Chapter 28
He had brought her to crisis four times.
The last time he had pulled her into his study and lain on his sofa and had her straddle his face.
After that, she had become a quivering mess and he had not wanted to push her too far.
He had stroked her arms and back and hair, and snuggled her close, until she had dozed.
When the clock struck three in the morning, he had gently woken her so that she could return to her room.
“You are still a virgin,” he had told her, his hands in his pockets, afraid that if he did not remind her, she would find a way to regret their tryst in the morning.
Or maybe he was saying it for himself, to make himself feel better about debauching her when she was going to marry someone else.
Ivy had winked at him. Winked! “For today.”
He had gone straight to his chamber and stroked himself to visions of her, reaching his climax in a matter of moments after a long night of giving her pleasure.
When he awoke a few hours later, he hoped he might find his need for Ivy Bennett satiated, but was unsurprised to discover that now that he had tasted her, felt her break apart under his tongue, kiss him with plump and swollen lips, he could think of little else.
He had fed the beast inside of him, and now it wanted more.
Owen struggled with obsessive thoughts. It had made him a top-notch horse breeder and businessman, and it made him a devoted lover. But when it came to trying to forget something he desperately desired, it was his greatest flaw.
He thanked Fale for the letter he handed him as he crossed the foyer after breakfast, and nearly ran into Ivy on his way out the door.
She was returning from a morning stroll with Barnes, her cheeks flushed and her hair perfectly coiffed underneath her little navy hat.
The hat was so simple compared to the garish green and feathered monstrosities that were currently all the rage, and the simplicity somehow made her seem fresh and innocent.
Barely innocent, now.
She sparkled up at him. “Good morning, Owen.”
Barnes scowled. “Lord Brackley,” he corrected.
“Good morning, Ivy,” Owen replied, just to see that muscle clench in Barnes’s jaw when he deliberately called her by her given name. “Where have you two been?”
“Partaking the morning air,” Ivy answered. “Are you leaving?”
Barnes caught sight of the butler and hurried over to speak to him about the mail. Owen lowered his voice and invaded her space. When her breath stuttered, he felt a swell of possessive satisfaction and knew he was in serious trouble. “How do you feel this morning?”
She gave him a secretive look. “I feel well. How about you?”
Hungry for more of her and disappointed in himself for it.
He was playing with fire when it came to Ivy, and he was worried that when the flames died down, he would be the one left blackened by them.
“I am fine. I am about to leave to visit the man Jones told me about yesterday, the one who has supposedly invested in my business.”
“All right, let us be off.”
“You are not coming with me.”
“If you have forgotten, your life may be in danger.”
He gave her a cool look. “You seem to think I am incapable of taking care of myself because I took a bullet, but let me be clear: I am no shrinking violet when it comes to a fight.”
“Fine. Then you will need my charms when you visit with the investor. You are too forthright, too cranky. You will put him off. If we make it a social call, it will cast a layer of civility over it. That always puts the ton at ease, and he may be willing to tell you more.”
She was right, but it did not sit well with him to further drag her into whatever scheme this impostor had put into motion.
She must have sensed his hesitation, because she added serenely, “You do not have to take me with you.” His shoulders lowered an inch in relief. “I want to explore the city anyway. I shall slip away from Barnes and do a bit of prowling. I have always wanted to visit the docks.”
“The hell you will!” he nearly roared. He did not care how clever and capable she was, there were places no one should travel alone, man or woman, and the London docks was one of them. She blinked innocently up at him, and he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“We made a deal last night, did we not?” she added. “This is what I want.”
“Tell Barnes you are lying down to rest, and meet me on the corner of the street in ten minutes.”
She flashed him a grin and brushed past him closely enough that he felt the drag of her shoulder across his chest, and the simple touch made him far too aware of the fit of his trousers.
Christ, what had he gotten himself into?
Ten minutes later on the dot, she appeared on the street, as fresh and spritely as a nymph. He quickly folded the letter Fale had handed him and tucked it into his breast pocket, but not before Ivy spotted it.
“Does that have to do with the case?”
“The case?”
When she peered up at him in exasperation, he ran a finger underneath his cravat. “Ah, no. It is a letter. From Lady Wagner.”
Ivy’s lips formed an O of understanding. “Your former lover.”
“A bit quieter, if you will please,” he muttered.
The last thing he needed was someone overhearing Ivy discuss his former lover.
The letter was another plea for him to reconsider marriage, even though he had already responded to her last letter and clearly reiterated that their relationship was over.
He had tried to be gentle with her, even though Heidi was a shrewd and calculating woman who did not typically respond to anything but command, but the next time he wrote he would have to make sure she understood.
When they had been together, he had been entrenched in their relationship, but it had not been love, or even healthy.
Now that he knew what it was like to bask in Ivy’s sunshine and sweetness, he could never return to his prior soulless relationships.
They began walking toward Lord Quincy’s house. It was an almost sunny autumn day in London, and those were rare enough that he did not despise being in the city as much as usual. “Does she still wish to marry you, as the countess said?” Ivy asked.
He flicked his eyes toward her, but her expression was warm and curious rather than judgmental. He frowned. Did she not care in the slightest that his persistent former lover continued to write to him? “Yes.”
“I think you should accept. You can avoid marriage for a good while, but you will not be able to ignore your duty to sire a male heir forever.”
The back of Owen’s neck prickled, and he spun around, scanning the bustling streets crowded with color, parasols, and top hats.
Horses clopped by, their hooves ringing on the cobblestone, and the scents of dung and coffee mingled in the air.
He did not see anyone, and yet he could not shake the feeling that they were being watched.
“I will not accept,” he said, returning his attention to her, his tone surly. Did she not feel one iota of claim over him? He had been inside her body. He had tasted her. Felt her pulse around him. Knew her more intimately than any other person on this earth. Did that mean nothing to her?
She was quiet for several moments before she launched into a steady, entertaining stream of gossip that eventually eased his ire and dragged more than one bark of laughter from him, causing heads to turn.
They crossed an intersection behind a street sweeper, and Owen tipped him before offering his arm to help Ivy over a pothole. “Your defense classes,” he finally said, once she had talked herself out, “how did you come to be doing that?”
“’Twas fate. I was passing through Richmond on my way to meet a friend, and I spotted the sign in the modiste’s shop advertising the above space for rent.
It was not too far from my house, and I had a small sum saved from my pin money, so I stopped and inquired.
When I discovered the owner was willing to lower the rent because it had sat vacant for so long, I knew it was destiny.
“I had enough funds to secure it for six months, which I did using the false name of a male solicitor.
I always knew I wanted to teach other women how to defend themselves, but I did not know how to go about it.
If women had leisure clubs like men, it would have been far easier.
I also did not know how to get the word out safely and secretively.
“For two more months it sat vacant while I tried to figure out how to accomplish what I wanted.
That was when Diane stepped in. She knew someone she thought would be amenable to lessons and willing to pay a small stipend.
Once Tabi—once that first woman showed up, everything fell into place.
When she landed her first hit, her face lit up, and I knew it was what I was meant to be doing.
After that, word of mouth spread, and women came to me by referral, including the Dove.
“That was when my father promised me to the first ogre—Marthin—and I knew my only hope of escaping was to become a governess. It so happened that the governess position was open at Brackley Manor, and again it felt like fate was on my side.”
When Owen realized he was a shoulder ahead, having become lost in her story, he slowed his stride to match hers. “Where did you learn to defend yourself?”
“My brothers. They did not know it, but I was always watching, always learning. I could provoke the youngest into dueling with me, until my father cut off my communication with them.”
Fury burned in his gut. After all he had heard, Ivy’s father was a man whose jaw he would dearly like to dislocate. “Do you feel so strongly about teaching women to defend themselves because of your mother?”