Chapter Twenty-Two
Wiltshire House
Middlesex
Winnie thanked her lucky stars she’d survived the encounter and escaped the hired Scotsmen.
Having considered who might have hired the militia, only one name came to mind: Axel Hammond, who’d sworn to get even and bring her to justice.
Thanks to Lex and Basil, his efforts had been thwarted.
She prayed they were all right. She hadn’t heard any shots fired, so she could only hope that the Scotsmen had ridden off.
Winnie had raced back to Wiltshire House, none the worse for wear, except for the ache in her heart. Her respect and love for Lex had grown exponentially, having witnessed his bravery.
That he’d been willing to give up his life for a woman he thought was a stranger, and a thief to boot—it made her love him even more. Although she did have to wonder if he’d realized she was the Lace Bandit. He did look furious when their eyes had met.
The next day, Winnie was dressed in her plainest dress and wearing Wellington boots. She was in the stable, her only company Thomas.
“M’lady, are you feeling well? You haven’t been yourself lately.” Thomas, wielding a broom, swept the central aisle in the stable.
Although Winnie trusted Thomas, she had not been forthcoming with her present dilemma. “I’m just a bit under the weather. Nothing to worry about.”
Thomas glanced at her, and she could see he didn’t believe her.
His expression spoke volumes, and she knew he wanted to press her to explain.
His station, however, prevented him from questioning her about matters of a more personal level.
There was no point in telling him anything, as there was nothing he could do.
Matters of the heart were better kept to oneself.
“Don’t worry, Thomas. I’ll be fine,” she added.
He nodded and left to tend to other chores.
She resumed her brushing, focusing on Masq’s mane. “At least I have you to confide in. You won’t reprimand me for all the foolhardy things I’ve done.”
“Masq might not, but I most certainly will.”
The rich timbre of his voice curled around her, and goosebumps prickled her arms. Only one voice on earth could elicit such a feeling of desire and an ache deep in her core.
Winnie turned and saw the man who had occupied her thoughts nonstop for weeks.
She couldn’t find her next breath, and the stall’s walls closed in on her. It was as if the world had shifted its axis. “You’re here…”
“Yes. I’m here.” He moved closer, and she stepped back until her back pressed against the wall.
Masq whinnied, and his tail flicked a pesky fly away.
The horse ignored the two of them, dipping his head into the feed bucket.
It was as if the whole world lay between the walls of Masq’s stall and nothing else mattered.
Everything Winnie ever desired was within reach if only she could find the right words, yet they eluded her.
“I’d give my right hand to know what those foolhardy things are.” He held her gaze, daring her to enlighten him.
God, he looked handsome. And she looked like an utter mess, but there was nothing to be done about it. “I-I confess I am at a loss for words.”
“Try, Edwina. I have ridden a long way to hear them. Have you no regard for my feelings?”
It rankled her that he could not see how very much he mattered to her, and without thinking through her thoughts, she erupted. “Your feelings? What of mine? You practically disappeared after I recovered from my fall.”
Was she mad, behaving as if he were at fault?
Control your temper. He’s here, and it means something.
“I had a good reason to not come to see you sooner. What was your reason for leaving London without a word?”
Tell him.
His eyebrow lifted with his skepticism.
She fidgeted and studied the brush in her hand. “I had a reason, and when I look back now, it was not a good reason. I think I was afraid to tell you what I had to tell you. I was afraid to lose you.”
“Why don’t you tell me now and let me be the judge of my own response?”
God, he was incredible.
“Since I met you, you fought that horrid Hammond to save my reputation, you saved me after I was thrown from a horse, and yesterday you saved me again, from the hangman’s noose, risking your own life in the process.
You did all these wonderful things for me, and…
and I was lying to you the entire time. Keeping a secret from you.
” Tears were streaming down her face now.
“And what was that secret?” he said softly as he took a step closer to her.
“I was the Lace Bandit…I-I am the Lace Bandit.” she said in a broken whisper, unable to look him in the eye.
He gently lifted her chin, and she looked into his eyes. Did she see a glimmer of a smile in those gorgeous blue orbs, or was it just wishful thinking?
“Ah, at last we get to the crux of it,” he said. “Were you in Epping Forest to rob Basil and me again?”
“No. I swear.”
“What, then, in God’s name were you doing there wearing that blasted mask?”
“I came to find you.”
“Why? Was stealing our coin once not enough?”
“No. Basil had told me the two of you rode on Fridays, and I was hoping to find you. I thought you might find it amusing if I revealed myself to you in such a manner. I had intended to apologize and return the money I took from you and Basil. I never expected to encounter that hired militia.”
“Hammond bragged about hiring them at the Lyon’s Den.”
“What a dreadful man he is.”
“That he is, and I expect it’s not the last time we’ll hear from the bugger.”
“It seems I’ve made a mess of things,” she said before taking a deep, shuddering breath.
“I need to know why. Why would you risk your life in such a dangerous way? For what purpose?”
This was it, the moment she had dreaded. The outcome was in her hands. Only complete honesty was acceptable.
Her confession poured from her like a swollen river after a storm, a rushing turbulence that swept the cobwebs of her doubts away.
She could no longer hold back the tide of her emotions.
Passionately, she spoke of the orphans and those who were forgotten.
Everything she’d done was for them, and any future must include making their lives better.
When her outpouring of feelings finally came to an end, the relief of no longer living a lie felt rejuvenating.
“I understand if you cannot forgive me,” she said, her voice wobbly as she wiped her tears away, “but I can’t tell you how good it feels to not carry this weight in me any longer.
And I completely understand if you don’t love me anymore and wish to take back your proposal. ”
Winnie turned away from him, unable to bear the sight of his leaving. Her spine straight and her body still, she would bear the pain that was sure to come after he’d gone.
Lex’s arms encircled her waist, pulling her against his chest. The hardness of his body made hers go limp.
His lips pressed against her ear, he whispered, “Oh, my darling, you can’t know how I’ve longed to hear the truth from you.
Even when I realized that you and the Lace Bandit were one and the same.
Yes, I was angry, but I could never stop loving you. All I wanted was for you to tell me.”
Winnie turned in his arms to face him, and damned if she wasn’t crying again.
“Oh, Lex, forgive me. I don’t know how you figured it out, but I’m glad you didn’t give up on me.
” It dawned on her that she was as dirty as a stable rat and he was as sparkling as a newly minted coin.
She tried to pull away from his embrace.
“I’m not presentable, and I’m embarrassed to have you see me like this.
I’m a mess and will soil your fine attire. ”
He stared into her eyes adoringly. “Do you think I care? Waking or sleeping, all I think about is you. No amount of mud is going to keep me from holding you and, for that matter, kissing you.”
“Before you do, I must know how you figured it out.”
A smile danced across his lips. “Figured what out?”
“That I was the Lace Bandit, of course.”
Lex’s touch made her shiver, and she held her breath in suspense as he unbuttoned the top buttons of her dress.
Then he bent and kissed the swell of her breast, and it was all she could do to remain standing.
He murmured against her skin, “You see, my dear, right here where my lips press resides the most delightful heart-shaped beauty mark. Never in a million years could there be two.” He laved the mark with his tongue, making her sigh with pleasure.
“Oh, Lord, you are the cleverest man I have ever known. So, you’re not angry?”
Lex lifted his head from her breast and gave her a wicked smile that nearly made her knees buckle. “Oh, yes, I’m angry, and I have a few ideas in mind for your punishment.”
She swallowed at the thought of what that punishment would entail. “But you still want me?”
“I wanted you from the first moment I laid eyes on you.”
“As me or as the Lace Bandit?” she asked with an impish smile.
“Both.”
“You wicked man!”
“Yes, but you love me anyway.” His grin widened as he lifted the hem of her dress and slipped his fingers between her legs. She closed her eyes and moaned as his clever fingers once more began to give her that sweet pleasure.
“Promise me you will never don that mask again,” he whispered, nipping her earlobe.
“I will never, I swear it. Oh…m’lord, what you do to me.”
“I assure you, it is nothing to compare with what I will do to you after we marry.”
“And I readily acquiesce to your demands, whatever they might be. Ahh…” His warm breath filled the cavity of her ear, and he plunged a finger deep inside her folds, rubbing and stroking, eliciting unimaginable sensations.
“Do not dispose of the mask,” he growled.
“But why?” The delightful sensation had begun to take hold, and she whimpered as his fingers moved faster with tantalizing intensity.
“Oh, I have a few ideas that I’ll share with you after we’re married.” Without pause, he continued to drive her to the brink whilst he spoke. Now, with her breath coming in gasps, his own excitement joined hers. “Now, my love, I want to hear you shatter for me.”
She cried out as she tipped, and he growled with satisfaction.
“I love you, Lex,” she said in a breathless whisper of complete elation.
“I love you too, Edwina,” he said, his forehead touching hers. “I must formally ask the dowager baroness for your hand in marriage. We will post the banns immediately and be married as soon as possible.”
“Yes. Yes. Yes. And then you’ll tell me what you intend to do with the mask?”
“Yes. Yes. Yes.” Lex found her lips, and he kissed her.
And the world was, indeed, a remarkable place.