The Rules of Seduction (30 page)

He rose on one arm beside her. She lay on her stomach while he looked at her and caressed down her back and over her bottom.

The stirring began at once, those deep shivers that heralded the secret parts of her body coming alive. It did not take long for her arousal to grow and to demand more. Eventually the sensation and the need for completion would drive her to abandon and to an intensity that removed her from the world.

His hand beckoned her to go there now, to that state where she was reckless and wild and free. It slid over her nakedness in that masterful way he handled her. No other touch would affect her the same way.

She closed her eyes and just felt. Thinking was for tomorrow. When dawn came, she would know if the emotions of this night had been real. She would look at him away from the physical excitement, and she would know. The practical Miss Welbourne would never lie to herself about a man again.

She turned her head and looked up at him. Passion set his expression into that special sternness that made him too handsome to bear. It was the face of a man about to take what he wanted.

She glimpsed the palest gray light seeping beneath the curtains. “Dawn comes.” She did not remember so much time passing.

“Soon. Not yet.”

His caresses created the most luscious stirring. It shimmered through her entire body. He splayed his hand over the hill of one buttock, and more concentrated arrows of arousal pricked at her. His fingertips slid along her crevice, and the erotic implications made her lift her hips.

His path aimed low, between her thighs. She parted her legs to accept it. He watched her body, her acceptance,
his
power. The way he watched made her feel small and vulnerable. He gently stroked the soft folds of flesh made incredibly sensitive tonight by his hands and mouth.

He dipped his head and kissed her shoulder. “I love you, Alexia,” he whispered hoarsely. “I am very grateful that you married me.”

Tears burned her eyes. She did not know why.

She thought he intended to possess her with the dominance he showed the night he found her crying in her bed at Hill Street. It surprised her when he lifted and turned her and laid her atop him. She rose up and took him inside her, and they joined in a beautiful rhythm of unity.

She could see him clearly the whole way. Silvery light bathed his face and body and revealed his expression of passion. Only now the warmth she glimpsed beneath his desire, the emotion that exposed the inner man, had a name.

Her heart trembled in response, then opened to accept all that he offered.

The notes were delivered while they ate breakfast in their chamber. Hayden knew they would be coming. He was waiting for them.

One was for him and one for Alexia. In his, Ben wrote briefly and without sentiment.

I must leave, of course. I cannot risk that you will stay the course forever, now that you know everything. Tim will come with me, since he is in danger just as I am. I ask you to allow my cousin to meet us at the dock, so I can give her some money for my sisters. We are sailing on the
Tintern.
Tide is at eleven.

He set the letter down and returned to his breakfast. Mr. Pennilot’s money would sail on the
Tintern,
which meant someone else would pay off all those victims. Since he was that someone, being correct about the denouement of this opera did not make him smug.

Alexia’s letter was longer. “You were correct,” she said. “He is leaving England. I think that is rash.”

“Well, he was always impulsive.”

“He says he has some money for Rose. I guess there was an account here in Bristol after all. He was putting money away all those years, I think, and telling his family he was paying off their father’s last debt. He let Rose go without a season so he could do this.” Her mouth pursed with disapproval. “He has asked me to see them off. I will do so with some very strong words regarding his behavior.”

“If he wants to say good-bye, he can come here.”

“They are not at Sunley Manor this morning. There is no way to tell him to come here.” She studied him, confused. “Are you forbidding me to go there and say good-bye?”

Was he? Should he?

He stood and walked to the window. In the distance, above the rooftops, he could see the masts of ships.

He was not accustomed to the fullness in his chest. The worst thing about love was that it lacked certainty, and perhaps permanence. It also made one weak, he was learning. Weak and sentimental and impractical and jealous and protective. It made one doubt what was real and question what was known. It complicated the hell out of life.

He turned back to her. She waited patiently for his answer. Would he forbid her to say good-bye to her two cousins? Would he be that callous?

“He is going to ask you to go with him, Alexia.”

She unsuccessfully bit back a laugh. “You are becoming too dramatic. I know that love changes a man, but really, darling.”

“I am very sure he will have bought you a passage and ask you to stay on that ship.”

“He is married to one of the most beautiful women in England, and he knows I am married to you.” She came over to him. Amusement brightened her eyes. “I am flattered that you think me worth such a scandalous proposal and that you care enough to be concerned. I am nothing to him now, however. I want to say good-bye all the same. And I want to get that money for Rose.”

She was all confidence and certainty. That soothed the lover’s worry that wanted to make him foolish and severe.

He was not sure she would resist for his sake. Rather, the practical Miss Welbourne would never succumb to the blandishments of a man asking her to run away and live in adultery.

On the other hand, it would not be the practical Miss Welbourne whom Ben would lure but the young woman who had loved him and mourned him years ago.

He took her hand and pressed it to his lips. He gazed into violet fields that stretched for miles into the distance.

He would let her go to the docks. Not out of any obligation to Ben. He owed Ben much, but he did not owe the man his wife.

He would do it for Alexia, because he wanted her to have whatever would make her happy, God help him.

And he would allow it out of respect for his mother, who had been imprisoned in a practical marriage, apart from her first love.

But he would also do it for himself, so that maybe he would not become a man like his father, who turned bitter and hard from facing that unhappy wife and remembering the pain of her betrayal every day of his life.

It was not difficult to convince Hayden to allow her to go to the
Tintern.
He was not an unreasonable man. With both Ben and Tim abandoning their sisters most ignobly, she needed to obtain what money she could from them first.

She had not expected him to allow her to go alone, however. She thought he would want to say good-bye to Ben too. Perhaps things had not gone well when they found Timothy yesterday. Maybe that old friendship had been destroyed by all the deceptions.

Her carriage brought her to the docks and where the
Tintern
laid anchor. High tide was due to crest soon in the sea channel downriver. She spied Ben on the deck, looking down at the bustle of a ship ready to get under way.

He saw her and waved his arm. He met her halfway up the gangway. “Come to our cabin and see Tim,” he said. “I am very glad you came, Alexia.”

“I look forward to seeing Timothy. I have something to say to him.” She intended to scold them both soundly once they were in that cabin.

The cabin was larger than she expected. She noticed Timothy had lost no time getting ill again. He lounged on one of the beds, wearing all the signs of too much drink.

She noted the absence of any woman’s baggage and the evidence Tim would share this cabin. “Where is Lucinda?”

“She never wanted to go abroad. She insisted on staying at Sunley Manor.” Ben gave Tim a firm clasp on the shoulder. “Go get some air. Just do not fall overboard.”

Tim thought that a great joke. Both brothers chuckled. Alexia did not think it was humorous at all.

Once they were alone, she spoke her mind. “Hayden said you would leave. Your sisters will have no protection if you do. No hope.”

“They will not starve. Hayden will never allow that.”

“They think he is the cause of their fall and will permit no help from him. At least give me the money you promised, so they are not destitute.”

A little chagrined, he retrieved a fat stack of notes from a valise. “This is five thousand. They will also have use of the land and house in Oxford. It will be better than if Tim stayed, because his debts will flee with him.”

She took the notes. It appeared Ben had not hidden so much after all. She began trying to stuff it all into her reticule.

“Alexia.”

Ben’s tone made her look up. He stood very near to her. He gazed at her warmly. He looked like the Ben of her memories, the happy, lighthearted young man who made her laugh.

“Alexia, I am not sorry that Lucy is staying behind. That was a mistake. She was a mistake. I wish I could go back in time and could follow my heart the way I wanted. I should have married you before I left for Greece and asked you to meet me after I was safe and free.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“This all began before my feelings for you became romantic. My course was set long before we first kissed.”

“I hope to one day understand all that, Ben. The course I know of is not such a complicated one, but there is evidence that much more is involved. However, you did not marry me. You married her, and I worry now that you abandon her along with your sisters. Did you remove all the money from the Bristol bank? Do you leave her penniless?”

“Lucinda will never be penniless. She is shrewd and beautiful, and she will be buried dripping with jewels.”

In other words, he had taken all the money.

“You are very good at explaining away your responsibilities, Ben. I never realized you had that tendency before, because you accepted me into your home when you did not need to.”

“You were never a responsibility. Your company was always a pleasure. I have missed you horribly.” He took her hand in both of his. His touch made her sad. “The ship will weigh anchor very soon. Great adventures await. Paris first, but perhaps America. Or sunny, exotic lands. We can make up for the years we lost. It will be great fun, and all the better if you are with me.”

Surprise emptied her mind for a long count. Then one rational thought slid back in.
Hayden was right.

“I am married. So are you.”

“No one will know or care about that where we are going. We will be together forever, as we always wanted.”

“Hayden will follow and kill you.”

“He allowed you to come to the ship today, didn’t he? He wants you to choose.” He smiled a little smugly. “I saved his life, you see. In Greece. Those scars were the beginning of a terrible end if I had not saved him.”

She removed her hand from his. She stepped away while she sorted what he said, hearing too much truth in it. Hayden had allowed her to come here, believing this would happen. He had not even come himself. He had decided not to fight to keep her.

No, that was not true. He had fought for her last night, in the way honor permitted him. He could not draw a sword or pistol on the man to whom he owed his life, but he had waged a little war all the same.

He had laid his pride at her feet to keep her.

Benjamin was right. If she chose to stay on this ship, Hayden would let her go. Not because he did not love her enough to fight for her. Because he loved her too much to imprison her.

“I booked a passage for you,” Ben said. “Tim will move to another cabin.”

He spoke as if it had been decided. Sounds outside indicated that soon the tide would decide for her if she did not disembark.

She pictured the life Ben described. Traveling and seeing the world. Free and reckless and laughing, laughing. She would never again be bound by calculations and deliberations and responsibilities. She would not have to be the practical Miss Welbourne. She might be a young girl again. Forever.

She looked at Ben. Only a girl could love such a man. No, not a man. A boy.

“I cannot.”

“You can. There is no one to stop you.”

“I
will
not.” She walked to the door.

“Why? Because of his money? His brother’s title?”

“No sensible woman can dismiss either of those qualities in a man. Nor could I ever repudiate my vows and duty. However, my reason is not nearly so practical or respectable. I love him, Benjamin. I love him so deeply that what you and I shared was a very shallow emotion in comparison. I would never leave him. I would never give up the chance to spend my life with him.”

She opened the door. “Have a good life, Benjamin. Enjoy your adventures. Take care of Timothy, and please write on occasion this time.”

They were already cranking up the gangway when she rushed onto the deck. She begged them to lower it again and stepped onto its wobbling planks so they would have to. Keeping her balance distracted her, but amid the noise of the docks she heard the thunder of hooves. As the cranking stopped, a coach clamored to a stop on the wharf. Hayden jumped out.

He strode toward the gangway. He saw her atop it and stopped.

She would never forget the relief she saw in his face then. His lips parted and his eyes blazed. It was the most romantic expression she had ever seen on a man in her life.

He strode up the planks and took her in his arms. Did she imagine that the sailors ceased their labor while he kissed her? Did the entire ship go silent?

He guided her back to solid ground.

The cranking began again. Gangway and anchor lifted. Bound together, they watched the ship slip from its place and the gap of water in front of it grow.

“You were correct,” she said. “He asked me to run away with him. He had it all arranged.”

His arm tightened around her. “Thank you for choosing to stay.”

“It was the only practical and honorable choice, of course.”