Regency 09 - Redemption (19 page)

Jenny was shocked almost
speechless to find herself suddenly outside and standing alone. She
gave Dare a look of indignation. “I was wrong?” she asked quietly,
too quietly.

He pointed back into the
ballroom. “About your brother. He was coming to take you from the
floor.”

She glanced behind her and
stretched up on her toes to see over the heads blocking her vision.
Sure enough, a brief parting in the swirling dancers showed Connor
gazing around with singular purpose.

“Maybe he searches for
Gwen.” Her tone did not indicate that she believed her own
suggestion.

“Perhaps,” Dare allowed.
“She is off with my brother somewhere, after all.”

Jenny’s astonished eyes
returned to her companion. “What?” Her hands clenched and
unclenched at her sides, testament of her continued
irritation.

Dare
leaned back against the stone balustrade, crossing his arms over
his chest. “I saw them leave as we began to waltz. Perhaps they
hoped everyone would believe we were them and not realize that it
was the
good
couple
who went off to…
talk
.”

“Are you implying that they
are… What are you implying?”

Dare moved from his relaxed
pose and leaned forward, brushing her cheek playfully. “Come,
Jenny-love, you are not so innocent anymore. What do you think I
imply?”

“You are no gentleman to
bring that so plainly to my attention,” she complained.

He smiled and resumed his
pose. “What? The implication that my brother is making love to your
sister? Or that you are no longer innocent?”

“Either. Neither. Both. Oh,
I don’t know!”

Jenny turned abruptly away.
She was fast approaching that point where she reacted without
thought. If they continued to talk this way she just might strike
him.

Or kiss him. Which would be
worse?

Placing her hands on the
balustrade, she took several deep breaths, trying desperately to
calm herself.

She wasn’t aware of Dare’s
having moved until he stood right behind her. His arms came around
her to rest on the stone next to hers, effectively pressing his
front all along her back. A shiver wracked her suddenly and she
couldn’t stop herself from pressing back into him, relishing the
warmth and hardness of his body.

“Does it bother you so much
then?” he asked, breathing the words softly in her ear. He lightly
nipped her lobe. She shivered again and closed her eyes, feeling
his erotic caress throughout her entire frame.

“What?” she asked, aware of
a strange huskiness in her voice.

“Miles,” he told her,
pressing his lips to that sensitive spot just below her ear. A soft
moan escaped her. “And Gwen.”

Is that what he thought?
That she would be upset about her betrothed and her sister, two
people who’d had feelings for each other since the first moment
they’d met?

“No. I wish them well,” she
managed to murmur as his lips moved down her neck and around her
throat. “I wish them”—pausing on a moan as his tongue ran over the
smooth skin of her shoulder—“all the pleasure”—another moan as he
turned her in his arms—“they can steal.”

Finally, finally, Dare
kissed her. It was not a sweet meeting of mouths but rather
something far more primitive. An explosion of hunger erupted
between them, making them lose sense of place and time. All their
pent-up emotions, the anger, betrayal, desolation, and loss was
communicated in their embrace. It was as if they were trying to
store up whatever memories they could before their inevitable
parting.

Her hands found their way
into his hair, removing the riband securing the long black strands.
A sensual shiver raced down her spine at the feel of the silky
locks slipping through her fingers. She loved his hair. It was the
first thing that attracted her during their first
meeting.

He was trailing kisses all
along the swell of her breasts when she heard the unmistakable
sound of a throat being cleared. Her head shot up, nearly colliding
with Dare’s.

It was her
father.

She groaned and tried to
step away from her lover. Dare’s arms tightened, however,
preventing her retreat. She looked at him, her eyes wide and
pleading. He looked obstinately back at her.

“As much
as I hate to interrupt this…ah,
touching
moment,” the duke drawled
with deceptive calm, “I’m afraid I must ask you to release my
daughter.”

“And if I don’t?” Dare had
the temerity to inquire, meeting Lord Denbigh’s gaze steadily. They
both knew he wasn’t merely speaking of that particular moment in
time.

The duke stared sedately at
him. “I am too old to make threats, young man. I will allow that
this incident was a bout of moon-madness and pretend nothing
happened. Should it occur again, however, I will have to kill
you.”

The last was said with such
calm finality that Dare felt Jenny shiver and just barely
restrained a shiver of his own. With more regret than he could
fully hide, he dropped his arms.

Jenny took one step away
from him but, to her credit, did not cower before her father. She
lifted her chin, a tiny, secretive smile playing about her
kiss-swollen lips.

“Come, Jenny. We must
leave. Gwen departed some time ago under Miles’s escort due to a
headache. We should not tarry too long in our own
departure.”

“Yes, Father,” she murmured
dutifully.

As she moved past Dare,
Jenny met his dark eyes, her own laughing mischievously. There was
something she wasn’t telling him. And he was very worried that
whatever it was would probably plunge them all into far more
scandal than he ever could have dreamed.

Dare was right.

The following morning Adam
entered his wife’s drawing room and bluntly announced:

“Gwen has eloped. With
Miles.”

“Miles would never do such
a thing,” stated that young man’s twin with rigid
finality.

Adam shrugged helplessly.
“And yet he has. Denbigh and Con are breathing fire and for some
reason, their animosity is directed at you.”

Dare snorted. “As is ever
the function of the black sheep.”

“Unfortunately, that is
often the case.” The older man sat down and leaned back in his
chair, studying his cousin intently. “You realize, of course, that
this leaves Jenny with a huge problem and no husband to show for
it.”

Dare started. It was true.
And more than he could comfortably take in at the
moment.

“I think it would be in
everyone’s best interest if you were to offer for the
girl.”

Dare looked up from his
clenched fists. “Would she have me?”

“I very much doubt her
father will give her a choice. Who would have her now, nearly three
months gone with another man’s child?”

“Blunt, but true,” Dare
drawled. “And as I am the father, one would assume I have at least
half a chance of securing her hand.” He shrugged.

Adam watched him
impassively. Bri was unaccountably silent. Dare glanced over at her
to see her smiling. His heart stopped. She wore the same expression
Jenny had worn the night before, mischievous and
secretive.

Adam noticed the direction
of Dare’s gaze and looked at his wife as well. His eyes narrowed
suspiciously. “What have you done, madam?”

Bri started guiltily. Then,
as usual, her natural—or perhaps unnatural—defiance reared up.
“Nothing that didn’t need to be done, Adam Prestwich. And don’t you
dare give me that look. I don’t deserve to be punished. I have done
nothing—!”

Her excuses ended on an
indignant squeal as Adam lifted her from her chair.
“What—have—you—done?” he bit out harshly.

Dare leapt to his feet,
knowing it was unwise to get in the middle of a domestic argument,
but reconciling his interference with the irrefutable truth that
this particular argument stemmed from something that directly
concerned himself and so was partially his fault.

Grabbing his cousin’s arm,
he urged, “Adam, she’s carrying your child. Release her before you
do damage to it.”

His words were instantly
heeded. Adam had not actually done anything more than grip her
hard, just enough to let her know he was in earnest. He stepped
away now, his irritation a palpable entity in the room.

Dare sighed in relief. He
knew Adam would never hurt Bri but with all the tension over all
the stupid actions being committed left and right in this farce,
Dare wasn’t sure Adam had a very good hold on his roiling
displeasure.

Helping Bri back to her
seat, he warned in an undertone, “I am not above letting him shake
you, Bri, so please do not anger either one of us further. What
have you and Jenny done and who helped you do it?”

She remained mulishly
silent for a moment, her gaze locked on her husband’s rigid back.
Then, as Dare’s words penetrated, she glanced quickly up at him,
her eyes revealing her shock at how perceptive he was.

Dare straightened, throwing
a sharp look at Adam. He was not naïve enough to believe Adam had
not heard every word he’d uttered to his lady wife. He was also
quite aware that he couldn’t stop Adam a second time should the
older man decide to punish his willful wife.

“Talk,” Adam commanded, his
back still turned to them.

Bri released a feral sound
from deep in her throat. “Gwen asked for my help. She knew Jenny
would be miserable with Miles so she wanted to break the
engagement.”

“How did you get Miles to
agree?” Adam asked.

Dare answered, his gaze
glued to Bri’s obstinately beautiful face. “They
didn’t.”

Bri’s face revealed the
truth of Dare’s statement.

Adam’s face suffused with
color. “What the bloody hell does that mean?”

Dare turned laughing eyes
to his cousin. “Miles has not eloped, Adam. He’s been
kidnapped.”

Adam’s face reflected
astonishment for a moment before he and Dare burst into
uncontrollable laughter. Bri turned shocked eyes from one man to
the other.