The Duchess' Desperate Deal, page 8
He actually laughed. “How is that any better? No, Duchess. Follow me, please. I promised to show you London beyond Mayfair. And that is exactly what I’m going to do.”
He turned his horse to ride down Grosvenor Place, the Palace Gardens, extending all the way to Buckingham Palace, to their left. At Buckingham Palace Road, he made a right, continuing south through Commercial Road to emerge by what had once been the place of Ranelagh Pleasure Gardens, now only a pasture.
“Are we going to Ranelagh, then?”
“You’ll see soon enough,” was the cryptic answer, but there was a twinkle in his eyes. He was enjoying keeping her guessing. And she was enjoying the game too, if truth be told. She couldn’t wait to see where he was taking her.
The impressive towers of the Chelsea Bridge loomed in front of them, and he rode towards them, with her following not far behind.
“Oh! We are going to the South Bank. Battersea, then. Tell me, is it Battersea Park?”
He threw her a smile of assent as they cantered through the bridge and turned right to enter the park. As soon as they crossed the gates, the atmosphere changed. The path, dappled in the soft morning light, wound its way through majestic stands of trees, their branches forming a tunnel of green high above their heads. The air was crisp and filled with the intoxicating fragrance of dew-kissed grass. A melodious symphony of waking birds drowned out the city’s hum.
In complete accord, they gave their mounts their head. The quickening staccato of the horses’ hooves ironically seemed to make time slow. As they meandered along, putting the horses through their paces, glimpses of the London skyline emerged here and there.
As Gabriel had surmised, there were few people in the park at this hour, and none of them were members of the aristocracy. They could be in a different country, for how distant the Ton seemed from this enchanted world, even though they were less than thirty minutes away from Mayfair.
“This place is lovely. Thank you for bringing me here,” she said as they slowed the horses to a walk.
The lake unveiled itself up ahead, its mirrored surface reflecting the palette of the awakening sky.
“I’m glad you approve. It bodes well for the rest of the less than aristocratic entertainments I have in store for you,” he replied as he drew his horse next to hers.
She liked this teasing and playful Gabriel. It encouraged her to do the same. To laugh, let loose, be young and carefree again.
“And where are you taking me next?”
“Oh no, that is a surprise. What fun would it be if I just told you?”
“I’m sure it would not diminish my enjoyment of the activity in the least.”
“Maybe not, but how could I deprive you of the joy of trying to guess?”
“Oh, you are impossible,” she said with a pretend pout. “How do you know so much about non-aristocratic entertainment? You are as aristocratic, if not more, than me.”
“Ah, but I did not live as an aristocrat for many years.”
Gabriel said it in a casual tone, without pain or rancor, but she sensed there was a painful story behind that.
“I would like to know how you lived, and where.” Had she said that aloud? Her mouth seemed to have a mind of its own of late. But she could not regret it. She wanted to know everything about him.
“Truly? My life is not that interesting,” he said with a nonchalant shrug.
“Hmm, I will be the judge of that.”
She looked around, noticing they were in a lovely spot. It featured dense vegetation and even a small waterfall. “Can we linger here for a bit? I would like to sit by the lake and watch the swans.”
“Of course,” he said, dismounting at once and coming to her to help her down.
They walked their horses to the grassy area near the lake and, eschewing the benches lining the main avenue, sat on the grass at the very edge of the lake. A copse of trees sheltered them from the view of anyone walking down the path. They were in their own private little spot, and she found the seclusion suited her well.
“Why didn’t you live as an aristocrat for many years?”
He grimaced. Maybe he had hoped she would have forgotten the subject. Well, there was no chance of that. She was profoundly interested in everything that had made this complex man who he was.
“I guess I could say it was for the adventure, or something daring and romantic-sounding. But the truth is, it was for practical reasons. I did not have the means to live as an aristocrat.”
“But you are the son of an earl...” At his sardonic look, she waved a hand. “I know, but still. In the eyes of the law and society, you were his son and heir. Surely that entitled you to an allowance and certain privileges.”
“Not in his view.”
“He disowned you?” she whispered, appalled.
Even if she knew the truth about his parentage, she still had not guessed the depths of the old earl’s malice. What had it been like for Gabriel to grow up with so much undeserved hatred from the very people who should have loved him the most?
Gabriel shrugged. “In every way that mattered. At this point, he couldn’t prevent me from inheriting the title, because I was born within his marriage to my mother. But he washed his hands off me. When I graduated from Eton, I wanted to go to Oxford to read law, or even study for the church. I was a great student and had an aptitude for both. But the Earl bought me a commission in the army and shipped me off to India. In light of recent revelations, I think he hoped I would be killed in battle.”
She gasped. The cold-bloodedness of the earl’s actions, and the resigned tone in which Gabriel delivered the statement, sent chills down her spine.
“How old were you?”
“I had just turned eighteen.”
“So young... How did you manage?”
“Oh, there were others younger than me. I did well enough, all considered. I was only a green lad who knew nothing about war, but I was an officer in Her Majesty’s army.”
“What rank did you have?”
“I was a Major, a high enough rank. The earl may have hated me, but his pride would not allow him to have his alleged son be any less. I guess I should be grateful for that, but I wasn’t. I was terrified. Not at the prospect of battle, but at the responsibility. Can you imagine what it feels like to be eighteen and have this position of power thrust upon you? I was responsible for men’s lives. Literally. A wrong decision on my part could have resulted in unnecessary deaths.”
“What did you do?” Had he said his life was not interesting? She was enthralled.
He shrugged. “At least I had enough wisdom to seek competent advisors. Most of my subordinate officers were more experienced and capable than me. I realized at once that if I tried to lord it over them, they would become my detractors. So instead, I listened to them. Empowered them. And they became my mentors and biggest allies.”
“It sounds as if you turned things around through your own cunning.”
“I don’t know about that, but in time, they came to trust me. And by the end, I think I was a competent officer. But I hated every minute.”
“Why did you hate it so much?”
“The senseless fighting. Men killing each other for no other reason than the greed of those in power.”
She agreed with his reasoning, but the admission of such by a man, especially an ex-officer, surprised her. It spoke well of his character, and her heart swelled with emotion for him with every word he uttered.
The breeze ruffled his dark hair, and his handsome face looked almost boyish. Unless one noticed the fine lines radiating from the corners of his eyes. Lines that spoke of laughter, pain, and strength.
“How long were you in the army?”
“Almost eight years. Eight hellish years.”
“Why did you stay for so long if you hated it?”
“For my men,” he answered instantly, looking straight at her. “They were the only reason I learned how to be an officer, and how to fight.”
“What made you leave, then?”
His lip curled. “After a particular campaign to Burma, I’d had enough. If I had been born fifty years earlier, I wouldn’t have minded fighting against Napoleon. They were an invading army and had to be stopped. But now, we were the invading army. And I just tired of being a tool of the British Empire.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. The way he spoke was almost subversive. And to hear this from a British peer and ex-officer was more than a little surprising.
“I have shocked you,” he said, a bitter twist to his lips. “I assure you; my views are not unique. Many officers feel the same way as I do. I’ve been trying to use my position in the Lords to push for reform in the military.”
“I see. That is commendable, of course. I... admire your convictions.”
His crooked, almost boyish smile dispelled the shadows from his face as if they had never existed. The transformation was so sudden it left her reeling.
“Enough about this. Here we are, in this serene setting, sharing an intimate interlude, and all I do is talk of war. My apologies, Duchess.”
She shook her head, flustered by the intensity of his regard when he turned on his charm like that and directed it toward her in full force. It felt like having the sun hit her straight in the face after being too long in the dark. Welcome, but blinding.
“No need to apologize. I asked.”
“Yes, you did,” he said, his voice low and sinful. “Why did you ask?”
She had to take a deep breath before she could confess, “Because I am interested in everything about you.”
“Is that so?” Was that wistfulness behind his tone? No, it was more like a ravening hunger. “And here I thought you were only interested in my seed.”
The last words were like a splash of frigid water on her overheated face. She gasped and jolted backwards from the shock of it.
As she scrambled to get up, his hand grabbed her arm. “Wait. Don’t go.” The apology in his tone stopped her more than his grip on her arm.
He took her face in his gloved hands and the caress felt as if it were skin to skin. He was staring at her, his eyes roaming her face. Was he going to kiss her now?
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. My only explanation is that this deal is messing with my head. I’m desperate for you. I want to take you, make you mine in every way a man can possess a woman.”
The heated words should have shocked her, but they only started a fire in her belly. A fire that moved lower, liquefying the place between her thighs. A helpless whimper escaped her, and she pressed her thighs closer together, trying to assuage the need in her core. He noticed, and his nostrils flared in triumph, but his lips remained maddeningly elusive.
“Are you going to kiss me now?” she asked, her voice breathless.
“Kiss you? I want to give you so much pleasure, that you will feel like you are going to die from the sheer intensity of it. But you won’t die. I’ll shatter you and put you back together in a new form. And that new you will belong to me alone.”
“Yes.” She wasn’t aware she had uttered the whispered word until his eyes fixated on her lips with the single-minded intensity of a hawk spotting tasty prey.
And then he swooped.
CHAPTER 16
FINALLY! HIS MOUTH on hers. Devouring her. Inflaming her. It had been so long. She could not prevent the sigh of relief from escaping her throat; a small exhalation that remained trapped between their fused lips. He settled to feast, and she surrendered under the sweet assault of his ravenous mouth. Not that she had any other choice.
He had kissed her once before. She thought she knew what to expect. She had prepared for the sensual unfurling, for the arousal he could so easily call forth in her.
But she had not prepared for this kiss. For the sheer hunger and intensity of it. He kissed like a benevolent conqueror: ruthless, uncompromising in his supremacy, demanding complete surrender, and rewarding those who submitted. And her body obeyed his commands. She had no will to resist him. If he was a conqueror, then she was a willing captive.
More! Her body demanded. Beyond reason, beyond propriety. She reclined back. He followed, hovering above her, supporting himself with his arms. His kiss gentled, became less commanding. More like a reluctant caress. Unacceptable. She wanted to feel the press of his body on top of her. Her hands slid down his back, and he groaned, his muscles flexing, coming alive under her caress.
“Hannah,” he begged into her mouth. “Ask me to stop. Push me off.”
“No,” she whispered.
How could she push him away when she was as much a slave to this desire as he was? Perhaps even more so. She couldn’t get enough of him. Of his wicked mouth. She wanted more. If his previous kiss had enticed and seduced her, this one enthralled and captivated. She was at the mercy of her needs and his.
He groaned, his weight settling half on top of her, his leg sneaking between hers, insinuating itself higher. She wanted to open to him, to grind her aching core into that hard thigh. Insanity that provoked a huff of frustration when her riding skirt would not allow it.
The iron rod of his erection pressed against her hip, driving her mad with want, with needs that could not be satisfied in this public location. Proving his attunement to her needs, he deepened the kiss, exploring the satiny interior of her mouth with his tongue, tangling with hers in a sliding caress before he sucked it in, drawing it into his mouth. She whimpered with need, her hands sliding into the silky locks of his hair, fisting on them, so that he could never leave her. Never abandon her.
Easing his onslaught, he kissed the corners of her mouth, licking a place so sensitive it sent shivers down her spine and straight to her core.
“Gabriel, I—”
A high-pitched whinny rent the air. She froze as the air seized in her lungs and her heart somersaulted. What was that? Were those their horses? Or someone else who had come along the path? Had they been discovered? But Gabriel’s reaction was immediate and decisive. He rolled off her and leapt to his feet with seemingly impossible agility. Turning his head this way and that, he discovered the source of the threat and took off at a run. What was going on? She looked around; her befuddled mind was still wrestling with frustrated desire.
Another whinny, followed by a snort and several squeals. She followed the direction of the commotion and had to clamp a hand over her mouth to contain the laugh that threatened to burst forth.
Gabriel’s stallion was trying to mount her mare. Her mare was protesting loudly while Gabriel pulled on his horse’s reins to bring the lust-crazed animal off the mare. It was a scene from a circus. Made all the more humorous because their horses were imitating their own inappropriate behavior.
She stood on legs made unsteady by frustrated desire and walked towards the fray with the intention of leading her mare away.
“Hannah, stay out of the way!” Gabriel yelled. His muscles strained with the effort of holding the now rearing horse. “I don’t know if he’s going to bolt.”
She hesitated for a moment, seeing the horse’s frantic struggles. Apparently, the animal did not appreciate the interruption of his amorous endeavors any more than they did.
For a moment, the struggle between man and beast raged on. Gabriel spoke words she could not make out in soothing, assertive tones and the horse, recognizing he would not get his way this morning, at last subsided with several snorts of annoyance.
Her mare ambled over to her side with the most innocent expression in her wide, brown eyes. For some reason, that renewed her barely contained mirth.
“Oh, you naughty girl. What were you up to?” she asked, caressing her mare’s neck.
Her mare sighed and butted her arm in response. The stallion was having a much harder time accepting the end of their affair and continued to nicker softly as Gabriel led him away.
“Follow me at a distance, Hannah,” Gabriel called. “Don’t get in front of me, lest we provoke this rude horse again. I don’t know what got into him. He’s never behaved this way.”
“Maybe they got the idea from us.”
Gabriel’s eyes met hers, and she saw the moment his annoyance gave way to humor. His eyes danced and crinkled in the corners a moment before they both burst out laughing at the same time. When was the last time she had laughed with such gusto? She could not remember, but sharing the moment with Gabriel made it extra special.
“Bloody hell, I’ve been outperformed by my own horse,” Gabriel said between guffaws.
The horse snorted, and they laughed even harder.
“Well, rules do not constrain them, as they do us,” she pointed out reasonably.
“Not that we have allowed ourselves to be much constrained. We had not been behaving any better than the horses.”
“True.”
Their gazes met, and laughter turned to heat. The memory of the maelstrom of desire engulfed them. She looked away first, afraid of the strength of their connection.
“Let us go. We need to return you home before polite society is out and about.”
Hannah did not have to be told twice. She sighed, accepting their morning outing was at an end. And maybe the interruption had been for the best. Imagine if someone had seen them. The scandal. Their entire plan depended on secrecy. What had she been thinking? She had not been. That was the problem.
Her face flamed with shame at the memory of her behavior. She had to do better than this. Had to keep the purpose of their coming together forefront in her mind. No matter how much his kisses inflamed her, she could not forget herself in this way. Today, they’d had a lucky escape. Next time, she would insist that there be no possibility of interruption. And they would take matters all the way to the end. Enough dithering and delaying. She was ready, and if the hunger in his kiss was any sign, so was he.
She didn’t want to examine whether her determination was due to a desire for achieving her goal, or a desire for Gabriel. It didn’t matter, anyway. For better or worse, they had already set on this course. Only time would tell if they had been wise or foolish, and either way, she would see it through to the end.
