Fortune's Folly - The Confessions Of A Duchess Part 16

"Wait..."

"I can't!" Laura gave an anguished cry and twisted beneath him.

"Tell me that you loved me when we made love before." His voice was a dark seduction. His lips hovered over the tender skin at the curve of her neck. "I know I was the man you loved. Admit it."

"Ah!" The cry was wrenched from Laura in utter despair. Ecstasy s.h.i.+mmered tantalizingly close but just out of her reach. She tried to pull his head down so that she could kiss the question away from his lips and banish the thought from his mind, but he held back, bending his head instead to taste the hollow at the base of her throat. The flick of his tongue sent another spike of l.u.s.t through her. She shuddered on the brink.

"Tell me."

His voice was so quiet, so insistent, so undeniable...

Her feelings for him were too strong now, too exposed, too raw to be denied.

He moved inside her, barely a movement at all, but enough to torment her past bearing.

"No..." She found a flicker of rebellion. "I won't tell you-"

But I will always love you...

"Ah..." She heard the anger and the amus.e.m.e.nt conflicting in his voice. "My Laura, so stubborn..."

My Laura...

His mouth brushed her throat in the gentlest of caresses, then moved to her breast and she felt the echo of that touch deep in her belly. Her body took one shaking step closer to fulfillment. She moaned for more. He held back. She writhed, seeking his body and the completion it could give her.

"d.a.m.n you..." She almost hated him for withholding that pleasure from her.

He thrust into her hard, fast, again and again, taking her cries of relief into his mouth in another long, deep kiss. Laura's head spun. The pleasure built irresistibly, s.h.i.+mmered so close.

Dexter stilled again. He held her still with his weight on her and Laura's body twitched and jumped to feel him still inside her, hot and hard, filling her. She hung on the edge of ecstasy.

"Are you trying to punish me?" she demanded, wriggling desperately to try to achieve surcease, "Because if so, you are succeeding..."

"Perhaps..." She heard the smile in Dexter's voice and her indignant fury mingled with frustrated desire and she groaned aloud.

Dexter moved at last, but only to slide deeper inside her. He raised her up to meet his thrusts. His mouth on hers held her silent. The shock shattered within her. Harder, deeper, relentless...She felt Dexter's mouth curve into a smile against the slick skin of her breast as he licked and tugged at her nipple. Her body shuddered helplessly, screaming for fulfillment, rocking to meet Dexter's thrusts and Laura forgot everything as the world finally spun and smashed about her. Dexter's mouth was on hers again, taking her cries even as he took her body. He did not stop, but plunged into her again and again and Laura's whole body jolted against the rough velvet of the chaise, and she felt his back arch and his muscles lock with tension and he came in violent spasms, his climax pus.h.i.+ng her over the edge again to drown in exquisite sensation.

For several long, heavy heartbeats they lay together, and then Dexter s.h.i.+fted a little and tucked her protectively into the curve of his shoulder. Laura had no idea of how much or how little time had pa.s.sed. She felt sweaty and sticky. She wanted to let go of everything and simply sleep, but she knew that soon she would have to move.

Soon she would have to think.

She had no idea where to begin.

"How can I ever cure this wanting?" Dexter had said, and she understood that for him their lovemaking had been an attempt to exorcise the ghosts of the past and to banish the power she had over him.

But for her it had been an expression of love.

She turned her head and looked at Dexter and he smiled at her. His lips brushed her hair and she felt another huge and helpless wave of love overwhelm her even as she was afraid of what he might say to her. How could she ever deny her feelings for this man?

"Laura-" he began.

"We can't talk now," Laura said. She felt panicky and scrambled up, out of his arms. Her hands shook as she haphazardly rearranged her disordered clothing. She did not want to hear him apologize or diminish all the feelings and emotions that were so jumbled inside her. She was not the sort of woman who could indulge in mindless lovemaking and deal with the aftermath with sophisticated aplomb. Nor could she deal with the practical details, either. She had a sudden horrified vision of Carrington waiting patiently outside the library door for them to emerge before he locked the house up for the night.

"Perhaps it would be better if you left via the window," she said. "The servants-"

"I am not climbing out of the window like a thief and skulking off through the shrubbery," Dexter said. His voice was so angry that Laura jumped. "I arrived by the front door and I will leave the same way."

He stood up. He seemed completely unselfconscious of his nudity. In the firelight his body was bronzed and firm. Laura gulped, forgetting what she had been about to say. He reached negligently to draw on his trousers and slip his s.h.i.+rt over his head. Laura, distracted, groped for words.

"All I thought was that if you leave now we could pretend that nothing had happened...."

"An outstandingly bad idea." Dexter's mouth had set in hard lines. He came up to her and gently fastened the b.u.t.tons that were slipping through her shaking fingers.

"Laura, you must see that it would not serve," he said, in a softer tone. "You are not thinking straight."

"I cannot think straight around you," Laura said.

"Neither can I with you," Dexter admitted, "which is why we are in this situation in the first place."

"Your neck cloth is ruined," Laura said hopelessly, fidgeting with its folds. "I do not know how to tie it and you look..." She stopped, for he looked dangerously virile and masculine and totally as though he had been making mad pa.s.sionate love to her, and she knew it was impossible to pretend otherwise.

"Oh dear," she said inadequately.

There was a sharp knock at the library door. Laura jumped violently. The handle turned but fortunately the door remained closed.

"Don't open it!" Laura gasped. "If you are not going to escape out of the window then I think I will."

Dexter ignored her, strolled nonchalantly over to the door and turned the key. For a moment hysterical laughter bubbled in Laura's throat at the thought that she, the gracious, the utterly proper Dowager d.u.c.h.ess of Cole was about to be caught in flagrante with her lover and that matters were spiraling with dramatic and spectacular style right out of her control. Then the library door opened and Carrington stood in the aperture. Not a muscle flickered in his face as he looked them over.

"Lord Vickery and Miss Lister are here, your grace," he said.

"Ask them to wait-" Laura began, but it was too late.

"Lal!" Miles hurried into the room. "I was worried about you. I called at Spring House and Miss Lister said that you had walked home so I thought I should make sure you were quite safe-"

"And I insisted on coming, too," Alice put in, "because it was my fault that you did not have the carriage."

Miles shot her an exasperated look. "Even though," he said, "I a.s.sured Miss Lister that it was quite unnecessary and she should stay at home and nurse her mother-"

He stopped. And looked from Laura to Dexter and back again. There was a long, long silence whilst both he and Alice took in the scene before them.

In that moment Laura could see through her cousin's eyes, see her rumpled gown and disheveled hair, see Dexter's state of undress that was more telling than any words could be. And then Miles had crossed the room and before Dexter could defend himself, had struck him a clean and scientific uppercut to the jaw. Alice gave a little squeak of alarm.

"Miles! What on earth are you doing?" Laura grabbed her cousin's arm and dragged him away. Dexter had put one hand up to his jaw and was wincing as he touched it, but he made no attempt either to defend himself or to retaliate and Laura understood why. In Miles's eyes he was utterly and completely in the wrong. He would bear the blame for this even though she was the one who had begged him to stay with her and make love to her.

"I am defending your honor since you seem so careless of it, Laura," Miles bit out. He turned on her. "What the h.e.l.l has been going on here? No, on second thoughts, do not answer that. It is patently obvious from the look of you what has happened."

"That is none of your business!" Laura snapped. "I would ask you to leave, Miles, and please take Miss Lister with you." She turned to Alice. "Alice, I am so sorry. This is no place for you."

"Well at least you have some sense of decency left," Miles said. "Miss Lister, I insist that you wait for me in the hall."

"I shall not!" Alice said, raising her chin. "Laura is my friend and it seems to me she may need my help."

Miles shook his head in disbelief. "The only time in my life that I try to protect innocence," he said bitterly, "and I am overruled." He turned back to Laura. "I suppose that you frequently entertain your lovers in the library, cousin?"

"Of course I do not," Laura retorted, firing up. "Do you think I would have made such a mess of things if I made a habit of this? Oh no, if I was practiced at this I would have dealt with it all with far more aplomb!"

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Dexter smother a rueful smile. Suddenly she was anxious to finish matters before he could intervene and make them worse.

"Dexter and I-" she began.

"So it is Dexter to you now, is it?" Miles said. His tone was murderous. "You do not surprise me."

"Lord Vickery," Alice interposed, "it might be better if you did not keep interrupting-"

Miles shot her another exasperated look. "Thank you, Miss Lister," he said. "You know you will have to marry Anstruther now that you have been discovered alone in this intimate situation," he added, turning back to Laura. He glanced at Dexter and the anger and dislike flared in his eyes. "I knew that you wanted to marry a fortune, Anstruther," he said coldly, "but I never thought you would sink as low as this! To deliberately compromise Laura on the very day it was announced she was endowed with a fortune-"

Laura felt a pang of shock. In the heated exchange with Dexter earlier she had completely forgotten about the money.

"I am refusing Henry's money, anyway," she said, "so it makes no odds."

Dexter was looking at her, a sudden frown on his brow. "I fear you have lost me," he said. "I had not heard about your fortune earlier when you mentioned it and I do not quite understand-"

"Oh, don't pretend that you did not know," Miles interrupted contemptuously. "It was the on dit tonight at Fortune Hall! Everyone was talking about it!" He shook his head. "I never would have thought it of you, Anstruther. I knew that there was something going on between you and my cousin but I thought you had some honor. But to set out to compromise a dowager d.u.c.h.ess who is practically old enough to be your mother-"

Both Laura and Alice gave a gasp of outraged protest and at the same time Dexter took a step forward so that he was face-to-face with Miles. His mouth was set hard and tight. A muscle flickered in his cheek.

"Do not," he said quietly, "speak of your cousin with such disrespect, Vickery, or I shall be obliged to call you out."

There was something so cold and firm in his tone that after a moment Miles took a step back.

"I beg your pardon," he said to Laura. "That was wrong of me." He turned back to Dexter. "Whether you knew of the money or not, you disappoint me, Anstruther. I did not think you the unprincipled sort of cad who would court a rich debutante and at the same time deliberately seduce a widow for entertainment-"

"He did no such thing," Laura said hotly. She had heard enough. She was terribly afraid that Miles would insist that she was compromised into marriage. She could overrule him, of course-he could not order her to marry-but the whole matter was already getting out of hand. She had lost Miles's good opinion and she had very probably ruined the friends.h.i.+p between Miles and Dexter irreparably, as well.

"I shall appreciate it if you do not make a fuss about nothing, Miles," she said quietly, "or put a bullet through Mr. Anstruther, thereby creating a scandal where none exists!"

Miles's skeptically raised eyebrows were all the reply he gave to this. Laura started to speak again, but Dexter put her firmly to one side.

"I appreciate you speaking up for me, your grace," he said carefully, "but I must take full responsibility for this."

"d.a.m.n right you must!" Miles said pugnaciously, squaring up to him again.

"No, you must not!" Laura said, inserting herself between the two of them. "I am amply capable of taking responsibility for myself. Besides, nothing of import happened."

Dexter gave her a look that brought the hot color racing into her cheeks in a scalding tide. "Dear me," he said in an undertone that only she could hear, "that is the second time you have said as much. I must be losing my touch."

Miles looked at her in polite disbelief. "I found you alone in a room, half-undressed, with a man who was once an accredited rake and-forgive my bluntness-you look ravished, Laura. Do you still wish to persist in this fiction that nothing happened?"

"This is madness," Laura retorted. "Mr. Anstruther, I must ask you to go-"

"Certainly not," Dexter said, his blue eyes alight with devilish challenge. "And before you seize on any of your cousin's ludicrous comments as ammunition against me, allow me to tell you that I have never considered you old enough to be my mother. The idea is both absurd and mathematically impossible."

"You are not helping, Mr. Anstruther," Laura said through gritted teeth. She could feel the situation slipping well beyond her control now. "I cannot imagine that you could possibly wish to prolong this unfortunate circ.u.mstance any further, so I suggest that you simply keep quiet!"

"I beg your pardon," Dexter said. "I was merely pointing out that there is no sense in trying to suggest that you are in your dotage, for you are not."

"Thank you," Laura said starchily. "I am, however, eight years older than you, Mr. Anstruther, and I have every intention of turning down the money my relatives wish to settle on me. Those are both good reasons for ending any a.s.sociation that there might be between us. So I suggest we bring this farce to an end and that you return to courting your youthful heiresses-"

She stopped. There was a smile in Dexter's eyes and Laura felt her stomach drop and her heart turn over to see it.

"Not before we have discussed this properly," he said.

Laura made an exasperated gesture as though to brush away his remarks. "There is nothing more to discuss. We have discussed quite enough tonight. The material point," she added, looking at Miles and Alice, "is that since no one other than the four of us know that you and I have been here together, Mr. Anstruther, there is not the least necessity for this to go any further."

Dexter moved closer to her. "I beg to differ," he said. "I will call on you tomorrow to make you an offer."

Laura's eyes flashed. "And I shall not be at home."

She saw the expression leap to Dexter's eyes and turned quickly to Miles before he had time to speak. "And I thank you for your concern, Miles, but it is unnecessary. I am well able to take care of myself."

"I shall still call on you tomorrow," Dexter said.

"Mr. Anstruther!" Laura said warningly.

"Must you be so stubborn, Laura?" Miles interposed. He gave Dexter a dark look. "Dexter is, I suppose, trying to do the right thing."

"Oh, mind your own business, Miles!" Laura snapped, abandoning her dignity. Suddenly she felt bone tired. Hers was the responsibility for what had happened and the consequence of that dazzling, overwhelming, absolutely blissful moment of pa.s.sion with Dexter was that he was now obliged to offer her marriage solely because they had been caught. Those were society's rules and not even a dowager d.u.c.h.ess was above them. Especially not a dowager d.u.c.h.ess inconveniently hampered with a cousin who was determined to defend her honor when she did not want him to.

She looked from Miles's implacable face to Dexter's unreadable one and wondered what would happen if she baldly announced that she was very happy to take Dexter as a lover but that she did not wish to remarry. That would serve Miles right for his interfering. Mind you, poor Alice had probably experienced enough shocks for one night.

Laura was aware that Dexter had not taken his gaze from her for a single moment and now he took her hand and she felt the tiniest tremor of emotion go through her. She knew he had felt it, too, that quiver along her nerves that told him she was nowhere near as composed as she wanted to be. He allowed his thumb to rub gently, almost absentmindedly, over her skin and she tried not to s.h.i.+ver.

"Meet me on Fortune Hill tomorrow at eleven," he said. His concentration was on her alone, cutting Miles and Alice out as though they simply were not there.

"I shall not," Laura said. Her voice was not quite as steady as she wanted it to be.

She saw the expression flare in his eyes. "Yes, you will," he said. He raised her hand to his lips and the touch of them on her skin awoke every sensation she had tried to repress. "You will be there or I will come looking for you. Good night, your grace."

ALICE LISTER, walking back across the paddock toward Spring House, was disconcerted to catch a glimpse of Miles Vickery following her in the moonlight. She had bidden him an abrupt farewell in the hall at The Old Palace and had insisted she did not require his escort home. Indeed she was, at this belated juncture, regretting the impulse that had made her accompany him to see Laura in the first place. She had stumbled into a scandal that had shocked and disturbed her. She felt anxious and stirred up. It would have been so much more sensible to stay at home and tend to her mama, even though Mrs. Lister was now safely tucked up in bed and probably fast asleep.

Alice glanced back over her shoulder once more. Although Miles was not hurrying, his long stride seemed to eat up the distance between them. Seeing this, a strange twist of panic seemed to unravel in Alice's chest and instead of slowing down and waiting for him like any sensible lady would, she chose instead to hasten her pace and positively ran around the corner wall of the orchard and through the gate into the tunnel of trees beyond. There she stopped, panting a little for breath, and chiding herself on the foolish impulse that had taken hold of her. Miles probably wanted nothing more than to make sure that she arrived home safely. There had been no need to make a fool of herself by running away from him. She was a young woman of two and twenty, not a silly miss who could not deal with a handsome gentleman even if he was a rake.

And yet Miles Vickery was so very handsome and there was something about that lazy look in his dark hazel eyes that absolutely scorched her with its heat. She knew that he admired her because he had made it plain from the moment they had first met. And she...Well, she liked him, too, much more than she ought to like a philandering fortune hunter. She was feeling hot now just thinking about him, and this was a frosty autumn night with the leaves blowing from the apple trees and scattering about her feet.

She rested one hand on the gate then tried to s.n.a.t.c.h it away as Miles came abruptly around the corner of the wall and placed his hand over hers to stop her moving away from him.

"Miss Lister," Miles said, holding on as Alice vainly tried to release herself, "may we speak?"