Never Gamble Your Heart (The Secret Society of Governess Spies #2)

Chapter 40

F rankie was curled contentedly in his arms. Jasper nuzzled into her rose-scented hair and thought he could stay in that exact position for the rest of his life. His hand was wrapped around her rib cage just below her breast, and he felt her heart slowly settle into a steady beat.

She’d surprised him. When she’d reached her crisis from mostly breast play, he’d realized he’d stumbled upon the perfect partner: She was as intensely aroused by his touch as he was by touching her. She’d raced toward her release with the determination of someone who was going to become insatiable. Fortunately, he was more than happy to take care of those needs, and as often as she wished.

Their joining had been carnal and satisfying, until something had shifted, and he’d found himself moving with her as if in a dream. While gazing into her expressive blue eyes, he’d realized he’d crossed that unspeakable line.

Despite decades dedicated to bachelorhood and emotionally detached affairs, he’d fallen entirely, stupidly, and undisputedly in love with his future wife. The first day he’d met her, he’d warned her not to fall in love with him. It would have been an amusing anecdote if it were not so exasperating. Perhaps he was mistaken about his feelings. Perhaps this was only a case of infatuation.

Yes, infatuation. That was what he felt for her.

Frankie lifted her head, and over her shoulder she gave him a slow, hair-curling kiss.

No. It was definitely love. Bloody hell.

Jasper’s hand flexed around her waist, and she snuggled her bottom into his groin. In response he licked a spot on her neck and she sighed. It was fine, he told himself. Surely plenty of men actually loved their wives?

Perhaps it would be best if for now he kept it to himself. Frankie had already been coerced into marriage with him; the last thing she needed was for him to start spouting off about love like one of the dandy poets at the Coswold literary reception.

The last thing he needed was to hear that, despite what his darling niece thought, she was incapable of loving him back.

Frankie rubbed the arch of her foot over his. Jasper had not known until that moment how sensitive and erotic feet could be.

“Do you think the mastermind behind the Dowry Thieves is here?”

“It is possible.”

She shifted to rubbing her foot over his calf, and there was that damned feeling in his belly again. “Who among us could be so cruel?”

Jasper nuzzled her neck. “I do not know. But I suspect whoever is behind it has had a difficult life. Mayhap he has wealth, but he is clearly lacking in morals and values.”

“You have not had an easy life either, but you have not let it turn you into a monster.”

“That depends on who you ask.”

“No, Jasper.” She turned around to face him, her eyes solemn and fierce. “You are not a monster.”

“I threatened to disembowel Devon.”

Instead of shirking away, she laughed. “No wonder he looked so pale after you spoke to him.”

“I had to ensure he honored the terms of the bet.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly, the candle flames reflecting off her lenses as her eyes searched his. “I will forever be in your debt.”

“Husbands and wives do not keep score.”

She gave him a dimpled smile. “Do you know, Jasper, that if you keep saying things like that, we may never get out of bed?”

Jasper’s groin stirred. “Do you have any idea how enticing you are?”

It was the wrong thing to say, because she stiffened beside him. “Do not lie to me.” She went to climb out of the bed but he tugged her back until she lay beneath him. “No, Jasper. You have said I am beautiful and all sorts of lovely things that I know are not true. But now that we have lain together, I do not want any more false flattery between us.”

Anger stirred beneath the surface of his skin. “Let us put an end to this right now, then. You are perfect, Francis Turner.” She started to speak but he placed his palm over her mouth. “No, you can have your turn to talk in a moment. Let me say my piece. I know you have been told your entire life that you are too plain and too smart, too loud and too uncultured, and too everything —and I strongly suspect it is your mother who has been implanting those falsehoods in your head, so I want to be very, very clear when I say this.” He stared into her wary eyes. “You are everything that is perfect. Your little dimples, your gorgeous smile, your messy hair and your big spectacles, your tendency toward being so candid it stings, your wit and intelligence, the way you make love—everything about you is exactly perfect for me . It is as if you were made for me. I have spent years avoiding marriage because I could not imagine my life with any woman, and then you walked into my house and now I cannot imagine living without you. So the next time you think that you are not enough, know that you don’t have to be enough for anyone or anything else, because you are everything to me.”

Bloody hell. He had just finished telling himself he would not spill his heart to her yet, and here he might as well have ripped it out and lain it at her feet. He removed his hand from her mouth but she didn’t speak, she only continued to stare up at him. “Say something.”

“I—I do not know what to say. I was told no man could ever like those qualities about me.”

“Do I look like your typical high society gentleman?”

She slowly shook her head. “No. You are a better man than every single one of them.”

“No, I am not. We are all monsters in our own way; my way just happens to be more visible than theirs. But I am better at seeing you.”

“How can you say those beautiful things to me and then call yourself a monster?” She furrowed her brow. “I will work on believing you when you say you like my oddities—and rest assured I will remind you of your claims when you are exasperated with me—if you will work on believing that you are a good man.”

Jasper brushed his lips against hers and said softly, “I would do anything for you, Frankie.”

Her dimples appeared. “Not a monster, but mayhap a devil. My devil.”

They kissed again, and it was tender and lingering and full of heart. Finally she sighed and rolled out from underneath him and stood to dress.

“Where are you going?”

“I must return to my chamber before Cecelia awakens.” She gave him that war-inciting smile over her shoulder, and her blond hair swept across her smooth back like a wave of gold. “We are not married yet.”

She bent over, her delectable derriere in the air, and Jasper reached forward to fondle her bottom. She purred. Purred! To hell with reputations. He was sliding his hand around to her lower belly when she pulled away, chiding him with a look. “I need your help with my gown.”

Jasper clenched his jaw. “This marriage cannot happen soon enough.”

He pulled his trousers over his hips and then helped tighten her corset and buttoned the hundred buttons on her gown, which was ninety-nine too many in his opinion. “What did your mother say to you in the sitting room?”

“Oh. That she was disappointed that I had thrown away my chance to marry some sort of peer, she thought my spoiled actions were typical, since I never think about the family or my reputation, she hoped I did not regret tying myself to a rake, she warned me that because I am so plain you will likely take many mistresses and I will have to look the other way, and on and on.”

“I do not like her making you feel bad.”

Frankie turned and cupped his cheek. “I do not think she intends to be cruel, Jasper. I like to think she loves me and wants the best for me, even though I am an eternal disappointment to her.”

“Frankie, you are not a disappointment to her,” he said, astonished that she could not see what was behind her mother’s insults, when it had taken him only a matter of days to figure it out. “She is jealous of you.”

Frankie laughed, but Jasper did not. Her merriment faded. “You are serious? How could she be jealous of me ?”

“How could she not? You have walked your own path your entire life. You are gorgeous, intelligent, and feisty. You have managed to retain your whole self, body and soul, while I suspect—”

Frankie’s eyes narrowed. “You suspect what? Do not dare to lie to me, Mr. Jones. I shall have none of that.”

“I suspect she wishes she had done things differently.”

“You mean not marry my father?”

He lifted a shoulder.

Frankie thought about that. “You may be right. There have been times where I have sensed that she is not a happy person, and that perhaps she wishes she had married higher in society. But if she is jealous, and I still find that hard to believe, I do not think she knows it.”

“That I agree with.”

After re-pinning her uncooperative hair, Frankie was presentable enough to return to her chamber.

“I am disappointed that I did not solve the mystery of the Dowry Thieves,” she admitted at the door. “I was so close to saving other women from Lady Elizabeth’s fate.”

“We will figure something out—together. We are a team now, Frankie.”

She brightened. “You are absolutely right, Jasper. Just because this ploy did not work, it does not mean another won’t.”

“Now wait just a min—”

She gave him a dimpled smile and slid out the door, leaving him staring at the wood-carved panel in what was becoming an all-too-familiar feeling of exasperation.