The Unclaimed Duchess (13 page)

“First, we must stand at the exact spot,” he began. “If I tell you not to jump, you mustn't do it until I give you the word.”

Anne nodded, but by her smile and bouncing demeanor, it was clear she was only placating him.

“You forgot one very important rule,” she said with a light laugh that seemed to touch the very core of him.

“What is that?” he asked, turning to face her.

She lifted her fingers to the buttons along the front of her gown and began to unfasten them with swift efficiency. He stared at the rapidly revealed expanse of bare, perfumed skin.

“We must be naked when we jump,” she said as she shrugged her arms from her dress and chemise at the same time and bared herself from the waist up.

“Great God, woman!” he burst out, leaping to her and lifting the fabric back over her skin, but not before he brushed the back of his hand against her breast. She sucked in air in a
whoosh
and he yanked the hand away to her arm instead, as if burned.

“You'll be seen by half the county!”

She stared at him evenly, her pupils dilated with excitement, and now he saw desire. “That didn't seem to bother you a few days ago when we were picnicking.”

Rhys shut his eyes with a low curse as images from that passionate afternoon bombarded him. God, he could still taste Anne's skin and hear her sighs as they floated away on the soft breeze.

He forced himself to look at her. “That day I was…carried away. It was not appropriate and I apolo—”

“Don't!” Anne cried, lifting her hand to his lips and pressing there. “Don't you dare say you're sorry and take that day from me, from
us
.”

Rhys stared at her, shocked by her passionate response. Finally he nodded slowly, and she lowered her hand. Straightening her spine, she looked at the sea again.

“Be calm, my dear,” she said softly. “The driver has gone up the hill as you requested and no one else is around to see. Besides, I must take off my clothing, for I don't relish the idea of being sopping wet all the way to our first stop along the road tonight.”

She met his gaze again, her green-blue stare almost daring him to try to stop her. He made no move to do so as she pushed her dress to her ankles, where it pooled at her feet. She toed off her slippers and let the stockings she wore follow and suddenly she was very naked, very close, and Rhys found himself instantly aroused. How perfect would it be to take her on this cliff, in the water, against a tree…anywhere that he could feel her body pulse in pleasure around his? He wanted that more than anything.

“Won't you join me, Rhys?” she asked, her eyes all innocence but her demeanor anything but as she stood
there, utterly unashamed and on display for him.

“Yes,” he managed to push past a dry throat.

He quickly undressed, knowing she would see the evidence of his desire as soon as he straightened up, if she hadn't seen it already, for his cock thrust against the confines of his trousers. By her smile, this time knowing and seductive, she already knew and enjoyed the sight as he stood before her, cock at the ready.

But she made no motion to touch him. Instead she remained focused on the cliff and the idea of jumping over.

“Now what?” she asked, though by the tremble of her voice it was clear she was beginning to grow nervous at the prospect of what they were about to do.

He stood beside her and double-checked the position of the rock near them. “Move a bit to your left,” he ordered. “Yes, very good. Now, we jump when I count to three. Unless you've changed your mind.”

Anne shook her head swiftly. “No. I cannot.”

Rhys took a side stare at her and saw her jaw clenched, as if she had surrendered herself to this. It meant something to her, something greater than the absolute thrill of making it to the sea safely.

And he supposed, as he looked out past the cliff to the gray-blue water that stretched out forever before him, that it meant something more to him as well.

He had always said farewell to this place by jumping off the cliff like this. But today he was saying good-bye to more than just the cottage. He was saying it to the life he'd once known and the person he'd once been. When he arrived in London, he would be forced to face the changes he had not chosen and the person who threatened all he held dear.

“Are you ready?” he asked, his voice seeming very far away to his ears.

“Y-yes,” she said beside him.

“One…two…” Before he said the third word, Anne reached out and took his hand. He stared at their interlocked fingers, wondering at the absolute trust she put in him to get them to the sea safely. Then he uttered, “Three!”

And they jumped. Just as it had always been, the short descent was swift and thrilling. But even more so with his hand tucked in Anne's. As he looked at her, time seemed to slow.

She was smiling, completely enchanted by the flow of air past her hair and face, utterly trusting that he had chosen the correct place on the cliff that would keep them safe.

They hit the water and her trust was proven warranted, for the deep sea enveloped them gently in the one place where the water didn't meet land with violence. He swam for the top, his hand still gripping
hers, and they surfaced at once, both dragging in a huge gulp of fresh air.

Anne stared around her, eyes wide. She seemed so stunned he feared she might be in shock from the fright. He reached out to comfort her, but it was in that moment that she began to laugh.

“That was thrilling! Far more exciting than almost anything I've ever known!” She wrapped her arms around his bare neck and floated there as she continued to talk. “The wind on my face, the taste of the salt on my lips as I hit the water! Oh Rhys, no wonder you did this, it is—”

She didn't finish, he couldn't let her. They were so close and had just shared an experience he had never thought to give to her. And it was more powerful than he had ever imagined it could be.

All he could do was kiss her. He pulled her slick, naked body against his in the cool water and their lips met. She tasted of salt from the sea and sweet from her morning tea. The combination burst on his tongue and he delved for more.

She opened to him, her legs moving around his waist in the water and holding tight as they bobbed up and down and kissed and kissed until he felt like he was drowning, only he welcomed it. He didn't want reality, he didn't want duty. In that charged moment, he could have stayed in the water with
her for a lifetime and surrendered to all the joy and pleasure and love she offered him just by being here at his side.

He'd almost convinced himself it was possible when Anne pulled away with another smile, this one dazed and shy. She shivered ever so slightly.

“The water is cold.”

He nodded. “Come, we'll go up to the shore. It's a warm day, the sun will solve that problem quickly enough.”

He swam for the curved swath of beach a few hundred feet away and soon enough they were on shore, the warm sun drying them and taking away the shivers that racked them both from the cool water.

But as they walked up the path to the piles of clothing they had left above, Rhys couldn't help one last glance over his shoulder at the cove behind them. This place had been a fairy tale to him as a child, and a dream during the short time he'd spent here with Anne. But now…

Now it was time to return to reality. As much as he dreaded it. As much as he wished he could pretend it wasn't so.

T
he rain began just as they arrived on the outskirts of London. It was a hard rain, one that sometimes caused the carriage to tremble and made it stuffy and close during the final hour through twisting city traffic. Anne sat alone in the vehicle, this one the fine ducal carriage that had met them along the road the previous day, and watched the droplets drag down the window like teardrops.

At least the weather matched her mood.

The vehicle shivered to a stop and she wiped at the steamy glass with her sleeve. Outside, Rhys sat on his horse, his greatcoat pulled tightly around his shoulders and his hat low over his eyes to protect them from the rain. She sighed. Even now, sitting at the gate to their London home, her husband already looked more like a duke. It was silly, but he held himself differently somehow.

Would she ever again see the man who had teased
her, pleasured her with such abandon, and jumped over the cliffs with her?

The carriage lurched onto the drive and stopped a second time. Anne looked around her, gathering up the few items she'd carried along the road and tucking them into her reticule in preparation for disembarking. The carriage door opened, but before a servant could come to assist her, Rhys appeared in the doorway. A few droplets of water trickled from his hat and hit his face, trailing along his cheeks like tears. She couldn't help but stare in wonder at the image.

“Anne?” he said softly.

She shook off her thoughts and forced a smile. “You poor thing, you're soaked through.”

He shrugged one shoulder as he offered her a hand to exit. “I'll be dry soon enough.”

“You could have joined me in the carriage,” she said as she stepped onto the drive.

A servant sidled up beside her with an open umbrella to protect her as they all scurried for the front door and the dry foyer within.

Rhys nodded as they crossed the threshold. “I thought of it, but…”

He trailed off and Anne pursed her lips in understanding. He hadn't wanted to be alone with her.

She was happy not to have to reply when the ser
vant lowered the umbrella and moved away, leaving Gilmour to close the door and turn toward them with one of his usual bland but pleasant smiles.

“We are very pleased to have you home my lord, my lady,” the servant said, though Anne could see there was a slightly curious expression in his eyes as he looked at them.

Surely their sudden departures must have caused quite a stir among the servants, especially with all of Anne's upset and inquiries before she followed Rhys to the countryside. And their curiosity was only a small glimpse of what would follow if Rhys had his way.

Anne sighed before she said, “Yes, thank you, Gilmour. I assume there has been much correspondence during our absence.”

He nodded. “Indeed, Your Grace. Both of you have received several items.”

First he gave a letter to Rhys and then the butler held out a high pile of notes and invitations that Anne took with another sigh. She would have much explaining to do to those whose parties they had missed without acknowledgment. But by now probably everyone in Society knew she and Rhys had taken off for the country with no explanation. No doubt there had been much speculation about the cause.

She shivered when she thought of what they would
say when Rhys abandoned their marriage entirely.

Shooting a side glance his way, she saw her husband reading the missive that had been addressed to him. She recognized the hand on the outside of the pages as Simon's. Her lips pursed. The note likely had something to do with Rhys's reasons for leaving her.

Rhys folded the note smartly and stuffed it in his wet pocket. To her surprise, he began fidgeting with great discomfort.

He nodded to the butler, and just as any man in his position who had any experience in his work would do, the servant took the hint and slowly backed away.

“I will oversee the unpacking,” he said with grace. “Perhaps I could speak to Your Ladyship later about some household matters?”

Anne nodded absently, never taking her eyes from her husband. “Yes, of course.”

When they were alone, Rhys let out a breath, as if he had been holding it in waiting. She smiled in some attempt to ease his apparent discomfort. It was odd to see him so, for he had always done the things his title required with effortlessness. Now it was almost as if he didn't quite…
fit
anymore.

“I'm sorry, Anne,” Rhys said, his low voice hardly carrying, even in the echoing foyer. “I have some urgent business I must attend to.”

She opened her mouth, greatly desiring to ask about the letter he'd received. Wanting to inquire, once again, about what so troubled him. But she saw the look on his face and the determination in Rhys's eyes. Whatever respite he had allowed himself at their seaside retreat, that was over now. The separation between them suddenly felt irreversible, and her heart ached.

“Very well,” she managed to choke out. “I, too, have much to do now that we've returned. Perhaps…”

She hesitated. Perhaps what? Perhaps she would ambush him later when her curiosity overwhelmed her? Perhaps he would run away without word again? Perhaps she would love him for the rest of her life, even though it was an utterly foolish thing?

“Perhaps we'll see each other later,” Rhys finished for her, his voice gentle.

She blinked as she stared at him, surprised by how comforting he sounded.

“Perhaps,” she whispered, then she gave him a quick smile and turned toward the stairway at the end of the long foyer. Before she had gotten more than a few steps, Rhys caught her arm.

He turned her back, and for a long, charged moment they stood there, eyes locked and so much emotion passing between them that Anne's chest physically hurt.

Finally Rhys bent his head and gently kissed her forehead. It was by no means the most passionate kiss they had ever shared, but it meant a great deal to her. As did his words when he whispered, “Thank you, Anne.”

She stared as he pulled away, then headed for the hallway and his office. He didn't look back. She knew that for certain because she watched him until he disappeared from sight. The door opened and shut in the distance, and Anne let out her breath. She stood alone in the foyer for a moment, then moved toward the stairway.

As she dragged herself toward her chamber, she flipped through the letters she had almost forgotten she held. Most could wait, but there was one from Rhys's mother that was rather urgent. Anne flinched.

She liked the dowager duchess a great deal, and apparently Anne's frantic inquiries about Rhys's whereabouts before she left for the cottage had caused the other woman some concern. She would have to write to her new mother-in-law this afternoon and perhaps arrange for a supper so the woman could see her son.

Anne didn't relish the idea of explaining her situation to the woman. The dowager didn't miss much, and Anne feared her own upset, as well as Rhys's, would be very clear.

Stuffing the letter into her pocket, Anne hesitated at her chamber door. Once inside, she would fully return to her life in London. There would be no going back. She almost wanted to run from that. To turn away, get into the carriage, and take flight, just as Rhys had done not so long ago.

But before she could do something so foolish, the door opened of its own accord and Malvina stood inside waiting for her. Her servant's friendly face crumpled as she saw Anne, and suddenly Anne was enveloped in her maid's warm embrace.

She hadn't realized just how exhausted she was, emotionally and physically, until that moment. As her servant and friend held her, Anne almost melted, letting the other woman support her for a long moment as she squeezed her eyes shut and tried very hard not to let fall the tears that she had controlled for so long.

“Oh, my lady,” Mally said into her hair, her voice sad and supportive.

That was the last straw. Anne felt a tear trickle down her cheek, then another. She pulled away and rushed into the chamber, slamming the door behind her so no one would see her pain. She tossed the unread letters and invitations on her dressing table and crossed to the window to stare outside and gather herself.

“Here.”

Anne turned to find Mally standing behind her, a fresh handkerchief extended. She smiled and took the cloth, wiping her eyes as she drew in several breaths and attempted to control herself. This would not do. She refused to allow it.

Finally the tears stopped and she was able to bring herself back to some semblance of decorum. It was only then that she spoke.

“Hello, Malvina.”

Her servant stared. “
Hello?
Is that all you can say to me after you disappeared with hardly an explanation and stayed away for over ten days? I had no word from you, I had no idea where you could have gone.”

“I told you before I left that I had to find my husband,” Anne said through clenched teeth as she tossed the handkerchief on her dressing table beside the letters and paced away. “I do not need your judgment, I'm a grown woman.”

Mally followed after her. “Grown or not, it isn't proper for you to run into the wilds of heavens knows where without a chaperone.”

Anne squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists at her sides. She was back in a world full of rules and edicts about decorum, but now they seemed rather ridiculous after all she'd been through and seen over the past few weeks. The very notion that
her main problem was that her disappearance had been
improper
was ludicrous, considering.

In fact, she couldn't help a rather hysterical giggle that bubbled past her lips and echoed in the chamber.

“My lady?” Malvina said, her tone concerned. “Is this somehow funny to you?”

Anne pivoted to face her old friend. “Funny? Oh no, Malvina, trust me that it isn't funny in the least. I just wonder at your idea that being unchaperoned with Rhys is improper. He is my husband, after all, we don't require a guard to keep us apart anymore.” Her smile fell. “But perhaps you're correct, after all. If he…”

She trailed off and balled her hand tighter. Rhys wanted to end their marriage in every way but legally. So in his eyes, in her own, she would become a wife in name alone. In that light, it made all those moments they had shared in the country seem as wicked as Mally implied.

“If he what?” her servant asked, tilting her head to examine Anne's face with more focus. “I want to help you. Please, what is going on, my lady?”

Anne looked at her servant. If there was one person in this world whom she trusted more than any other, it was Malvina. She could surely tell this secret to her old friend and know it would never be repeated, even
below stairs where gossip ran out of control.

Not to mention that if Rhys fulfilled his vow to separate from her, Malvina's future would be affected as well.

“I-I don't know why my husband disappeared,” Anne admitted, never breaking her friend's gaze. “But when I found him, he told me that…that…he intends to separate from me now that we've returned to London. He even asked if I would consider lying to obtain an annulment, but of course I refused.”

Mally blinked, and Anne thought that her friend's blank, confused expression must be quite close to the way her own face looked when Rhys dropped this same unexpected twist on her in the country. She had certainly
felt
numbed and shocked by the words he spoke then.

“How could he say that?” Mally finally asked, voice blank. “Why would he wish to end your union when you've been nothing but a good and steady companion to him? You have dedicated yourself to him, despite his numerous faults!”

Her servant's face had begun to darken as she spoke, and Anne realized that Mally was beginning to shift from shock to anger. Anger that reflected all the same emotion Anne had suppressed and controlled while in the country with Rhys. Now her own rage began to twitch and come to life inside her.

“I don't know why,” Anne snapped, folding her arms as she paced away restlessly. “But he continually claims it is a way to ‘save' me, though he makes no explanation of why or from what evil. All I know is that if he does this, there will only be ruination and destruction in my future.”

Mally moved toward her. “No, my lady!”

“Yes!” Anne spun on her with a frown. “The
ton
will go wild with this. Can you imagine? Rhys is one of the most powerful and feared men in Society, they shall salivate over a scandalous tale of how he abandoned his wife less than a month after we wed. The speculations about my faults will run unchecked, I'm certain.”

Mally flinched, but comforted Anne with a light touch on her arm. “Yes, of course they would talk. Such a thing is so unexpected that you couldn't stop their whispers. But you are a well-liked member of Society. If you held your head up and carried on with dignity, I think your reputation, as well as your father's support and that of your friends, could carry you through.”

“Yes.” Anne sighed. “You have mirrored Rhys's thoughts exactly. But what kind of life is that? Will I be relegated to the pitying acceptance of Society? The whispers? And a life without love, children, or even companionship?”

Mally looked at her, a sly expression lighting her face. “Perhaps not without love, my lady. There were many men who regretted you were betrothed from birth, you know. It is very likely one of them would be happy to step in and offer you something
more
than friendship if you asked.”

Anne's eyes widened and she backed away from her friend with a gasp. She hadn't even considered that possibility. The idea of taking another man as her lover…it was repugnant to her. Even through her anger and heartbreak, she loved Rhys. She couldn't imagine loving another man in any way, let alone enough to bond herself to him physically or emotionally.

She opened her mouth, trying to find some way to respond to her friend's attempt at comfort, but nothing would come. Mally stared at her, waiting, but before Anne could speak, there was a light knock behind them.