Chapter Nineteen #2
“I know.” Evan nodded. “I am yours for the duration, but please say you’ll have me.
Because I love you.” He might not be an orator on the floor of the Lords, and he might not have the talent of a poet, but that was easily the most important speech of his life.
Would it prove effective enough to win her?
The delicate tendons in her throat worked with a hard swallow in the anemic light from a gas lamp as they passed it. “How can I marry a dead man? It’s impossible.”
Though he appreciated her clever mind, it was proving a stumbling block. “Then it’s convenient that I’m friends with powerful dukes, hmm? They will help us get settled.”
A tiny nod from her lifted his spirits. “This is all happening so fast.”
“Agreed, or has it been slowly coming to this conclusion for ten years?” Because he couldn’t help himself, Evan brought his mouth crashing down on hers.
He kissed her with such conviction, he’d be damned if she left this carriage without giving him a promise.
When he released her to breathe, he asked, “Do you accept my proposal?”
For the space of a few heartbeats, silence reigned.
Then she nodded as her eyes glimmered with moisture.
“Yes, but not because I’m tired of being a courtesan, and not because I’m desperate and on the shelf steeped in scandal, but because I love you, have never stopped loving you after all these years, after I thought you dead—twice.
” Tears fell to her cheeks. “That was why losing our child affected me so much. I thought I’d lost every piece of you as well.
” Such emotion rang in her voice that a ball of the same lodged in his throat.
“There was nothing left for me that day, and I mourned that loss, mourned your loss, even more so when it was assumed you had died at sea. I vowed that I would never again let myself feel anything for a man because it hurt too much. A broken heart cannot be mended.”
Yet she had accepted his proposal. His spirit soared and he wanted to shout the news from the rooftops. “I don’t believe that.”
“Don’t believe what?”
“That a broken heart cannot be healed,” he responded between tender kisses all over her face and closed eyelids. “Because I’m damn well going to try and heal yours just as you are doing to mine.”
“Oh, Evan.” Another round of tears spilled to her cheeks. “That is quite the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Good, but be warned. I’m not nearly done trying to convince you tonight.” If tears fell to his own cheeks, he didn’t care and ignored the moisture, for wooing his future bride was much more satisfying than worrying about image and ego.
Once more he kissed her, and this time it was as if he were a man possessed. That led to exploring and heated caresses. By the time they arrived at her townhouse, various pieces of clothing were either open or nearly off.
“Come inside as quickly as you can,” he whispered to her as he assisted her from the carriage and into the rain. “I realize we have always been steeped in scandal, but I don’t relish anyone gawking at us in such dishabille just now. And I am supposed to be dead, after all.”
She giggled as he ushered her up the short walkway, through the wrought iron gate and then inside the house. It was a good thing the staff had already retired, for he continued to kiss her as they awkwardly climbed the stairs, shedding garments as they went.
By the time they gained her bedchamber, they were easily naked and finally he could lay claim to those curves that had teased and tormented him for years, in his dreams and out.
Once he’d gotten her on the bed, he slipped behind her, spreading his legs and encouraged her to sit between them with her back reclining against his chest. “I fear the last few acts of this night have made you look at me in a different light.”
She laid a hand on his knee, and he almost launched out of his skin with need. “I was shocked; there is no getting around that, but I understand why you did what you did. However, I will forever be haunted.”
“Fair enough. Every time I’ve killed a man, he becomes a ghost in my mind, haunting my soul.
That is the consequences of such, but I’ll help you through it when you struggle.
” The pounding of his pulse echoed in his ears.
“Now that I am not a Navy man, a privateer, or a duke, I’ll wager I have a fair shot of starting over and becoming anything I wish. ”
God, such freedom was staggering. No schedules, no orders, no responsibilities, no traditions to follow.
A clean slate.
“I adore that for you; you’ve struggled with identity for more than you’ve let on.
” As she spoke, Hannah reached up a hand and hooked her fingers about his nape, gently pulling his head closer.
“What is more, the heart never lies, and I think you know that since you’ve finally found the beginning of your path. ”
“I do, and remarkably, that path has led me back to you.” The warmth of her in his arms was distracting and comforting at the same time.
When she turned her head, he captured her lips with his, and for several minutes, they spoke with kisses and fleeting caresses.
Shifting position as he settled better her between his legs, he ignored his hardened shaft, for he didn’t want to rush this coupling.
“Sometimes fate is a funny thing.” A gasp escaped her as he ever so gently he drew his fingers along her sides, playing her ribs as if he were a pianist.
“Fate was what pushed me into wanting to be a duke. Destiny is what I’ve taken hold of for myself to guide me into a better life.” He would tell her that as many times as she needed to believe it.
“So lovely.” Her eyes fluttered closed, and she reclined into him, both relaxed and with taut muscles.
Was she regretting what she’d said earlier in the carriage? “Please know that I’m glad to leave my past behind.”
“As am I.” A soft sound escaped her. “No matter where you go, Evan, I need you by my side, in my life, for as long as I live, because I cannot fathom a day where I don’t talk to you, smile at you, bedevil you, have you in my bed and at my side as a partner in everything.”
“I won’t fail you. Disappoint you at times, perhaps, but I’ll never fail you or leave you.
” Evan cupped her breasts, and she sucked in a breath.
“As I said, I love you. When I assumed I would never give away my heart, you caught me up in your life and made me wish I’d been there all along.
” Needing to touch her, taste her, he kissed the side of her neck.
“Oh…” Hannah sighed as he squeezed her breasts, rolled the nipples at the roots. “Oh, yes, do that.”
He chuckled. “Perhaps I should stop, for this is far too distracting for conversation.” His lips glanced along the side of her neck. When she stirred restlessly against him, he grinned.
“I don’t wish to talk right now, Buckthorne.” When he glanced his palms over her erect nipples, a shuddering moan escaped her. She arched her back, clearly lost in pleasure, and it was the most delicious sight, especially after the events of the night.
“Perhaps we should have bathed before being intimate.” Having her in the bath would prove particularly naughty.
“Later. Right now, I’ll go mad if you don’t claim me.” Then she wriggled her bottom, and that friction against his hardened shaft sent him to the very edges of pleasure and bliss, but he couldn’t let himself go with abandon just yet.
“I adore that you know exactly what you want.” He caressed the perfect globes of her breasts. With each pass of his hands, each stroke and twist of his fingers on those dark pink, pert nipples, she moaned and arched her back.
“True, and what you want in life is really quite simple.”
“I came to that realization myself, which is how we’ve arrived here.
” As he slipped a hand down her torso, past the soft swell of her belly, over her mons to delve his fingers into the curls shrouding her sex, the sounds of pleasure and encouragement she made went straight to his shaft.
If he waited much longer, he would embarrass himself by spending too soon, for his need for her was great, but he gritted his teeth and ignored the throbbing discomfort.
Right now, his focus was on Hannah, in caring for every need she had—mind, body, and spirit.
“I must say this, though, before you bewitch me completely. The difference you’ve made in my life is awe-inspiring. I look forward to where we’ll go from here.”
“So do I.” She drifted her fingertips along his thigh, and he sucked in a breath, for even in that weightless touch, her concern was evident. “But you’ll need to do a better job of convincing me I’ve made the right decision.”
The dear woman parted her legs to allow him greater access, and as he spread her folds to uncover the swelling button at her center, she moaned.
Her back arched again. She held his other hand to her breast, pressing it to the nipple.
Oh, yes, she would break, and soon, and he couldn’t wait to claim her body, to show her the depth of his regard.
And reassure her that this was what they both needed, should have had ten years ago if mistakes and secrets hadn’t kept them apart.
“Of course you have made the right decision.” The shiver that went through her body transferred to him.
Though he didn’t want to ruin the moment with talking, it was he who needed the reassurance.
“The moment I learned about Charlotte, I knew everything must change because I wanted the life I’d missed out on, regardless of birthright.
” Evan circled that tiny bundle of nerves, teased her with varying levels of friction, and all the while, he kissed the side of her neck, plucked and rolled her nipple, did everything he could to back up his words.
As her breath came in labored pants, he grinned.