The Most to Lose (22 page)

Their meeting was soft and gentle, their contact stimulating. He didn’t want their kiss to get out of hand. He didn’t want the passion he felt when he held her to pass the point where he couldn’t control the outcome. She knew the rules as well as he. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel forced into a marriage because of what they’d done.

She pressed closer to him, and he wrapped his arms around her to keep her near him. She wended her arms around his neck and matched the intensity of his kisses with a passion of her own. Again and again, she drew from him, deepening her kisses until the rapid rise and fall of their breaths matched the fury of his need.

Dear God, but he wanted her. He wanted her in his arms, in his bed, in his life. He wanted her for his wife, for his mate, for a lifetime, then beyond.

He deepened his kisses and met her demands with demands of his own.

He opened his mouth atop hers, and she accepted his assault with an eagerness that increased the passion that was growing beyond control. She raked her fingers through his hair as she battled his assault. The feel of her against him tested his resolve, and his determination to keep their passion from getting out of hand suddenly died.

He wanted her. Oh, how he wanted her. But he couldn’t. He wanted her to have a choice without the guilt of what they’d done clouding her judgment. If she chose someone else as her husband, he wanted her to go to her marriage bed a virgin.

Without giving himself time to consider what he was doing, he lifted his lips from hers and held her in a warm cocoon.

“No, Jonah. Don’t stop.”

Her labored breaths brushed across his cheeks. She looked at him with a glaze of passion in her eyes. Her frantic touch caressed him with a need that increased his desire even more. Before he could stop her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and brought his head downward. And kissed him again.

“Love me. Make love to me,” she begged through rasping breaths.

“We can’t.”

“We can,” she whispered softly.

The sound of rushing feet brought them to their senses, and they separated with a jerk.

“I was afraid this is what I’d find,” Amanda said, entering the room almost at a run. “What’s the nearest way out to the garden?”

Jonah stepped away from Celie and straightened his shirt collar. He doubted he looked presentable and realized from the frantic look in Lady Amanda’s eyes he needed to look in control.

“What’s wrong, Amanda?” Celie asked as she made an attempt to straighten her hair.

“You brother is right behind me. We need him to find us anywhere but here!” She pointed to the bed.

Jonah led the way out the door and down the back stairs. Once on the lower level, he escorted the two ladies to the library, then out the French doors and onto the terrace. A table was already set up, and they each took a chair.

“Did you need something, my lord?” Bundy asked from the doorway.

“Yes, Bundy, tea. And some of the cake, if Cook has any left from lunch.”

“Right away, my lord.”

“And four cups,” Jonah added.

“Yes, my lord.”

Amanda cast an accusing look in Celie’s direction. “I thought you said Hadleigh would be gone all day,” she gasped, trying to catch her breath. “He arrived not fifteen minutes after you left.”

“He told me he wouldn’t be home until dark,” Celie said in defense.

“Well, he changed his mind.” She paused. “Or he set a trap, and we walked into it.”

Jonah sat back in his chair and smiled. It was a rare treat to see the two connivers spar over a failed deception.

Before they had time to make any more accusations, Hadleigh’s heavy footsteps indicated he was on his way.

“His Grace, the Duke of Hadleigh,” Bundy announced.

Jonah rose to his feet. “Hadleigh, please, join us. We were just about to have tea.”

Hadleigh ignored Jonah’s invitation and focused his glare on his sister. “I thought you told me Lady Amanda was feeling under the weather and needed to rest, Cecelia. I hardly call this resting.”

“The fault is mine, Your Grace,” Amanda stated, but Hadleigh cut off the remainder of her sentence with a slash of his hand.

“The fault is
always
yours, Lady Amanda, but I keep hoping that eventually my sister will realize she has to stand up for herself and not give in to your every misbegotten scheme.”

“Now, just wait—”

The situation was about to become explosive. Before it did, Jonah realized he had to step in. “Your sister wisely thought a little fresh air would be best for Lady Amanda, and they went for a walk. We’re neighbors, after all, and they stopped by to see how the work was progressing.”

Hadleigh gave him a hostile glare.

“Sit down, Your Grace. I’ve ordered tea. It should arrive any moment.”

Hadleigh hesitated, then took the chair between Celie and Lady Amanda. Celie poured the tea when it arrived, and the conversation calmed to talk of the weather and the conditions of the farmland.

Jonah breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps it was possible to have a normal conversation with Hadleigh in attendance.

They were nearly finished with their tea when Bundy arrived with a tray. Jonah took the letter and opened it.

“It’s an invitation,” he announced. “It seems there’s going to be a dance in one week’s time and we’re all invited.”

“Oh,” Celie said with a smile on her face. “How exciting. I haven’t been to a local event since I was young.”

“Neither have I,” Lady Amanda chimed in.

“In a week?” Hadleigh asked. “I’d hoped to return to London within the week.”

“We can’t, Your Grace,” Celie said. “The locals have no doubt planned this event to coincide with our being here. They’d never forgive us if we left before that night.”

Hadleigh’s shoulders sagged, and Jonah could see his disappointment. He didn’t want to stay for another week, but then, he hadn’t wanted to come in the first place.

Talk at the table turned to the upcoming event, and Celie listed some of the people she knew would be there. Since Lady Amanda wasn’t familiar with their neighbors, she considered it her duty to catch her up on who would most likely be in attendance.

That left Hadleigh and Jonah to converse with each other.

Neither said anything.

Chapter 16

J
onah climbed down from the scaffolding they’d erected to paint the ceiling in the entryway. When he reached the bottom, he rolled his shoulders to ease the aching muscles, then looked upward at the beautiful scene the artist had painted on the domed ceiling.

He felt a sense of accomplishment. He’d made good progress today.

Celie hadn’t been to visit for two days. He couldn’t wait until she visited so she could see what the workmen had accomplished since the last time she’d been here. She would approve. He knew she would.

He walked down the long hall and opened the door to the room that had been his mother’s sitting room. This was the room where his mother entertained visitors when they came to call—which was often.

Celie would approve of this room, too. It was bright and cheerful, in several shades of yellows and greens. He put his hands on his hips and smiled.

“The house looks wonderful.”

He turned to see Celie standing in the doorway. She was alone.

His heart leaped in his chest. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Even though it had only been two days since she’d last been here, he’d missed her terribly.

“Do you like it?”

“How could I not? How could anyone not like it? It’s beautiful.”

Jonah walked to where she stood and took her hands in his. Once he touched her, just holding her hands wasn’t enough. He brought her to him and wrapped his arms around her. She went willingly.

“I didn’t expect you today. Since the other day, I thought your brother would keep a closer watch on you.”

She smiled. “He tried to work from his study, but there were certain matters he needed to check on before we left. And I’m glad.” She paused. “I had to come. I missed you.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I’ve missed you, too. Are you sure your brother won’t come back to find you gone?”

“He went out with his steward, and I overheard him tell his valet that he wouldn’t return until dinner.”

“I don’t like you traveling alone, though. I’m not sure it’s safe.”

“Of course it is. It’s been weeks, and nothing has happened.”

“I know, but—”

“Shh.”

Celie lifted her hand and pressed her fingers against his lips to silence him.

“Show me what you’ve done to the house since I was here last.”

“It would be my pleasure.”

Jonah took her on a tour of the house, starting with the ground floor. The workers were concentrating on the rooms here, hammering and plastering and painting. The noise level was high as the pounding echoed in the empty rooms.

With his arm around Celie’s waist, they walked around piles of lumber and stepped over debris that littered the floor. Celie greeted each workman they encountered as they made their way from room to room. They each greeted her in return. When they finished with the ground floor, he led her up the stairs. The rooms on the first and second floors were for the most part completed, but she hadn’t seen them all. He couldn’t wait to see her reaction.

“We’ll start here.” He opened the door at the end of the hall. “This was my mother’s favorite room.”

Jonah escorted her into the room, and she stopped short, then sighed.

“Oh, Jonah.” She turned to look at the entire room. “It’s beautiful. Simply beautiful.”

“I remember, when I was young, only very special guests were put in this room.”

“Did your parents have guests often?”

“Yes, they were both fond of entertaining. Mother loved people, and they loved her. It wasn’t until she died that Father changed. He became a different man after she was gone.”

“Is that when he lost interest in the estates?”

“Yes.”

There was a small settee in the corner of the room. It sat back in a cozy nook shadowed by the flickering candles that dimly lit the room. Jonah led her to the settee and sat beside her.

“I think he loved her so much he simply couldn’t go on after she died.”

Celie leaned against him, and he placed his arm around her shoulders. “Do you think it’s possible to love someone too much?” she asked, relaxing against him.

For several minutes, he searched for the right answer. Before he spoke, he took a breath big enough to lift his chest. “I don’t think it’s possible to love someone too much. I think the danger lies in loving someone so much that you let them become your reason for living instead of your reason to continue living.”

“I think you’re right,” she whispered.

“That’s what Hadleigh did with Melisande. He idealized her to such a level that he distorted his love for her.”

“I’m not sure I’d call what he felt for her love. I think it was more a blind adoration. Everyone has faults, but he refused to see Melisande’s imperfections.”

“Has anyone told you how intelligent you are?” he said.

She smiled and leaned into him. “Yes, I believe you mentioned it before.”

Jonah wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. “It bears repeating, my dear. You have a special understanding of people. I admire that.”

She lifted her head and locked her gaze with his. “I love you, Jonah.”

“Only half as much as I love you,” he whispered. Then he brought his mouth down over hers.

Celie matched the depth of his kiss with a fervor that equaled Jonah’s. She fed her desperation for him and encouraged him to deepen his kiss.

His kiss was hot and demanding, not gentle and passionate like the kisses they’d shared before. He ground his lips against hers, then opened his mouth over hers and urged her to follow his lead.

She did.

His tongue invaded her mouth, and she pressed back against his arm. The sensation of having him so deeply within her startled her—excited her.

She adjusted to his demands, accepted the weight of his body pressing against her, and wrapped her free arm around his neck to hold him to her.