A Lady by Midnight (Spindle Cove #3)(87)
Author: Tessa Dare

His every muscle tightened.

Smiling, she tucked her face into the curve of his neck and ran her tongue seductively over his skin. “There’s one.”

“Katie.” The word was a low, throaty warning. It made her toes curl.

She nuzzled at the notch of his open shirt, pushing the fabric aside. The familiar musk of his skin stirred her in deep places.

With a teasing swirl of her tongue, she tasted the notch at the base of his throat. “Two . . .”

“Finn,” he called in a booming voice, lifting his head. “Send for the vicar.”

She pulled back, shocked. “Two? That’s all, truly? Two? I’m not sure whether to feel proud or disappointed.”

Finn’s face appeared in the grate. “If it’s all the same to you, Corporal, do you mind holding off another half hour? I’ve got midnight in the betting pool.”

“Yes, I do mind. Fetch the vicar. Now.”

Kate smiled. That was her future husband. When he finally made up his mind to do a thing, no one had better stand in his way. Thank God.

She smiled at Samuel in the dark. “I hope the blossoms in my hair aren’t too wilted.”

“They’re perfect.” His blue eyes roamed her face. “You’re so beautiful, Katie. I haven’t words.”

She didn’t need words. What woman could want flattery, when she could have such pure, raw adoration? The pride and love in his gaze were palpable.

She stroked his unshaven jaw. “You are unbearably handsome, as always. I couldn’t have dreamed a more perfect wedding. All our family and friends are already gathered outside. With a few candles, this funny little building will make a romantic chapel. But do you think Lord Rycliff would remove the irons before we say our vows? I’ve heard men call matrimony ‘getting shackled,’ but this is a bit extreme.”

“Extreme? This from the woman who tied me to a bed.”

She laughed softly, ducking her head to rest against his chest.

His chin settled, square and heavy, on her crown. In the silence, she could feel him thinking, pondering. When he spoke again, his voice had that thoughtful tone—the one he could never seem to muster unless she’d turned her gaze away. She kept her face buried in his sleeve, unwilling to break the spell.

“Bram should leave the irons,” he said, “until after. That’s the oath he swore, and it seems fitting, somehow. For other men, marriage might be a trap or a prison. Not for me, Katie. Not for me.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “When I marry you, I’ll walk free.”

Epilogue

Several years later

“Hush! That’s his horse in the drive.”

Kate took a surreptitious peek from behind the blue velvet drapes. There he came, riding his gelding up the white gravel lane at a brisk canter.

He dismounted in one swift, agile motion and handed the reins to a waiting groom. Through the lingering twilight, she could make out the familiar, stern lines of his face. With every passing year, life etched those lines a little deeper, engraving his handsomeness as a permanent, eternal thing. And each time she glimpsed him after a separation, her heart still gave a girlish hop in her chest.

“He’s arrived.”

With one hand, she gathered her heavy silk skirts and hastened down the corridor in a smooth, practiced glide. It wasn’t seemly for a lady to run, but a lady with three children had to learn to move fast.

But she wasn’t the first to meet him at the door. Badger, even old as he was, raced her to the entrance hall, nails clicking over the travertine. He nosed around his master’s boots, sniffing out the story of his journey.

As she watched the two old friends reunite, Kate smiled. “I see I’m not the first to welcome you home.”

With a final rub to the dog’s ear, Samuel straightened. “You’re the loveliest.”

He’d brought in with him a gust of cool, autumnal air. The woodsy-scented wind clung to his greatcoat. He shrugged out of the garment and removed his gloves.

Kate took both, and in exchange pressed a kiss to his chilled, weathered cheek.

“Where’s Williams?” he asked, scanning the entryway for the butler.

Kate bit her lip. “Oh, he’s . . . elsewhere.”

She turned away and took her time hanging the coat, afraid to look at him, worried he’d take the servants’ absence as cause for suspicion. But his actions soon made it clear that he wasn’t going to take the servants’ absence as cause for suspicion. He meant to take it as an opportunity.

His hands framed her waist and he pulled her backward, drawing her tight against the firm expanse of his chest. With wind-chilled lips, he pressed kisses to her nape, sending ripples of cool and hot sensation down her spine.

Kate’s eyelids fluttered with sensual abandon. She leaned against his chest and let her head roll to the side, offering more of herself to his kiss. Oh, how she’d missed him.

“How was Wimbley Park?” she murmured.

“A shambles.” His teeth grazed her collarbone.

“The south fields again?”

He growled an affirmative answer as he suckled her earlobe. “Flooded ankle deep.”

“Oh, dear,” she sighed. “What about the drainage canals from last year? I thought—”

With a brisk push, he whirled her around to face him. The intensity in his eyes told her there’d be no more talk of drainage canals just now.

“Katie.”

He pulled her into a deep, stormy kiss. It told her everything another woman might wish to hear in words: I want you. I need you. I love you. The whole time we were apart, I thought of no one but you.

“Let’s go upstairs.” He fisted his hand in the back of her dress. “It’s been an eternity.”

She laughed against his lips. “It’s been since Tuesday.”

“Like I said. An eternity.” He lifted her off her feet, as though he meant to simply toss her over his shoulder and haul her to the nearest mattress.

She put her hands to his chest, stopping him. “We can’t. Not right now.”

The gravity in her expression didn’t escape his notice. As he set her back on her toes, his brow furrowed with protective concern. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, just . . .” She swallowed hard. “Please don’t be angry.”

He took her by the shoulders. “Tell me. Now.”

“Don’t worry. No one’s ill or bleeding.” Yet. “And it’s not really something I can explain. You’ll have to see for yourself.”