Dare To Love (9 page)

He wanted to know her immediately not knowing
who she was, but watched her materialize across the room. Her
gracefulness, so enchanting, felt compelled to meet her. To his
amazement, unbeknownst to him, she was his solicitor’s younger
sister! He unhindered himself and allowed their friendship to grow
naturally. So many years wasted on yearning for an alliance that
would never resume. He longed to find similar rapport he was
obligated to let go and escorted Katrina to several parties
throughout the summer. He soon found out that he needed her by his
side every moment of the day and plagued Katrina to the physical.
Making her his mistress was not complex; she was a welcome
participant, her body gratifying his void, her giggle melting his
anxiety. Meeting her at clandestine hours, Katrina had been a
breath of fresh air, his safe-haven and his confidant for the past
several months. Her solace, so welcoming, alleviated the loneliness
he seemed to seat within his heart. Her smiles, so lovely, like
medicine for his shattered soul; he finally felt released from his
misery and asked his mistress to marry him.

“Can I have a moment alone with her Amy? You
need not go very far.”

Amy grabbed hold of Thomas’ seriousness.
“Certainly.”

Thomas waited until Amy was mid-way around
the pond until he began to speak. “Ready for the shock of your
life?” Thomas quipped, trying to lighten up the severity of the
situation.

Katrina gazed up at her fiancé keenly
grinning down at her. “You are still married,” she said in a
portentous tone.

“But not for long,” he stated, kneeling down
next to her. “Your brilliant brother is working on freeing me as we
speak.”

Katrina smiled, and then eyed the ducks
waddling on the far end of the lake. “Did you love her Thomas?”

Thomas did not want to lie to her; he never
had reason to lie. Besides, what kind of marriage would be based on
dishonesty? “It was an arranged marriage, we were children; I do
not think we knew what love was. We shared a mutual comradeship,
and she picked me only because she was my best friend.”

That stung. Katrina had never heard Thomas
talk that way before about anyone, not even about her own brother,
who she considered now to be his present best friend. “Do you love
me Thomas?”

That was a bold step for Katrina, he thought.
He had never expressed devotion to her before, even when he
proposed, he could not mouth out the words; his affection towards
her shown through tenderness and purchased appreciation, their
relationship strictly emergent from repeated liaisons and
accord.

She did not let him answer, feeling
restriction, feeling a sense of sudden regret. “Because I love you
Thomas, with all my heart,” she let go along with her hand that
grazed his cheek. “And if that means that I must surrender my honor
until you are liberated, then I will wait with ungraceful
patience.”

Thomas grabbed her hand away from his face
and kissed the back of her hand, holding it over his heart. He did
not want to hurt her but somehow felt he already did.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Gwendolyn had been intently staring at Thomas
several hundred feet beyond. He had been chopping wood for hours
and Gwendolyn wondered why he had not let any of his servants in
his employ do the task for him. She also wondered why he was
avoiding her. Eating dinner late, leaving the manor early, gone for
nearly the entire day. Two days had passed, and she ached to talk
to him.

What a keen frustration for Gwendolyn to once
have had his complete attention, to this day be strained to accept
intermittent glimpses of him now and then. She remembered when she
used to try and dodge him, push him away, yell at him to stop
looking at her, or at least give her a second alone! What she
wouldn’t give to have just a few moments of his curiosity now? What
a reversed turn of events! And why did he have to be so entrancing
to look at now? It was his body that matured; she recognized in the
end, she had never seen a man so sickly sweet with broad,
symmetrical shoulders with muscles that would not give. Gorgeous,
yes, that was the ideal word to describe him at this point; he was
mouth-watering to glare upon. Had he always been that way? No…She
brought to mind the thin, gawky lad he once was, he was bashful to
say the least. And now…dear God, how many other women must have
fallen in love with him at first sight? Oh God, she was hurting
inside at present. She wanted, no throbbed to have his sole
concentration again.

“Heavens me, what could be so fascinating?”
Katrina asked, arriving alongside Gwendolyn raising an eyebrow in
aversion over Gwendolyn’s brown silk morning dress.

Gwendolyn had not counted on Lord and Lady
Hale to arrive at that very moment. She watched another opportunity
go by, as it seemed very unlikely for her to get Thomas alone with
the manor energized with preparation for the evening’s festivities.
Learning from Mrs. Hornebrook that a planned dinner party was set
for that night, Gwendolyn was reluctant to spend the evening
there.

“I want to go into town,” Gwendolyn spurted
out suspiciously, continuing to look out in the distance.

Katrina laughed and followed Gwendolyn’s
concentration. “He is quite tempting, is he not?”

Gwendolyn turned to look at her. She was
wearing a white satin bonnet with ostrich feathers and gold braid.
With a pink embroidered spencer jacket, puffed shoulders encased
her cotton percale dress with muslin flounces. She appeared
absolutely faultless, but Gwendolyn felt there was another side to
this alley cat and she was apprehensive to experience her claws. “I
would not know, I once knew the boy—that over there…is a man.”

Katrina smiled seductively, licking her lips.
“Yes and quite an attractive man at that.” She traced around
Gwendolyn and surveyed her attitude, “You should have seen him in
battle my dear—he was absolutely breath-taking in action.”

“In action?”

Katrina clicked her tongue, “On the prowl?
Lurking around? After every form that happened to wear a
skirt?”

Gwendolyn’s blood began to boil. God, she
hated this girl! “How did you two meet?”

Katrina gazed out at Thomas now and watched
him intently as well. “I was invited to several parties he had
hosted, but never got familiar enough to be introduced. Seems
Thomas over there likes his fun, spirits…and games. Oh his social
events were all the rage of the season. There was not a female
within a hundred kilometers uninvited to one of his affairs.” She
laughed and then looked over at Gwendolyn who was not amused. “Oh,
but I guess there was.”

Gwendolyn swallowed her contempt and began to
walk forward, Katrina followed slowly behind. “And when did you two
meet?” She repeated.

“Thomas owns a shipping trade; you knew that,
did you not? Well, my brother Devin applied for an opening in one
of his employ. They became instantaneous friends and invited my
brother everywhere. Devin escorted me to one such social highlight
and aided my encroachment.”

“I see,” Gwendolyn stated, holding up her
dress and marching on.

Katrina sustained her stride. “Do you
Gwendolyn? Because according to Thomas, you were once the best of
friends, and after we are married, I do wish to keep my husband in
high spirits and hope to remain acquaintances.”

Gwendolyn stopped and bore into Katrina’s
spiteful blue eyes. Friends with her? She would rather befriend a
cockroach. “If you do not mind, Katrina, I would like to speak to
Thomas alone.”

“But I do mind, Gwendolyn,” Katrina voiced
with disdain. “You are headed towards my fiancé…” she stopped and
eyed Thomas again. “And since neither one of us is accompanied by
our companions, it is uncustomary to approach a man alone;
especially one who is as vigorous as the Duke of Norwin.”

Gwendolyn did not realize how close she was
to him. Now only a few feet away, Thomas had stopped chopping wood
and stood and stared at the two women’s unannounced
materialization. His shirt, by some means, escaped his upper body.
He stood panting and grasping for breath and carefully laid his ax
down by his leg. His broad chest was covered with disorderly black
curls and he glistened from the strenuous activity, welcoming the
sun that bronzed his skin. His pantaloons appeared much too relaxed
to withhold his muscular thighs and yet, they appeared painted
on.

Thomas grinned from ear to ear and powdered
his hands once again, rewrapping the ax. “To what do I owe this
pleasure?”

Katrina bit down on her lower lip and
practically ate the man alive. “Devin and I are here for our
Thursday feast with several of the ton dear, did the ritual escape
your mind?”

Thomas did not look at her and swung the ax
around. His taut strapping arms flew up over his head and came down
with a whack aside the lumber, splitting it accurately in two. “No,
I did not forget Katrina,” he strained to say through splitting,
“And why are you here Gwendolyn?”

Gwendolyn regained her composure. Sweat began
to drip down the center of her back from his disreputable flaunt.
Her fingers itched to touch him and she clasped her hands behind
her rear to disguise her craving to do so. “Don’t you have someone
to do that Thomas?”

Thomas did not bother to look at her and
continued on with the undertaking. “Yes, but I prefer to do this
myself. I like to take out my frustrations on stagnant blameless
trees.”

Gwendolyn began to hoot from his morbid humor
and apparent private joke. Thomas gazed over at her and grinned
himself. The warmth from his smile and the allusion in his eyes
caused her mouth to go dry. “Since you are rather fond of my
absence I would like to go into town; can you arrange a driver for
my carriage?”

He knew exactly what she was hinting at. The
last couple of days were excruciating to say the least. He was so
excited to have her here it had been pain-staking torture not to
converse with her. Nevertheless, Thomas stayed his course, “You
cannot leave Gwendolyn.”

Gwendolyn gazed around her and pinpointed
Katrina; she had suddenly walked over to Thomas’ backside and
perched herself on a massive tree stump. “Why ever not?”

Thomas split a log in two before saying, “I
cannot have you traipsing around town spilling your existence when
I am about to get married, you see.”

Seeing his point all too clearly, she
retorted, “So you intend to keep me hostage?”

Thomas chortled, “You are free to roam the
acreage Gwendolyn and no one intends to keep you imprisoned to your
room. We still have ample horses to ride around on; there are even
several delightful ponds you have never seen before surrounding the
grassland. I think you would enjoy the restoration of
Wilderbrand.”

“Sounds like a splendid idea, I haven’t
ridden in over a month. I will just go find a cozy little spot by a
quaint little pond and write a letter to my fiancé. Tell him how
much I miss him and apprise him of recent measures.” Gwendolyn
huffed and began to walk away. She circled around and inquired, “Do
I have your permission to use your horse?”

Thomas smirked again, “Certainly.” He was
rather enjoying her company, and she was withdrawing her verbal
jostling? “But do not feed her sugar, she won’t eat her regular
diet if you spoil her…I quite like the way she is now.”

“And what way is that?”

“Submissive.”

Gwendolyn’s heart began to pound again. He
said it so huskily, she felt like throwing herself into his arms
and kissing that bare chest of his. She eyed Katrina who kept
seated, “Coming Katrina?”

Spreading out her skirt alongside the cut-off
trunk Katrina continued to sit and turned away.

“If I recall, that tree used to ooze sap…and
well, ants and beetles love sap, don’t they Thomas?” Gwendolyn
turned around and smiled and began her trot up the hill.

Katrina immediately jumped off the tree trunk
and began patting her backside.

Thomas grinned and watched Gwendolyn tramp
away. Unconsciously, his foot moved forward, he was going to
accompany her. He instantly recalled always following her and
stopped dead in his tracks. No. Stop. Do not pursue her. Gwendolyn
was always the one in control, relinquishing his capability to her,
ruling their friendship; he was forever trailing in her wake. What
would it be like to have her shadow him for a change? She was now
his hostage, as she put it very nicely.

He stood frozen, heart pounding fierce,
without a doubt, it would be a valuable challenge, absolute
compensation if he could win her full attention. He brought to mind
their wedding night when he first realized how he could gain the
upper hand, to be assertive…well, that won’t be so difficult now;
he had been that way for years. He could just continue being his
same assured self…no, that won’t work either; he was always mush
around her. No, it had to work, it will succeed…but for what
purpose? Good Lord, what was happening to him? Confusion, disorder,
he was not used to so much instability since he was a lad!
Daunting, intimidating, nerve-racking…he knew this would happen… he
knew he was in big trouble when he laid her down on that blasted
couch. He was once her personal dunderhead, but no more!