Deception (7 page)

She maneuvered the carriage through a field and into the woods. “I’m tired and hungry. I know this place. We can rest here for a while.”

The greenwood bustled with life. A pond, birds, a clearing of soft grass, and all hidden from the road by thick trees. It was as if they had stepped into a fairytale. “How did you ever find this?”

Stopping the carriage, she hopped down and unhooked the harnesses from the left side of the horses.

Mesmerized by her agility and grace, he forced himself to focus on a task. He jumped down and worked from the other side to relieve the animals from their burden.

She grinned across at him. “I’ve traveled the roads quite a bit. Reece and I found it when we were still attending the school. Brice sent us to Edinburg to meet Cullum. Reece thought we could save some of our funds for some fun in the big city by sleeping in the woods. We stumbled into this paradise while avoiding the fees at the posting house.”

He imagined her a few years younger and still blushing with youth. Had she and Foxjohn been lovers in this very spot? His gut twisted. It was the perfect place for a lover’s tryst. Who would see them in such an obscure place?
Damn.
“Have you come back often since then?”

A sly grin created even more of an allure. “Once or twice.”

They tied the horses loosely to a tree, and they crunched grass happily.

She untied her dress and let the blue fabric drop to the ground. The white underdress, devoid of a corset, revealed curved hips and even more of her full breasts. A cleverly constructed belt hung low on her hip. He guessed it was what she’d tucked her dress into the night before. She unhooked the belt, and it too dropped to the grass. She billowed with white undergarments.

His body burned at the sight of her. “What are you doing, Lilly?”

The underdress was held by satin ties at the shoulders. She pulled the bows on each side, and it puddled around her feet. The hint of the small crossbow landed in the pile. With only her chemise, she exposed herself to him. The thin fabric accentuated her assets and hid nothing. Dark peaks shone through as if calling him forward. His groin tightened in spite of his efforts to be a gentleman. How could any man remain impassive in the face of such a display?

“I’m going to bathe in the pond, Dorian. You may do as you wish.” She bent over and lifted the chemise to the top of her knees. She stripped two long thin blades from her boots, then the boots themselves. Her calves were shapely, and he wanted to know if the skin was as soft as it looked.

Tugging the undergarment higher, she unclipped the belt strapped to her thigh and dropped it with a half a dozen throwing knives still sheathed in a neat row.

“I think if you knew what I wish at this moment, you might not say that.” God how he longed to touch her.

“Do you really think so?” She stepped out of the center of the mountain of cloth and walked to the edge of the pond. Without the slightest hesitation, she dove in headfirst.

Magnificent.
The infinitesimal time that passed while he warred with his gentlemanly side gave way to the quick dispatch of his clothing.

Lillian erupted from the center of the pond and looked back.

Swimming in his drawers did not appeal to him, and he dropped them as well. Her blush was worth ten thousand pounds. He dove in.

The water gave a small shock from the warm air, but it was refreshing and clean. He swam over to where she treaded water. “This is quite invigorating, Lilly, but what are we doing?”

“Swimming and washing the grime off.”

“Men and women do not swim together, nor do they bathe together. Not that I know of. Not in England, anyway. Is there something you want from me, or is your goal to tease me until I crack?”

She floated onto her back, the wet chemise clinging to every delectable curve as she stroked the water and moved away from him. “Perhaps I misinterpreted your interest last light when you were so fascinated with my legs. If so, I apologize.” She stopped floating away and let her body sink down into the shadowy water. Only her pretty face and shoulder breached the water. “However, I will admit I find you quite attractive. I do not take my clothes off for just anyone.”

He dove under the water’s surface, coming up close enough to grab her around the waist and pull her against his chest. There was satisfaction in her surprised expression. “I am not a man to be toyed with, Lilly.”

“Nor am I the type of woman to toy with any man.”

The cool water should have put an end to his arousal, but his cock bulged between them. “It is not my custom to have meaningless relations with a lady.”

Her tempting smile turned into the most adorable frown. He wanted to kiss the expression away more than he wanted to take his next breath. “Who said it had to be meaningless, Dorian. And you still do not seem to understand, I am no lady.”

He’d moved them close enough to the shoreline to put his feet down on the muddy bottom. Touching her cheek, he pushed back a wet lock of hair, which had escaped the braid she knotted for travel. “Oh, I don’t know about that, Lilly. Perhaps you and I have different definitions of the word. You are polite and amiable. You try to make those in your company feel comfortable. What you did last night with the Thrush family was the act of a lady.”

Her breath was quick, and her full lips parted as if begging for his kiss. “And what I did with my crossbow in the hills, was that the act of a lady? Do ladies ride astride or sneak out of a posting house in the middle of the night? Ladies do not do the things I have done, and they do not live as I have lived. Do not fool yourself into believing I could live in your world for more than a moment. I am nothing in the world of theatres and balls. They would send me to the scullery. Frankly, it is where I belong. Belinda is a lady, and no amount of primping with fine dresses and curled hair will make me her equal in the parlor.”

He pressed his lips to hers, letting the warm flesh and cool water wrap around the drum beat of his heart. “I think you are a lady, Lilly. I think the countess would agree with me.”

He’d spoken against her lips, but she pushed back from him, breaking the contact. “Belinda is my friend, but we are not the same.”

“Do not be angry because I think you are a lady, Lilly. You may rail at me for a great many things during our time together, but not that. To me, you are everything fine and good. Fiercely loyal, beautiful, smart, and you even manage to have the manners of someone who was born with the name I suspect you fashioned for yourself.”

“I make no apologies for my deeds or my name, sir.” Her cheeks pinked with either a blush or fury, he wasn’t sure which. God, how he loved holding her in his arms.

“I ask for none. I ask for nothing. Understand me. I want you. I wanted the great Lillian Dellacourt in my bed before I had even met her. My brother wrote of a student so tireless, she put him to shame. The first woman to join The Company and she was a warrior. I think Brice is half in love with you. Letter after letter, he told me of all the things you had accomplished in half the time it took other students.

“When I first saw you for myself, I thought I was dreaming. Yet there you were, a fierce and beautiful warrior.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Why would I lie?”

“I don’t know, but I am certain Brice is in no way in love with me, therefore the rest of your story is questionable.”

Dorian lifted her. She could not have been too angry, as she was more than capable of removing his arms from around her. She did not, and he carried her to a patch of soft grass and placed her on her back.

Her body arched toward his. “It doesn’t matter anyway. We can never be more than what we are here and now. You are a gentleman. One day you will find a lady to give you children and spend your life with. I ask only for pleasure in this moment. Pleasure to chase away the demons.”

Sorrow tightened his chest. “The demons we face do not disappear through distraction.”

“For a few moments, they do. In my mind.” Her arms wrapped around his neck, and strong fingers caressed his back.

He was uncomfortably hard, but this was not going how he’d imagined it. She wanted a quick tumble. He was nothing more than a distraction from the pain of the world. If she had been any other woman, he might have liked something quick and meaningless. But this was Lillian, a woman he had coveted from afar for years.

Sitting back on his heels, he took one more look at her beauty, only accentuated by the soaked shift.
I can’t believe what I’m about to do.
“Forgive me, Lilly. You ask for more than I can give you at this time. I will forgo the delights of your body until we can come to an understanding.”

Her stunning lips formed a rather large O, before she pushed up to her elbows. “You do not wish to lay with me? I am willing and enthusiastic. Those were your requirements, Dorian.”

He got up, walked back to the pond, splashed cool water on his face and rubbed the grime from his skin. “I know and while I very much wish it were, for some reason, it is not enough.”

“What kind of understanding do you believe we can come to?”

Telling her he wanted more than one tryst beside that pond served no purpose. She had ideas about him, which he had to disprove through deed. If he took her now, he’d never win her. And if it was possible, he wanted to have this magnificent woman for his own.

She would be the death of him. He dove into the pond. The cool water did little to quell his desire, but it was enough, so when he broke the water’s surface he could contain his longing.

* * * *

He swam to the far end of the pond. All Lillian could do was stare at his retreating form. She didn’t know whether to be flattered or offended. It was likely he thought she was a whore and didn’t want to sully himself with her kind. It had been a risk to offer herself to Dorian, but she wanted him, and more than that, she wanted to get him out of her system.

It had worked years ago with Reece, and they had gone on to become the closest of friends. If Dorian was to be her new partner, even for a short time, they both needed to focus on their tasks and get their attraction under control. Yet the idea of being intimate with Dorian excited her more than was comfortable. She flushed with giddiness at the idea. The pravus had almost poisoned him. She shivered with the memory. He’d risked himself to protect those children. She’d been angry, and yet that was when her attraction had blossomed.

His arms ripped through the water’s surface, and she couldn’t help imagining his muscles wrapping around her and holding her.

She shook her head and walked to the carriage. She found a pat of soap, took off her chemise, and went to the water’s edge. Never taking her attention away from him, she soaped and rinsed off before putting on a clean chemise and spreading a blanket on the grass.

She’d left the soap near the edge with a clean cloth and watched as Dorian cleaned himself. He turned and caught her, and she met his gaze. His cock responded even if he would not follow his desire. Was it just a male reaction to a woman watching him wash or was it her? Did it matter? Yes, it mattered quite a lot.
Damn
.

He dove back in and rinsed the soap away before walking to the carriage and dressing. The sun warmed the ground, and Lillian’s exhaustion caught up with her. She drifted to sleep before they made a proper camp for the night.

The crackle of wood burning woke her. The sun touched down at the horizon, and the earth cooled beneath her. She shot up. “Dorian?”

“I am here.” He sat across from her on the grass and added wood to the fire.

“I apologize for falling asleep. I should have helped with the firewood.”

He shrugged. “You were tired.”

“You should sleep. No one will bother us here.”

He stood and moved closer before sitting on the blanket next to her. “How do you know?”

“I have hidden here and watched demons march by. They will not enter this place. I think it might be holy ground, too sacred for even the demons to enter. On the other side of the pond, behind the trees, there is a circle of standing stones. No demons will come near the area.”

His eyes sparkled in the firelight as he looked across to the area she’d spoken about. Scanning the entire clearing as she had done time and time again, looking for some hint of why the demons did not enter. His hard chest pressed against her back, and he pulled the blanket around them, forming a warm cocoon.

An intellectual nobleman and a peasant demon hunter; what creature might they emerge as? His arm banded around her middle, and her mind could process nothing besides the feel of this man. “Dorian, why are you so opposed to bedding me?”

His low chuckle tickled her ear. “I am not opposed, my lady. I just want more.”

“If we get sex out of the way, we could become friends.”

The fire crackled. His breath warmed her neck with an even cadence. He must have fallen asleep or found her too disgusting to speak to, yet his arm remained snug to her middle.

“Is that how you and Foxjohn became such good friends?” Low and close, his voice sent a shiver down her spine.

“A long time ago.”

“And were their others, Lilly?”

“What do you mean?”

His grip around her waist tightened. “Besides Reece, have you made a habit out of sleeping with men to relieve the stress of battle?”

“Is that what you think I’m doing? I just do not want you to get yourself killed because you are admiring my legs.”

“And you think lovemaking will lessen my interest?”

“Of course.”

“Lilly, you are a puzzle to me. I want to know everything about you, and yet, I fear what you might tell me.”

“Because you think I’m a whore.” She hated the tear that slid down her cheek. Damn the pain his disapproval stabbed in her heart. Why should it matter what one man thought of her? He didn’t mean anything to her. He never would.

“No. Never that.”

“What do you think then?”

“I do not know what to make of you. I know you are not French, and Dellacourt is a false name.”

“But one I have been using for a long time,
monsieur
.”