A Bluestocking Christmas (20 page)

“There’s no need. I’m certain there is a hansom available as it’s early yet.”

“I insist.”
 

There was an inflexible note in Simon’s voice that Ivy recognized, and she knew it was pointless to argue with him. As Ivy said her goodbyes, Simon moved to stand at the salon doorway as if to ensure she didn’t escape without him at her side. Linking her arm with Ivy’s, Lady Claiborne walked with her out into the hallway.

“Now, you must come for Christmas, Miss Beecham. I really do insist.” The woman squeezed Ivy’s hands. “If you don’t, Simon will make me pay for this evening, so my fate is in your hands.”

With a laugh, she shook her head at Lady Claiborne. The woman was every bit as determined as her brother when it came to getting what she wanted.
 

“I promise to give serious consideration to the matter.”

“Simon?” Arching her brow at her brother, Lady Claiborne’s eyes were sparkling with mischief. “Surely, you’re not about to tell me that your persuasive powers have evaporated into thin air.”

Despite his scowl, Simon refused to take his sister’s bait as he snatched Ivy’s cloak from the hands of the butler. His movements swift, he crossed the floor and settled the cape on her shoulders. There was something in the look that passed between the siblings that sent her heart racing. Abigail was referring to something completely different than Simon persuading her to visit Claiborne House for Christmas. Whatever it was, he was looking decidedly irritated. Hastily pecking his sister on the cheek she offered him, he grasped Ivy’s arm and pulled her toward the door.
 

 
“Come, Miss Beecham, before my sister tries to persuade you into doing something else.”

Abigail’s pleasant laughter trailed after them as Simon pulled her out into the cold night air toward the carriage waiting at the sidewalk.

Chapter 13

 
“You didn’t expect to like them so much, did you?”
The quiet words echoed through the mist as the images in front of her faded.
 

The statement chilled Ivy as she turned her head toward the gentleman at her side. There was a flash of something in the man’s gaze that startled her. For the briefest of moments, she thought she’d seen fear. But he was right. She hadn’t expected to like Simon’s family so much. She’d gone to Claiborne House expecting them to treat her with condescension simply because she was a commoner.
 

Instead, they’d greeted her with a warmth and kindness that had made her feel more welcome than anywhere else she’d ever been. Worse than that, it had made her imagine the possibility of a future with Simon, a future she’d been afraid to hope for. It had made her realize the inevitable had happened. She squeezed her eyes shut at the thought.

“This was the first time you admitted that you were in love with Simon, wasn’t it?”
There was a tender note in the man’s voice as emotion swelled tightly in her throat.
 

“Yes.” Ivy swallowed hard.
 

“And being with his family made you see how wonderful life could be with him.”

Blinking back tears, she nodded. “It was the first time I allowed myself to imagine such a thing. But falling in love with him was the worst thing I could have done.”

“You seem so certain of that, and yet I sense something else inside you. Love is really quite simple, my dear Ivy. It’s when we throw up obstacles in its path that it becomes difficult.”
 

“Why are you doing this? What is the purpose of this examination of my relationship with Simon?” she bit out. Hands clasped in front of her, she squeezed her fingers together until her knuckles were white from the painful grip. The alternative was to feel the intense pain of her aching heart. A gentle hand lightly touched her arm.

“You called me here with your wish, Ivy.”

“Then give me what I wished for,” she snapped bitterly. “Make me forget Simon. He will forget me quite easily. I’m simply a commoner who shares his bed. Nothing more.”
 

“Christ Jesus, your stubbornness will be your undoing as well as his. What if you’re wrong? What then?”
The ghost’s harsh exclamation made Ivy jerk her head toward him. A flash of something so familiar filled the man’s expression as she stared at him. Had his features become smoother as if he were younger?

“I’m not wrong.”
 

She turned away from him to stare out into the white mist that surrounded them. What did she know about betrayal? The apparition was actually suggesting she might be wrong about Simon. The ghost was mistaken. Simon had betrayed her in the worst sort of way. He’d made her long for a life she could never have then brought back the past to show her it was all an illusion. A vise wrapped around her chest, tightening until she didn’t think it possible to breathe any longer.

“Sometimes, Ivy, we see things that aren’t really there.”

“If you’re referring to yourself, I understand completely.” The irony of the situation threaded her voice with just a hint of humor. Although she could find nothing humorous about her current state of affairs.
 

“You have always had a quick wit,”
the ghost chuckled before his voice softened,
“Sometimes the obstacles we believe are real don’t really exist.”

Grasping Ivy’s hand, the man pulled them back into the white mist. As the fog engulfed them, Ivy glanced toward the ghost and drew in a sharp breath. No, it wasn’t possible. How could it be? There was no time to think as the now familiar mist carried them to another point in time.

Chapter 14

The silence in the carriage had stretched so thin Ivy’s nerves were taut. Simon had not spoken a word to her since helping her into the vehicle. The evening had been so pleasant, and now he seemed angry with her. Did he regret asking a commoner to join his family for supper? The memory of Olivia Hunter being treated as one of the family this evening by everyone including Simon was ad odds with the question.
 

Simon seemed genuinely happy for his nephew. He’d escorted Olivia into supper, and Ivy had noted his relaxed, almost affectionate demeanor with the younger woman. His conduct toward the younger woman had twisted something dark in Ivy. An emotion she didn’t dare acknowledge. One day, Simon would look at another woman just the same way, and it wouldn’t be her. The realization squeezed at her heart until the pain was physical.

 
“I can’t imagine the evening was so miserable that you have nothing to say.” The harsh note in his voice made her quickly turn her head toward him.

“It wasn’t miserable at all,” she said. “Your sister was extremely kind and welcoming.”

“And what about a certain Viscount,” Simon snapped. He was angry because she’d not paid more attention to him.
 

“Spending too much time in your company this evening would have given everyone the wrong impression.”

“I’m not talking about me,” he growled. “I’m talking about Halstead and your coquettish behavior around the man.”

Floored by his accusation, Ivy simply stared at him in astonishment. She had realized from the start that Simon’s sister was in love with Lord Halstead. To have flirted with the man while Lady Claiborne looked on would have been coldhearted and cruel. Hurting someone like that was the last thing she would ever do.
 

“I did not flirt with Lord Halstead, and you are in no position to accuse someone else of flirtations given your attention to Miss Hunter.”

“Jealousy?” Something in his voice alerted Ivy she was treading in dark waters.
 

“Why am I not surprised you might think something so preposterous,” she snapped. “You can’t bear the thought of a woman enjoying your touch without feeling anything more than lust.”
 

Simon grew still beside her. Like a predator watching its quarry, his eyes narrowed to thin slits as he studied her. It was obvious she’d injured his pride, and her heart skipped a beat as the only sound in the carriage was the clip clop of the horse. When Simon leaned toward her, Ivy jumped.

“Is that a challenge, Ivy? Are you daring me to make you fall in love with me?”

The words sent an icy chill rolling over her skin. It would be a pointless exercise when she’d already succumbed to his charms. Ivy’s fingers curled into her palms as the painful truth slowly slid its way into her consciousness.
 

It wasn’t possible. She’d done everything she could think of to keep her heart insulated from him. Yet it was true. She loved him. Dear lord, what had she done? They merely had an arrangement between them. Nothing more. How could she have been such a simpleton to fall in love with him? She inhaled a sharp, ragged breath. Tonight had been nothing more than illusion. A beautiful glimpse of something she would never have. If tonight had taught her anything, it was that her happiness would be short-lived. The thought sent her stomach lurching as the carriage rolled to a stop.
 

~~~~

The moment the carriage came to a halt in front of Ivy’s townhome, Simon stepped woodenly out of the vehicle. Every bone in his body ached. The last time he’d felt this battered—he couldn’t even think of a time. Watching Ivy flirting with Royce this evening had been one of the most painful things he’d ever endured.
 

Royce was one of his best friends, and yet tonight he’d wanted to rip the man’s heart right out of his chest. He offered his hand to Ivy to help her leave the carriage. The moment he clasped her hand in his, a bolt of electricity shocked him. It sent a sharp vibration of energy streaking through his body
 

Bloody hell, what was the woman doing to him? As soon as she was on the sidewalk, he tugged her up the steps to her front door. Clearly rattled, she fumbled in her evening bag for her key. When she found the key, he pulled it out of her hand and opened the door himself.
 

Inside the foyer, he jerked her cape off her shoulders and tossed it carelessly on the hall table. She stood only a foot away from him pulling her gloves off with a slow precision that only irritated him more. Fuck, she was acting as if nothing had happened this evening. If she were any other woman he would have thought her detached and unmoved, but he saw the way her hands were trembling.
 

No. His challenge had left her shaken. It had left its mark on him as well. Simon grimaced. He wasn’t sure he liked the sensation or the way Ivy was skillfully hiding her emotions from him. Concealing her feelings was something Ivy did exceptionally well. The only time he was certain her emotions were fully exposed was in the heat of their lovemaking. Simon tightened his mouth and jerked the gloves out of Ivy’s hand and pulled her up the staircase toward her bedroom. He’d visited her room many times before, only tonight was different. Tonight he was going to make her understand she would never belong to anyone else but him. She was his and no one was ever going to take her from him. As he dragged her into her bedroom, he closed and locked the door behind them.
 

Leaning against the hard wood paneling, Simon narrowed his gaze to study the irritation on her lovely features. What the hell was wrong with him to be this upset by Royce’s attentions to her? Something whispered in the deep recesses of his mind, but he pushed it aside.
 

There was a defiant, mutinous twist to her sensual lips, and he saw her sapphire eyes flicker with an indefinable emotion. With a measured step, he approached her. She didn’t retreat, but once more, he saw a flash of emotion in her gaze. It irritated him that he couldn’t define it. “You’re mine, Ivy,” he said as he reached out to caress the side of her face. God, but she had the most beautiful skin of any woman he’d ever met. “You’re mine, and I have no intention of surrendering you to Halstead or any other man who thinks they can take you from me.”

“I should have said arrogance, not pride, must have a fall earlier this evening. To presume you own me is the height of arrogance,” she snapped.

Anger flushed her cheeks, and her lovely breasts rose and fell rapidly as his forefinger lightly traced a path from her ear down to her neck, his gaze following the trail he made.
 

“There’s a difference between owning and possessing, Ivy. It’s your body I possess.” He smiled as she turned her head away from him. Pleasure shot through him at the way she trembled beneath his fingertips as he traced a path across the top of her silky shoulder. “See, sweetheart, your body responds to me at the slightest touch. We both know neither Halstead nor any other man can excite you the way I can.”

Lowering his head, he pressed his mouth against her shoulder. Lilies scented her skin, and he breathed in the exotic fragrance of her. She smelled good enough to eat. The thought made him smile. That was exactly what he was going to do to her tonight. He wanted to hear her cry out his name over and over again, as he pleasured her with his mouth. The thought of tasting her on his tongue made his cock grow hard in seconds. Another shudder broke through her, and he straightened to stare down into her vivid blue eyes. They flashed with desire as she brushed a lock of hair off his forehead.

“And what about you, Simon?” The sultry sound of her voice tightened his chest as an odd sensation sailed through him. “Is there any other woman who can make you feel the way I make you feel?”