The Husband Hunt (14 page)

“Robert,” she groaned his name as his fingers stirred all sorts of delicious sensation in her.

His response was to begin tugging at the neckline of the gown, dragging it off her shoulder and down her arm. Lisa was sure he would rip it with his actions, but the cloth seemed to stretch to accommodate and within seconds he’d revealed one breast. Leaving off his attentions to the first breast, Robert turned his mouth to the now uncovered one and began to lave and suckle it.

Lisa gasped and arched into the action as his hand now tugged fretfully at the other side of the gown, pulling it off her shoulder to bare that breast for his attention. He covered it with his hand and squeezed, kneading the tender flesh and then plucking at the nipple with his fingers as he was doing with his mouth to the other.

“Oh,” Lisa moaned, clasping his shoulders now, her legs spreading slightly at his urging to allow his hand more freedom there.

“Christ you’re so wet and hot,” he growled, releasing her breast.

Lisa barely registered the words. He was suddenly erupting beneath her, his body shifting and blankets flying and then he had removed his hand from between her legs and caught her by the waist and was dragging her from her sitting position, rolling her onto her back on the bed. Suddenly she was beneath him and he was bent over her, his body shifting down along her body so that she lost her hold on him. His tongue, lips and hands seemed to be everywhere, grazing her throat, chest and breasts. Then he was forcing the gauzy gown down with fingers that scraped across her skin, pushing the material before them to allow his mouth to lick and nip its way down her belly.

“Robert, your wound,” Lisa muttered, shifting and squirming under the attention and trying to reach his shoulders again. She needed something to hold on to, something to ground her. Unable to reach him, she finally grabbed for the pillow on either side of her head, clutching at it almost desperately and gasping and moaning as first his fingers pushed the cloth over her hips and then his mouth followed. Finding her hip bone, he nipped and licked his way across it.

Lisa lifted her hips instinctively when he continued to push the material along, allowing him to slip it down off her bottom and past her thighs. Robert paused to remove it completely then, sitting back on his haunches to the side of her to slip the material down her legs and off her feet. Then he tossed the gauzy material to the floor and turned back to peer at her.

Suddenly self-conscious, Lisa tried to cover herself; one arm moving to cross over her breasts, while her other hand dropped between her legs. For some reason the shy action made Robert smile. And then he clasped one ankle and lifted her leg, raising it up and over his head so that he knelt between her legs.

“Robert?” she said uncertainly, sure he was now going to do what one of the books she’d read had described as planting his victory flag in her turf. When he suddenly shifted and sort of dove forward, she braced herself, but he didn’t land on top of her, planting his flag. In fact, he didn’t land on top of her at all. He fell short, his shoulders coming down between her knees and his head dropping between her thighs.

Lisa thought it was an accident. That he’d simply undershot, so was shocked when he suddenly pressed her thighs farther apart and planted his mouth over the core of her.

For one moment she was confused and didn’t know what was happening. Then she cried out and bucked as he spread her folds and his tongue lashed over her most secret place. This was just not—none of the books had mentioned—dear God! Her mind screamed with confusion, but mostly with the pleasure he was wringing from her. He was doing things to her that—hell, she wasn’t even sure what he was doing. All she was really aware of was a terrible, overwhelming pleasure shooting from the center of her and swelling with terrifying speed. Her body was suddenly shaking and rocking, her blood roaring in her ears, as she arched and thrust into a caress she’d never come across in all of her reading.

Lisa groaned as he continued to lave and suckle, and drew her knees up. She then dug her heels into the bed and pushed, raising herself slightly into whatever he was doing. She was vaguely aware that she was making little noises, pleading sounds and prayers, but if asked wouldn’t have known what she was saying. Her mind was completely focused on her pleasure.

She was so far gone that it hardly registered when he suddenly grabbed her ankles and shifted her feet to his shoulders, or when one hand wrapped around her upper thigh, anchoring and holding her down as he worked to drive her completely insane. At least that was how it felt. Lisa was losing herself in the sensations. Thought was impossible. She was merely a throbbing, vibrating thing of need, responding to the song he was playing. But God, it felt good. She never wanted it to stop. She could have died in that moment and gone with a smile, sure she’d experienced everything. And then the building tension suddenly snapped like a bow releasing an arrow, but this arrow exploded on release, shattering through her body and mind and making her scream as if she were dying. That scream surely would have drawn every single person in the house to the room had she not been gnashing on the pillow by that point and had the good sense to pull it completely over her face to muffle the sound.

When it ended, Lisa came back to awareness to find that she was lying limply in the bed, the pillow covering her head while Robert pressed kisses to first one of her quivering thighs and then the other. After a moment she was aware of his shifting and moving up her body, but she was too spent to even remove the pillow covering her face. It was he who lifted it away.

When a completely male smile of satisfaction claimed his lips, Lisa just smiled wryly back. The man had earned that arrogant smile, she acknowledged, and found the strength to raise her hands to his head and draw him down for a kiss. Lisa had meant it as one of gratitude and appreciation, but moaned and arched when it somehow became more and the fires she’d thought he’d banked suddenly roared up within her again.

Dear God, she’d thought surely there wasn’t an ounce of passion left in her, but there was and he quickly stirred them back to life. Almost demanded a response with the passion of his kiss, and Lisa gave it to him, shifting restlessly beneath him as he lowered himself.

When she felt something hard press against her, she instinctively wrapped her legs around his hips even as her arms went around his shoulders. But that hardness merely rubbed against her again and again as he kissed her, helping to build the fires in her, and then he broke their kiss to drop his mouth to her breast again and suckled briefly as he reached between them and took himself in hand to rub against her with more precision. It made her moan and twist her head on the bed as the heat in her revved, and then she felt him pressing into her and he released his hold and removed his mouth from her breast to kiss her instead.

Lisa kissed him back, but her attention was on what his body was doing as it eased into her a bit, and then withdrew before easing in again a little further. It was a completely alien sensation and one she wasn’t sure she liked. It just felt odd. And then his hand slid between them to find the center of her excitement and she groaned and tightened her legs around him as excitement jumped within her. Distracted by the pleasure he was eliciting, she began to instinctively move her hips, pressing into the caress. The hardness claimed more of her push by push and then his hand suddenly left her so that he could brace himself on the bed.

Lisa opened her eyes in confusion and disappointment and then gasped in shock as he suddenly thrust forward. This time there was no tentative easing in, but a full plunge that sank him fully into her.

For one moment they both froze. Lisa had no idea why he paused, but she was waiting for the shattering pain and blood to begin rushing out of her. However, that never came. Other than a slight pinching, and a strange stretching sensation as her body tried to accommodate this strange intrusion . . . well, really there was no pain at all. And as far as she could tell she wasn’t suddenly gushing blood . . . she didn’t think.

“Lisa?”

She blinked her eyes open, realizing only then that she’d been holding them tightly squinted closed. Robert was peering down at her, looking as if he were the one who had suffered all the pain. His face was scrunched up as if he were in agony, his eyes mere slits as he peered at her. None of the books had mentioned that men suffered pain the first time, she thought with surprise.

“Are you all right?” he growled.

When she nodded uncertainly, relief washed over his face and then he lowered his head to kiss her and his body began to move again, withdrawing from her partway, before sliding smoothly back in. Lisa kissed back and shifted a little beneath him as he moved, and found if she positioned herself just so, he rubbed against the nub of her excitement, stirring that delicious excitement again. When he began to move more swiftly, his thrusts becoming more demanding, she untangled her legs from around him and pushed her heels into the bed to raise her hips to meet his thrusts. She was riding the waves, crashing toward shore again, her body trembling and quaking as it strained toward the explosion of pleasure she knew was coming.

When it came, Robert dropped his head to kiss her almost violently and caught her cry in his mouth. A heartbeat later, he tore his mouth away on a gasping cry of pleasure and threw his head back as his body pounded forward and arched, pinning her in place as they both rode the waves he’d unleashed. Moments later he sagged on top of her, then rolled onto his back, taking her with him and Lisa simply nestled against him, completely spent, her eyelids drooping closed.

Lisa wasn’t sure how long she’d slept when she suddenly woke up. She wasn’t even sure what had woken her, but she found herself still curled up against Robert’s side in his bed. Lifting her head carefully, she peered at his face, smiling when she saw that he was dead to the world, his eyes closed and mouth partly open to emit the faintest of snores.

Perhaps that was what had woken her, Lisa thought with amusement as she took in his relaxed face. He looked so peaceful in sleep, with none of life’s worries troubling him, she thought, and wished he could always be so at peace. But of course, that wasn’t likely. Especially after Suzette, Christiana, Richard and Daniel returned to “catch” them. He would be furious then. Or worried for her reputation. Or both. He probably wouldn’t blame her unless he figured out that it had been a deliberate trap. But he would resent being forced to marry her when he had no desire to enter that blissful state.

That thought made her shift carefully away from him and she rolled onto her back, wanting to think without his smell and the feel of his body to distract her. But the move did not remove his smell. It was on her now like perfume. Eau de Lord Langley. He had marked her with his body and his scent. She was his. It was just a shame he didn’t want to be married.

Grimacing at the unpleasant thought, Lisa glanced at the ceiling and then frowned when she saw the way the light was flickering on it. That made her shift her gaze to the candle on the bedside table. It was apparently a flawed candle, the wick not quite centered. The flame had burnt down one side, leaving a small mountain of wax around the other that was melting and pooling at the bottom. The light was about to be guttered by its own wax . . . and then the others would come, catch them in here and demand Robert make an honest woman of her.

Which he would do. Lisa didn’t doubt that for a minute. But he would also hate her for it. Or at least resent her. He would blame her for this for the rest of their days.

Lisa didn’t think she could stand that. And in truth, she didn’t want to win him this way. She wanted him to want to marry her. She wanted him to trust her. She did not want him marrying her out of duty and then always watching her, waiting for her to betray him. Life would be unbearable like that. There had to be another way.

The thought had barely entered her head when the candle gave its last flicker and went out.

Chapter Twelve

T
he sound of the door opening and a splash of light in the dark room startled Robert from sleep and had him blinking sleepily.

“Oh, it’s dark in here, Chrissy. Let me grab a candle from the hall,” he heard Suzette say, and the words for some reason made him suddenly recall Lisa. Panic roaring through him, he glanced to the other side of the bed, but was unable to place her in the darkness and then Suzette reappeared with a candle revealing everything; she and Christiana still in their ball finery and the empty bed beside him.

Robert stared blankly at the spot where Lisa should have been and then back to Suzette and Christiana, who had paused halfway to the bed.

“Hi,” he said weakly, but his mind was racing as he tried to sort out where Lisa was and when she’d left. He shouldn’t have fallen asleep after. He should have made himself stay awake and talked to her. He had ruined her. They had to marry now. There was no choice.

“We just got back from the ball and thought we’d check on you,” Christiana said after a pause.

“Yes,” Suzette said, suddenly moving forward again. “How was your night?”

“Are you feeling well?” Christiana asked, casting Suzette a warning glance though he wasn’t sure what she was warning her of.

“I—yes,” he said on a sigh and sagged back in the bed. He’d had one hell of a night and was definitely feeling . . . hell, he felt great . . . well other than a slight tenderness from his wound. He probably shouldn’t have exerted himself this early after the injury, but Lisa in that damned gown of Morgan’s had been irresistible.

“Well . . . good,” Suzette said finally, though she sounded annoyed more than anything and suddenly turned back toward the door, taking the candle with her.

Christiana bit her lip and glanced after her sister, then she began to back away, following the glow of the candlelight. “We shall let you sleep then. We just wanted to check on you.”

Robert nodded, but as the women reached the door, asked, “What time is it?”

For some reason, the question made them both pause and exchange a glance and then Christiana said, “Not yet midnight.”

“That’s rather early,” he commented. They usually went much later, sometimes to dawn and even beyond, but supposed Christiana’s being with child had some effect on their usual patterns.

“Yes, well, we are all a little tired and out of sorts after all the excitement lately. And then we were worried about you and Lisa so we decided to leave early,” Christiana explained.

“Oh,” he murmured, thinking it was good Lisa had woken and left. While marriage was inevitable now, he was glad she didn’t have to suffer the humiliation of getting caught in his bed.

“Good night then, Robert,” Christiana said softly and then the door closed, leaving him in darkness again.

Sighing, he settled back in the bed, staring into the darkness above him as he contemplated all that would need to be done. He would have to talk to Lisa first thing and tell her of his decision to marry her. She would no doubt be grateful and weep a bit, and then he would tell her they should head to Gretna Green right away. He hadn’t been careful, hadn’t even thought of withdrawing or using any type of caution to prevent her getting pregnant. She could even now be carrying the Langley heir. A quick jaunt to Gretna Green would ensure there was no nasty little scandal. It would also mean he wouldn’t have to wait to sink himself into her warm wet body again.

Damn, Lisa had been as responsive as a man could wish; writhing, moaning, whimpering, and crying out even as her body wept with pleasure at what he did to her. She might one day betray him with another, but their marriage bed would certainly be a pleasure until then. Well worth all the misery and betrayal later, Robert thought wryly. He just had to bear in mind that she would eventually betray him and writhe, moan, whimper and cry out for another, her body weeping its pleasure on another man. If he kept that in mind and simply enjoyed her while he could . . . well, perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad when she betrayed him.

A soft
shush
of sound caught his ear, and Robert stiffened, trying to place where it was coming from and what it could be. It seemed to be coming from under the bed, he realized, and sat up to peer around.

Moonlight was pouring through the open curtain and his eyes had adjusted enough that he could make out shapes and shadows. But his eyes widened incredulously when a small shape suddenly popped up beside the bed. They widened further when that shape shifted to stand and he recognized that it was a woman.

“Lisa?” he whispered incredulously.

“Shhh. They will hear you and come back,” she hissed, shifting something about in her hands. Her robe, he realized when she drew it on and belted it.

“What were you doing under the bed?” he asked with amazement.

“What do you think I was doing, Robert?” she asked with low-voiced exasperation. “I heard Christiana and Suzette talking as they came up the hall, so slid under the bed to hide.”

“Why?” he asked blankly.

“Why?” Lisa echoed with disbelief. “So I wouldn’t be caught in your bed, of course. For heaven’s sake, there would have been an uproar, and you would have been forced to marry me, and—Robert Langley, are you laughing?” she asked with disbelief.

“Come here,” he said between chuckles and caught her hand to draw her onto the bed. She dropped onto it, mostly because she lost her balance, but he ignored that and her stiffness and wrapped his arms around her, dragging her down to lie with him, “It was very sweet of you to try to protect me, Lisa. And I am glad you didn’t have to suffer the humiliation of being caught in such a compromising situation, but it doesn’t matter in the end anyway. We will have to marry now.”

Lisa didn’t squeal with joy or throw her arms around him with gratitude as he’d expected. In fact, much to his surprise, she seemed to go still and stiff in his arms.

“Lisa?” he said uncertainly and then frowned when she eased from his embrace and sat up.

“There is no need to marry me, Robert. No one knows we were together. We can just continue as if it never happened,” she said coolly and stood.

“What?” he asked with disbelief and then lunged off the bed to stop her when her shadow moved around the bed and headed for the door. Catching her arm, he drew her to a halt and moved in front of her. “Just a minute, dammit. We have to talk about this.”

“There is nothing to talk about. No one knows, and I am not making you marry me. Everything is as it was.”

“The hell it is,” Robert said grimly. “Lisa, you could be carrying my child even now. We have to marry.”

“I am not marrying a man who doesn’t want me and doesn’t trust me and who will spend our entire lives together sure I will someday betray him,” she said unhappily. “This was a mistake.”

She tried to move around him then, but he caught her arm to stop her.

“Lisa,” he began, but then paused, completely flummoxed as to what to say. While he could tell her that he definitely did want her, that wasn’t what she meant. She meant he didn’t want to marry her, and mostly that was true. He didn’t want to marry anyone. And she was right, he would spend their entire lives together sure she would betray him and waiting for it to happen.

“Go to sleep, Robert,” Lisa said and he frowned at the disappointment in her voice, suspecting she had been hoping he would deny what she’d said. That if he had, even if she hadn’t fully believed it, she might have given in and married him. But even now he couldn’t bring himself to lie to her.

“We will talk in the morning after we’ve both rested,” she said quietly and this time when she moved around him, he let her. He just let her leave.

“W
hat do you mean you were hiding under the bed?” Suzette snapped.

Lisa sighed at her sister’s irritation and glanced at the other three people in the parlor: Christiana, Richard and Daniel. She had left Robert’s room and slipped into her own to find Suzette and Christiana there questioning Bet, trying to figure out where she was.

All three women had been relieved to see her. It seemed they’d begun to worry that something had gone amiss, that the suitor had somehow got his hands on her and taken her away. They had been about to start the hue and cry to get the men searching for her when she’d entered. Instead, they’d rushed forward blurting questions, and after Lisa had shushed them for fear of Robert overhearing, they had dragged her down to the parlor where the men had joined them to find out what had gone wrong with their grand plan.

“Why the devil were you hiding?” Suzette asked now with disbelief. “That was the whole point of this business. You were supposed to get caught in his bed so he would have to marry you.”

“Yes, well . . .” Lisa frowned and shook her head. “I decided that maybe that wouldn’t work.”

“Of course it would have worked. It—you did sleep with him?” Suzette asked with a frown. “Didn’t you?”

Lisa’s answer was a blush that she was sure covered her from head to toe.

“You did,” Suzette said on a sigh and dropped back in her seat with a shake of the head. “I don’t understand any of this. We had a plan in place. You were to sleep with him and we were to catch you. We stuck to our part of the plan. We left the ball hours ago and were just sitting in the carriages out front waiting for the candle to go out. Which took a hell of a long time and was a damned boring business, I might add,” she pointed out irritably. “But it finally went out and we went up there all prepared to be shocked and horrified, only to find him in bed alone . . . and now you’re saying you were there, hiding under the bed? What the devil are you thinking?”

Lisa hesitated, and then blurted, “I do not want a husband who is forced to marry me and will resent me for the rest of time because of it. And I do not want Robert if he will spend our entire married life doubting me and waiting for me to betray him with another. I could not bear it.”

“Oh, Lisa,” Christiana said sympathetically and left her own chair to move to the sofa where she sat to hug her. “We understand, dear.”

“The hell we do,” Suzette groused. “The idiots love each other. Anyone can see that. But they are never going to get together at this rate.”

Daniel chuckled at her dissatisfied words and sank to sit on the arm of the chair she was in and slip his arm around her shoulders. “You are such a romantic, my love.”

Lisa stared at them with disbelief as Daniel pressed a kiss to Suzette’s forehead. What her sister had said hadn’t sounded the least bit like the words of a romantic to her. What was the man thinking?

“What do you want to do?” Richard asked quietly, drawing her gaze to him as he followed Christiana to the sofa and settled on her other side.

“I do not know,” she admitted wearily. “I wish he loved me.”

“He does,” Suzette said with exasperation.

“Love involves trust, Suzette,” Lisa said solemnly. “And I don’t think Robert
can
trust, or therefore love, anyone until he gets over his childhood.”

“But—”

“Do you trust Daniel?” she asked quickly.

“Of course,” Suzette answered with amazement.

Lisa nodded. “And does he trust you?”

“Yes,” Suzette said without doubt and Daniel hugged her, murmuring, “With my life.”

Lisa ignored Daniel and met Suzette’s gaze. “Well, how happy would you be if Daniel was always watching you out of the corner of his eye, expecting you to betray him in some way?”

Suzette scowled at the very idea and then sank back in her seat with a sighed, “Right.”

“Lisa,” Christiana said tentatively, drawing her gaze. “I understand that you might not wish to marry him the way things stand. But you could be with child now. And surely that child deserves—”

“If I am with child I will marry,” she said simply. “But until I know one way or the other . . .” She shrugged and stood up. “I am ever so weary. I think I shall go to bed. Good night.”

The room was silent as she left, but she heard the murmur of their concerned voices begin as soon as she closed the door. They would fret over her now, but there was nothing she could do about that. She would not marry Robert. Tonight had been beautiful, an experience she would never forget. But she was not going to spend her life with a man who didn’t trust her and resented her.

Lisa just wished she’d realized all this before tonight. She never would have slept with him and known what she would be giving up by marrying another if it came to that.

“S
hall I read to you?” Charles asked. “Or will you read to me?”

Lisa dragged her eyes from where they’d wandered to Robert and smiled faintly at the question. “Why do we not take turns? You can begin and I shall take over after a couple of pages.”

“Very well,” Charles said agreeably and settled back with the book he’d brought for her. Opening to the first page, he began to read aloud and Lisa found her gaze drifting back to Robert again. He sat under a tree at the opposite side of the clearing, glaring at them coldly.

He’d been glaring at her ever since the start of this outing. It seemed he wasn’t taking her refusal to marry him well. She supposed it wasn’t what he’d expected after her years of adoration. Lisa suspected that if she’d given him the opportunity, he would have dragged her off to a corner this morning to try to demand she marry him. However, she hadn’t given him the chance. She’d remained in her room all morning, taking breakfast there to avoid him, and had only come below when one of the maids had come to tell her that Lord Findlay had arrived to take her on their picnic.

Charles had been waiting at the front door with a glaring Robert looming nearby when she’d descended the stairs. Lisa had ignored Robert, smiled at Lord Findlay and allowed him to usher her out to his carriage. She hadn’t been at all surprised when Robert had followed them out and mounted his horse. The animal that had been waiting for him, saddled and ready for him to accompany them.

Lisa had done her best to ignore him since then, but it was difficult when she could feel his fury burning into the back of her head with every passing moment. He was angry that she’d refused his proposal, that she hadn’t spoken to him today as promised, and no doubt that she was on this picnic with Findlay. But she didn’t know what else to do. She could not marry him, would not marry him the way things stood, and talking to him about it would not change things. As for this picnic, she had agreed to it before the attack at Pembroke’s outing and everything that had followed. It would have been rude to refuse at this late date.