Sari Robins - [Andersen Hall Orphanage] (19 page)

A
fter kicking off his shoes and ripping off his coat, waistcoat and shirt, Prescott kissed Edwina so thoroughly her head spun. Her hands explored the glorious planes of his back, and she sighed blissfully.

His kiss was so inspiring she felt as if she were elevated to a higher plane, until she realized that Prescott had lifted her off the floor and carried her over to the bed.

Hugging her close, he reached down and swept the clothing off the bed. Then he laid Edwina down, covering her body with his hard, lean form. He pressed himself deeply between her legs, claiming her neck with hot, wet, open-mouth kisses that left her panting.

“You smell so good,” he murmured as he laved her neck.

His mouth moved lower, circling the heated flesh of
her chest with his tongue, then dipping down to the muslin frill edging of her chemise. Pushing down the thin fabric, his mouth enveloped her bare breast, claiming the nipple and sucking gently.

Edwina’s back arched. “Oh, oh…God…”

“No, it’s only me,” he murmured, smiling up at her. Then he drew her into his mouth once more.

Her eyes closed as her body thrummed with an overpowering sense of need building inside of her. No one had ever touched her this way, as if drawing forth her passion with a conjurer’s hand…and mouth…and hard, glorious body….

Her hips moved of their own volition, pressing against his broad chest, wanting him inside of her.

Reaching down to the leg of her drawers, Prescott’s hand teasingly caressed her ankle, then inched higher, untying the ribbon of the loose garments. He thrust his hand inside the knitted silk, grazing her calf with his titillating touch, then moved higher.

Edwina held her breath as his hand traveled steadily up to her knee, then thigh, grazing the fine hairs so that they stood on end. Her womanhood convulsed with desire.

“I need to touch you,” he said, his voice a guttural growl.

Pulling his hand out from under the fabric leg, he moved to the slit between her thighs and through the seam.

His fingers slipped between the moist folds of her womanhood, teasing her flesh with a touch that seared her to her core. Her eyes flew open, then slammed closed. Clutching the mattress, she was lost to the sensation of his fingers teasing, enticing, arousing her to a
state where there was nothing but the feel of him touching her.

As his deft fingers rubbed the hard nub between her thighs, heat surged, her body thrummed and she was frantic with a need she’d never felt before. She wanted him to fill her. Now!

“Prescott…” She was panting, moving against him with an urgency she hadn’t known was possible.

Stopping, he looked up, his smile wide, white and wicked. “Yes, darling?”

“Please!”

“Your wish is my command, my lady.”

He reached beneath her back and nimbly undid the laced tie at her waist. Slipping the drawers down, he kissed her bare hip, her thigh, her calf and her ankle, then moved up to her inner thigh once more, planting a moist hot kiss.

“Wh-what…?” Alarm caused her to sit up.

“Relax, Edwina. Trust me.”

After a moment, she lay back. Staring up at the white ceiling, she wondered what in heaven’s name he was up to down there.

His tongue teased along her inner thigh, raising every hair on her body and causing a new wave of heat in her core. Her legs widened giving him freer access. Then his mouth was on her, claiming her, suckling her innermost place.

It felt so good she wanted to scream, but she had no air.

His tongue delved inside of her, exploring, teasing, sucking. Her back arched and she flamed, every inch of her being consumed in a passionate inferno. She had no air, her heart was racing wildly, it was…

“Too much…” she panted.

Her world exploded. Her womanhood convulsed, heat rushed and she saw stars behind her closed lids.

With her heart still racing, the world slowly spun back into place. Breath filled her lungs once more and she shuddered. She swallowed, still overcome. Then she opened her eyes.

Prescott lay beside her, resting prone on his elbow. His auburn hair was tousled, his lush lips smiling, his golden cheeks flushed and his emerald gaze simmering with dark passion. His chest was a creamy plane of undulating muscle she longed to explore.

She reached for him, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders and pulling him toward her as she slid closer to him. Her breasts rubbed against his hard nipples causing such arousal, a deep moan escaped from her lips.

She kissed him, tasting her ardor mixed with his own delicious flavor, savoring him the way he had savored her.

He hesitated, keeping himself up on his elbow, but she hugged him close and pulled him down, demanding that his body lie prone along hers, so close that every part of her felt blanketed by his hard, lean form.

Her tongue delved into his mouth, exploring, teasing, sucking him.

Slowly, he relaxed, kissing her back, grinding his hips into hers so that through his breeches his stiff manhood pressed into the soft flesh between her thighs, reviving the incredible pleasure of just moments ago.

Edwina rocked beneath him, lost to the sensation of his hard member stroking her core, her legs wide-open,
her eyes closed shut, his mouth and body arousing her, making her feel as if she’d been asleep her entire lifetime until this night.

“God, you’re magnificent,” he muttered, breathing hard.

She opened her eyes and met his dark gaze, bereft of words. She so desperately wanted him, wanted him to feel as good as he’d made her feel.

Prescott watched Edwina’s face as he slid up, gliding his stiff manhood against her.

She closed her eyes and moaned, rolling her head to the side. “I want you inside of me…”

Thank heavens, because he didn’t know if he could last much longer.

Prescott had been with many women, women who knew how to bring a man to the heights of pleasure. But nothing he’d ever experienced had prepared him for the fiery pitch of Edwina’s desire. Each groan came from deep within her, shaking him to his core, making his shaft thicken and throb with yearning to plunge deep inside her. Each hitch of her breath signaled a new level of pleasure, a delightful new experience of learning all that her body was capable of. She had the most astonishing capacity for passion. And he was ready to explore it to the hilt.

Rolling over, Prescott unbuttoned his breeches and pulled off his smallclothes. Then he turned to face her once more.

She was glorious, with her wild ebony tresses, her onyx eyes shimmering dark with passion, her porcelain skin flushed pink and her cherry red lips swollen from his kisses. One lush pink breast still spilled out from
the top of her chemise and from the waist down she was exposed for his full perusal. Her arched waist fanned out at the hips, giving a perfect frame to a triangle of dark, soft curls. Her curvaceous legs lay open, spread before him as if ready for the taking.

She lifted herself up on one elbow. Her gaze fixed on his shaft and her eyes widened with wonder.

“Have you never…?”

Slowly she shook her head. “The candles were always snuffed…” Her tongue slipped out of her mouth and licked the corner of her lip. His rod jumped.

Leaning forward, she rose up on bare knees. “May I touch you?”

He swallowed, wordlessly nodding.

Hesitantly, her hand reached out, her fingers gently grazing the head.

He gripped the coverlet, hanging on to his control, but just barely.

“It’s so smooth…” Her fingers skimmed down his shaft, burning him with her touch. “And warm.”

Not since he was fourteen had he precipitately spilled his seed, but he was coming damned close.

“Edwina,” he gasped. “I can’t wait much longer.”

Her eyes widened some more. “Oh, sorry.”

“Stop apologizing.”

He grabbed her then, laying her back on the bed and settling between her legs.

She giggled, then laughed, throwing her arms around him and kissing him with a passion that tossed all thought from his mind, except for being inside of her.

Reaching down, he fingered her curls and she gasped, opening her legs wider.

God, she was wet.

Bracing himself, he plunged deep, burying himself to the hilt. Then he froze for fear of losing control.

“Are you all right?” Edwina whispered, afraid that he was hurt in some way. His face was contorted as if he were in terrible pain. She, on the other hand, felt full, stretched, but the sensation was growing on her by the second. In fact, it was becoming quite…fantastic. Biting her lip, she withheld a groan.

“I’m…fine,” he bit out, his eyes still closed. Then he began to move, sliding his shaft out and then plunging back in, deeper each time. Riding her, carrying her…

“Oh…oh…my.” She closed her eyes, lost.

The world became a dark, glorious place of stars and heat and joyous sensation. Edwina’s body bucked as her womanhood gripped him inside her.

He pounded into her, faster, harder.

Prescott cried out, and her insides thrilled. Clutching him for dear life, Edwina screamed as her womanhood convulsed around him.

He collapsed on top of her, his breath coming hard and warming her neck. They were both out of breath, their bodies slick with sweat, their heartbeats clamoring against each other.

Realizing that she was still gripping him so tightly her fingers were curled into his skin, she quickly released him, exhaling a long, shuddering breath.

After what felt like an eternity, she opened her eyes.

His skin glowed golden in the candlelight as she traced his round shoulder, relishing the velvety feel beneath her fingertips.

Prescott Devane was a man among men.

She supposed it would take such a man, a man of great experience with women, to draw her passion so memorably. She tried not to think about the many, many, many women he’d probably bedded…

Stop it, Edwina. Don’t ruin it. Have the grace to accept this wonderful moment for what it is: special.

To her, at least. And she would savor the memory forever.

Her hands traveled to his back and down, delighting in the sensation of touching him. His smooth skin, the hard curves of his muscle, the bone beneath.

“You feel so good.” Sighing, she hugged him close.

After a moment, he leaned up on one elbow and looked down at her, his face relaxed, happy. “You’re lovely, Edwina.”

She bit her lip. “I hope…well, I hope I did everything to your, ah…satisfaction.”

His brow furrowed, and slowly, he disengaged from her, sitting up and pulling the sheet about his waist. She felt bereft, and a bit embarrassed as she grabbed her pink wrapper from the floor, donned it and sat across from him.

The silence grew thick.

Running his hand through his coppery mane, Prescott exhaled. “We don’t need to talk about it now, not if you don’t want to…”

She shrugged, repeating what he’d said in the gazebo, “Now is as good a time as any, I suppose.”

He scratched his chin. “Well, I’m just wondering. What the hell was wrong with your husband?”

She straightened. “Wh-what?”

“Was he ill?”

She shook her head.

“An invalid?”

She shook her head.

“Then how on earth could he have been married to you, for how long…?”

“Three years.” Tears of joy burned the back of her eyes.

“For three years and make you think that you ‘weren’t built for passion’? It’s boggling!”

Edwina smiled. Then she giggled. Then laughed so hard tears ran down her cheeks.

“Come here.” He pulled her into the circle of his arms and hugged her close. Inhaling the heady scents of musk and their desire, she sighed, feeling so very, very wonderful.

“Did he…” Prescott’s tone was tight. “Did he ever hurt you?”

“No. Sir Geoffrey was…a bit of a cold fish, I think. I didn’t realize it at the time. I didn’t know…well, anything about what went on between husband and wife. And well, I’d rather not talk about it, save to say, that it wasn’t a particularly enjoyable experience, for either of us.”

“So you weren’t ‘ardently devoted’ to him?”

She looked up at him. “Of course I was devoted to him, he was my husband.”

His brow knitted and then relaxed. “Your commitment is admirable. But I have to ask again, in all those years together, not once…”

“No. I never had an experience anything remotely like the one we just had.”

A satisfied gleam lit his eyes and he grinned like the cat who’d licked the cream.

“You don’t have to look so pleased with yourself,
Prescott Devane!”

“For pleasuring you? What’s wrong with that?”

She smiled. “Nothing, I suppose. Especially since it’s in the name of science.”

His grin widened. “Science.”

“Your experiments…”

“Oh, yes. Hmmm. I think I’m feeling the need for a bit of experimentation right now…”

T
he next morning Janelle huffed, “You’ve got that look on your face again, Edwina.”

“Hmmm?” Edwina tried to pull her mind away from memories of toe-curling, wet kisses and the caress of Prescott’s magical fingers, as she blindly watched the countryside sail by through the window of the coach.

“You look as if someone sprinkled fairy dust on your head and you’re in an enchanted haze.”

Turning away from the view, Edwina glanced across the carriage and was thankful to see that Prescott was still sound asleep in the seat beside Janelle. His head had fallen forward, his soft auburn hair listing over his forehead, and his face was relaxed, his lush lips slightly parted. With each bump in the road, his hair would quiver and his breath would catch as if he’d been slightly roused, then he would immediately fall back to sleep. The man managed to look adorable even in slumber.

Not that they’d done much sleeping last night. Other nocturnal activities had taken precedence, and Edwina didn’t miss her rest in the least. In fact, she felt practically electrified.

“There you go again.” Janelle waved a hand. “How are you to keep your wits about you at the Kendricks’ if your head is in the clouds?”

Edwina forced her brow to furrow and her gaze to focus. “Why, you’re being positively ridiculous, Janelle. I’m perfectly alert and the plan is foremost in all of my thoughts.”

“Good, because we may have a bit of a wrinkle.”

Now that got Edwina’s full attention. “What kind of wrinkle?”

Janelle’s blue-green eyes veered over to ensure that Prescott was still sleeping. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of him. Just in case…well, in case he didn’t agree with our tactics.”

“What are you talking about, Janelle? We can trust Prescott.”

“Of course we can trust him, Edwina.” Janelle waved a hand as if Edwina was being ridiculous. “It’s simply that I have it on good authority that Lady Pomfry was lately added to the guest list and—”

“Really?” Edwina straightened.

“Yes, and that same authority informed me that Lady Pomfry is intent on reclaiming a certain man’s attentions.” She motioned to Prescott. “You know who that might be.”

Edwina swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. “Do you believe…?” Looking at Prescott, she whispered, “You don’t think he still has feelings for her, do you?”

“It’s hard to tell with him. He keeps his cards face
down, this one. What I do know is that he likes the ladies he chooses to escort in the first place. And they did have quite the affair.” Janelle shrugged. “So I’m sure to some extent, he’s fond of her.”

A tightness suddenly constricted Edwina’s chest and she wondered why her stays felt so snug.

“Which is why I wanted to decide the matter before we inform him of our intentions,” Janelle continued. “If we decide, that is, to inform him in advance of how we’re going to deal with her.”

“Deal with her?”

“She might become a nuisance, but more importantly, Lady Pomfry might interfere with the plan.”

Edwina scratched her chin. “To be fair, I’m not sure that she will have a negative effect on our efforts. In fact, her involvement adds a certain…drama to the events, possibly providing diversion to cover our true activities.”

Janelle tilted her head. “Perhaps. But it also might bring a bit too much focus on you two, thereby making it all the more difficult to execute the plan. If Lady Pomfry is intent on Prescott, then the two of you might not be able to slip away unnoticed.”

“Would you be willing to act as an intermediary? Deflect her away if she becomes too overbearing?”

“You know I’m far too nice to make such pretenses, Edwina. Besides, she’s a shrewd woman, not so easily deterred.”

“Well, we must ask Prescott to reject her soundly.” Edwina liked that notion. Very much. “Give her the cold shoulder.”

“Prescott told me that he already gave her a firm
congé,
but she, very obviously, didn’t accept the rebuff.”

“Do you have a better idea, then?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” Janelle lifted her kidskin reticule from the floor. Pulling out a small satchel, she held it in her gloved hand.

“What is that?”

“Cat hair.”

“Cat hair? What do you propose to do with that?”

“Knock the fox out of the henhouse. I have it on good authority that if she’s anywhere near a cat, she falls into a fit of sneezes, her eyes go big as plums and she can’t stop itching.”

Edwina chuckled, she couldn’t help it. But at the look on Janelle’s face, she sobered. “You’re actually serious?”

“If we put some in Prescott’s pockets, then she’ll be unable to go near him. And think of how unattractive she’ll be.”

“I would not impose such suffering on anyone and, besides, don’t you think it’s a bit much?” Edwina raised her brows. “I mean, we’re all adults here…”

Stuffing the satchel back into her reticule, Janelle sniffed. “Ginny said that you wouldn’t do it, but I wanted to offer the option just in case things got difficult.”

“Well, I thank you for your initiative but doubt that we will have any use for such tactics.”

“There was someone else lately added to the guest list, Edwina, and I cannot decide if it’s significant or not. I would have had it sooner, but Lord and Lady Kendrick only completed the guest list last night.”

“Nothing like waiting until the last minute with an assemblage of guests heading toward your home.”

“Lord Kendrick is the kind of man who enjoys a bit of chaos. He’s bored unless there is something to be
come frantic about. Luckily for him, Lady Kendrick is the exact opposite. I often wonder how they manage, but by all accounts, they’re quite content.”

“Hmmm. Based upon the short notice, I would presume that this event is of Lord Kendrick’s making. So who is this new guest?”

“Sir Lee Devane.”

“Devane?”

“Yes, Devane.”

“What…?” Prescott roused, lifting his head and inhaling deeply. Yawning into his hand, he blinked bleary eyes. “Yes, what now?”

Janelle shot her a quelling glance. “Edwina and I were just discussing the fact that Sir Lee Devane will be joining the group in Essex.”

“Sir Lee? I’m not acquainted with the man. Who is he?” Edwina was relieved and a bit surprised to see that there was no hint of distress or emotion in Prescott’s emerald gaze in response to the name.

Janelle scratched her chin. “I would think that as an orphan you would seek out every family that shared your surname.”

“Janelle!” Edwina chided, her cheeks heating guiltily for thinking the same thing. “Don’t be such a nosing ninny.”

Prescott shrugged. “I don’t mind, Edwina, it’s a reasonable question given my background. But to answer you, Janelle, I might care about the name if I actually had an interest in finding my family. Which I don’t.” Straightening his coat, he looked out the window. “And besides, Devane was not my father’s name.”

Janelle leaned forward. “So you know who your father is?”

“Don’t answer that if you don’t wish to,” Edwina interjected. For all of her curiosity, she didn’t want to open old wounds that could pain him. “It’s really none of our business…”

After adjusting the hat on his knee, Prescott shrugged. “I don’t usually discuss such things, but here, now, well, I consider myself among friends.”

“You are.” Edwina smiled and her cheeks heated with warmth.

Janelle shot her a quizzical glance, then turned to Prescott. “Most assuredly you are among friends. I consider everything we say to be of the utmost confidence. Now tell me, who is your father?”

“His name was Ronald Ives.”

“That can traditionally be a woodsman’s name…” Janelle raised a brow questioningly.

“He was a gamekeeper, actually.”

“And your mother?” Janelle demanded. “What of her?”

“A gentleman’s daughter who was cast off by her family for marrying beneath her.”

Janelle tapped her finger to her chin. “So you’re not a bastard?”

“Only to those who annoy me.” His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes and Edwina could tell that he was making light to cover what had to be painful for him.

“Why don’t you use the surname Ives?” Janelle inquired.

Edwina shifted in her seat. “Really, Janelle, your prying knows no bounds!”

Prescott stared out the window a long moment, his gaze lost in memory. “After my parents married, well,
Ives wasn’t around for long. He would send money now and again, but never bothered to know me. After my mother died of typhus—”

“Oh, how dreadful.” Edwina raised her hand to her mouth and Janelle shot her a quelling glare. “I’m so sorry.”

Prescott tilted his head, not meeting her eyes. “Thank you, Edwina.” He stared out the window. “After she died, I lived with a neighbor for a while, then when the money stopped coming, she left me at Andersen Hall. When Headmaster Dunn asked me my name, I simply picked the first one to pop into my head.”

“Devane.”

“Yes, it was scratched into a Bible my mother left me. A beat-up old edition that she’d said she found in a circulating library and had forgotten to return.”

Edwina’s heart pinched. “You must have been very angry with your father to spurn his name like that.”

“He’d ruined my mother’s life.”

“And yours.”

Prescott shrugged, brushing it off. “I hardly knew him enough to care. Besides, from all my mother told me, I’m better off having been without him.”

“I’m so sorry,” Edwina murmured.

His gaze was cool. “Don’t be. I’m not. I was so much better off than most; I had Andersen Hall and Headmaster Dunn.”

She didn’t believe him and it took all of Edwina’s self-control not to reach out to comfort him. For all of his offhand discourse, she knew that it could not have been easy for him. A flash of resentment shot through her, directed at his wretched family. How could they forsake a wonderful man such as him? Fools.

Pursing her lips, Janelle’s eyes narrowed. “Who were your mother’s people?”

“I don’t know.” Prescott exhaled. “Mother refused ever to speak of them, except to say that they cared more about pride and honor than their own flesh and blood.”

“So all those stories floating around town about you are wrong?”

Prescott’s smile was tight. “People like tall tales. I let them believe what they will and usually don’t discuss the truth; it’s far too tedious.”

“It doesn’t sound tedious to me,” Edwina cried. “It sounds downright tragic. And unsupportable. How could your mother’s family have tossed her out like that? Especially with a baby?”

“They probably didn’t know about me.” Prescott looked away. “I came long after the rift.”

“They might have guessed there would be a child!” Edwina crossed her arms, not knowing where to put all of this anger. “To abandon you goes beyond all reproach.”

“What Prescott’s family did was not, regrettably, uncommon.” Shaking her head, Janelle folded her hands in her lap like a cleric making a sermon. “I hate to say it, but Prescott isn’t the only one with relations who put great stock in pride, honor and fear of embarrassment. You’ve already tested your father, Edwina; I don’t believe that you’ve much of his indulgence left.”

Edwina looked away, anger and distress warring inside of her. She
hoped
that her father would do right by his daughter and never forsake her. But knowing him, he might see cutting her off as the right approach under certain circumstances. It was a good thing the engage
ment with Prescott would be long over before she had to face her father.

Somehow the thought only added to Edwina’s distress.

Janelle sniffed. “Which is why I believe that your little plan, Edwina, is going to smash egg right in your self-satisfied face.”

Prescott gently laid a hand on Janelle’s arm, as if to say, “enough”. “So what do you know of Sir Lee, Janelle?”

“He worked in the Foreign Office.” Janelle sniffed. “Keeping an eye on all foreigners’ whereabouts and performing other activities my connection was unwilling to discuss. All he did say was that Sir Lee’s activities were quite clandestine.”

Edwina stiffened. “Could he be the blackmailer? He certainly would come across many sensitive things in that post.”
He also might have had contact with Ginny’s former lover Gérardin Valmont through his work at the Foreign Office.

“It’s entirely possible.” Janelle scratched her chin. “I propose that I get to know Sir Lee and appraise his character.”

Leaning forward, Edwina urged, “Prescott, if you would do the same? You’re good at gauging temperament and I would very much like to know what you think.”

“Of course. We can also make Sir Lee’s rooms the first on the list to be searched. In his position in the Foreign Office he may have traveled to Paris, hence the François Millicent shoes. He’d surely bring them along to such a gathering.”

Noises could be heard through the opened window
and Edwina peered out. “We’re nearing Witham, our last stop to change horses before we reach our destination.” A small flutter of nerves quivered in her middle and she leaned back in the seat.

Prescott’s eyes met hers, filled with compassion and soothing. “The sooner the better, Edwina, to remove the sword of Damocles from over your head. All will be well. I promise you.”

Guilt twisted inside her gut. “I have a confession to make, Prescott…”

“Edwina…” Janelle warned with a glare.

“Prescott, I’m not being blackmailed, but someone I love dearly is.” She bit her lip. “I’m sorry I lied. I just couldn’t allow you to say no and didn’t, well, didn’t feel that I could breach my friend’s trust.”

“Ginny?”

“How…?”

His eyes shifted to her, then Janelle. “I suspected as much when the two of you were so ‘cloak and dagger’ at the ball the other night. And Ginny’s the one person who seems able to draw you two together and make you more protective than a pair of mother hens.”

“You’re not angry?”

He shook his head. “In your place I might have done the same.” His smooth lips lifted at the corners. “Although I would have done a better job at pretending to have a salacious past.”

Looking out the window, she pursed her lips to stop them from lifting. “I don’t know whether to be relieved or insulted.”