Married in Haste (15 page)

He rolled onto his back, carrying her with him in his arms. He kissed her forehead. “My proud—” He kissed her eyes. “—beautiful—” He kissed her nose. “—Tess.” He kissed her lips. “I couldn’t move if I wanted to.” He sank into the feather mattress, snuggling her to him. Closing his eyes, his cupped her breast, his thumb flicking the nipple that was still red and extended from his lovemaking.

Her head resting on his chest, Tess listened to his heart slowly steadying. Her own was beating at a much faster pace. Her reactions to him had stunned her. How could she have lost control that way? It was as if he had practiced sorcery over her.

Especially as reality reared its ugly head—

“You thought I’d given myself to someone else?” Her voice reverberated in the stillness of the room.

He opened one eye. “I—um.” He paused.

It was confession enough. In one graceful movement, she slipped out of his arms and rolled off the bed.

He came up on one hand. “Tess?”

She hurried to the sanctuary of the privacy screen. Practically ripping the nightdress down from where it hung, she threw it over her head.

He’d thought she was the sort of woman who would have consorted with lovers? But instead of confronting him directly, she announced, “That was nothing like churning butter!”

“Butter?”

Tess popped her head out the side of the privacy screen. He sat on the bed, just as she’d left him. “I don

’t ever want to do anything like that again,” she vowed, but he didn’t respond.

Instead, he stared at the sheets.

Curiosity drew Tess closer. What was the matter? He shifted to look at her and the candlelight fell on the stain covering the sheets. Blood.

“I’m an idiot,” he confessed. He swung his feet over the edge of the bed. Naked, he looked even more powerful than he did clothed. His eyes burned with self-loathing. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

His concern embarrassed her. She retreated to the shelter of the privacy screen.

Sinking her hands into the lukewarm water, she heard him moving on the other side. He was dressing.

A second later, he spoke from a point just at the edge of the screen. “Tess, I know you weren’t expecting what happened between us.”

That was an understatement!

“You caught me off guard, too,” he continued. “I didn’t expect a virgin.”

“Why not?” The sharp words hung in the air. It was hard for her to comprehend his logic. “I would never have disgraced my family by—” She searched for the right word. “By doing what you have accused me of.”

“Tess—wait, I can’t talk to you with this screen in the way.” Before she realized his intent, he stepped behind the screen with her. He wore only his breeches. He’d put them on hastily and not all the buttons were fastened. A light smattering of hair covered his chest and she remembered how its silky texture felt against her bare skin.

His presence in the small space was intimidating. Especially after their having been so intimate. Even now, her treacherous body responded to him. She took a step back, confused by the sudden welling of desire.

He misinterpreted her action. “I did hurt you.” Another step forward. “I didn’t mean to.” He reached for her.

She ducked under his arm, escaping to the bedroom. She hid unsettling emotions behind her anger. “I’m fine, but insulted. What made you think I was the sort of woman who would have—” Words failed her.

She waved angrily at the bed.

He raked his hair with an impatient hand. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I thought you and Draycutt—” He hesitated, frowning.

“You thought Captain Draycutt and I had done that? Is that why you made a spectacle of me earlier?”

Brenn looked heavenward, praying for a deliverance that wasn’t going to come.

“Well?” she prodded impatiently.

“I know you arranged to have notes delivered to him. I thought he was your lover.”

Her eyes almost crossed with disbelief, and guilt. She should never have helped Leah.

Brenn continued. “What was I supposed to believe? This marriage came about in such a hasty manner. I couldn’t understand why you would marry me out of all the men in London. I suspected you were carrying Draycutt’s child and wanted to pass the child off as mine—”

Completely shocked, she held up a hand and cut him off. “You thought I was carrying Captain Draycutt’

s child as well as being his lover?”

“Tess, you have to make love to have a child,” he said matter-of-factly.

“I know that,” she bristled. “But why did you think I was pregnant?”

“I overheard the servants talking about you,” he mumbled.

“Me?” How could that be? “No, they were talking about Stella.”

“Stella?”

She crossed her arms. “Well, why not? She and Neil have been married for a number of years. But Stella wants to keep her condition a secret. Once it becomes common knowledge she will have to stop going out in Society. Stella loves gambling. The thought of giving up her pleasure for a long confinement upsets her.”

“Stella! Of course. Tess, I am sorry. But what about the notes I caught you passing to Captain Draycutt?”

“I didn’t write them. Leah Carrollton asked me to deliver them to him for her.” She frowned uncomfortably before confessing, “She has been seeing him in ways she shouldn’t. But I understand why.

I would feel the same if I were to be betrothed to Lord Tiebauld.”

“Tiebauld?” Brenn’s lips curled in disgust. “I’ve heard of him.”

“Everyone has. He is dangerously mad, but his sister is desperate to find a wife for him so that he can breed an heir and carry on the family line. But what woman wants a madman for a husband? Even a rich man? And what would her child be like?” Tess shook her head. “I didn’t have the heart to say no when Leah asked me. Plus, I owed her a favor.”

“A favor for what?”

Suddenly, Tess realized her mistake. She wasn’t about to confess to Brenn what she and Leah had discussed. How stupid and naive she’d been to believe that pillow and stick nonsense.

“Never mind.” She moved toward the bed.

He followed. “Tess, when I said earlier that I knew about your secret, you and your brother both made much over it. Your brother even thanked me. If Draycutt wasn’t what you were talking about, what was?”

The guilt at how she and Neil were deceiving him returned. Her husband was no one’s fool and would doubly resent being tricked. He would be completely within his rights to publicly denounce her. She’d be ruined. All doors would be closed to her. No one would want her.

And yet telling him the truth was the only honorable thing to do.

The dilemma made her head spin.

“You misunderstood us,” she said stiffly.

“No, I didn’t.”

She frowned at him. He’d never rest until he discovered the truth, but lies didn’t come easily for her. Not like they did for Neil.

A secret, a secret, a secret!

“My age. Neil feared you wouldn’t want me if you knew how old I was.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-three, but people think I am twenty two. I spent a year in mourning when my father died and Neil thought it best if we pretended I was a year younger.”

He stared at her as if doubting her sanity. “What difference would it make?”

“Well, none perhaps to you. But there are men who only want a young wife. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’

m very tired.” She lifted the covers, climbed into bed, and pulled the blankets over her head. Tomorrow.

She would consider the matter in the morning when maybe her mind wouldn’t be such a jumble.

He slid into bed beside her and curved his large, solid body around hers. “I don’t care how old you are.”

He spoke right next to her ear. His hand rested on her waist, easing its way up to her breast.

“Some would,” she mumbled, closing her eyes and pretending to fall sleep. “You do not know what it is like.” She protected her breast from his marauding hand.

His deep voice held a hint of mischief as he said, “The marriage hasn’t been fully consummated—not until we’ve made love several times.” He snuggled himself against her. His pillow wasn’t pillow anymore.

Oh, dear, Tess thought, feeling her traitorous body start to melt against him. “I’m tired.”

“Ah, Tess. I’ve apologized. I just want to make it right for you without surprising you like I did the first time.” His voice turned husky. “It gets better the more we practice.” He moved against her.

Her blood started to heat. He nibbled her ear. Her toes curled.

“Don’t be in such a pet,” he whispered. “My only sin is in wondering why a woman such as yourself would want to marry a Welshman of a little-known earldom. Is that wrong?”

His question was like being doused with a bucket of cold water. What was she doing?

Guilt, honor, and pride drove her out of the bed. She couldn’t let him make love to her. She couldn’t confess the truth. “I think I will sleep in the chair.”

“Tess,” he protested.

“You thought I had made love to another man,” she said, desperately hiding behind the first excuse she could think of.

He sat up, his dark eyebrows coming together in anger. “Tess, as I told you, none of it made sense to me. Why you, a beautiful, vibrant, wealthy woman, would chose me—a man with a limp,” he said candidly. “You could have married any man in London in spite of that silly wager at Garland’s party. If the circumstances were reversed, wouldn’t you wonder?”

“I don’t know.”

“Of course you would. Everyone in the city is! Half of them think we are both madly in love with each other. The other half swear you’re in some sort of trouble and are marrying to escape it.”

She felt the color drain from her face.

“You are hiding something,” he said. “If not a lover or a baby—then what?” He leaned forward. “Tess, if you are in some difficulty, tell me about it. We are husband and wife now. I meant the vows I took today.

From this day forward, our fates are intertwined.”

She wet her lips, pacing anxiously away from him. She couldn’t tell him. She wanted to, but therein lay madness. No man could forgive learning his wife was penniless. Especially if she and her brother had deceived him. She sat down in the chair.

“Tess, why are you over there?”

“I think I’ll spend the night here.”

“What?” He stood, stark naked and completely oblivious to it. “Come to bed. I’m not going to attack you. I’m tired. You have worn me out. And not in the way I had anticipated.”

She tucked her bare feet under the edge of her gown, crossing her arms. “I want to stay here.”

Brenn studied her a moment. “I don’t understand. You are a woman of contradictions. You kiss like the most hot-blooded of courtesans and yet you’re a virgin. You insist on this marriage but show up late at the church—”

“That wasn’t me, that was Stella. The baby makes her nauseous sometimes.”

“Ummm hmmm,” he said, unconvinced. “You grab my arm in front of Uncle Isaac, then drink yourself under the table to avoid me.”

This time she didn’t counter him.

He shook his head. “Is it all a game? Is there nothing real to you?”

“I’m not playing a game,” she averred softly.

“Then why do I feel like I’m being teased?” He let his words sink in before continuing, “I want to build a life with you. I have dreams, Tess, big dreams. But what we make of this marriage is going to depend on your meeting me halfway.”

She studied him a moment. Her confession was on the tip of her tongue…but her courage failed her. She turned her head and stared into the flickering flames of the candles.

He watched her, waiting.

Why was he so persistent? Why couldn’t he leave her alone?

She faced him. “What we did earlier—that is, in bed,” she added, so there could be no mistake. “It is supposed to be wonderful if you are in love.”

His expression grew guarded. “That’s what the poets tell us.”

“It’s what Leah Carrollton says, too.” She met his gaze. “You had done it before, haven’t you?”

“Make love? A time or two,” he admitted dryly.

She wished he would cover himself. He was as bold as a buccaneer and twice as deadly to her peace of mind. “Was it wonderful that time or two?”

“Why do I feel I am stepping onto very thin ice?” When she didn’t reply, he said, “I found pleasure in it.”

“But was it wonderful?”

“As wonderful as can be expected,” he snapped out. “Tess, come to bed. We’ll hash this out in the morning.”

She sat back in the chair, drawing her knees protectively in front of her. “I think I will stay here.”

He glared at her. “I’m tempted to argue with you. To march over there, pick you up, and toss you onto the bed where you belong—”

His words challenged her. She was ready to deliver a scathing retort when he finished, “But I won’t.

Because it might be a battle I’d lose,” he continued in answer to her unspoken question. “And I always like to win, Tess Owen. Always. So you can sleep in the chair if you wish.”

He lay down then, finally covering his glorious body with the bedclothes. Giving her his back, he rolled over.

Tess sat vigilant in her chair, expecting him to jump up at any moment. Her muscles started to cramp, but she kept still—until she realized he had fallen asleep! Just like that.

She blew out the candles, but not without taking one long look at this man who was her husband. He looked so big in the bed. His broad shoulders seemed to take up almost a full three quarters of it.

In an instant, she could recall the feeling of his body joined with hers. A shiver of foreboding ran through her. “He wouldn’t have wanted to hear the truth,” she told herself. She could still hear the echo of his words:”…a beautiful, vibrant, wealthy woman…”

What was she going to do when he found out the truth?

But when she did fall asleep, it wasn’t her fears that haunted her but the echo of Leah’s voice whispering how wonderful it was to be in love.

The next morning, Tess woke to find herself in bed, the covers pulled up to her neck. She knew she hadn

’t gotten there herself. She rolled over, expecting to see Brenn grinning at her, but he wasn’t there.

She listened, hearing no sound other than her own breathing. Slowly, she sat up and searched the room.