At the Earl's Convenience (14 page)

Her senses spun and she could hardly speak for the pleasure of it. “Men think I’m too tall.”

“More fools they. Must be blind.” His hand moved gently over her thigh.

She tried to search his face for reassurance, but it was too dark to make out his expression. “Giles—”

“Hush. No more questions. Why does this thing have so many buttons?” Giles pulled apart the front of her nightgown with an impatient snap of his strong wrist. “I’ll buy you new ones, not so demure.” His voice was an impatient growl. “Not that you’ll have much need of them.” He buried his face between the valley of her breasts then took a nipple in his mouth. She threw back her head with a moan, abandoning herself to the caress of his tongue. The breathless sense of urgency grew almost unbearable. She gripped his shirt. “I want you inside me.”

“I want it too, sweetheart.” He brushed over her mound through her nightgown then grasped the hem, drawing the linen up to her waist. His fingers found that sensitive spot and stoked the fire burning inside her. A finger slipped inside her moist heat.

Selena gasped. “Oh dear heaven!”

Giles rolled away and stood. He discarded clothes as she waited, frustrated at not being able to clearly see him.

“I can’t stay as long as I’d like. Forgive me.” His laugh was tight with raw need. “I did warn you that you were getting a poor bargain with me.”

Chapter Eighteen

With one swift motion, Giles stripped off her nightgown. He lay beside her again, and she ran her hands over his body, as if wanting to know all of him. She took his manhood in her hands.

“So hot, silky and hard,” she murmured.

With a groan, he pushed her back, his mouth claiming hers in a fierce kiss, his tongue tracing the honeyed sweetness of her mouth.

“There’s so much I want us to share, sweetheart,” he said when he drew away. “But much of it will have to wait.”

Trying to control his rampant desire, he kissed his way down over her soft curves almost as if he was committing her to memory. He slid his tongue over the seam of her sex and, with feathery strokes, toyed with that little kernel of flesh within her folds.

“
Giles
….” She stopped protesting and grabbing his hair, and fell back with a moan.

He grasped her knees, easing them apart, and settled on top of her. With a careful gradual slide, he pushed into her slick wetness, silencing her cry with his kiss. He paused to allow her body to accept to his invasion. “Shall I go on?”

“Oh don’t stop now, Giles.”

He retreated and pushed in again, deeper into her core. The deep sense of connection was profoundly moving. He saw it was for Selina too and his heart thudded. Moonlight picked out the tears gathered in her eyes. He kissed them away from her cheek. “Am I hurting you?”

“No, it’s…you’re…incredible.”

“It will be, next time.”

While he wanted to make love to her for hours, he knew he couldn’t. With a groan, he increased his pace and drove harder as she drew her legs up around his hips. Selina’s rhythm matched his, and she raised her hips to meet each thrust. He wanted to make this moment special for her, aware that it might be their only time together. Her breathy mews of pleasure thrilled him. The first time was seldom good for a woman, especially tonight with the pall of danger hanging over him.

****

With a soft moan, Selina surrendered herself to Giles’ masterful seduction. Her hands roamed the satiny skin of his back, the corded muscles of his forearms, and the flexing of his powerful buttocks, as he pushed inside her. Foolishly, she felt a moment’s reassurance at his strength, as if that would protect him from what he must face when he went out into the night. But she was being carried away, and her thoughts disappeared at the desperate need to reach an incomprehensive goal. Their panting breaths mingled, and when his fingers found that needy nub again, he sparked a rush of sensation. She cried out, and a surge of pleasure engulfed her in drugging waves.

Giles groaned and stilled. “I hope no one heard that,” he said with a soft laugh. “They will be wondering what you are up to, my lady.”

She laughed softly in the lethargy of spent passion and put her hand to his cheek. “I expect they’ll think I’m dreaming.” She wondered for a moment if she was.

As their breaths slowed, he pulled the covers over them. The fire had guttered hours ago, and the night air had begun to chill the sweat on their bodies.

“I can’t stay much longer, but there’s time enough to tell you a story.”

Despite the nagging fear, which had never left her, here in his arms, she felt sleepy and replete.

“After the Battle of Badajoz, I had no stomach for the army anymore,” he began. “I lost so many of my closest comrades in that battle. It came home to me after that that, if I died before I had an heir, the Halcrow lineage would die with me. I thought it meant more to my father, but after he was gone and I was in danger of losing it all, I realized how much a part of that past I am. The history of our family lies within Halcrow Hall. We aristocrats live on borrowed time, Selina. Whether England goes the way of France one day, or if it does not, our way of life will inevitably change. But until that day comes, I couldn’t let the Hall crumble into a ruin.”

He sighed. “Father disapproved of my joining the Hussars. Because I wasn’t the favored son, I did it anyway, perhaps to spite him.” He paused. “No. Not just that. I must confess I harbored misplaced boyish dreams of heroism.”

“Which you have achieved,” Selina whispered.

“There’s a Latin saying, Horace, I think it is, which describes my predicament:
Delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi
.
Kings make mistakes, and the Greeks are punished.
” He ran his hand through his hair. “If Wellington makes a miscalculation, it is his men who must carry the consequences.” He sighed. “History will judge me, Selina; I have no stomach for it.”

He stroked her breast, rekindling the fire within her. She could never get enough of him. She forced herself to concentrate on his words.

“When I was forced by my circumstances to marry an heiress, I believed myself too cynical for love. You’ve changed that.” He nuzzled her cheek. “Your courage, your loyalty, your faith in me, made me want to be worthy of you,” he said huskily. “I wasn’t very nice, was I, when I was sick? And you cared for me so unselfishly. I was bitter that I’d failed at the first hurdle. I’d let you down when I was whisked off to France without warning. But there was urgent work to do.”

“If only you could have come and told me, said goodbye…”

“I left word for you to be returned safely to Bath. I could only hope that I’d survive, and that you’d forgive me. The last thing I expected was for you to go to Halcrow Hall. It was in such a bad state. But you wrought miracles didn’t you, sweetheart? I couldn’t believe my eyes. Thought I was hallucinating when I arrived, suffering from fever.”

“I did it for you, Giles.”

“I know you did, and my gratitude has no bounds.” He kissed her lightly on the mouth. “I couldn’t reveal anything about my mission. If I’d come to see you at the inn, I knew you wouldn’t have let me go without an explanation, and I would have had to lie.” He stretched out beside her. “Funny how important that seemed, not to lie to you.

“Wellington was happy for me to resign my commission and attend to important family matters, but first, he needed me to act as an agent in France. I returned there. I had been in the country earlier, gathering intelligence information. The fact that my mother was French made me perfect for the role the general chose for me. I’m fluent in the language and have useful connections in Paris.”

“What was the mission? Can you tell me more?” Selina asked.

“I had worked previously under Lieutenant-Colonel Colquhoun Grant as an exploring officer, gathering information near the Spanish-Portuguese border. I wasn’t with him when the French captured him. They hoped to milk Grant of information about Wellington, but they got nothing from him. Whilst the French held him captive, Wellington received word that Marshall Marmont, Napoléon’s trusted Commander, was willing to make an exchange of prisoners. Wellington was suspicious because the letter was written
en Clair
.”

“What does that mean?”

“In plain script rather than a cipher. Wellington wished me to aid Grant’s escape from Paris where he was continuing his work as a spy, and this I did.”

“Just like that?”

“A story for another time, my love.” He put a finger to her lips.

“A little more, please.”

“In Paris, Grant and I passed ourselves off as American officers to get closer to Napoléon’s spy network. In France, the police deal with spies. They threw a man who worked with us, Pierre Delaunay, into prison. I dressed as a French officer and used false papers to get him out.”

“I found his daughter’s letter in the library, thanking you for rescuing her father.”

“On my way out of the country, I was recognized and arrested. The French knocked me around a bit, trying to get me to reveal my mission, but a chance to escape came when the guard fell asleep. You saw the sorry state I was in when I returned.”

She caressed the lean muscle of his stomach and laid her head on his chest, listening to the steady thud of his heartbeat. “You must go soon,” she urged, hating to say it.

“Not if you do that.” His hands on her bottom pulled her against him, and she felt his erection. “Damn, I want to make love to you again.”

“We shall have the rest of our lives for that.” She moved away and imbued her voice with meaning, although it cost her a lot to say it.

“You’re right, my sensible wife.” He drew the words out regretfully, his voice gravelly. Did he truly believe he’d survive and return to her?

“Who are these men after you, Giles?”

“Napoléon has a personal vendetta against me. He’s sent his agents to deal with me.”

“Oh, no!” Were Scovell’s men in position? She wanted Giles safely away from this house. Every minute he spent here was dangerous. “I’m frightened, Giles.”

“Don’t be, my love. When I show myself, the spies will enter the trap and be dealt with.”

But what if they weren’t? What if they got to Giles first? She desperately wanted more reassurance, but how could he give it? She wouldn’t ask for it, and she wouldn’t cry.

“I need to tell you all of it. When I came home and saw how hard you’d worked, how strong and resourceful and brave you’d been, I felt deeply ashamed. I was disappointed that I hadn’t contributed anything to Halcrow Hall’s restoration. In the beginning, Selina, I have to admit I desired you as I did many pretty women. But I came to care for you. I became alarmed at who might be lurking on the estate, so I sent you to your sister in Bath. I planned to make things right when you returned. Then I received a letter from a true friend and colleague, warning me some people were denigrating my name. Wellington was too busy on the Continent to support me. Word was out that I was working for Napoléon as a spy and members of the government, as well as the French, were after my head. Even Halcrow Hall had become a dangerous place, perhaps for you too. I came to London to try and sort it out but was immediately forced into hiding.”

“But why would Wellington treat you so poorly after what you’d done for England? They should acclaim you a national hero. Not disown you.”

“Spies are easily dispensed with. That’s part of the job. Don’t take it personally. I don’t.”

“Well, I do take it personally, and if I ever meet Wellington, I’ll tell him so.”

Giles chuckled. “A spy can never confirm or deny their position. George Scovell advised me to go into hiding to save my skin. At least until he could bring Wellington’s attention to it, to sort the problem out. Scovell had arranged for me to liaise through another man, but when that man was murdered, I went to ground.

“I was considering my options when I read your message in
The Times
. The spy network sometimes places messages there, but I hadn’t expected that! Your words made me laugh, Selina. For the first time in a long time, I felt hopeful for the future.”

“I couldn’t help wondering when you found the time to socialize with Lady Rowntree,” Selina said, hating the jealous tone of her voice.

“I’ve never met her. I knew a Phillip Rowntree at Cambridge.”

“What about her cousin, Rafe Brocklehurst?”

“He’s a stranger to me too, Selina. Stay away from them both.”

“They are in thick with Lord Pemberton. And he is watching for you.”

“I can’t believe that Pem would wish ill of me,” he said thoughtfully, “but patriotism can turn friends into enemies.” Giles went to the window and peeked through the curtains. “The full moon makes things difficult. I can see movement down there. I’ll go over the rooftops. Don’t worry. It’s how I came.”

The thought of him leaping over the rooftops made her still with horror.

He came back to kiss her, his naked body against hers, his mouth taking needy possession of her lips. She reached up to stroke his hair, dreading letting him go. Would she ever see him again? When he drew away, she bit her lip to stop from crying, not wanting him to remember her that way. “I’ll wait here for news.”

He shrugged into his clothes. “No. Go back to Halcrow Hall, Selina. Wait for me there. I’ll come as soon as I can.”