Chapter Six #2
The ironic thing was that his mother had never been overly affectionate, but thinking back he’d always known she loved him. ‘For days afterwards, I scoured the papers for any information about the young girl. Then, I found it.’
‘What happened?’ Nora’s eyes were wide with interest.
‘She died from blood loss.’
‘That’s terrible!’
He let out a harsh breath. The image of the girl’s face was something he’d carried with him for years, along with his mother’s words.
‘That’s why I’m sponsoring the bill. It could save lives.
There will be many who oppose it. The cotton mills hold power and immense wealth.
That’s why no hint of scandal must reach London. ’
She nodded slowly. ‘It won’t, remember? We are to marry.’
He was surprised he’d shared as much as he had with her.
It truly must be the sun, the sand and the ocean.
The words about his past had come easier outdoors than if he’d spoken them in a stuffy drawing room.
Then there was Nora herself. Her allure had drawn him from the start.
But now, here, with the ocean breeze and the fresh air, he still longed to lie back on the blanket and finish what she’d started when she’d slipped into his room.
‘You are looking at me funny,’ she said.
Funny? He was looking at her lips. Full. Kissable. Lovely.
‘How do you mean?’ he asked.
Her voice was whisper soft. ‘Like you want to kiss me.’
‘Perhaps I do.’
Her tongue passed over her lower lip, wetting it. ‘We shouldn’t. Haven’t we kissed too many times already?’
He looked into her eyes and saw a curious need. His own need was not out of curiosity, but out of desire to kiss her again. ‘We are betrothed. I don’t believe there is a count.’
Her eyes lowered to his mouth. ‘I haven’t heard of a count either.’
‘And there is no one here,’ he pointed out.
She leaned towards him, pressed a hand on his chest. ‘I suppose you’re right. There is no one here, my lord.’
His breath stalled in his lungs as she pressed her lips to his.
He met her kiss and took what he wanted from the first moment he’d spotted her wading in the surf.
She tasted like summer sunshine and burgeoning passion.
It was a sweet kiss, a searing one which too easily set his blood on fire.
And when her tongue tentatively brushed against his, it took all his control not to pull her to him and ravage her mouth.
She wasn’t wearing stockings, and his fingers itched to lift the edge of her skirts to touch her naked skin.
Madness.
It took all his self-control to break the kiss. ‘I suppose we should return before we are missed.’ He looked deep into her eyes and felt his resistance begin to crumble. What was it about her? She made him as randy as a youthful boy.
She let out a little sigh. ‘You’re right. My mother will be looking for me.’
They stood and, after she’d packed her basket, he shook the blanket away from the wind so the sand would not spray them. He took the moment to collect himself before turning back to her. She picked up her basket, shoved her stockings inside, then slipped into her shoes.
He halted. ‘Aren’t you going to dress?’
She gave him a curious look. ‘Why? No one will know I’m not wearing stockings.’
Good God. He would know. He was right. If he allowed it, she would unravel his orderly world.
Once they were married, he did not intend to change his habits or his work ethic.
Just as he did not expect her to change her daily routine, whatever that was.
He had work to do, political allies to meet, all in preparation of the first reading of his bill.
He couldn’t allow her to alter this course no matter how easily she seemed to muddle his brain.
As if oblivious to his thoughts, she tugged on his hand. ‘Let us hurry, my lord, before tongues wag even more than they have.’
‘Ralston! Join us for billiards.’ Adler had spotted Ralston on his return from the beach and called out to him. Nora had already dashed off to find her mother.
‘Perhaps another time,’ Ralston said. After being at the beach with Nora, he sought to change in his room and have time to himself. But his friend had other ideas.
Adler halted before him. ‘You cannot abandon your friend. The men are in the billiards room and I don’t want to get stuck with Brooks as a partner.’
Ralston gave him a cynical look. ‘And you think I’ll be any better?’
‘I know you will.’
His friend was persuasive and by the time they arrived in the billiard room, all the men had gathered. The Duke handed him a cue stick. ‘Ralston, I never had a chance to congratulate you on your engagement.’
‘Thank you, Your Grace. It was long in coming.’ A lie. It was unexpected. He’d been taken by surprise by an auburn-haired vixen.
A scientist.
He still had trouble reconciling the two.
An image of Nora with her skirts tucked into her waistband, her glorious legs glistening from ocean spray was an image he’d be hard-pressed to forget.
Then she’d sat next to him, opened her notebook, and her enthusiasm as she’d pointed to her sketches of shells and the slimy mollusks that inhabited them was even more vivid in his mind.
He’d underestimated her, and her beauty and intelligence were a heady combination.
Many men would not find a woman with brains desirable as a wife. Title, dowry, family influence and attractiveness were sought after. Even submissiveness.
He was not one of them. He could never stand an empty-headed woman, no matter how beautiful. Their nonsensical chatter, their giggling at any mundane joke, made him uncomfortable.
As for the last trait of submissiveness? He almost laughed out loud when he thought of Nora. She was too independent, too stubborn to exhibit that trait.
Their shared kiss by the ocean sprang to mind.
It had been unexpected and even more passionate than the others.
The more he learned about her, the more he found attractive.
Yet he must remind himself to keep an emotional distance.
A betrayal like the one he’d lived through was hard to forget or forgive and he had no desire to go through that ever again.
No, it was best if he kept a businesslike relationship at all times.
The crack of the billiards balls drew his attention back to the game.
‘I say all the gentlemen should get together when we return to Town to celebrate Ralston’s good fortune,’ Sir Simon said.
Ralston’s fingers tightened on his cue stick.
He’d dismissed the rake soon after arriving at the house party as a coxcomb.
He’d had little in common with the man. After learning Nora had intended to slip into the rake’s bedchamber rather than his own, his dislike for the for Sir Simon had tripled.
The idea that he would want to get together to celebrate his engagement with the man made Ralston want to jab him in the gut with his pool stick.
‘I second the idea,’ Lord Ardmore said. ‘I enjoy a reason to celebrate.’
Lord Worth chimed in. ‘White’s has fine whisky.’
Adler clapped him on the back. ‘I agree! We should celebrate my friend’s remaining single days as a bachelor when we return to Town.’
Ralston forced a grin. For a man who’d never meant to marry this quickly, he was still coming to grips with his future. ‘I look forward to it.’
‘Look on the bright side, Nora. You won’t have to see Lord Umbridge when we return to London,’ Candace said as she knelt behind her sister, working deftly through the tiny row of pearl buttons on the back of Nora’s evening gown.
Nora had dismissed her lady’s maid for the night—much to their mother’s dismay—and insisted her sisters help her dress for the evening meal.
The company of her sisters offered a temporary balm against the gnawing unease in her chest.
Her anxiety had returned after their intimate moment on the beach.
Their passionate kiss was not far from her mind.
And then she’d learned about the reason behind his proposed bill.
It made him dangerously more human and added a level of interest she did not want or wish for.
She’d realized it would be much more of a challenge to keep him at bay and focus on what mattered most—her science.
Her stress level rose.
‘And Ralston is much more handsome,’ Sara chimed in, twirling one of Nora’s ivory-handled hairbrushes between her fingers. She sat perched on the edge of Nora’s dressing table. Dark curls framed her face and her chocolate eyes were lit with mischief.
‘But I did not want Umbridge or Ralston,’ she said evenly.
She had never planned to marry but to devote all her time to her work.
Now she would be a countess. Despite Ralston’s agreeing to fund her research, she would still have to spend time learning how to be a good countess.
During the Season, there would be balls, parties and any other mundane activities the beau monde could think of to ease their boredom.
How was she to pull it all off and keep true to her goals?
Sara’s hand stilled mid-motion. ‘But think of it,’ she said with a hushed sort of wonder. ‘You will be a countess, Nora!’