The Patriot Bride (6 page)

“Hannah, your husband is here!” Mrs. Wentworth announced proudly to all and sundry.

Hannah’s shoulders slumped and she almost succumbed to the urge to cry. She wasn’t sure exactly what she’d been expecting from him. It wasn’t as if he was really going to just go away, as much as she’d prayed for exactly that result.

Millie Wentworth couldn’t imagine the last time her little dress shop had been so honored. She was fairly beaming. It was so rare that a gentleman would even deign to enter her place – it was always the women who came in and charged it to accounts their husband’s paid. The only thing she ever saw of the men was their signature on a bank draft. But this man – oh, she was all a twitter! If only she was a few decades younger, she would have given that lucky Hannah a run for her money!

For some reason, though, Hannah wasn’t looking at all happy at the arrival of her husband. “Hannah, dear, why didn’t you tell me you’d gotten married again? When did this happen? You’ve been spending all of your time here; how did you even have the time to meet him?”

She didn’t want to turn around, but she knew she had to. And when she did, she could barely manage a pale smile.

Wolf could see her discomfort, and was thoroughly annoyed by the harridan owner’s questions, so he stepped boldly into the tiny room and reached past Mistress Wentworth’s ample personage to grab Hannah up in his arms, carrying her out of the store through the front door, past all of the other customers who were either aghast at such a bold display or tittering nervously, as if they expected him to do the same to them next.

Yet again, he had succeeded in completely mortifying Hannah, who surrendered to the inevitable and pressed her eyes against the strong column of his neck. Once outside, she thought he would set her down, but she should have known she couldn’t predict what he would do.

Instead, he walked with her to his big horse, where a considerably subdued Corporal Wilkins was hold the stallion’s bridle. “Just so we’re clear, Corporal, you’ve got stable duty for the next two months. Maybe then you’ll realize that escorting her to work is not guarding my wife.”

With that he vaulted into the saddle, and reached down grab Hannah under her arms, but not before she put her hand on Corporal Wilkin’s forearm and said quietly, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get you into trouble.”

Wolf had a very hard time not snatching her hand off that young upstart, but he settled for just lifting her away from him and onto the horse behind him, setting his heels to Leopold’s flanks to urge him into a swift trot.

Hannah knew she was going to fall to her death off that huge horse, until he reached back with one hand and forced her to grab his waist, then grabbed her other hand and forced it around him, too, since she didn’t appear willing to touch him – her husband – on her own, even if meant breaking her neck. But apparently she felt perfectly fine offering comfort to that youngster.

He trotted them right over to the Rose and Thistle Inn, the finest lodging in the area, and slipped down off the horse to turn and tug her off next to him. Hannah began to back away the moment her feet touched the ground, even though she was heartily glad not to have the saddle paddling her bottom to almost as good an effect as his hand had last night!

But her husband wasn’t having any of her protests. He swung her up into his arms again and carried her into the foyer. Hannah went immediately stiff and tried to struggle out of his arms until he began promising in a low, calm voice that if she made too much of a fuss that he would be more than happy to give her another lesson about wifely obedience, forcing Hannah to recall what he’d said before about not worrying in the least where they were or who they were around when he spanked her. She relaxed gradually, and had to settle for lifting her head and glaring mightily at him, which only made him grin at her like an idiot. A sensual devil. A triumphant, sensual devil.

Hanna was finding out that staring at him, even glaring as hard as she could, wasn’t the most comfortable thing to do, especially when he turned his own gaze back on her, with that almost mocking, self satisfied air he had, as if he had everything in hand and was going to make sure that everything went exactly as he wanted it to, without a care in the world for what she wanted. She was a helpless woman.

It occurred to her that their positions weren’t unlike that of the colonies and the crown, but such lofty thoughts were too much for her right now. Right now, she was concerned with the health and welfare of her own bottom, and it seemed that whenever they were together, she was in grave danger of ending up bottoms up over his lap, and she didn’t intend for that to happen.

He held her while he deftly maneuvered the key into the lock, and set her down into the biggest, prettiest bedroom she’d ever been in in her life. It was even big considering it held everything she owned in this world. “How – what – why are all of my things here?” she asked, checking the big oak wardrobe to find her meager supply of clothes all hung or folded neatly therein. Her eyes were huge as she took in the azure blue velvet drapes, the muted azure and cream wall paper and the silk embroidered comforter. Her whole house would fit neatly into this one room.

“You’re my wife,” he answered matter-of-factly as he closed and locked the door, then turned to rest against it, watching her closely. “I can’t very well have the Duchess of Northumberland living in a shack, on the outskirts of town, can I?”

Although she fought them, tears flooded her eyes, only serving to make her angrier. “It wasn’t a shack. It was my home.”

“Well, now you have several new, very large homes.”

If he’d thought that would stem the tide, he was wrong. It might have with other women, he knew, because they’d been coming out of the woodwork vying for him ever since he’d assume the title. But this woman had moved heaven and Earth, and had left her home and family, all to avoid being married to him so he guessed he shouldn’t have been surprised. It made him even more suspicious about the idea that she might have a paramour here. He couldn’t think of any other reason why she would balk so badly at the idea of being married to him. Perhaps the gentleman had sailed to America ahead of her, and she had met up with him as soon as she could slip away from her father. He didn’t know. But it seemed a likely supposition.

Hannah sank down onto the bed, only to rebound right off it which wasn’t easy. It was a thick feather mattress, and it didn’t hurt her butt at all, but she was beginning to realize that a lot of her worst experiences in their short relationship centered around the bed. She wandered over to the window and looked down into the street, trying her best to ignore him behind her.

Wolf wanted nothing more in this lifetime than to be able to stay in this room with his wife, but duty called. It was times like this that resigning his commission looked better and better. “Come here.”

He watched as her thin back stiffened, and she turned with enough reluctance that another – less confident - man might have taken offense.

She approached him just about as slowly as she could without obviously pausing after each step, and as long as she kept moving, he didn’t say anything. But she stopped at what she probably thought was well out of his range and folded her arms over her chest, giving him a very brave, expectant look.

In a snap, he lurched forward with the speed and accuracy of a striking snake and caught her arm, leaning casually back and letting his weight drag her into him, until she fairly banged up against him. His other arm lasooed around her waist and she was well and truly caught, in exactly the position she had been trying to avoid.

Hannah immediately tried to wiggle her way out of his hold, and he didn’t even have to tighten his arms to keep her in place. She was wearing herself out trying to move the immovable object and he was just leaning there, keeping her casually captive, barely noticing her struggles.

When she finally stopped, panting and flush faced, she seemed to find his chest fascinating. “Look at me,” he commanded softly. She lifted her head and met his eyes, every ounce of reluctance evident in her face. “Kiss me.”

Her eyes bugged and he struggled not to laugh at the naked surprise in them, but he hadn’t expected her to bite her lip, obviously completely stumped at what to do, or how to approach him. That didn’t go along with his idea of her as being a loose woman. Either he was wrong or she was a very good actress. He was reserving judgment, but he was pretty sure he was right.

His eyebrows climbed. “Do you need instructions, Madame?” he asked with just a touch of sarcasm.

Why did he always manage to fluster her, even with just a look, forgetting his nasty comment? He could fluster her just by entering a room, and Hannah was pretty sure that he’d be able to do it even if they weren’t in this awful situation. He was a man who was used to being obeyed, and she was a woman who was used to having her own way, if only by necessity. Someone had had to deal with things once Mama was gone, and Father was too drunk or hung over to care. She’d become independent out of necessity, and stayed that way by choice.

Unfortunately, that strong streak wasn’t standing her in good stead right now. She probably should have been trying the same wiles on him that had worked so well on Corporal Wilkins, but the man got her back up too instantly for that, and she didn’t want to flirt with him. She wanted him to go away and leave her alone, to the life she’d carved out here by herself. Unlike probably every other woman in the Empire, she didn’t want to be a Duchess or a Lady or any sort of member of the ton. She just wanted to live a quiet life, preferably alone, but she’d gladly take on the responsibility for her sisters once she could afford to bring them over.

But from the looks of her so-called husband, she wasn’t going to be getting her way any time soon. He seemed to think he could rearrange her life to suit himself, but eventually he was going to get his comeuppance. She was going to get away from him, if it was the last thing she did.

Since she had absolutely no interest in kissing him – she told herself vehemently, regardless of the fact that her body was busily countermanding that thought – she leaned forward and gave him her best peck on the lips, just perfect for kissing a not so close great aunt or something the like.

She was quite happy with her solution, and smiled to herself as she drew as far away from him as the thick bands of his arms would allow.

Wolf, however, wasn’t happy with her solution in the least, so he took matters into his own hands and brought her face to him, settling his lips onto hers then gently slanting his head a bit as his mouth claimed hers. Hannah didn’t want to enjoy his kiss. She didn’t want her first kiss to be with him, either, but it seemed to be a pattern with him that she wasn’t being given a choice.

She wanted to hate him. She wanted to be repulsed by his mere touch, by the fact that their bodies were pressed together so intimately, and that their clothing seemed entirely inadequate to shield her from his obvious passion. But even last night, when they had lain naked together, she hadn’t been disgusted, as she felt she should have been. Of course, then she was recovering from two horrid spankings. This time, she didn’t have that excuse.

His lips were soft yet firm against hers, and as he tipped his face and hers just a bit, she just naturally wanted to open her mouth beneath his. It was something she couldn’t have conceived of minutes ago, especially when she felt the tip of his tongue boldly tracing the full curve of her lips, then delving slowly but inexorably into the warm cavern of her mouth.

Hannah was electrified, entirely against her will. She wasn’t sure what she should be feeling, but she didn’t think that her heart should have been racing as it was, or that she should be having a hard time catching her breath. She knew she shouldn’t want to melt against him. She didn’t want to like anything about him, especially not his touch, but he seemed to be able to overcome every objection she had to him, and she didn’t like it. Not one bit.

She was going to put her foot down. Right now. As soon as possible.

When he began to suckle gently at the tip of her tentatively offered tongue, that quickly retreated at the burst of pure pleasure she experienced, she vowed to stop this kiss immediately. But then he began to nibble gently at the fullness of her bottom lip, and she knew she had lost the battle. Not the war, but this particular battle. Every inch of her flesh wanted to abandon any semblance of resistance and join whole-heartedly into this wonderful enticement, but she maintained as much of a distance as he would allow.

Wolf could feel how she was trying to keep herself apart from him, despite the fact that he knew she was starting to feel as good as he did – well, almost, he correct himself. He was feeling pretty good, and apparently whoever else she’d been with hadn’t been willing or interested enough to take their time with her and make sure that she enjoyed it, too.

Well, the fact that the women who had shared his bed had thoroughly enjoyed the experience was a matter of pride with him. And even if she wasn’t the virgin bride his mother – and, he had to admit, he - had been expecting, then he would still make the best of it. They were married, and there had never been a divorce in the history of the Preston family, which dated back to the time of the Norman occupation, and he wasn’t about to be come the first.

He could hear the mantle clock striking ten and he knew that he had to get going, although he certainly didn’t want to end this wonderful confection. He put his hands on her waist and set her a few steps away from him, noting with more than a little satisfaction that she seemed to be just a little befuddled, and certainly a lot less apt to spit at him like she usually did. Or tried to.

He took her chin in his fingers and tipped it up to catch her eyes. “I’ve got to go. But there’ll be a guard outside your door, and you’re not to leave. The innkeeper will bring up something to eat around noon, but I’ll be back in time to join you for dinner.”

“I want to go back to work - ” she started, but he gave her a look that said that she didn’t want to finish the thought.