddered in the grip of her release.

Her grip eased a little, but all too soon she was rushing to bring him off. Sliding her hand up and down his length, brushing her thumb over the tip in a way that made him insane.

She cupped his balls.

Felix groped for the sheet beneath them, yanked it up just enough to cover the head, and spilled his seed into the cloth. He panted hard, lost in the wonder that was making love to Sally again.

God, he loved her. He had never stopped wishing for these stolen moments. Never stopped hoping that one day he would have a second chance to win her back.

After a moment, Sally snuggled into him. “Felix?”

“Yes, my dear?”

“That was actually better than I remember.”

“For me too.” He kissed her brow. “For me too.”

He kissed her soundly and curled around her, determined never to let her go no matter what obstacle was placed in his path next. They had to figure this out somehow.

They had the rest of their lives ahead to love one another.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

H
e woke to loud purring. Felix opened one eye carefully and stared up into the face of Sally’s largest cat. “Hercules. What the devil?” He shoved the cat aside. “Who let you in?”

To his complaint the cat said nothing, and unafraid of his poor welcome, continued purring very loudly as he nosed about Felix’s hands. He glanced at the door and found it ajar. “All right, I am up,” he called.

He dragged himself to a sitting position and glanced around the empty room. The sun was beating at his windows, casting bright stripes across the floor where it peeked through the drapes. He felt good. Comfortable. “What time is it?”

“Long past rising,” a hesitant female voice whispered through the crack of the door. “You’ll be late for your practice against Lord Cameron if you do not move soon.”

“Lord Cameron, of course. Thank you for reminding me.” He thought a moment, trying to pinpoint the owner of the voice that he still could not see. “Louisa?”

“Do not hurt him.” Whoever it was rushed away without revealing her identity. He could not blame her. He was naked under the sheet. He had spent the night making love to Sally, and he must have fallen asleep first. He had never heard her leave his bed, but he was glad she was gone. He wanted her, but he did not want her family to be disappointed in her behavior.

Behavior he happened to crave.

Felix threw himself from bed, jerked his trousers on, and then quickly closed the door properly so he did not shock anyone who happened to walk past. He threw water onto his face and then shaved before dressing in clothes he did not mind getting a little cut up. Not that he expected Lord Cameron to possess great skill with a blade. He was looking forward to an easy challenge and offering instruction rather than a battle of life or death.

As an afterthought, he tucked the cat under his arm, walked from the room, down the staircase, and took the cat outside with him to the terrace.

Sally was waiting, hand on her hip. “Where was he this time?”

“Waking me.” He grinned as he dropped the cat onto the top of the stone wall she stood beside. This morning she seemed impossibly more beautiful and irresistible than ever. “Some adventurous soul let him inside my bedchamber to ensure I got up in time.”