The Trouble with Anna

Chapter 41

CHAPTER 41

A NNA MARCHED ALONG THE MEWS behind the Dowager’s house a week later, squinting against the mellow winter sun. She was thinking. Or trying not to think. Or… she wasn’t quite sure. All she knew was she was badly mixed up and needed to talk to a horse.

Horses didn’t judge. Except stallions—they were the worst kind of snobs. No, for this situation she needed a mare, mature and steady. Sally would know what to make of the whirl of the past week.

Besides, Anna had a present for her.

She looked down at the odd bouquet she carried. Bright chamomiles peeping out from a clutch of grain stalks and carrots, all tucked into a hollow squash.

It had come with a note:

Sally, Esteemed Mare of the Mews

Ramsay Dower House

London, England

My dearest Sally,

An offering for you to admire or eat, as you please. There are more carrots in your future if you convince your mistress to move up the wedding date.

—Ramsay

Damn the man. What kind of scoundrel sent flowers to a horse?

Anna bit back a grin. For that matter, what kind of man sent a parade of ridiculous presents and even more ridiculous notes, some so gleefully filthy she thought her cheeks might crisp off? How was she meant to feel when he kept bustling her off to the orangerie and kissing her stupid, all the while whispering what he would do to her once they were married, if only she would agree to a special license?

He was relentless. Heartless to tempt her! She wanted to boil him in oil. Snip off his toes and fry them up. Or roast them. Or whatever Cook did to give her little potatoes such a delicious crunch. If Anna didn’t know better, she might almost think Julian cared, might almost think he loved…

Anna shushed herself. Julian had never once mentioned feelings , or caring , or, god help her gasping heart, love .

She reached the stables and peeked her head in. “Good morning, Oliver. I’ve brought a treat for Sally.”

The groom looked up from his sweeping. “Hello, my lady.” He looked over her shoulder and straightened up. “And good morning to you, my lord.”

A thrill ran up Anna’s back.

“Good morning, Oliver.” Julian’s voice reverberated from close behind her. “Clear the stables.”

Anna’s face flamed like a bonfire as the grooms and stableboys filed out, careful not to look at her.

When the doors closed on the last of them, Anna spun around. “Julian! You know what they’ll think.”

“Mmm. Tell me? In detail, if you please.”

Anna’s lips twitched hopelessly.

Julian reached for Sally’s flowers and put them gently on the floor, then slid a hand around Anna’s waist and pulled her firmly against him.

“Nothing to say? Never mind, then.” The gleam in his eye faded away, leaving him oddly solemn. “I have something for you.”

“Not here!” Anna squeaked, blushing down to her feet. She hadn’t stopped blushing since the minute she met him. Forget the coal in its bin and the fat stacks of firewood, her cheeks alone could heat the Dowager’s townhouse.

Julian laughed, low in his throat. “Most definitely here, my lightning, but I had something else in mind.”

He pulled a small box from his pocket and rubbed his thumb over the top, oddly tentative. “It’s not… I hope… My first thought was to weigh you down with the largest stone I could find. But it wouldn’t be practical, not when you spend half your life in the mud. So I commissioned this.”

The box gave a satisfying snick as he opened it, and there, nestled into a bed of black velvet, was a glittering crescent of diamonds. Anna picked the ring up carefully, turning it so she could see the delicate workmanship that kept the stones flat along the band.

“They’re table-cut diamonds. I told my jeweler to make the ring perfectly smooth, so it won’t be in your way.” His voice went low, rough. “You won’t have to take it off. Not in the stables, not ever.”

Her legs felt suspiciously weak. “It’s like a little galaxy.” She wanted to snatch the ring and hug it against her chest. She wanted to coo at it and whisper it all her hopes and secrets. It wasn’t grand, but each stone was clear, blinding. Perfect. “Is that an inscription?”

Julian’s cheeks went dark. “It’s nothing. A bit of nonsense.”

Anna turned the ring to read the tiny squiggle:

STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.

She blinked and blinked, so overwhelmed she thought she might cry. This was love, wasn’t it? She was holding pure love in her hand.

“Anna? Blast. Don’t you like it?” Julian’s throat worked. “You can choose another. I’ll open the vaults and you can have your pick.”

“No!” Anna slid the ring onto her finger and flexed her hand against its coolness as the diamonds winked up at her. “I adore it. You’d have to pry it away from me.”

Julian’s shoulders settled and he cleared his throat. “The special license. You’re as stubborn as a mule. I thought the Barton stable only produced Thoroughbreds?”

Ann managed to laugh. “How terribly rude. Here I thought that you might say something nice about my character, or my—”

“Breasts?” he supplied helpfully.

Anna frowned. “I don’t really have breasts, thank god. Can you imagine what a nuisance they’d be on a horse?”

His eyes began to gleam. “Bouncing? Yes. Thank you, I can imagine it quite clearly.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Besides, what I have hardly count as breasts at all. They’re more like…” She squinted at her bodice. “Lumps?”

“Lumps? Good god, how you talk.” He leaned in, nibbled on her neck. “I’ve never seen a pair quite so adorable—”

Oh, thank god. His clever fingers dipped down her décolletage and found the little peak of her nipple, just as his mouth found hers.

“—or suckable?” he whispered after a long kiss, his voice full of hope.

Anna tried to shimmy out of her bodice without untying the bows at the back of her dress. “Drat! Julian! I’ve got my arms stuck.”

His made no move to free her. Instead, his eyes went dark and he pushed her slowly back against a broad post, pulling the front of her bodice down the last little way until her breasts were completely bare. Pouting up at him.

Anna’s breath hitched. “Julian? I’m stuck.”

His mouth curved. “I know.”

She lost her breath entirely. Could only watch as his dark head descended and she felt the rough stroke of his tongue across her nipple. He drew it into his hot mouth and sucked.

“Do you like that?” he asked.

God, yes. She nodded frantically.

“Tell me how much.” His hands reached up to cup her.

“So much,” she breathed. “Do it again. Right now.”

“So demanding. Acting like a Countess already.” He pulled up her skirt. She felt the long slide of it up her calf, up her thigh.

Anna leaned her head back, arched against the post, and gave herself over to the feel of his mouth on her breast, his hand under her chemise and gliding higher.

“Help me get my arms free.” She wriggled. “I want to touch you.”

“No.”

“But—”

He paused, his mouth hovering over her skin. “If you don’t like it, tell me and I’ll stop. But I’ve dreamed of you like this, all bound up to work as I please. Let me?”

Anna took a jagged breath and let her head rest back against the post. His hand under her skirt cupped her bottom, hauled her tight against him as he rolled one nipple in his mouth and then the other. She could feel his cock enormous against her, his breath as broken as hers.

His hand slipped under her drawers.

“Julian, please!” She hooked a leg up on his hip, tried to climb up his body.

“Christ, Anna.” His mouth was hot and desperate and he growled as he pushed her skirt up.

“Wait!” Anna cried. “Not here! In the stall!”

Julian’s eyes were glazed, his hands hard on her hips. “Lightning, no one would dare to enter. We’re alone, I promise.”

“ But the horses !” she said in an agonized whisper.

He stared at her. “What?”

Anna bit her lip, lowered her voice. “Sally might see.”

Julian gave a low laugh and lifted her into his arms. Together they tumbled into an empty stall and onto a mound of straw.

“I swear that mare might as well be my mother-in-law,” he whispered, his clever hands on the ties at the back of her dress at last. Her bodice sagged away from her, and he helped her wiggle out of the overdress and chemise.

Anna wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed up against his incredible heat, her mouth open under his.

She slipped her hand under his jacket, his chest hot under the thin lawn of his shirt. He shrugged, and she pulled his jacket down, went to work on his shirt and cravat.

He hissed when he felt her breasts against his bare skin.

“You see?” He tugged on her earlobe with his teeth. “Your breasts really do make me stupid.”

But Anna was beyond teasing. She was too empty, too slick and swollen. He was right there, so close but not inside her. She reached down and grasped him, wiping the smile off his face. He stilled, made a sound as if he were dying. “We can’t. I don’t have anything to protect you.”

“What?” Anna pushed herself up on her elbow, too dazed to understand.

“We’re not married. I could get you with child. We need a special license .”

“But—” She ached too much. She thought she might cry.

He kissed her neck, kissed down the valley between her breasts and over her stomach, his chin skimming the sensitive skin of her low belly. He pushed her flat, and nudged her legs open, kissing lower and lower, until—finally!—he gave her a long lick, slow and rough, right where she craved him most.

“Oh god!” Anna clutched his shoulders. Her body bowed, her blood turned to honey.

He licked her harder and growled something when her head fell back, but she couldn’t hear him any longer. Her body was glowing, humming, little vibrations growing louder and louder until she thought she was going to crack apart. She began to shake as his tongue worked faster, and all at once the vibrations shattered.

“Julian!” she yelled as her toes went tight and her body bowed. Waves tumbled her around until she collapsed against the straw, trying to gasp down air.

Julian hauled himself up next to her and Anna burrowed her face into his chest. It was too much. She wanted to dig down into the straw, curl up tight as a hedgehog around her bliss.

Damn the man. How did he do this to her?

She laid a shaky hand low on his belly, and he hissed and flinched away.

That caught her attention. “Julian?”

He shook his head, didn’t respond.

“Are you all right?”

His eyes were closed, his jaw clenched. He seemed to be somewhere far away. Somewhere sharp and stony.

Anna pushed herself up on her elbow, snatching up her chemise when his eyes snapped open and she saw where he was looking. She could hear his teeth grind.

“Julian! What’s wrong?”

“Special. Fucking. License.”

Oh!

Her cheeks flooded again, but this time it was a flush of pure, drunken power.

God, he was glorious. His shirt was open and had ridden up around his waist, and it was all she could do not to rub her face against the broad, flat muscles of his chest and purr. Her eyes dipped lower, went wide.

The falls of his breeches were open, and she saw him, thick and heavy against his belly.

Her eyes roved down the length of him, and his cock pulsed in response, growing harder under her gaze.

“It looks so…”

Anna leaned forward, traced a fascinated finger down its length, and it leapt up. “Oh! Was that all right? May I touch you there?”

He shook his head roughly and yet he didn’t seem displeased, exactly….

She licked her lips. “Perhaps I should… kiss you there?”

His big body went tight as iron.

Anna lowered her head, slowly, slowly, until her lips floated just above the curve of his broad head. “Do I take that as a yes?”

His voice was agonized. “You mustn’t feel you need to—”

Anna took him in her mouth, a brief suck, and he let out a strangled yelp.

“Like that?” she whispered.

His hands shot down, hovered over her hair. She could feel how tightly he held them clenched, as if he was straining not to crush her.

“Just like that,” he croaked.

“Hmm. Perhaps not. Perhaps I’ll start with this….” Little kitten licks from his base to his head, each causing his breath to hitch and his thighs to tighten until she thought she might crack him in half.

He growled and it sounded painful.

Anna gave a tiny smile and returned to her work with the fierce concentration it deserved. She’d broken lots of horses, but this was her first time breaking an earl.