The Rake (19 page)

Demi stared at her aunt wide-eyed, wondering
if she should admit that she hadn’t broken her fast. She’d felt too
ill after the unsettling events the night before, and with lack of
sleep, to feel up to tackling food so soon after she’d woken.

With an effort, she calmed herself. She’d
taken no more than a sip. It could not be enough to truly hurt her,
she felt certain, and if it affected her more powerfully because of
her empty stomach, she wasn’t convinced that was altogether a bad
thing. Drawing in a calming breath, she nodded and followed her
aunt from the room and down the corridor to the stairs.

A faint dizziness washed over her as she
descended the stairs, but she assured herself it was merely nerves
and lack of sleep. She’d only just taken the medicine. It could not
affect her so quickly. She would be fortunate if it had calmed her
nerves by the time they reached the church.

She discovered once they’d settle in the
carriage, however, that she felt oddly peaceful for someone who was
facing marriage with a dread not unlike someone facing the hangman.
She even managed to smile at her cousin Phoebe when she settled
beside her aunt.

“
Are you all right,
Demitria?” Phoebe asked her after a bit.

Demi dragged her gaze from the bizarre
landscape they were passing and smiled at her cousin. “I think so.
Yes.”

“
I gave her a bit of
laudanum to settle her nerves,” Lady Moreland
volunteered.

Phoebe leaned forward, studying Demi’s eyes.
Snickering, Demi leaned forward and put her nose to her
cousin’s.

Phoebe leaned back abruptly, frowning. “Do I
look … like that, when I’ve had a dose of laudanum?” she asked in
revulsion.

Lady Moreland frowned and Demi snickered
again. “I told her only a capful. She took a great swallow instead,
but no more than that. I expect it was a bit more than she should
have had though, for she is not accustomed to taking it. We shall
have to hurry or we’ll end up having to hold her up to say her
vows,” she added irritably, and leaned forward to rap on the panel
behind the driver. The panel slid open. “Faster, if you
please.”

The panel closed again and the carriage
began to rock rather alarmingly … at least, Phoebe and Lady
Moreland looked rather alarmed. Demi grasped the strap on the side
of the carriage above her seat and chuckled as she stared out the
window dreamily at the landscape, which had turned into a wild blur
of colors. As suddenly as the carriage had picked up speed,
however, it decreased so sharply that Phoebe and Lady Moreland
nearly slid out of their seats. They released little yelps of
surprise, which Demi found extremely funny, and then began to
babble excitedly, wondering aloud what was happening as the
carriage abruptly rocked to a shuddering halt.

The door was snatched open and Demi stared
in surprise at Garrett. “Why, hallo, Garrett! You’ve come to see me
married off to that great, hulking, prosy brute, Flemming?”

He frowned, his lips settling in a thin,
tight line. “Nay. I’ve come to put a stop to this insanity. Come
with me!”

Demi looked at him questioningly a moment
but held out her hand readily. “Where are we going?”

“
Now see here, my lord! You
cannot accost us on the king’s highway in broad day light like a …
a brigand, and spirit my niece off for your nefarious purposes!”
Lady Moreland gasped in outrage, having found her voice at
last.

“
I already have,” he said
tightly. “Come, Demi. You’ll not be marrying the pastor today … or
any other day, for that matter.”

“
Don’t even think about it,
my girl! If you get out of this carriage, I wash my hands of
you!”

Demi studied her aunt soberly for several
moments. “I think it would be a relief, Aunt Alma.”

“
It won’t be when he tires
of you and casts you into the gutter with all the other harlots,
mark my words! And he will, you little fool! Think before you do
this foolish thing. You needn’t think you can come crawling back to
me when he discards you like an old shoe!”

Demi nodded. “I’ll remember … I’m not to
come back. Good-bye, Cousin Phoebe,” she said agreeably, allowing
Garrett to help her from the carriage. When she’d gained the road
and looked around, she saw that Garrett had a pistol trained on the
driver. She looked at the pistol curiously and then at the driver.
“You held up the carriage?”

Garrett gave her a piercing look but
returned his attention to the driver, motioning with the barrel of
the gun for the driver to set the horses in motion once more.

Demi turned to wave at her aunt and cousin.
Lady Moreland, her nose in the air, was staring angrily at the seat
across from her and didn’t even bother to glance her way. Phoebe
was staring at both Demi and Garrett as if they had grown two
heads. Shrugging, Demi turned back to Garrett, watching as he
slipped his pistol into his saddle bag. When he’d fastened it, he
turned to her, caught her around the waist, and then lifted her up
and settled her on the front of his saddle. She grasped a fistful
of the horse’s mane as he climbed up behind her. When he slipped an
arm around her waist to steady her, she settled back against him
trustingly, her lips curling in a smile.

“
Fitzhugh is to meet us on
the Bath road. We’ll save time if we cut across country. I don’t
expect Flemming to try anything, but I’ll feel better when I have
you safely away from here.”

Demi frowned, trying to decide whether she
was particularly worried about it and finally decided that she
wasn’t. She couldn’t seem to feel much of anything beyond a
glorious sense of relief that she wasn’t going to have to marry
Jonathan Flemming after all. Nodding, she stroked Garrett’s thigh
lovingly for deciding to take her as his mistress after all,
despite the awful things she’d said, after she’d nearly gotten him
into trouble the night before.

His hand tightened on her waist as he turned
the horse and kicked it into a trot. It moved along the road for a
short distance, then gathered itself and jumped the hedgerow at the
side of the road. The jolt when they landed on the other side
snapped Demi’s teeth together. Her head swum dizzily, making
concentration difficult.

She realized though that she was in
Garrett’s arms and that was just the place she wanted to be. Now he
was hers … for as long as it lasted, but she didn’t want to think
about that. He was hers for now. He wanted her. He would take her
far away from her aunt and make love to her any time she wanted him
to.

It was a heady thought, and sent a spiral of
warmth through her, making the muscles low in her belly clench in
excitement and anticipation. After a moment, she pulled his hand
from her waist and pushed it downward, cupping it against her
femininity through her clothes. He stiffened slightly, but after a
moment, his hand cupped her tightly, his fingers stroking her.

Heat surged through her. The motion of his
hands, and the movements of the horse beneath them reminded her of
their lovemaking. Need began to thrum through her veins and the
cloth became a nuisance, preventing her from enjoying his caress.
Gathering her skirts, she pulled them out of the way and guided his
hand to the slit in the crotch of her pantalets. A groan escaped
her as she felt his touch on the tiny nub of flesh just above her
woman’s place.

She stroked his thighs as he stroked her and
finally reached behind and between them to rub the erect member she
felt digging into her back, stroking him through his breeches as
he’d stroked her through her skirts. She felt his heated breath
against her cheek a moment before he spoke.

“
As much as I’d like to
accommodate you, this is not the time, my dear,” he growled against
her ear.

“
We needn’t stop,” she
gasped a little desperately. “Only let me touch you as you touch
me.”

He groaned. After a moment, however, he
released her and unfastened his breeches and she slipped her hand
around his heated length, stroking him as he slipped his arm around
her again and began to stroke her once more. His breath became as
ragged as her own. Finally, he pulled back on the reins. When the
horse stopped, he pulled her hand from his flesh and Demi twisted
around to give him a look of reproach. His lips twisted. “This is
more insane, if at all possible, than holding up your aunt’s
coach,” he growled, catching her face with one hand and leaning
down to kiss her deeply.

Demi kissed him back fervently, struggling
to turn in the restricted space and face him. He tightened his arms
around her, lifting her slightly so that she could turn to meet him
fully and Demi wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing herself
tightly against him. The horse sidled beneath them, jogging forward
a couple of steps and he pulled back on the reins once more.

Only peripherally aware of anything beyond
the feel of Garrett against her and the heat surging through her as
he kissed her, Demi shifted until she felt his erection slide along
her cleft teasingly. She arched her hips, moving against him as she
kissed him back with equal fervor, following him as he withdrew his
tongue from her mouth and exploring his mouth as he’d caressed
hers. He groaned. Reaching down, he lifted her hips slightly and
aligned his own body with hers, rocking his hips until his erection
began to slip inside of her inch by excruciating inch.

At last, he plumbed her depths and a sense
of triumph filtered through Demi’s heat fogged mind as pleasure
radiated outward from the intimate caress. Tightening her thighs,
she lifted upward slightly and then settled down on his lap again.
Abruptly, the horse jogged forward again. This time, however,
instead of pulling it to a halt, Garrett allowed it to break into a
fast walk and the horse’s gait bounced them gently against each
other, sending out shards of glorious sensation with each grinding
contact of their bodies.

Demi wanted it to go on forever, but within
moments, she felt her body tensing toward completion. Groaning, she
moved a little faster. As if her voice or her movements encouraged
the horse, it began to move a little more quickly, jouncing them
together harder and faster so that his manhood stroked her faster,
harder, deeper each time they came together. Demi cried out
abruptly as the pleasure built to a crescendo and crashed
explosively through her. Garrett’s arms tightened around her,
pulling the horse to a stop as he convulsed with pleasure moments
behind her.

Demi lay weakly against him, feeling
wonderfully sated and vaguely pleased with herself. Dimly, she
realized that at least a part of her satisfaction was that she’d
provoked him into making love to her when he’d been reluctant to do
so, but part, she knew was also because she couldn’t believe he
would soon grow tired of her if she inspired his lust to the point
where he threw caution to the wind as he just had … in the open
where they might be seen, on the back of a horse.

Almost as if he’d read her mind, he
muttered, “That was more than a little insane.”

Demi snuggled closer, feeling herself
sinking toward sleep. “It felt wonderful, though,” she murmured
groggily.

His arms tightened around her briefly, but
then he gently disentangled himself from her, reaching between them
to adjust his clothing. Demi made a half hearted attempt to adjust
her own clothing, but she found that she was so sleepy she really
didn’t care. She could hardly keep her eyes open or hold her head
upright. It seemed far too heavy for her neck.

Garrett gave her a little shake and finally
grasped her jaw, tilting her face up. She managed a faint smile but
found she couldn’t lift her eyelids. Garrett pried one eyelid up
with his thumb. It jolted her enough that she drew back, looking at
him questioningly. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked harshly.

Demi smiled. “Nothing, my lord. I’m just a
little sleepy.”

He shook her. “Demi, wake up!”

She opened her eyes again.

“
What did you
take?”

She frowned, thinking it over. “Just a
little laudanum,” she said finally, surprised to discover her words
were as slurred as if she’d been drinking strong spirits. “Aunt
Alma said it would relax me.”

“
Christ! I should have
known.” He shook her again. “How much did you take?”

“
Doan know … big
gulp.”

“
Right out of the bottle?
Did you dilute it?”

“
Nope.”

Dismounting abruptly, he dragged her off the
horse and slowly lowered her until she was kneeling on the ground.
“You’ve had too much. You need to expel what you can.”

Demi looked at him in confusion. “Can’t spit
it out. Done drank it.”

He shook her again, harder this time. “Run
your finger down your throat, or I will.”

She glared at him. “I don’t want to be sick.
I want to sleep.”

“
That’s what I’m afraid
of,” he ground out, prying her jaws apart and running his finger
down her throat. Gagging, she retched into the grass until she
could retch no more. Somewhere in the rounds, the desperate need to
sleep began to dissipate slightly. She was aware enough, at any
rate, to realize she’d had quite enough.

When Garrett caught her jaw once more, she
opened her eyes wide. “Not sleepy anymore,” she lied.

He studied her eyes grimly for several
moments, but apparently he was satisfied. After a moment, he pulled
his handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. She took it,
sitting back on her heels as she wiped her mouth. Moving back to
the horse, he pulled the flask from his saddle bag that he’d handed
her once before and strode back to her.

Pulling the top off, he held it to her lips.
“Don’t swallow it. Just rinse your mouth with it. Understand?”