Enticing Eve: Scandalous Secrets, Book 2 (43 page)

Norris and Mary counted as family and fit in well with the Viscountess’s band of misfits.

“There you are!” A female voice called from the French doors leading into the adjoining informal dining room.
 

It was so strange Colin thought, as he turned towards Victoria. He’d first met his sister mere months ago, and yet he could recognize her voice in an instant.

She crossed the room then wrapped him in a tight hug. “Welcome home.”
 

Colin kissed his sister on the top of her head. How was it possible for him to have bonded with her so fast?
 

It was as if they’d known each other their entire lives.

Once, Colin felt alone in the world, his servants being the closest thing to a family. Now he had a wife, sisters, brothers, a grandmother but, sadly, the improved family came at a heavy cost … he had lost Tristan.
 

Victoria surveyed him, tilting his face with her fingers, her lips downturned into a mock grimace. “No defensive wounds. I see you survived your latest encounter unscathed.”

He knew she was attempting to cheer him. “Yes, I did,” Colin assured her.

In an instant, her expression turned somber. “How is he?”

“Not good,” he paused for a brief moment then added, “he’s lost though he won’t admit it.”

Tori sighed. “Sebastian and Gwen are concerned, as well. We are all setting off for London tomorrow under the guise that I need a more expanded social circle.” She leaned forward and added in a whisper, “Husband shopping, is more like it.”
 

“We’re not auctioning you off to the highest bidder, Tori,” Gwen said from behind, carrying a large bowl of pudding.

 
She paused next to them and Colin leaned forward to kiss Gwen on the cheek.

“Of course not, Gwen,” Tori teased with a wide grin. “There are days when I am certain that Sebastian would bequeath me absolutely free of charge.”

“Yes, but God help the poor fop who accepts you under those terms,” Sebastian bellowed from the dining room as he placed a covered plate on the dining table.

While Sebastian was preoccupied, Tori grabbed the bowl from Gwen then crossed the room. She proceeded towards Sebastian, hiding the bowl behind her back.

“Why, brother, thou art so amusing,” Victoria teased, approaching him with impressive stealth.

Sebastian’s laughing expression turned serious. “Uh-oh,” he muttered, as he glanced at his sister. “What is behind your back?”

“Whatever could you be referring to?” she asked, feigning ignorance.

“No food fight, Victoria!” he warned, pointing at her. “You know what happened the last time we had a food fight.”

“There is a story about a food fight?” Colin asked Gwen.

“Ah, but there is always a story behind a food fight,” Tori teased. “They all center around Sebastian retreating from me liked a frightened little schoolboy just as he is doing at this very moment.”

Sebastian scurried away from her, around the end of the rectangular table.
 

“Are you afraid?” Victoria mocked, her eyes alight with mischief, “of a girl?”

“No.” Sebastian stood his ground, arching his onyx brow. “You’re no girl! You are ruthless.”

Gwen watched the scene unfold, her lips curled into a broad smile that she quickly hid behind her hand.

“Aren’t you going to help him?” Colin asked.

Gwen laughed. “Heaven’s no! What fun would that be?”

Eve approached Colin from behind, resting her hand on the small of Colin’s back. “Don’t look now but trouble is fast approaching.”

Colin and Gwen turned to see Fiona, decked out in yellow and pink beads, approaching Tori from behind. In one fluid motion, her pudgy hands snatched the bowl from Victoria. She then scurried away with the pudding.

Victoria’s eyes widened. “I thought we women must stick together.”

“On most things, yes,” Fiona answered, her voice more of a chirp. “On pudding however, it is every woman for herself.”

Fiona then grabbed a spoon from one of the place settings.
 

“Children!” she called, heading for the door. “Pudding for dinner!”

“Fiona,” Gwen scolded, now fast on Fiona’s heels. “They must eat dinner first.”

Victoria and Sebastian exchanged conspiratorial looks.
 

“If we team up,” he suggested.

She narrowed her eyes. “Share the spoils?”

“Deal!” he agreed with a quick handshake before they both raced out of the room.

Colin and Eve stood there for several seconds neither saying a word. He was the first to break their silence. “Our families are utterly insane.”
 

For the first time in as long as he could remember, he hadn’t used the term in a literal sense. Far from dwelling on his parents’ misdeeds, he now referred to a madcap amusement that he enjoyed.
 

In truth, Colin cherished every single minute he shared with the band of misfits that comprised his family – from their sarcasm and pranks to how deeply they loved and accepted each other.
 

Fierce and funny, such a family was a sight to behold.

Eve walked in front of him before turning to face him. “You are aware that our child will inherit their genes.”

She hadn’t said it to be cruel and knew he wouldn’t take it as such … because Colin had changed.
 

His past no longer wounded him.

“I’m counting on it.” Colin wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled Eve closer to him.
 

Smiling at him, Eve asked, “Are you happy?”

“You have to ask?” Colin kissed the tip of her nose.

“I ask because I already know the answer,” Eve said, her fingers entwined behind his neck, brushing against the wavy wisps of hair at his nape.

He leaned his forehead against hers. “You make me happy.”

Eve stood on her tiptoes, pressing her lips against his. Kissing him was now second nature to her, like breathing. She couldn’t imagine ever not doing it.

Colin whispered, “I have a surprise for you.”

“You do?” she asked, her heart bursting with love for him. “Where is it?”

“Upstairs.”

She arched a brow. “Might this surprise be in the one of our bedchambers?”

“You have such a wicked mind,” he teased.

She pinched him.

“Ouch!” He pulled her closer, kissing the curve of her neck. “Not to say I don’t admire your mind,” another kiss, “and your body.” Another kiss followed before he added, “Every inch of your body.”

“I like this surprise already,” she murmured.

Colin tore his mouth from hers and a moan of disappointment escaped her lips. “We shall continue this later, dear wife. First, your surprise.”

“That’s not my surprise?” she asked, doing her best imitation of a pout as he led her by the hand up the main staircase.

They headed up to the second floor, stopping in front of a door in the wing they had renovated for their suite of rooms.

“A door! Oh, darling, thank you!” Eve said, her fingers trailing up his shoulders before stroking his neck. Her hands then traced a path to his throat, where she reached for his cravat and tugged him closer to her. “Where did we leave off downstairs?” she asked, then kissed him once again, sensuous and intimate.

When she pulled away from him, Colin’s eyes were a deep cobalt. “You do more of that, and I’ll forget the surprise,” he muttered.

Not wanting to tease him any further, Eve returned to the subject at hand.

“What is my surprise?” she asked, nibbling on her lower lip to stop herself from kissing him again.

Colin placed his hands in his pockets. “Open the door and find out.”

“This is intriguing,” Eve turned the cool brass knob and entered what appeared to be a workshop of sorts. Fabrics in various colors and materials were folded and placed on shelves in the wardrobe, which stood open on the far corner of the room. There was a drawing table, with an overstuffed chair behind it, then two more chaises next to the fireplace.
 

Upon surveying the room, Eve noticed a contraption sitting on a table in the center of the room.

She walked over to it, her eyes wide in amazement. “Colin, is this a sewing machine?” Not able to believe her eyes, Eve reached out her hand, tracing the smooth curves and lines with her fingertips.

“Your very own,” he said, not able to hide his amusement from his voice.

“How?” Eve turned to him, catching the lazy smile draped across his chiseled features. “Where did you get this?”

“I purchased it from an American,” he said. “I thought you and Fiona might like to create outlandish clothing for our child. Then there is the matter of your business. If you wish to continue with it, I thought this would help.”

Eve bridged the gap between them. “Thank you, Colin!” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. “It is the sweetest gift I’ve ever received, and I love it!”

Colin shook his head. Only his wife could find a machine ‘sweet.’
 

“I have a confession to make,” he said, leaning against the sewing table. “This fellow patented the machine in America and is in need of a backer. I’m going to leave it up to you whether or not we invest in his endeavor.”

Eve sighed, “I love that idea. Thank you for entrusting me.”

“I would trust you with my life. I already entrust you with my heart,” he said.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Eve kissed her husband. “I love my gift, and I adore you even more.”

Fitting, Colin mused, since Eve’s love was his greatest gift.

“I love you, my darling,” he whispered, his voice rich with emotion.
 

She had been to hell and back with him, and loved him even more for it.
 

In an instant, Colin was reminded that his wonderful life came at a severe price … his brother’s happiness.
 

He had to find some way to make it up to him.
 

But how?

As if sensing where his thoughts had led him, Eve assured him, “We will reach him. I promise you. Tristan isn’t lost to us forever.”

Colin prayed his wife was right but on this matter he wasn’t completely certain. In the meantime, though, he would hold on to all of the others in his life that he held dear.

“I love you, Eve,” he said, kissing the palm of her hand. She wore her emerald betrothal ring. It had been in his pocket during the fire. They had lost all other possessions but the most valuable, next to the lives of everyone, of course.
 

At the time, Eve had said that her precious ring was the only good thing to come from India. He agreed. Though sometimes, on afternoons such as this, Colin wondered if he would truly treasure the blessings bestowed upon him if he had never been through hell and back.
 

“You are truly heaven sent, you know that?” he said, gently tucking a silken tendril behind her ear. “My angel. No, I take that back. You’re my Athena – kind, just, brave and strong.”

Eve smiled, pressing her palm against his cheek. “I love you, Colin MacAlistair. I always will.”

They were the sweetest words Colin had ever heard. The fact that he would get to hear them from now until the end of time filled his heart with a contentment he never knew existed.

The future … something Colin once dreaded, now lay before him, and he welcomed it with open arms and an open heart. His heart, once barely beating was alive and brimming with love and an overwhelming devotion to the woman standing before him with eyes the dewy color of spring.
 

He wanted to say so much but instead chose to place Eve’s palm against his heart. Wordlessly, he suspected that she knew what he meant.

“My heart beats for you, too,” she whispered, before kissing him.

Colin knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was indeed kissing his savior, and he would love his wife and be grateful for her until his last breath.
 

He was, quite simply, the luckiest man in the world and would spend every minute ensuring his wife knew it, as well.

Though it had taken miles to get to this place, Colin was certain that his journey had been worth it. His wife was worth it as was their unborn child.

His life was truly charmed, and he wouldn’t take a single day for granted.

Such was his vow, as he kissed his wife with all the love in his heart, relishing the fact that she returned his heartfelt kisses, her meaning clear.
 

Eve felt the same.

He couldn’t wait to see what their future held for them, certain that with this woman by his side, theirs would be an exquisite life.

About the Author

In addition to being a wife and mommy to an exquisite son and daughter, Tracy Goodwin is also the #1 Bestselling Author of sweeping Historical Romances fraught with passion, hope, danger, and redemption. Not surprising, having created epic tales of happily-ever-afters since she was a little girl. As her imagination blossomed, so did Tracy’s stories of heroes and heroines living in magnificent estates surrounded by landscapes the vivid colors of Impressionist paintings. What is more romantic than stories of forbidden love and redemption, of flawed heroes and heroines overcoming obstacles to be rewarded with an epic romance and a happy ending?