A Lord Rotheby's Holiday Bundle (87 page)

“
Wady Awwiks. You are
pwetty. Do you want me to catch you a fwog?”

His toothy grin melted her from the
inside out. “Why, I’d love that, Harry.”

“
Oh no. Oh, my lady, you
oughtn’t to have agreed. He’ll do it!” Miss Bean’s eyes filled with
mortification. “The next thing we know, he’ll have your beautiful
traveling gown covered in mud and filth and you’ll have frog slime
all over you.”

How delightful. Grace had never been
covered in mud or frog slime before. She laughed aloud, an almost
giddy sound. “I’m sure that will be quite all right.”

“
You are.” Alex looked
doubtful. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you anything short of
perfectly put together, Grace. Are you sure you’re up for this?
There’s nothing that can create a mess faster than a little boy. I
should know. I was one.”

Grace nodded to him. “Oh yes. I think
it would be lovely.” And she did. How very odd. “I was never
allowed to play in mud or catch frogs.”

A look passed between Alex and Miss
Bean.

“
Well, my lady, I do
believe Harry can give you all the mess you desire and then some.
You two should get along quite well.”

“
Shall we, Miss Bean?”
Grace asked. “I think I’d like that. If you’re all right with it,
of course. But I would love to spend some time with the two of you
and go hunting worms and other such things. How will I ever know if
I enjoy it if I don’t try it?”

Her husband’s only response was,
“Indeed.”

Oh dear. What would he think of her?
“And if it’s all right with you, as well, Alex.” She gave him a
sheepish grin and hoped he would indulge her.

One of the outriders had laid a
blanket on a soft patch of grass and arranged the basket’s contents
for their consumption. Alex assisted Miss Bean to sit on the
blanket with a wide, boyish grin on his face. “You’re welcome to do
as you please, Grace. You need not seek my permission.”

How terribly irregular. A husband who
would not insist on approving his wife’s activities? Of course, his
entire family seemed to have different ideas on what is right and
proper, so this shouldn’t require such a vast stretch of the
imagination for it to make sense.

They sat and talked while they ate,
with little Harry running about them in between moments of eating
as fast as he could shovel food into his mouth. Grace was pleased
to discover she enjoyed the company of Priscilla, as Miss Bean
insisted on being called, and they had a great deal more in common
than a shared past with Lord Barrow. They both did a good deal of
stitching, both embroidery and sewing, and Priscilla was a
watercolorist.

As they finished their meal, Priscilla
struggled to her feet with Alex jumping to assist her before she
waved him off. “If it’s all right, I’d like to stretch my legs
before we continue.”

“
Of course,” Alex readily
agreed. “Take all the time you need. I’m in no hurry to climb back
in that cramped carriage myself.”

“
I believe there is a creek
off through the trees over there. Harry and I will go explore.” She
turned to her overactive son. “Would you like that?”

“
Oh, yes! Yes, Momma.
Hurry! I want to catch a fish.” He grabbed onto his mother’s free
hand and pulled her along behind him as fast as her cane would
allow.

Alex’s gaze turned serious again as
the drivers and outriders packed away the remaining foodstuffs.
“Grace, your father wants to come visit you in
Somerton.”

Her head popped up and she returned
his stare. “My father?”

“
Yes. He wants to build a
relationship with you.” He looked her full in the eye, a curious
expression in his gaze. “I told him it would be your decision, of
course.”

“
My decision?” She couldn’t
hide the confusion from her voice. She’d been granted very few
choices in life. What would she do with one? How would she
choose?

“
If you want me to refuse
him, I will. I know he’s not been very kind or loving to you.” He
paused. “But he’s the only father you have. So if you want me to
allow him to come and stay with us for a time, I will. You need
only say the word.”

“
I don’t know what I want.”
She stood and walked a few paces away from the blanket. “Wouldn’t
it be best for you to decide?”

He moved behind her and placed an arm
casually around her waist. “No.” He leaned down and sniffed her
hair as he pulled her in closer.

“
No? Why not? I don’t
understand.” Grace spun in his arms and stared up into his eyes.
“You’re my husband. You ought to decide what’s best for me. What I
want doesn’t matter.”

His eyes darkened to almost
black.

“
What you want doesn’t
matter?” He moved away and pushed a hand through his hair, his
voice strained. Alex paced for a moment before returning to the
carriage. “We should move on. Get inside.”

His tone told her she ought not to
cross him. She scurried over to where he stood and allowed him to
assist her. She took the seat facing the rear and hoped he would
take her hint this time. A glance through the open door told her
that Priscilla and Harry were already nearing their
carriage.

Alex climbed inside behind her and sat
across from her. He reached over her head and rapped against the
wall, and she flinched from his movements. The carriage lurched
into motion.

She waited for the lecture she was
sure would come. Grace had seen the same expression countless times
before from her father.

And she braced herself for the beating
which always followed.

Chapter
Twenty-Six

She shrunk away from him when he
reached over her head to alert the driver they were ready. Could
Grace actually believe he would strike her? Alex was horrified. His
wife thought him capable of hitting a woman. But his anger took
precedence over any horror he might feel.

“
Why,” he began, his words
slow and soft, “is what you want unimportant, Grace? Why should I
make decisions and force them upon you when you have a mind of your
own?”

She started to answer him, but he
hadn’t finished. “Why do you pull away from my touch?” His pitch
escalated with each word. “Why do you flinch when I raise my hand,
as though you expect me to—to beat you?”

He was near to yelling and she cowered
in her seat, yet he continued. “And why, please tell me why, will
you allow everyone to love you but me? Why Grace? What have I
done?”

She stared at him, wide-eyed, but in
anger, not fear.

“
Allow
them to love me? And just how do you propose I’ve allowed
anyone to love me, yet somehow stopped you?” She appeared ready to
pounce on him and scratch his eyes out like a cat.

“
So you didn’t notice my
entire family fawning over you then? And you don’t see how your
aunt and uncle adore you?”

“
That isn’t love.” Her chin
trembled.

He slid across to her seat in a
single, swift move. Alex leaned over her, towering above her,
pinning her hands to her sides. “If it isn’t love, then what, pray
tell, is it?”

She shook beneath him but never
wavered from his stare. “Kindness. Pity, perhaps. I don’t
know.”

“
That’s right, you don’t
know. They love you, Grace. Everyone around you loves you, but I’m
the only one you push away. If you’re incapable of recognizing
their love for what it is, then it’s no wonder you cannot see
mine.”

“
You…you don’t love me.”
She shook her head as tears sprung to her eyes. “You cannot love
me.”

“
Why, Grace?” he roared.
“Why can’t you see?”

She struggled against him, pushed him
away with all her strength. Her movements set his loins aflame, and
he kissed her hard on the lips, forcing his tongue inside her
mouth. He slid the fabric of her traveling gown off her shoulders
and freed her breasts to his touch. He stroked and kneaded first
one mound, then the other.

She arched her back, pressing herself
more fully into his hands. His need took control when she
surrendered to him, and he forgot they were in a moving
carriage.

He lifted his hips to unfasten his
breeches. Alex fumbled with the buttons, his large hand bungling
with the small implements, but he kept his other hand on Grace.
When he finally freed his erection, he lifted his wife above him to
straddle his hips and moved her skirts up about her waist, pulling
frantically at the strings to her drawers.

She lowered onto him, her tightness
enveloping him with exquisite torture. They moved together, hips
rocking in time with the carriage rolling over the road. Grace rose
and fell above him, arching into his touch, his mouth.

He nibbled her breasts. She moaned low
with desire. Alex took her hips in his hands and increased the pace
of their loving. She quickened around him, her eyes closed, her
head rolled back. Soft little sighs sounded from her
throat.

“
Open your eyes, Grace. I
want to watch you when you peak.” He needed his own release, but
forced himself to hold it at bay.

She obeyed and stared into his eyes,
her frosty centers aflame with desire and need.

He thrust inside her and held her
still, filling her to the brim. “I love you, Grace. I need you to
believe me. I need you to accept my love.”

She turned her head to the
side.

“
No. Look at me.” With one
hand, Alex pulled her head to place her eyes in line with his again
and held her firmly in place. “I love you.”

A single tear filled her eye and
spilled over. He wiped it away with a finger and placed a chaste
kiss on her lips.

“
I love you,
Grace.”

She tried to shake her head and deny
his love, but he held her head still.

“
I love you.” Alex moved
inside her again, showing her his love with long, smooth
strokes.

“
I love you.” He kissed
her, his tongue matching the pace of their bodies.

“
I love you.” He moved a
hand between them and stroked her taut nub.

She shuddered in his arms and
tightened against him. He watched as her eyes melted from the heat.
Grace cried out and collapsed against him, hiding her face against
his neck.

Alex resituated them on the floor of
the carriage and continued to show her his love. He pulled her legs
up and around his waist and thrust deep and hard and fast,
desperate for release. He held her close and murmured his love in
her ear.

She reached climax again and screamed
out his name as he came to completion inside her. Alex rolled them
both over and pulled her atop him. Her head lay against his chest
as they searched for air.

“
I love you, Grace,” he
said as he stroked the wisps of hair that fell from her tight knot.
“I’ve loved you since I first saw you, I believe. Your eyes have
haunted my dreams since that first day, even before I heard your
voice.”

She raised her head to look into his
eyes. Wetness covered her cheeks.

“
I didn’t marry you because
I had to, or because honor demanded it. I didn’t marry you because
your father insisted. I married you because I love you. And if it
takes a lifetime to convince you of my love, then that’s precisely
how I’ll spend my life.”

Her chin trembled. “You love me?
Really, truly?”

The dismay in her voice knocked the
air from his lungs. He searched for another way to convince her.
His search was stopped by her tiny fist to his gut.

“
Why did it take you so
blasted long to tell me?”

She tumbled onto him and they rolled
until he was above her again. She took his face between her hands
and kissed him long and deep.

“
I love you,
Alex.”

He breathed freely for the first time
in a long time. “I love you too, Grace.”

Epilogue

Grace walked gingerly down the curved
stairway of Somerton Court, one hand supporting her back and the
other holding onto the banister.

Sophie came around the corner and
rushed to her side. “What on earth are you doing, Grace? You should
have pulled the bell, and any one of us could have helped you
down.”

“
I’m pregnant, not
incapacitated. You know as well as I do that I’m perfectly capable
of moving around on my own.”

“
Still, if Alex
knew…”

“
Alex won’t know though,
will he?” Grace grinned at her sister-in-law. “You’ll tell him I
pulled the bell and you assisted me the entire way. Because you
love me, and I’m pregnant, and I insist.”

“
Fine. I’ll tell a bouncer
for you, but only if you do something for me.” Sophie had a gleam
in her eyes, the same gleam Grace had come to know meant either
trouble or fun, or perhaps both.

“
Oh, good. What are you
planning?” She almost rubbed her hands in anticipation. Almost. “I
need a spot of fun, you know. I’m sick to death of being cooped up
in bed.”