Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“I am not sure I am strong enough to cope if this is going to happen on such a regular basis: twice in this past week!” Julia murmured softly as she sat in the chair beside the bed where Nicholas once again lay unconscious, a dressing on his temple.
“I know I distracted you by calling out, but I was just so pleased to see you alive and unharmed,” she grumbled in self-castigation, her fingers tightening about his.
“Only to then think my life was over when I thought that blaggard had shot you through the heart.”
“I could never have allowed that when my heart belongs completely to you.”
“Nicholas!” Her hand tightened about his when she realized he was awake and she was able to look into the depths of his beautiful dark brown eyes.
“Oh, Nicholas,” she groaned achingly, her own eyes stinging with unshed tears.
“I thought I had lost you.” She raised his hand so that she could press its warmth against her cheek before kissing his fingers.
His smile was rueful as he raised his other hand to touch the dressing on the side of his head. “And instead, I only seem to have acquired a flesh wound to my temple.”
“One that could have been fatal if it had been an inch or so to the left,” she reproved.
He frowned. “What happened after I was shot?”
“My father and uncle, along with St. Albans and Hellsmere, rushed out of the darkness and disarmed those two men. They are now both under arrest and awaiting trial. First for kidnapping Susan Masterson, but Mr. Beauchamp also has to face the charge of attempting to kidnap and murder you.”
Nicholas grimaced. “You know who he is and why he wanted to destroy me?”
She nodded. “Once my father had ascertained his identity, he explained that the elder Beauchamp blamed you for his brother’s death, and the circumstances of why he did.
I am of the opinion that Jacques Beauchamp knew exactly what he was doing, and it is well known that the punishment for murder and treason in England is to hang. ”
“Do your parents know you are—” Nicholas broke off to glance about the room before turning back to her. “Do they know you are with me, wherever I am?”
“They do. Mama was a little shocked at my asking permission to sit with you, but Papa overrode that hesitancy.” She glanced down.
“I told him of my feelings for you, you see. Still, Papa was originally all for taking you to Wolfingham House,” she rushed on before Nicholas could ask what those feelings were.
“But I insisted that you must be brought to Ipswich House and a doctor called to attend you here.”
Nicholas smiled at her nod of satisfaction. “You are going to make me a formidable wife.”
Julia chewed on her bottom lip. “You still wish to marry me?”
He sobered. “Of course.”
“Even though I was so very unfair to you the last time we spoke?”
“Unfair?” he prompted cautiously.
She released a heavy sigh. “When I told Amanda about my comments to you that morning, she suggested there might be another scenario regarding Freddie’s fate. Several hours later, my father revealed something to me that possibly confirms it.”
“And that theory is…?”
“That it is far more likely Freddie joined the army because he wished to impress me before returning to England and proposing marriage to me,” she revealed in a rush.
“Ah.”
Julia eyed him searchingly. “You knew of this,” she stated with certainty.
Nicholas nodded. “He left me a note stating as much.”
She gasped. “Why did you not tell me?”
“The letter was addressed to me.”
The tears escaped her lashes and fell hotly down her cheeks. “But its content would have revealed that I am the one responsible for Freddie’s death.”
Nicholas pulled himself farther up the pillows. “My darling Julia, I believe that the only people responsible for Freddie’s death are Freddie for taking himself to the battlefield and the French soldier who killed him there.”
“But—”
“No, my love. It was Freddie’s decision to join the army and leave England.” He lifted his hand and used his fingertips to gently wipe the tears from her cheeks. “No one cajoled or forced him into doing so.”
“But—”
“Julia.” Nicholas spoke strongly and firmly, one brow arched in warning. “Freddie was old enough to be considered a man, and his decision must be respected as such,” he insisted. “Would you have married him had he lived?”
“No, absolutely not.” She gave a shake of her head before glancing at Nicholas shyly. “I loved him only as a brother. I have realized these past few days of being apart from you that I have been in love with you for some time, but have also fought against it with every part of my being.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought my love for you was futile,” she choked. “That you would never look at someone as young and impulsive as me.”
“And instead, I have not been able to look at or see another woman since your sixteenth birthday. I love you too, Julia, so very much. I have done so for a very long time.” He released a ragged breath. “Would you do me the greatest honor of becoming my wife?”
Her breath caught in her throat. “You truly love me and wish to marry me?”
“I love you without end and with absolutely no reservation. I always will,” he vowed. “I would marry you tomorrow if it could be arranged.”
She looked alarmed. “I do not think my family, my mother especially, would approve of such a hasty wedding.”
“I am sure they will all agree if we give them a reason to want to avoid any sort of scandal,” he murmured.
“Climb into bed with me, Julia.” He repeated the same request as he had the last time they were together late at night.
He even shifted back on the bed and threw back the bedcovers, again much as he had on that previous occasion.
His chest was bare, with a smattering of dark hair, and he wore only his drawers. His fully erect cock was visible against the straining material.
Her eyes were wide. “But you have been shot!”
“I am sure the doctor assured you it was a flesh wound only?”
“Well…yes, he did. But you were unconscious for an hour or so.”
“But I am very much awake now, and with the woman I love and who loves me in return. And as you can see, none of those previous things is preventing other parts of my body from working as they should,” he added huskily. “I believe I would truly have to be dead to cease desiring you.”
“In that case…” Julia stood up and allowed her unfastened robe to slide down her arms before dropping it to the carpeted floor.
“Leave it,” Nicholas instructed when she would have unfastened and removed her nightgown too. “This time, I wish to undress you myself,” he explained at her questioning look.
They undressed each other. Made love to each other. Slowly. Intensely. Until Julia’s body felt as if it was on fire and desperate for something—someone to assuage the need now possessing her.
“Please, Nicholas,” she begged. “I want you. I want to feel all of you.” Her bare legs were wrapped about his waist, her feet resting on the firmness of his buttocks.
He raised his head, his weight resting on his elbows as he looked down at her. “Are you sure?”
“Very,” she confirmed without fear or hesitation.
“I do not have the strength to deny you anything. But if we do this, we will also be married as soon as it can be arranged.” One of his hands moved between them, and she felt his fingers moving up and down the wetness between her thighs.
“It might hurt at first,” he warned. “But I will do my best to make that hurt as brief as possible.”
Julia stared up into his deep brown eyes. “I trust you.”
“Thank you.” He accepted that trust before his lips once again claimed hers.
Even as he ravished her lips and mouth, his finger continued to stroke between her legs, pressing against that nubbin which caused the ecstasy to once again burst through the whole of her body.
Even so, she drew in a nervous breath, her hands clinging to the broad width of his shoulders, when she felt the tip of his cock pressing against her entrance.
“Relax, my love.” Nicholas lowered his head to suck one of her nipples into the moist heat of his mouth, suckling gently at first and then harder, his teeth biting down on the sensitive tip.
Julia was so concentrated on the pleasure-pain that she barely registered that other slight pinch of pain between her legs as Nicholas’s hips pushed forward and the walls of her channel welcomed and accommodated the thickness and length of his cock.
“I feel so full,” she gasped, hands still clinging to his shoulders.
Nicholas raised his head. “Too full?”
She forced the tension from her body, allowing Nicholas’s cock to press forward even farther. “Just full enough,” she assured huskily.
“I could stay here forever.” Nicholas peppered her lips and throat with kisses. “Buried inside you. The two of us now one.”
Julia’s heart melted as completely as her body had. “I love you, Nicholas. I love you so much.”
“And I love you,” he groaned. “You are my everything, Julia. The only woman I have ever loved. The only woman I shall ever love.”
Warmth made her chest swell with so much love for this man. A love that had been hard fought for, and now they were both the winners. Of each other. Of their future together.
She began to undulate her hips beneath him, first taking his cock deeper, then pulling back until that hard flesh was poised on the edge of complete withdrawal. She then took his cock deeper again.
“Mine,” he bit out fiercely as he took control of those thrusts.
Deeper.
Harder.
Until Julia knew with every part of her that the dam built inside her was about to break. “I love you!” she cried out as her body convulsed with pleasure. “I love you so much, Nicholas!”
She felt his cock harden even more, seconds before the hot splash of his release pulsing inside her, claiming her as surely as she had claimed him.
* * *
They were married a week later. Their son, Lord Henry (Harry) Frederick Harding, was born exactly a year after their wedding.