Linna : Historical Romance (The Brocade Collection, Book 5) (5 page)

“...why I’m certain you know all of this, too
. Well?”

She was waiting for an answer
. Cord closed his eyes for a moment. He hadn’t any idea what she’d just asked.
Know all of what?
He repeated it to himself and was still at a loss.

Fool! Imbecile! Dunce! Drat my tongue! Simpleton! Fool!

The litany of words she was calling herself went on and on, over and over
. Why did she lose her tongue every time she got angered? She never managed to curb it in time! She should be on her knees thanking God that Raoul had grabbed her to him as he had. Otherwise, she’d have stormed from him back into the ballroom and been completely and totally defeated.
Imbecile!

Although it seemed absolutely incredible, she could have sworn that this dream-man that she’d conjured into being was about to ask for her hand in marriage
. She wouldn’t have to put part two into effect. She didn’t have to ruin what was left of her reputation. All she’d had to do was listen and stay silent. Instead, what had she done? Argued with him.
Fool! Stupid, arrogant fool!
Linna felt him still touching her waist, although his hands weren’t as restrictive as they’d been before. The man had such strength, it was impossible to fight. It was also making her feel more feminine and attractive than ever before. This wasn’t a man to run like a scared rabbit at mention of Ryan Daniels.

Linna watched his jaw line above her as he stared at something over her head
. He was the most amazing man she’d ever seen. He had to have the most handsome countenance of any man born. He had the body of a god. He just had to, or the gods had been cheated. He was gifted with an old and worthy name.
And
by his own admission, he possessed a fortune. What fool would turn any of that away? Even one that wasn’t desperate wouldn’t. Linna wondered what she could say now. He felt distant somehow. He was still holding her, but he didn’t look like he was enjoying it.

She reached to touch his cheek and pull his face back to her
. At the touch, he started.

“Raoul?” she whispered, waiting until she had his glance back
. She pulled in a deep breath for courage.

“
Oui
?” he answered.

“Do you
—? I mean, is there some place—? I mean, is there some privacy...um...I—I mean, a suite of rooms? Do you have them for your use? Someplace....private?”

Raoul’s mouth dropped open
. Linna should have known he’d have perfect teeth, too. She blazed ahead.

“I don’t want you to get the wrong idea
. I just—um. I have something—. Uh...it’s something I have to ask you. You probably think this is terribly forward of me, but—.”  Her voice faded. Linna blinked at the rise of tears. She hadn’t even cried at her own mother’s demise, had to start now? No. She refused. What a horrid state of affairs that would be. She looked away from his dazed expression. She couldn’t watch it one more heart-pounding moment.

“I think we’ve stayed too long in the garden
. This is what I think. Come.”

His voice had changed
. It had gotten deeper, sharper, and had a snarling kind of timbre to it as well. The path wavered in front of her eyes. Linna forced her feet to move, one in front of the other as she walked beside him. Her numbness was cracking. That was bad. Really bad.

He wasn’t holding her closely in front of him as he had earlier either
. She guessed why. She’d said the wrong thing, then she’d been too argumentative, and then she’d been too indiscreet and forward. She only hoped she could get back through the ballroom without anyone guessing at the depth of her misery.

It was better to be numb
.

Much better.

They were playing another dance tune as Raoul escorted her back through the doors. There wasn’t going to be an easy path to the entryway. She’d have to skirt about the edge. It looked like an acre she had to traverse. Linna moved her gaze to the wooden flooring they were walking across. She felt him stop. Now. She was supposed to bid him
adieu
and take her leave. She turned toward him and somehow managed to catch the sound at what was on his face. He had one side of his mouth lifted in a semi-snarl. It looked dangerous; lethal. That look started a shiver clear to the backs of her ankles. She tugged slightly at her hand, but then he surprised her completely by using it to pull her into the throng of dancers. Linna didn’t have the ability left to think as his left arm snaked about her again, bringing her close...closer. There was no time to evaluate it before he started swaying, gracefully moving them among the others. Linna watched the tight knot of his jaw before she got brave enough to move her gaze higher.

He was twirling them with his eyes almost closed
. She watched him through a silken blur. She’d never seen anything to compare. He had a feral passion about him that she’d never come across in her life. She was half-afraid and half-glorying in the idea that she might be on the receiving end of it.

She was afraid to blink over the moisture in her eyes and watched his gaze sharpen on her
. Linna gulped, smiled tremulously, and received his answer in the caress of the hand at the small of her back. Each of his fingers was played wide across the material, using the motion to move her closer than any dance required. Linna found the velvet of his jacket comforting to lean against, and she did so with a sigh.

The music ended
,  then Raoul was moving, walking her swiftly across the floor to the entranceway. Everyone parted for him, and she knew they were all watching. Linna didn’t have to check. If it had happened like this to anyone else, she’d have been watching, too. The entrance door loomed before them and then the marbled steps.

“Have you a carriage?” he asked in a harsh voice, as he escorted her more swiftly down the steps than her shoes allowed
. When she tripped he was there, lifting her effortlessly a few steps before setting her back on her feet. “Well?”

Linna shook her head
. She was too shocked and frightened to cry. She knew she was going to though. She was going to cry a tempest of weeping that would probably never end.

“No?”  His voice was harsher if such a thing were possible
. Then he was pointing and motioning a hansom driver over. Linna looked down at the street then. She was afraid to look anywhere else.

“Take her to the end of Bourbon Street - and wait
. A quarter hour. There will be another coach. Put her in it, then leave. Ask no questions. Here.”  Linna’s face probably mirrored the reaction as she watched Raoul flip a coin at the coachman, who grinned when he bit down on it. “Now, fetch your carriage.”  The coachman turned and started running. Nobody said anything as he reached it, pulled himself into the seat, and turned it toward them.     

Then Raoul pulled Linna to him, stopping everything as he held her so tightly against him she felt every nuance, every enlarged and hardened feature that the ensemble he was wearing did little to mute
. She was gasping, she was over-heated, she was shocked.

And she was intrigued
.

He groaned as he pulled away, opened the carriage door, and lifted her onto the seat
. “I cannot stay another moment with you. Not now. Not like this. I will meet with you at my private apartments. We’ll continue this there.”

“I
—I can’t go there,” Linna whispered.

“You wish to speak with me privately?”  He reached in and touched a finger to her cheek
, then he pulled back. “Now is your chance. Never fear,
cherie
. I’m a gentleman. Now, go. Go quickly! Before anyone else sees this. Now.”

He tossed another coin at the coachman
. Linna heard the sounds of astonishment as it was caught. Then the carriage door shut.

CHAPTER FIVE

Linna had a lot of time to review her hasty actions
. The black carriage had come for her just as Raoul had said. There had been a black cloak to wear and a solemn coachman to drive her. She didn’t think she’d been driven far. She had no idea where he’d had her taken, actually.

She could even be back at the Larroquette Mansion, for all she knew
. That building was made of stone and stood three stories tall. This one hadn’t been lit, so there was no telling how large it was. The apartments she found herself in were amazingly rich and also made of stone. They were on the second floor. She’d only had to force herself to climb one staircase to reach them. She didn’t worry about the descent. She had worse things to worry over.

There was an antechamber, probably designed to be a dressing room for the wealthy owner, she suspected, while through the one large doorway, a four-poster bed sat, dominating that room
. Linna had gasped when she first saw it and backed out. She was in Raoul Larroquette’s chambers? His bedroom? Dear God, what had possessed her? This was not going to get her a marriage proposal! This was going right past part two and somewhere beyond...five!

The antechamber had three wooden, ladder-back chairs and an oaken table big enough for a banquet
. She wondered what sense that made. There was a small chandelier directly above the table and four oil lamps lighting the space, one on each wall. There wasn’t any sign of the man she was awaiting nor was there any evidence that this was his room. Surely he had more clothing than what he wore, didn’t he?

She didn’t hear him enter.

Linna was sitting in one of the chairs, wrapped in the black cloak and drumming her hands on the table when the lights sputtered with a sudden shift in air. She started and looked up before guiltily clasping her hands in her lap. Her senses were deceiving her, for he looked even larger than before as he approached. He was unfastening the lacy white linen wrapped about his throat with one hand as he walked, and by the time he reached the table, he had it undone. Linna watched him unwind it, tipping his head both times, and then he dropped it, creating a messy pile on the table top.

“Good eve, Miss...Linna,” he said
. And then he smiled.

She jumped and his smile broadened
.

“I trust you arrived without incident?”

She nodded. She didn’t dare use her voice. Her mouth was dry, her throat clogged, and her chest tight with an emotion bordering on fear.

“Come
. I brought up champagne. I think you need it. Here.”

He had a bottle and two wine goblets in his other hand
. Linna watched in silence as he uncorked the bottle and poured. He placed one on the table in front of her and turned to fill his own. Linna picked hers up with both hands and still it trembled. She hoped he wouldn’t notice.

The bubbles stayed in the bottom of her glass until she tilted it to drink
. Then they fizzled to the surface making minute moisture on her cheeks. She drained the glass and set it back down. Raoul raised his eyebrows but said nothing. He held the bottle up again but Linna shook her head.

She was desperate for some courage, not for oblivion
. She suspected he knew it, too. Her eyes widened further as he started unfastening his mother-of-pearl buttons with the delicate motion of one hand, all the time, never taking his eyes from her.

“I don’t mean to frighten you
. I merely mean to get more comfortable. You’ve no idea how restrictive such garments are. At least...I hope you don’t.”

“I shouldn’t be here,” she replied.

He smiled and glided the velvet jacket off his shoulders. His shirt had been sewn without sleeves and he raised one arm to undo a cuff. Linna had never seen such strength as he possessed in just one arm. She wondered where he could have honed such a physique. Her father and her brother, Vincent, had spent long hours at work; the Daniel plantation had field slaves as well; but nothing compared to the man standing in front of her.

“No,” he answered finally
. “You probably shouldn’t. There. Much better.”

He tossed the cuffs onto the tabletop and then flexed every bit of his arms as he stretched them first over his head and then behind his back
. Linna couldn’t help it. Her lips parted as she simply stared.

What a man
. Such awe stained the thought, he couldn’t help being aware of it. Raoul Larroquette was quite a man. He had to know it, too.

He put a palm atop the chair beside her, spun it around and straddled it, linking his arms through the latticework
. Then he leaned his chin onto the back of it and regarded her from so close, she could feel each breath he exhaled. Linna blushed at his continual gaze and had to drop her own.

“Now...wasn’t there something said about wanting privacy
? With me?”  He prompted it after seemingly endless moments of silence.

Linna wove her fingers together and twisted them in front of her
. This was impossible! She opened her mouth at least twice to say something, but nothing came out. Raoul was watching her the entire time. She knew. She had glimpses of it whenever she glanced up.

“You certain you wouldn’t care for more champagne?”  He asked it while lifting the bottle to pour her goblet full again
. Linna watched the majority of the bubbles sitting on the bottom on her goblet, daring only to slice through the liquid and up the sides, until she would tip it and set them all free.

She took a deep breath
. “I...need a husband.”  She whispered the words to the glass and then looked over at him.

She knew he’d heard it as he pulled back, a stunned expression on his face
. Then his eyebrows rose and a look of merriment danced about his mouth. She couldn’t continue facing him and returned her gaze to her glass. The champagne was safer.

“I’m not certain I heard that,” he finally said.

“I said...I need a husband.”  Linna had to clear her throat to say it. Her voice was showing her nervousness. She didn’t know what she could do about it.

“And?” he prompted.

“I don’t know what it is you’re asking,” she replied, glancing up to meet his eyes. She couldn’t hold the gaze, however. Linna dropped hers again to her entwined fingers.

“I’m to take it, you’re asking me to fill the position?”

“Uh...yes.”  The word didn’t make it into sound, but she knew he heard it.

“What, pray tell, would I gain from such an arrangement?”

“Why...a wife.”  She said it breathlessly, glancing up once but not quite meeting his eyes. The light from the chandelier tossed shadows along his cheeks. She risked another glance and looked back down.

“You believe perhaps that...I do not already have one...
non
?”

Oh dearest God
!
The horror of it overwhelmed her, making actual dots dance in front of her eyes. She’d just proposed to a married man! There could be no worse sensation. She felt faint. Linna closed her eyes and started panting to stave it off. She refused to swoon. She refused to sob. She was going to do the only thing possible. She was going to flee...down a flight of steps. And then she was going to collapse.

She opened her eyes and stood, surprising the strangest look on his face
. “Forgive me,
Monsieur
Larroquette. I beg your indulgence in seeing me to my...home.”  The last word would have sounded a lot better if she hadn’t just sobbed it.

She turned, managing two steps before his bulk stopped her, and then he was lifting her easily from the floor when she started struggling.

“Now wait a minute, Linna! Wait! I teased. Listen to me!”

She was beyond listening
. She would have been screaming if she wasn’t using the energy to struggle. More than once she had an arm or a leg free, but to no avail. He was just as he looked. Strong. Very strong.

“Listen to me
! Stop that!”

She heard the black cloak tearing, felt the hot tears of shame splashing onto her cheeks, and closed her eyes to all of it
. She just wished she could shut her consciousness off as easily. Nothing was going to stop it. She was going to be ravished by a married man that she’d just proposed to. Nobody could blame him. She was the one who’d placed herself in the position.

She shook with the effort at gaining her release
, but she refused to cry out. She wasn’t going to embarrass herself further. Then his words began sinking in.

“Forgive me
! I’m unwed. I swear. Do you hear? I would apologize but it’s senseless. We’ve just met. And what you propose...? Cease struggling!”

He took away the choice as his arms tightened, stealing her breath and her energy
. Linna stopped wriggling, more due to running out of breath than his insistence on it. Raoul wasn’t even breathing hard.

“Put...me down.”  Linna panted it.

“Are you ready to listen?”

“Put me down,
please
,” she repeated, emphasizing the last word.

“Are you in the family way
? Is this why you need a husband so desperately that you ask a stranger?” 

“How dare you suggest such a thing?”  She didn’t have enough air to screech it like she wished, so she sucked in more
. His arms halted it. She narrowed her eyes, instead. “Put me down now,
Monsieur
Larroquette. Now.”

“You’re not in the family way, but you still need a husband
? This is even stranger. Why, then?” 

“I’ve changed my mind
. I’m no longer desirous of your hand in marriage, or continuing another moment in your company. Now please, put me down!”

He sat with her instead, holding her imprisoned in the same arms she’d sighed over earlier
. She should have known they’d feel like iron bands, she told herself as she tried to pry them loose. Her struggles made a trickle of sweat start at the base of her neck, and the cloak was stifling her with heat. Raoul chuckled and placed what had to be his tongue at the juncture of her shoulder and neck. Linna gasped at the first touch and stilled.

“What
—are you doing?” she asked.

“Showing you what you forgot to mention.”

“What?”  Her voice rose an octave as he ran his tongue along the bottom of her earlobe and then around the outer edge.

“I wouldn’t get just a wife, Miss Linna
. I’d get this. And this.”  He’d finished his exploration of her ear and was traveling down her neck. Despite everything, Linna quivered. One of his hands was undoing the folds of her cloak and pressuring her chin back. She finally gave into what he wanted and tilted her neck.

Raoul filled the space of her throat with his lips, running his tongue down to the bodice of her gown and then back up, stopping only momentarily when she gulped
. The area raced with fire,  then cooled with the force of each breath.

“This is what I’d get from you, Linna...and this is just a sampling.”

She knew it was probably her mouth that lunged for the kiss, grasping at the sweetness of his mouth before toying with the fullness of his lower lip. She moaned and heard his answering sound.

“Do you...understand now?”  He pulled from the embrace first
. The flush of his cheeks was as mysterious as the message in his eyes. Linna dropped her own at what she saw there. His were no longer gray-green in color. They were as dark as pitch.

“This is what I’d get if we wed
. This. And much more. Much, much more.”  He was catching at breath through the words, making them harsh and almost frightening to hear.

Linna raised her chin and met his look, although it sent a plethora of shivers down her spine to do so
. “It took all my courage to say the words to you and you mocked me.”

He laughed, moving her with it
. “You must forgive me. I thought you in jest. I replied in kind. This is really true? You are desirous of a husband, and you’re truly asking it to be me?”

Linna nodded, then lifted a hand to the band of his arms about her
. “Will you release me now?”

“You’ll come back into my arms willingly?”

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “You’ll have to test it, I think.”

Raoul opened his arms wide
. Linna stepped from his lap gingerly, trying to avoid looking at what he’d immediately moved his legs to hide. She knew the heat she was suffering was a blush now. She’d been raised on a plantation. They had horses. They had other domestic animals. She knew what it was. And she knew the power it just gave to her.

Linna tossed the cloak onto the table, masking his discarded garments
under the mound it made. Then she curved her body backward, raising her arms to lift her hair from the back of her neck as if to cool it.

“Woman
. You don’t know what you do.”

The low growl came from where he sat
. Linna tipped her head toward the sound. This was much more exciting than any teasing she’d ever done. Raoul looked like a solid mass of coiled strength. Her eyes narrowed as she considered him. His mouth was opened to allow a panting sort of breathing. She guessed the reason and didn’t think she was far wrong.