Beautiful Distraction (15 page)

But she was certain that wasn’t true.

“No,” Violet answered softly. “I never should have returned to Bath in the first place. I let my heart lead me when it was time to put my head in charge. I must remedy that now.”

Olivia wanted to say more, but at that moment a flash of movement from the road outside her window caught her eye. There was a man riding hard up the road toward the house. A man she recognized, even from a distance.

“Malcolm,” Olivia gasped, pressing her hand to the glass, Violet’s decisions forgotten.

“Has he ever come to you in the middle of the afternoon?” Violet asked softly as they watched him turn toward the small home Olivia had let.

Olivia could hardly breathe to answer the question. “N-No. Not since the first day.”

“Then it seems you might have worn him down far faster than you thought.”

Olivia’s heart leapt at the thought and she shot a quick glance toward Violet. She wanted to run to him, but she couldn’t when her friend remained in pain.

Violet laughed. “Go. Write to me in Romwell in a few days and let me know all the news.”

Olivia briefly embraced her. “I wish you would stay.”

“I can’t,” Violet insisted as she turned Olivia toward the door and gently pushed her. “Now go!”

Olivia didn’t have to be asked again. She hustled from the room, thinking of nothing but Malcolm. She could only hope this unexpected appearance meant he was willing to listen to her.

But even if he wasn’t, she had made her own decision. She wasn’t going to let him hide from her, from love, anymore. Today they would resolve this, one way or another.

“As I have already told you, sir,” Olivia’s maid, Belle, said, her arms folded as she glared at him. “Miss Olivia left the house and I have no idea when she will return.”

Mal shifted but did not remove himself from the parlor he had claimed upon his arrival.

“And as I have already told
you
,” he retorted, “I will wait.”

The maid rolled her eyes and shot a look at the footman who had been called to handle him once it was clear he wouldn’t leave. The man was not nearly his size or strength and he looked rather nervous.

“I will sit here quietly,” Mal said, changing his tone to a friendlier one as he settled into the chair in front of the unlit fire. “I will not require refreshment or entertainment. And I will not cause any trouble.”

“No more than you already have,” the maid muttered.

Mal wasn’t entirely certain if the girl was talking about the ruckus his intrusion had caused today or the trouble caused for her mistress since Olivia had arrived in Bath, but he had no chance to ask her to clarify, for at that moment, Olivia herself shouldered through the servants and stared at him.

He scrambled to his feet. “Olivia.”

She didn’t reveal any emotions on her face, but she also did not look away from him as she said, “Belle, Yeardley, you may leave. I will see Mr. Graham.”

The servants seemed just as happy to let her handle Malcolm and left the room. She stood in the doorway for a long moment before she stepped inside and closed the door behind them to grant them privacy.

“Olivia—” he began.

To his surprise, she held up a hand to silence him.

“No, Malcolm. You have said and done quite enough.
I
would like to say something now.”

He raised his eyebrows but didn’t stop her as she paced across the room to the window, where she faced him, wringing her hands in front of her.

“I realize that my coming here under a false pretense, that my knowledge of Violet’s plans for Liam and my keeping that knowledge to myself, even after you confessed your feelings for me…those were all very wrong actions.”

He opened his mouth, but she shook her head. “Please! Allow me this.”

He pressed his lips together and let her speak.

“But you must understand that Violet has been my best friend, my sister, for a very long time. I trained her to be a courtesan, but she shared in her financial success with me, as well as her support and kindness. I love her as my family,
more
than my family. And I knew that if she succeeded in her plans with Liam she would obtain a freedom from our lifestyle that she has craved for many years.”

She shook her head and her gaze was far away. “When I came here, Mal, I never expected to be anything but the distraction Violet needed. But you are…
you
and you are frustratingly impossible not to fall in love with.”

Mal straightened up at that admission. She had never said anything like it to him, even before her secrets were revealed and he was confessing his heart every moment he was with her.

“You love me,” he repeated.

She nodded as she met his stare. “I love you. I was as shocked by that fact as anyone, trust me. But it is true. And I did want to tell you the truth about Violet. I started to so many times, but I feared your reaction, that I would destroy that beautiful gift of love you kept giving me. I also feared I would hurt my friend. So I was cowardly and kept finding reasons to hide the truth. But I would have told you, Malcolm.”

He stared at her, trying to determine if she was telling the truth. She had such wide, clear eyes as she kept her stare locked with his.

“When?” he choked out.

“That day you confronted Violet and me,” she admitted with a sad shake of her head. “I was coming to the breakfast room to tell Violet that I wouldn’t keep her secret any longer. And then I would have told you. But by then you already knew, everything was already ruined.”

He swallowed at that assessment. “Damaged,” he whispered. “But I don’t know about ruined.”

Her eyes went wide. “I hope that’s true. Damage can be repaired. Are you saying what we felt, what we built, can be repaired?”

She waited for his answer, not pushing, not forcing, not even asking again as he struggled with the words to say.

“Like you, I have forged a strong bond, stronger than the one I hold with my blood brothers, with Liam. I was so wrapped up in protecting him that what you did in league with Violet felt like a double betrayal.”

She winced and began to turn away, but he moved to her, catching her arm and keeping her in place.

“But I understand your motives, Olivia. And I believe you that you would have told me the truth,” he whispered.

She reached up with her free hand, trembling fingers cupping his cheek. “And do you believe that I love you, Malcolm?”

He couldn’t help the wide smile that broke across his face at that question.

“I do,” he admitted. “I believe you and those words are so sweet that I can scarcely believe I am hearing them, especially after the abominable way I’ve treated you over the past few days.”

She shook her head. “I understood your anger. And I knew that if you still came to me, still
wanted
me, that at some point I would have the chance to prove myself to you.”

“And you did, quite forcefully, today.” He chuckled.

She laughed in return. “Well, I was tired of waiting for your forgiveness, I decided to demand it.” Her smile fell a fraction. “But beyond your forgiveness, I must know something else.”

He tilted his head, drawing her closer, into his arms. “What is that?”

“Could
you
ever love
me
again? Even though I broke faith with you?” She said the words so softly, but there was so much fear and hope on her face, in the way she trembled in his arms.

He cupped her cheek. “I never stopped loving you, Olivia. Anger cannot change that. Nothing could. I love you and I will always love you, even when each of us makes mistakes, even when you frustrate me, even when I am hunched and wrinkled. I will love you until my last breath. Which is why I must ask you now…”

He hesitated and her eyes went wide.

“Will you marry me?”

She stared at him for a moment, her mouth open in shock, her dark eyes dilated wide. He saw her hesitation and it made his stomach drop.

“That isn’t what women of my station do,” she whispered. “You are a gentleman’s son, Malcolm. If you marry me—”

He shook his head. “Then nothing in the world will change except my happiness will increase a thousandfold.”

She shook her head, so he continued before she could come up with more excuses. “I may have been born a gentleman’s son, but I haven’t lived a gentleman’s life for a long time. Even if I had, I have learned through close observation that love is not something to be taken lightly.”

“You could lose something, everything,” she whispered, her voice shaking. “People could find out what I am, what I was.”

“Perhaps,” he conceded. “But I already know what you are, what you were and what I hope you will be. Why would I give a damn what anyone else thought?”

“Mal, I don’t want to hurt you,” she said, her eyes locked with his. She had been giving him reasons why he shouldn’t marry her, but he could see now that she was searching to find one to accept.

“Then don’t refuse me.” He smiled as he bent his head to kiss her gently. “Accept my proposal and be my wife.”

She worried her lip a moment, but finally she nodded. “Yes. If you think you can accept the potential consequences, then yes!”

Tears flooded her eyes as she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him with all the considerable strength in her far-smaller body. He laughed as he drank in her warmth and her love, filled with the knowledge that he would have this, have her, for the rest of his days.

He pulled back.

“We have so much to do, so much to plan,” he said. “But I can hire a carriage within the hour and we can be to Gretna Green before the week is out.”

She stared at him. “Gretna Green! You mean to marry me right away?”

He lifted her chin. “As soon as I can have you be mine, yes.”

She was laughing as he kissed her and she laughed until he stole her breath, possessed her body and claimed her as his bride and his love for all time.

About the Author

Jess Michaels is the award-winning author of over forty romances, erotic romances and urban fantasy novels. She lives in Arizona with her fantastic husband and two adorable cats. When not writing about sexy gentlemen and wicked ladies, she can be found doing geeky things like playing video games and performing aunt duties to two nephews. You can find her online at
www.authorjessmichaels.com
, on Facebook (Jess Michaels) and on Twitter
www.twitter.com/jessmichaelsbks
.

Look for these titles by Jess Michaels

Now Available:

Mistress Matchmaker

An Introduction to Pleasure

For Desire Alone

Her Perfect Match

The Pleasure Wars

Taken By the Duke

Pleasuring the Lady

Beauty and the Earl

Coming Soon:

The Ladies Book of Pleasures

A Matter of Sin

A Moment of Pleasure

A Measure of Deceit

The Notorious Flynns

The Other Duke

The Widow’s Wager

The Scoundrel’s Lady

Seasons of Passion

A Christmas Affair

Desire as essential as breath…deception as fragile as sanity.

Beauty and the Earl

© 2014 Jess Michaels

The Pleasure Wars, Book 3

Liam, the Earl of Windbury, had everything when he held his secret lover in his arms. Until a feud between their families left her dead, his body broken, and his sister married to his bitterest enemy.

Wracked with guilt, simmering with rage, he’s spent a year in seclusion, seeing no one except a few servants as he does his best to forget the past and patently refuses to think about any kind of future.
 

When courtesan Violet Milford enters Liam’s lair, she’s on a secret mission to gather information for Liam’s desperate sister, who fears for his sanity, even his life. What she finds is a man scarred inside and out, whose dark, controlling sensuality hides the kind, wounded man within.

Violet awakens a sexual desire more powerful than Liam has ever known, and her stories weave a spell that begins to work its way past his defenses. But when the truth inevitably comes out, it could well destroy the love that is saving them both.

Warning: This book features a sexually experienced woman who will use every trick in her book to save a man from himself.
 

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Beauty and the Earl:

Liam sank up to his chin in the steaming waters, letting the supposedly healing waters of Bath seep into his injured shoulder. The warmth of the natural spring helped, but he wasn’t certain he retained any miracle cures beyond the few moments of pleasure in the water.