To Please A Lady (The Seduction Series) (37 page)

He stepped closer to her and cupped the side of her face. “I can think of anywhere as home, as long as you are with me.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on tiptoe. “You flatter me too much.”

“No, not enough.”

“Ahhmm.” The driver cleared his throat. “Shall I carry your bags inside?”

James grinned. “No, no, we’re fine. Leave them there.”

Ellie flushed, having forgotten the man still stood there. But then she was constantly forgetting herself around James. “Thank you.”

“Whatever you wish.” The man jumped back onto the coach, lifted the reins, and sped away. Ellie waited until the crunch of wheels over gravel faded, until they were alone. Silence settled around them, a warm breeze wafting through the garden and sending flower petals through the air like colorful, silken raindrops. Standing in front of Rose Cottage with James at her side felt utterly right.

“Come.” Eleanor took his hand. “I want to show you our new home.”

The door opened easily under her hand. The wooden floors were polished, and a large vase of pink roses waited on the round table that stood in the middle of the foyer. A parlor was on the left, and on the right was the library where she and her aunt had spent rainy afternoons reading. She pressed her hands to her breasts, the tightness in her chest overwhelming. Even the scent was the same. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply… lemon, soap, and roses.

“It’s just as it was those many years ago.” She peeked into the parlor. The furniture was still the same antique pieces her aunt had collected; the small pianoforte was nestled in the corner near the windows. She’d played on that piano, watching the birds nest, while her aunt knit on the settee.

“You do like it?” She turned to face James, who still stood in the foyer. He seemed so lost, so unsure. Her excitement faded.

“Hell, I’m overwhelmed, Ellie,” he admitted, raking back his hair. “I never… ever assumed I would own a place so lovely. I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve you.”

Ellie raced to him and threw her arms around his neck, pressing her mouth to his. “You do, James, you deserve everything and more. You showed me that I didn’t have to accept my lot in life. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be here.”

She slid her hands up his chest, underneath his jacket, and over the fine linen of his waistcoat. “There’s so much to see.”

He grinned. “What first? The gardens? The kitchen?”

She stepped away from him and walked backward to the steps. “Next,” she said, resting her hand on the baluster, “we are going to make this house truly ours.”

He started slowly toward her, a gleam in his eyes that made her feel hot and flushed. “And how will we do that?”

She leaned into him and took his earlobe between her teeth. “By making love to you… in every room.”

“Dear God, woman,” he hissed as she pressed her lips to his neck. “There are a lot of rooms here.”

“Yes, but we have a lifetime to see it through.” She took his hand and led him up the stairs. “Come along, I’ll be gentle, I promise.”

“My sweetling. My rose amongst weeds.” Ellie felt the gentle press of James’s mouth on her cheek, forehead, lips. His warm body nestled against her back was heaven. Sunlight filtered in through the curtains, and in the air hung the heavy scent of roses. She cracked her lids. The windows were open, and the lovely sound of birds chirping floated in on the breeze. For the first time in months she felt alive, hopeful, and excited about the day.

She rolled over and wrapped her arms around his neck. Last night after having made love in the bedroom, they’d headed to the kitchen to find it stocked with food. Thank God she’d thought to send word to Mr. and Mrs. Swann. They’d even found the beds cleaned and made before collapsing onto the large four-poster in the main chamber. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pressed her hips to his.

“I see you’ve recovered from last night.” She grinned as his erection pulsed against her aching folds. “I think I just might have recovered as well.”

She pressed her lips to his chin, then lower to his neck. She loved the fact that his scent was on the sheets, and on her. Loved
that she could sleep next to his warm body and wake up to his kisses. It was a novelty that she had never experienced and knew she would never tire of.

“Ellie, love.”

She slid her hands over his broad shoulders while pressing light kisses to the corners of his mouth. “How I adore you.”

He chuckled. “Me, or my body?”

She grinned, sliding her hands down his biceps. “Both, most certainly both.”

He settled his hands on her thighs and gently pushed her away. “Perhaps it’s best if we wait.”

“James.” She sat up, her hair falling down around her shoulders. “Is it your injury?”

“No, merely do not want to be caught in a compromising position.”

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Whatever do you mean?” It was then that she heard the sound of wheels over gravel. “Oh dear God.” She jumped off the bed and raced to the windows. A small open carriage was headed down the drive. “Someone is here!”

“It would appear so.” James stood and pulled on his trousers. “And you, my dear, should probably dress. Unless you intend to greet our visitors in the nude?”

She glared at him and scooped up her shift and corset, starting to dress. “You knew all along, didn’t you?”

He winked at her. “I might have.”

She tightened the strings of her corset. “If I didn’t love you, I very well might slap you.” She scooped up the day dress she’d discarded last night.

“An injured man?” He clucked his tongue and shook his head as he pulled on his shirtsleeves.

“Button me?” Ellie spun around, presenting her back to James. His warm fingers brushed her spine, sending chills over
her skin. Ellie sighed, adoring his touch. She could do this for the rest of her life. Always, forever.

“Do I have time to kiss you?” she asked as she turned.

“Always.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, his lips finding hers. All too soon the bell at the door rang. Eleanor groaned, stepping back. She wanted to see her old friends but wished for more time alone with James before they were overwhelmed by neighbors.

“Come, we’ll greet our first guests.” James took her hand and led her down the steps. Ellie pressed her feet into her slippers at the bottom of the staircase where she’d lost them last night. “I do hope we won’t find any undergarments in any unusual places,” she whispered as she reached for the door. Where had she left her bloomers? Hopefully in the bedchamber.

The brilliant morning sunlight momentarily blinded her.

“Oh bless your soul!” Ellie suddenly found herself pulled into Mrs. Swann’s large and warm bosom. The hug had her gasping for air, but she didn’t mind in the least. “We never thought we’d see you again! Mr. Swann! Mr. Swann!”

The older man grinned at her from behind his wife. They had the same round, kind faces, weatherworn from work and country life. But they looked older, so much older. For a moment Ellie was saddened to have lost precious time with them. But she would not live in the past, not when the present was so wonderful.

“Is it true?” the woman asked, taking Ellie’s hands and glancing slyly at James. “Are you remarried?”

“It is.” She turned toward James. “My name is Eleanor McKinnon now.”

“Ellie has told me so much about you,” James said, bowing over the woman’s hands. His practiced manners and handsomeness had the older woman twittering like a debutante. “I look forward to finding that peace she has had here.”

“Well then, you are quite welcome.”

But she could see it would take some time before they would trust him. She didn’t blame them. Aunt Jeanie’s husband had been wretched, and when he had died young no one had missed him. They knew only too well what Lord Beckett had been like. The one time they’d come to London and tried to visit her it hadn’t gone well.

Eleanor stepped out onto the stoop. “Are you responsible for keeping up my aunt’s gardens?”

Mrs. Swann flushed. “I did my best.”

Ellie slipped her arm through the older woman’s. She could remember Mrs. Swann spoiling her with gingersnaps and peppermints. Together they stepped into the front garden, leaving James and Mr. Swann on the stoop to discuss the building and lands.

“I know it seems sudden,” Ellie said softly as they moved past the rosebushes and around the corner of the house toward the back where indeed the apple trees were still growing. Beyond the trees she could see the gently sloping hills of the West Country. There was no place more stunning, and her eyes burned with tears merely witnessing the beauty around her.

“Is he a good man, dear?”

A grin split her face. “He is. The best I’ve ever known.”

She took Ellie’s hands and they paused under a tree. “Then we are happy for you.”

An apple suddenly fell from above, hitting Ellie on the shoulder, bouncing off, and tumbling to the ground. Mrs. Swann cried out, stumbling back, while Ellie looked up, bemused.

“Catherine!” Mrs. Swann shook her fist up at the branches. A young girl hung from above, her dark hair clumped in ratty knots around her narrow, dirty face.

“Sorry,” she muttered. “It slipped.”

“I told you before, lass, you’ll get a bellyache eating them before they’re ready!”

Eleanor bit back her laughter. She’d had plenty of stomachaches as a child from eating unripe apples. “Who are you?”

“None of your business.” The child jumped from the tree and darted toward the stone fence that separated her land from the lane, her worn gingham gown too short for her long legs. Just then James and Mr. Swann strolled into the garden.

“Come back here, you, and learn your manners!” Mr. Swann darted after the child, waving his fist in the air. Ellie looked away, hiding her grin. Mr. Swann hadn’t changed. He might appear gruff, but she knew he had a heart of gold.

James caught her smile as he paused beside her, no doubt reminded of his own childhood, full of mischief and adventure. With his hands in his pockets and his hair windblown, he looked at ease. A country gentleman.

“I hope you don’t mind.” Mrs. Swann was ringing her hands. “The child has no one anymore. Mother died last year.”

Eleanor’s heart softened.

“She shows up here once in a while for food.”

Eleanor watched the child jump over the fence and disappear. “No, of course I don’t mind.”

“Oh, I knew you wouldn’t!” She pressed her hands to her chest. “As sweet as you always were. London life didn’t change you. We’re so happy you’re here.”

“As am I.”

“How she loved you,” Mrs. Swann said, resting her hand on Ellie’s arm. “We all loved you so very much.”

All this time she’d felt sorry for herself, thinking she’d had no one. But she had known love, she had had a family, a childhood. Perhaps it wasn’t perfect always, but she had memories, good memories. She had been adored by a wonderful aunt. And she was adored now.

Mrs. Swann patted her shoulder. “We’ll go take care of tea and meet you in the parlor?” The woman scurried off, knowing when a couple needed time alone.

“What do you think?” she asked James the moment the couple disappeared inside.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and pressed a kiss to her temple. “I think we have a lovely home and the start of a lovely friendship with two kind people.”

Ellie threw her arms around his neck and smiled up at him. “Have you ever made love outside?”

He grinned. “Not that I can recall.”

She lifted her brows in surprise. “I don’t believe it!”

“Believe it or not, there are many, many things I haven’t done that I’d like to experience with you.”

“And we will.” She stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his.

“I do believe we’re being watched,” James whispered against her mouth. Eleanor leaned back and glanced behind her. Catherine, the child from the apple tree, was peeking over the fence. No doubt she was wondering if she could make it back for the green apple she’d dropped.

“I think that child needs a stable influence,” Eleanor stated, her mind spinning. Did she have no one to raise her? The poor dear.

James brushed his knuckles over her cheek. “And I know someone who just might be able to help.”

Thoughts of Catherine sent her back to James. “You aren’t too upset that I can’t bear children?”

“No.” His face grew serious. “I would take any child in need of a home.”

She knew he thought of his own childhood and his sister. She glanced back toward the fence, but the child was gone. Eleanor hadn’t ever thought about offering a home to orphans. But they did have enough space and plenty of money. So very much to offer.

She slid her arm around James and held tight. Together, they started back toward Rose Cottage. “James, perhaps we might have a family after all.”

Epilogue

“Only a few hours’ ride,” Eleanor said, her head resting upon James’s shoulder. “Not very far at all.”

Catherine and Samantha were asleep on the seat across from them, their heads nestled together. Although they looked nothing alike, Catherine with her wild ways and dark hair, and Samantha with her quiet reserve and blonde hair, they were thick as thieves. Every time he saw them whispering in each other’s ears, telling sisterly secrets, his chest ached with a warmth that almost frightened him.