Tempting Bella (Entangled Scandalous) (22 page)

His hands massaged her shoulders as he stroked in and out of her. “Did you?

She groaned from his ministrations and with frustration. And came down harder on him. “Yes, you were embracing her.”

His hands crept around to her breasts. He kneaded them with a gentle touch. “And from this you deduce I am the father of her bastard?”

She yanked up off him and stood up, turning around to face him. “Do you deny it?”

He gazed over her body with eyes the color of a turbulent ocean before a mammoth storm. “Yes, I do deny it. On my honor, I am not the father of Susan’s child.” His hand slipped around her waist, warm and certain. He eased her back onto his engorged, glistening flesh. Her body leached onto his, clenching around his hard heat. This time she straddled him so they faced each other. Perspiration trickling down her back, she picked up the primal movements again. Massaging her bottom, he helped her move. “But you took her away.”

He slid his long fingers to the sensitive place between her legs. Her body trembled as waves of exquisite sensation peaked and surged. “Yes, I helped her. She and her bastard need assistance.” He watched her face, his eyes intent on hers, his voice rough with exertion. “Otherwise, she’ll end up selling her body and the babe could end up in an even more dire situation.”

“And there are others?” she asked panting, accelerating her movements atop him.

A primordial sound escaped him. He arched into her and held for a moment, as if trying to regain some semblance of control over his body. “Yes,” he rasped. “I help those who are in need of my assistance.”

She gave him a moment, savoring the fullness inside of her, and then began to move with more urgency—back-and-forth movements that became increasingly demanding and insistent. She could barely manage any words. “And they are nothing to you?”

His answer was almost a groan as he moved with her. “Not in the way you mean, no.”

“Why do you help them?” Before he could answer, sensation rushed in and she spiraled away on a blinding swell of pleasure. She felt him follow her and they peaked together. He convulsed and stilled for a final time, pouring himself into her.

She realized she’d wrapped her arms tight around him. His cheek pressed against the swell of her breast. They were bound together.

“I help them because they are bastards,” he said. “As am I.”

Chapter Fourteen

Bella froze, unsure she’d heard him correctly. Drawing back, she searched his face.

He returned her gaze, unwavering. “Surely you will have heard the rumors.”

“I didn’t credit it.”

His hands smoothed over her back in gentle motions. They were still intimately connected. “Even though I look completely different from my brothers?”

She cupped his strong face. “You have the same eyes.”

“True. Come now, you’ve asked for the truth. Are you not stouthearted enough to hear it? Have you changed your mind?”

“I have not changed my mind.”

“I first heard the term bastard at the age of nine from some children at a harvest celebration.” A reluctant smile curved his lips. “When Cam and Edward learned of it, they taught those boys a lesson they did not soon forget. But I asked my father afterward and he became very angry. He said I was a cross the Lord had sent for him to bear. Matilda came to my rescue. She took me away before he could beat me.”

Her heart stung for him. She longed to hold him close, to comfort the child he had been. “Did your mother always protect you from his temper?”

His hand slid from her back around to caress one of her breasts. “Always. Cyrus was not a warm man with any of his sons, but he saved a special disdain for me. I cannot remember a time when I did not feel his blatant disregard.” He toyed with the tip of her breast in an almost absentminded fashion, his unseeing gaze locked on the faraway place of his childhood. “But Matilda favored me. Even my brothers understood I maintained a special place in her affections. And when I was older, I realized why.”

Running her hands through his mass of sable curls, she leaned forward to place a tender kiss on his temple. “Why?”

“It became obvious to me”— pain tinged the clear green of his eyes— “that I must be the product of a love affair with a man who was not her husband, a dark-skinned man of average height such as I, not a tall, fair-haired man like Cyrus.”

“Perhaps your mother sought some warmth. You say your father…Cyrus…was a cold man.”

“Not with Matilda. He adored her.” His hand moved to her other breast, weighing it, shaping it. “That’s the irony of it. He was entirely devoted to her. I’ll never understand how she could betray him.”

She ran her hands over the smooth musculature of his brawny shoulders. “One never knows what really occurs in a marriage. Perhaps he strayed.”

He snorted. “Not Cyrus Stanhope. You could not have met a more pious, upstanding gentleman.”

“He gamed with my father. He could not have been perfect.”

“It was the only lapse I can remember.” He leaned forward to kiss her breast. “And thank God for that, for it brought you to me.”

“I must say that explains why you avoid your mother.”

He exhaled, toying with a stand of her hair. “I find I cannot look at her without thinking of her dishonorable behavior. And she always gave the appearance of being completely devoted to my father. People would scoff at the notion she could stray. But here I sit, living proof of her deceit.”

She thought of Sebastian’s mother, a woman who emanated kindness, generosity and, above all, decency. “I cannot imagine your mother cuckolding her husband. She does not appear the type.”

“Would you like to see where I take them?”

“Hmm?” she said absently, distracted by the way the sun glinted across his dark curls. “I’m very grateful to your true father, whoever he is, because he is the reason you are here.”

He smiled, running his hands up her bare flanks. “Have you forgotten the reason for your anger? The servants.”

She had forgotten. She leaned forward to give him a lingering, openmouthed kiss, savoring his masculine taste with its lemony tang. “I am still quite angry about all of your servant girls.” He remained inside of her and she moved experimentally just for the fun of it, and in an effort to draw him away from the dark memories of his parents.

He laughed, his eyes shining with appreciation. “You minx.” Kissing her with firm finality, he lifted her gingerly off his softened male flesh and bent to retrieve her shift before standing. “Get dressed. I have something to show you.”

She flashed him a deliberately naughty look. “I can’t wait.”

Pushing to his feet in one powerful motion, he laughed again and helped her pull her shift over her head. “It’s nothing like that, but it will answer all of your questions.”

…

They took the carriage to Bloomsbury in Central London, an area unfamiliar to her.

“What is that?” she asked pointing to a large building off the main square.

“That’s the Gray’s Inn Society. It was originally built as a place for barristers to live.” He looked beyond Gray’s Inn. “But that is what we are here to see.”

Their carriage came to a halt inside a large circular enclosure, which contained three sizable buildings. The generous courtyard in the middle was brimming with children laughing and running. Some older children were in an organized line walking into one of the structures. They all dressed in similar clothing, a uniform of sorts.

“What is this place?” Bella asked, stepping down from the carriage. Sebastian waved the footman away to help her down himself.

“Its official name is the Stanhope-Wentworth Home for Foundlings. People here call it the foundling home.”

“Foundlings?” She stopped abruptly, the amazement plain in her voice. “It bears our name. Do you finance it?”

He offered his arm and urged her forward. “
We
do. Hence the name.”

“You use Traherne funds here?” Hope flowered in her heart. Perhaps this explained the monies he’d taken from ducal coffers.

“In a manner of speaking. I use the allowance the estate grants me as your husband. It had accumulated since we married.” Disappointment stabbed at her. These children, then, were not the reason Sebastian was withdrawing a thousand pounds from estate accounts each month.

Walking across the courtyard, they were waylaid by an urchin. “Mr. Sebastian, Mr. Sebastian. Will you come and play cricket with us?”

He smiled at the red-haired boy, kindness shone in his face. “I will, Billy, but it must be later. For now, my lady desires a tour of the home. Can you offer a bow for Lady Mirabella?”

The boy dipped awkwardly. “How do, my lady.”

Bella smiled. “It is lovely to know you, Willie.”

He grinned back. “Enjoy your tour,” he called running back to join his friends.

“They know you.”

“I try to visit weekly. We have almost two hundred children residing here at present. Many more, the youngest babes, are sent to live with wet nurses in the country until they reach the age of four or five.”

“But this must cost a fortune.”

“I do have my own funds, my dear. I’ve partnered with Cam in a number of factories. I have other business ventures that have returned handsome rewards.”

Such as the properties he’d purchased from the duchy for a scandalously low price.

He gestured to the two buildings on either side of the courtyards. “The children are housed in these two buildings. Boys in one, girls in the other.”

“How do they come to be here?”

“They are almost all baseborn. Sometimes the parent brings them; sometimes it is other family members. We don’t ask any questions of them. We record the date of arrival. If a parent leaves a token or special remembrance for the child, we catalog it. We also note what they were wearing when presented to us.”

“How long do they stay?”

“At fourteen, the boys are sent to apprentice in various trades so they will be able to make their own way. Some who show an aptitude for learning are sent to school.”

“And the girls?”

“At age sixteen, they are sent to apprentice as servants for at least four years. Most stay on with their employers once the apprenticeship comes to an end.”

“My maid, Louisa, she is one of your foundlings?”

“Yes, Louisa came to us older than most, at age eight, but she was a quick learner and anxious to please. She apprenticed with Charlotte’s lady’s maid. Afterward, I placed her in our household to serve you.”

“And the footmen?”

“Foundlings all, as are most of the staff except for Davison and Mrs. Nagle.”

“That explains their extreme devotion to you.” It took a singular man to save so many from a wretched life on the streets. She pointed to the third structure at the far end of the courtyard. “And that?”

“That holds the rest of the answers you seek. Come,” he said steering her toward the far building.

They entered to a large open room. While not exactly spartan, the chamber’s furnishings were practical and unembellished giving the room an air of clean simplicity. There were no children present, only young women, although some still looked like girls, appearing no more than thirteen or fourteen years of age. It did not appear obvious at first glance, but both girls contained the round figures of impending motherhood. Bella’s eyes went to a sewing circle where the women appeared to be working on uniforms she’d seen the children in the courtyard wearing. All of their bodies were ripe and rounded, showing obvious signs of what had brought them here.

“They are all increasing.”

He followed her gaze. “Yes. This is the home for unwed mothers. They stay here until their babies are born. The children are sent to wet nurses in the country, and their mothers attempt to return to the work they left behind.”

A rustle of fabric and soft lilting laugh turned Bella’s attention to one of the women who had risen from the sewing circle to retrieve more fabric. With her dark luminous hair and eyes, the girl possessed exceptional beauty. Recognition clicked in Bella’s brain as her eyes slid to the obvious signs the girl was increasing, her thick stomach at odds with an otherwise slim form.

“Susan.” The servant girl she’d seen in Sebastian’s arms at Camryn’s townhome.

“Yes.”

“Was she one of your foundlings?”

“Yes. And now, regrettably, returns with her own foundling.”

“She’s so lovely.” She said it without jealousy. Susan’s beauty was obvious to anyone with eyes.

His face dimmed. “Yes, that is what made her a likely target for some scoundrel. I thought Susan would be safe when we placed her in Cam’s home.” He made a sound of disgust. “She refuses to reveal the father. We only know that he is a gentleman. Even now she protects the scapegrace.”

She sucked in a breath. “Someone of quality did this to her?”

“Clearly not someone of quality, but yes, a supposed gentleman.”

“Have you asked Cam if he knows anything?”

“He and Charlotte are just as baffled. They were away in the country when the girl got with child.”

Susan spotted them, her remarkable face brightening at the sight of Sebastian. She hurried forward, still graceful despite the large burden of the child she carried. “Mr. Sebastian. How good of you to visit.”