Chapter Seventeen
London, Three Weeks Later
“Jerome!” protested Ava with a giggle as her husband tugged her into an anteroom off the gallery and shut the door. Pressing her up against it, he kissed her fervently.
“I haven’t seen you all day,” he said between kisses.
Sliding her arms around his neck, Ava gave him back kiss for kiss. “I know, there is a lot to organize for a debutante’s ball!”
Jerome pressed kisses along her neck and rummaged through her skirts.
“Jerome?” she questioned as he raised her skirts, sliding a hand up her inner thighs. “Ohh!” She closed her eyes as his fingers slid into her soft flesh and extracted the most exquisite sensation. “I—oh! I promised Letty I’d keep an eye on Sophie!” she said helplessly.
“This won’t take long,” responded her incorrigible spouse as his fingers glided inside her and his thumb pressed on that spot that made her knees threaten to give out.
“You—oh!” moaned Ava, giving into the pleasure as his mouth found hers again and stifled her groans.
In the next moment he undid his falls and, lifting her up as if she weighed no more than a feather, he impaled her with his member and, pressing her firmly up against the door, hammered her body hard with his.
How he managed it she didn’t know, but he had the angle just right for her and a wild few minutes of ravenous desire saw them both coming together in a heated rush.
Since their wedding night, they’d made love in all sorts of positions, passionately, slowly, lovingly, and on occasion—like this one—hard and fast.
Panting in the aftermath of the sudden explosion of bliss, her feet slowly dropped to the floor as he eased her down and disengaged their bodies. He leaned his forehead against the door above her head as he caught his breath.
He smiled down at her and cupped her face, giving her a gentle kiss. “Thank you.”
She rose on tiptoe and kissed him back. “Thank you.”
He used a handkerchief to dab between her legs, stuffed it in his pocket and poked a pin back into place in her coiffure.
“There—beautiful as ever. I’ll join you in a minute.”
He stepped back from the door, and she slipped out of the room, patting her hair and grinning to herself. Being married was much more fun than being a debutante.
Jerome joined her in the ballroom a few minutes later, his appearance restored to its usual immaculate perfection. Anyone looking at them would never guess they had just made frantic love standing up against a door! Unless the flush in her cheeks and the sparkle in her eye gave her away.
The fact that her gorgeous husband couldn’t keep his hands off her kept Ava in a bubble of happiness the entire night.
It was Sophie’s debut ball at her parents’ house in Grosvenor Square, and as Jerome had promised Letty their support, Ava had spent the day helping Letty with all the last-minute preparations for the ball.
For which her sister-in-law was very grateful.
Sophie was a redhead, technically strawberry blonde, with a tendency to freckle, having inherited her father’s russet coloring. She was a very pretty girl, with her mother’s—and uncle’s—beautiful blue eyes and good bone structure.
“Are you satisfied, Letty?” asked Ava, joining the older woman on the couch where she was resting and watching her daughter dancing.
Looking up as Ava sat down, Letty dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief.
“Oh yes! I was just remembering her as a tiny tot and reflecting how quickly time passes. Look at me being a watering pot! It’s the baby; makes me cry at the drop of a hat,” she said disgustedly.
Jerome appeared with refreshments for both ladies and Ava took the glass he offered her with a warm smile just for him. My cup runneth over!
*
Three nights later, Jerome propped up the wall watching his wife dancing with Ashford.
Despite his sloppy dress sense, the viscount was an excellent dancer and Ava loved to dance.
Jerome made her reserve her waltzes for him but let her pick her other partners as she pleased.
Even so, they were already getting a reputation for being unfashionably besotted.
But he found he didn’t care one jot for that.
If adoring his wife was a social solecism, the ton could drown themselves in the Thames. He had never been so happy in his life.
“You’ve got that grin on your face again,” said Robert, joining him.
Jerome flushed slightly, but the grin didn’t diminish. “Is a man not allowed to be happy?” he asked.
“Of course he is. Makes me realize how unhappy you were before. And more to the point, you’re making my sister happy, so I can’t complain about that. I was wrong.” Robert said, with the frankness that made him such a good friend.
Jerome nodded. “Thank you. I was wrong, too. I thought she would be better off with someone else. Thank God Ava had the sense to push for what she wanted.”
Robert let out a breath. “Yes, although I would still wish she hadn’t chosen quite such an outrageously dangerous way to do it. Still gives me nightmares.”
“Me too,” said Jerome soberly.
Robert frowned. “Lannister should have told me what she planned to do. But the devil chose to escort her instead. But at least he didn’t let her go on her own.
That would have been worse, all things considered.
Although if they had been caught, I’d have been forcing him to marry her at gunpoint instead of you. ”
“You didn’t need to force me!”
“No. No, I didn’t.” Robert sighed. “It was a messy business, but it seems to have turned out better than we’d hoped. Although I’ve made an enemy of Silverly again. You know he was at outs with my father over Papa’s refusal to marry his daughter, Mary?”
Jerome nodded. “But surely that’s water under the bridge now?”
Robert shrugged. “Silverly has a long memory. The alliance with Haldane would have been a good one for both houses.”
“There’s always Heather,” offered Jerome.
Robert looked thoughtful. “That could have some merit. He’s a steady fellow, may suit Heather, and she might suit him.
He was taken with Ava’s liveliness, but I think, even if Ava weren’t smitten with you, she would have been too much for him in the end.
I hope you’re able to cope with her mad starts. ”
Jerome prickled at the implied criticism of his wife. “Ava will never be docile. It’s not in her nature, but I’m confident she has outgrown her tendency to flout convention.”
It was just then, scanning the room, he realized he had lost sight of his golden-haired goddess.
The dance was finished and Ashford was back with his very pregnant wife, Annis, who was sitting on a couch by the wall with Letty.
No doubt the two women were discussing babies.
He excused himself from Robert and went looking for Ava.
He found that any time apart from her made the invisible string between them twang.
A circuit of the ballroom confirmed that she wasn’t in the room, and he wondered if she had gone out into the gardens for some fresh air.
It was warm in the room, and she had been dancing.
He tried not to wonder why she wouldn’t come to him and suggest they take a stroll together.
A sixth sense was prickling his skin and not in a good way.
A hollow feeling in his stomach made him hurry toward the double doors and out onto the terrace.
The gardens were a maze of trees, bushes, and wandering paths lit by a scattering of lamps suspended from branches and dotted here and there with little Greek follies, fountains, and statues.
There were several couples strolling through the trees in plain view of the terrace where he stood, but there was no sign of Ava. He hesitated, wondering if she had gone to the ladies’ retiring room. Come to think of it, that was the most logical explanation. What was wrong with him?
He was about to turn back when, on impulse, he descended the steps from the terrace into the garden proper and took the path that wandered around the perimeter of the garden, which was cast in greater shadow. It was toward the back gate that gave onto the mews behind the house that he found them.
He stopped some feet away. A lamp in the tree behind them lit the shadowed space sufficiently for him to recognize immediately Ava’s golden curls and her topaz satin gown.
The man had his back toward Jerome, but the pair of them were seated facing each other, their hands linked and heads bowed together as if in earnest conversation.
The man’s hair was as golden blonde as Ava’s.
With a sick sort of inevitability, Jerome recognized him.
Lannister. A cold wash ran over his skin and that hollow feeling in his stomach solidified into a heavy lump.
He had refused to think about what might have transpired between Lannister and Ava on that trip to Northumberland, and they had not discussed it.
But he had caught Lannister taking liberties with Ava before.
Recalling that occasion, blind fury took swift and sudden hold, and he strode toward the couple, who were so engrossed in their conversation they hadn’t seen him.
“Lannister!” he said, low and fierce. “Unhand my wife!”
Ava jumped in surprise, her eyes going wide. “Jerome!”
He grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet, his eyes fixed on Lannister, who looked tired and drawn but had a sardonic smile pinned to his lips.
“Go back to the ballroom, Ava!” Jerome said peremptorily.
“Jerome—”
“I said, go back to the ballroom. Now!”
She stiffened. “We weren’t doing anything wrong!”
“Go!” he said dangerously, hanging onto his temper by a thread. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Lannister.
The other man rose slowly to his feet and to Jerome’s fury said gently, “It’s all right Ava. I can handle irate husbands. I’ve had lots of practice. Go back to the ballroom, love.”
Ava hesitated and said belligerently, “Don’t hurt him!” before storming off.
Lannister watched him with faint amusement, which infuriated Jerome. He clenched his fists, wanting to punch the smirk off his countenance.
“I wondered when this moment would come,” said Lannister. “I thought you took the whole Northumberland jaunt too well. Been eating at you, has it?”
This was so accurate a summary that Jerome flinched. “I don’t know what game you think you’re playing—”
“No game, Ravenshaw.”
“You appear to find the whole thing amusing!”
“You are jumping to erroneous conclusions.” He rubbed his face tiredly. “I simply needed someone to talk to, and Ava offered.”
“I’m going to say this once and once only. You will stay away from my wife. Is that clear?” Jerome’s heart thudded hard, and his breath came in short pants. He had never been so angry in his life. Nor so deadly afraid.
Lannister raised an eyebrow and bowed. “As you wish. But you’re making trouble for yourself.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Ava won’t like it. If you want to make her angry, you’re going the right way to do so. I can’t help thinking an angry wife would be the very devil.”
“I’ll thank you to keep your advice to yourself. Ava is my concern, not yours. Stay away from her.” He turned and stalked away before he gave into the almost overmastering urge to wipe the smirk off the damned man’s face.
He walked six paces and ran smack into Ava.
“I thought I told you to go back to the ballroom.”
“Jerome, we were just talking! Why are you being like this?”
“Never mind, we are going home.” He seized her arm and tugged her along the path.
She reefed it out of his grip and said, “What if I don’t want to go home?”
“I am not going to argue with you here. We are going home. Now!” He locked his gaze on hers and a silent battle of wills ensued. “You made a promise to obey me,” he said softly. “Have you forgotten?”
She gasped, her eyes widening. “And you made a promise to cherish me!” she returned. The words hit him in the chest like arrows.
He bowed stiffly. “Very well, madam, if you won’t accompany me, I shall walk home and leave the carriage for you. Good evening.”
He had taken two steps when she said, “No!” Her hand landed on his arm. “I’ll go with you. You’re right, we can’t quarrel here, and I want to quarrel with you!”
If he hadn’t been so furious, he might have laughed at that. It was so typically Ava. His heart lurched. God, I love her. But I have to get to the bottom of this business with Lannister, or I’ll have no peace.