My Lady Scandal (11 page)

Both of them looked around the room. They could hide, but if whoever was outside knew they were here, they could not hide for long. ‘The roof?’ Nell suggested.

Perry nodded slowly. ‘Unless we can find another way out.’

Easing open the door, they listened to the sound of raised voices below. The servants were excited; demanding to know what was going on while a calm, deep voice reassured them everything was all right, but that they needed to search the house.

Nell’s heart sank at the sound of that voice. Captain Frame; unflappable, efficient Captain Frame. There might have been something ironic about being arrested by an acquaintance, but for the life of her, Nell wished it was a stranger, for Viola could not help but be distressed by this turn of events.

Slipping out onto the landing, they waited, listening to Frame’s calm, measured tone.

‘All we wish to do is make a thorough search of the house. Have any of you heard anything untoward? Where is the bedroom of your mistress?’

Nell winced as Perry immediately moved, looking for the secondary staircase that led up to the servant’s rooms in the attic as Frame started up the stairs. She knew they were only postponing the inevitable; Frame would make a thorough search of all the rooms in the house. Capture was only minutes away and with it the shame, the disgrace, the end of the Marriotts quest for respectability.

Oddly enough, the thing that Nell found the most painful was the knowledge that Perry would not have the wife and family she so desperately wanted for him. And that she would no longer have the company of the Viscount.

Not that there would be much time for regrets. They would, quite probably, hang within the week.

They were half way up the narrow wooden stairs when they heard the muffled sound of a pistol. There came a sudden commotion from below and they paused, listening.

‘What was that?’ Nell hissed.

‘Quickly!’

Turning, they headed back down the stairs and peeped around the corner. Frame was no longer on the landing, but had headed back down the stairs. They could hear his voice raised, shouts from outside and the unmistakable sound of another pistol shot.

‘A distraction!’ Perry turned and seized her arm, dragging her towards the back stairs again. Instead of going up, he went down and they emerged cautiously into a narrow hallway that was just shy of the kitchen. There was nobody about. Nell supposed that they would all be crowded around the front of the house, trying to find out what was going on.

And if they were all crowded around the front of the house, the back of the house was theirs for the taking. The boot room leading off from the hallway was deserted and they ran through it, opening the door cautiously. They caught a glimpse of a soldier running, but he was running
away
from them, heading towards the continuing commotion at the front of the house.

Whatever – or whoever – was causing the diversion was a Godsend and neither of the Marriotts hesitated, running towards the back fence, too intent on speed to worry about concealment. Bending, Perry linked his fingers and Nell put her foot into it immediately, springing up onto the top of the fence. Pausing, she reached down a hand and helped her brother scramble up, before both of them dropped down onto the street below and took off at a flat run.

They met up with Talbot twenty minutes later and rode silently home in the moonlight.

Chapter Six

‘We were lucky,’ Perry murmured, looking at his sister gravely.

They were seated in the front parlor drinking the tea that Emma had insisted on making them. For shock, she had said. It was hot and sweet and Nell was grateful for it.

Luck, Nell surmised, had nothing to do with it. She could not rid herself of the feeling that somehow they had been rescued by Carlisle. There was no reason to think so – anybody could have been in the street firing a pistol – but nonetheless, she was sure that it had been him.

‘It must be the end of it now,’ she murmured, ‘we cannot risk trying again.’

‘Agreed. I’m grateful enough for my neck.’ Perry yawned and rose to his feet. ‘Bedtime for both of us. You look done in, m’dear.’

She nodded, rising herself. She was exhausted, right enough and tired to the bone. What a night it had been. And how very differently it might have ended.

Making her way to her bedroom, she was glad that she had sent Emma off to bed, for she wanted some time to think. Still dressed in breeches, a shirt and a vest, she would have no trouble getting herself into her nightclothes. She carried a single candle with her, more than enough light to see her get ready for bed. Closing the door behind her, she leaned against it for a moment, eyes shut.

She did not know what it was that told her she was not alone. The familiar scent of him? Or perhaps it was merely that she was conscious of him if he were anywhere near her, be it a crowded room or one that was dimly lit.

She always knew when Carlisle was close.

He was sitting in the chair by the uncurtained window; moonlight gilding him into silver and shadow.

Nell walked forward slowly, placing the candle on the dresser top. He watched her without speaking as she came to stand before him. She began to shed her boy’s clothing: the vest, the shirt, the short shift beneath. The stockings, breeches and linen smalls followed, until she was completely naked before him. Nell heard him catch his breath as he looked at her and smiled. Silently, she held out her hand and Carlisle rose to his feet.

Moving forward, he kissed her. It was neither the feather light touch that he had bestowed in the park, nor the unrestrained passion that simmered just below the surface of his control. The pressure of that kiss as his mouth claimed her own spoke of need, longing and just a hint of desperation. And commitment.

With that kiss, Carlisle branded Nell his own, mouth moving slowly, tasting and summoning her own desire until her body felt as if it were on fire. His tongue was a sweet invasion, moving against her own with sinuous enchantment and Nell found herself pushing herself against him, the rough brush of his clothing against her naked skin intensely erotic.

His hands had pulled her against him, resting on her hips while he explored her mouth and a fever of desire rose up in her, a well of need that ran deep.

He raised his head, but only to press his mouth to her skin, trailing a line of kisses across her jaw line, the slender column of her throat and collar bone, continuing on until he reached the swell of her breast. She could not hold back a moan of pleasure as he grazed a nipple, sliding his lips across it before taking it and slowly sucking it into his mouth; in and out, in and out, all so slowly that the ache of need within her continued to build, fanning the embers into a full blown fire that raged in the pit of her stomach and between the apex between her legs.

Releasing one breast, he moved across to the other and began the slow, sweet torture again as Nell’s head rolled back in mindless, magical pleasure.

Raising his head at last, he turned to her and gently pushed her down onto the bed. Nell fell, glazed eyes half opening to watch as he undressed, her breath catching at the sight of Grif’s naked form covered in moonlight. He was magnificent! The hard, well-defined planes of his chest tapered down to a flat stomach that in turn…

Nell’s eyes traveled downwards a little more and she swallowed, mouth suddenly dry. The hard, jutting length of his manhood, fully aroused, fully prepared, should have made her shrink away, for she was a virgin and, if rumor were to be believed, a girl’s virginity surrendered itself with great reluctance and no little pain.

But far from being nervous, Nell ached to feel him inside her. He was everything she had never allowed herself to dream about; everything most girls secretly desired, but would not dare say out loud.

He knew that she was studying him and smiled his satisfaction. ‘You are a minx, Miss. Marriott,’ he murmured, the first words he had spoken, ‘and you deserve everything you get!’

‘Oh, yes,’ Nell agreed fervently, holding out her arms to him, ‘I most certainly do!’

Grif chuckled and lay next to her, resisting the lure of her parted legs, determined to inflict the sweet torture of his hands and mouth a little while longer. Nell had not believed a body could sing, but when his fingers found their way between her legs, she knew that it was capable of an entire chorus. He kissed her as he stroked the warm heart of her womanhood into glorious life and, when the wave of pleasure came crashing through her, culminating in an explosion of ecstasy so intense he had to cut of her cry with his mouth, Nell knew that her life would never be the same.

Or she
almost
knew it; the glorious ripples of pleasure that gripped her body prevented her from thinking of anything sensible. Thinking had taken a small break, replaced by feeling and she was feeling utterly delicious.

When Grif raised his head, his dark eyes as unfathomable as the night sky, she could barely focus on him. ‘Why, Miss. Marriott,’ he was so close their breath intermingled, ‘I do believe I have silenced you at last.’

Silenced, but not stilled. Her questing hand moved, wrapping itself around the hard length of him and this time, it was Grif’s breath that caught. Her half smile told him everything he needed to know and he rolled onto his knees and pushed her legs wider. With infinite tenderness, Grif eased his long length into her velvety sheath, trying to move slowly, his efforts hampered by the fact that Nell herself was moving, doing her best to wriggle downward to hasten the process. ‘Please,’ she gasped, ‘put it in!’

‘Damn it, Nell, I am trying to be gentle with you!’

‘Yes, yes but… oh, dear Lord, it feels so good!’

And it did. Even the slight hiccup when he encountered the last bastion of her virginity – and the pain as it broke – was nothing compared to the flood of desire the feel of him inside her generated and he moved with her, until they were both caught up in a ride so sweet, the world itself became nothing but a backdrop.

They were at the centre of their own, exquisite universe of pleasure, cresting a wave that rushed them headlong for the shore. A great, crashing wave… Nell was drowning in it. And as he buried his seed deep within her, Grif was swallowed by it too, losing all the finesse he had prided himself in, overtaken by instinct and a primal drive that took command.

A simple equation that he had so far managed to sidestep; but now it tripped him up and he knew he was undone. Nell had caught him, well and truly. And he did not give a damn.

Half-collapsing beside her, it was Grif who groaned this time, wrapping his arms around Nell and dragging her close to him. ‘Into bed. We will freeze if we stay on top of the covers.’

‘I have not had a chance to be insatiable,’ she pointed out, wiggling until she was resting snug against him. ‘That was my first time.’

‘I was lucky. After you had gone, I went to the assembly area and found Frame. I waited, hoping that I would not have to intervene, but when one of his men came running, I knew something was amiss. When Frame left, I followed him. As soon as I saw him deploy his men, I guessed you were inside.’

He smiled against her cheek. ‘Oh, no, not that. I knew that I would be able to get you between the sheets easily enough.’ He ignored her indignant gasp, continuing on blithely, ‘After all, you are very attracted to me and I have had a great deal of success in seducing ladies.’

‘I am sure you have!’

‘But I think you know that it is not just seduction that I have in mind, Nell.’

There was a small silence and then, ‘I… I am most grateful for your attentions, my Lord, but you must see… I would make you a most unsuitable wife.’

‘I do not think I can let you be the judge of that.’

‘Ah, but I am. You know nothing of my past. I have… I have not lived the life of a gently born lady, my Lord. I have stolen, dressed as a boy, cheated and lied. I shot a man in Milan and stuck a knife into another in Calais. Good Lord, Grif. I am utterly unsuited to be the wife of an earl!’

‘It is an interesting past that you have, I will allow that,’ Grif agreed easily. ‘I will certainly never grow bored listening to your childhood stories.’

Turning her head, she frowned at him. ‘Truly, you are the most perverse man I have ever met.’

‘It is why we are so perfect together,’ he agreed. ‘I am perverse and you are… you are you.’ His arms tightened around her, holding her close. ‘I nearly lost you tonight. I did not like the way it made me feel. In fact, it made me feel so unpleasant that I swear that once we are married, if I ever catch you robbing somebody again, I will give you the spanking you so richly deserve!’

‘Spanking?’ she repeated, sounding intrigued.

‘Oh, my God!’ Tilting her chin up, he kissed her hard on the mouth. When he released her, she said nothing, merely looking up at him with wide, blue eyes. ‘I will leave before morning. After luncheon, I will return and I will request an audience with your brother. I will ask for your hand in marriage. Do you understand the program I have outlined, my love?’