Desires of a Baron (23 page)

“
Nobody had to say it, I just know.”

“
You seem to know a lot for not being very smart,” Mr. Appleton’s tone was hard to place.

Giles forced a stiff shrug. “It doesn’t take a smart man to know that.”

“There’s more than one way to be intelligent.”

“
Sir, I drove Sister Catherine to smuggle the communion wine. Said she needed it after spending a day trying to get me to understand sums—and not because she felt like a saint and was in need of an extra blessing.”

Mr. Appleton’s laughter echoed through the room. “Have trouble understanding what to do with that extra one?”

Giles felt his eyes widen in surprise. “How did you know?”

“
I had the same problem as a boy. I think Simon may have, too.” His face went still almost as if he were afraid of what he’d revealed. Giles didn’t know why he’d be afraid of admitting that Simon wasn’t perfect at anything. Mayhap Simon would be upset if Giles knew of his imperfection.

“
I won’t tell him,” Giles offered. That wasn’t a hard promise to keep since Simon’s interest in talking to him rivaled his interest in speaking to Simon.

Mr. Appleton pressed his lips together. “Right. As for the matter at hand, whether you marry or not, I think you should petition the court to acknowledge you are of sound and able mind.”

“No.” Giles wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers. “They’ll mock me.”

“
Who?”

“
Everyone,” he burst out, banging his open palm on the smooth surface of his desk.

“
I won’t. And neither will anyone else.”

“
Yes, they will. They always do.” Giles released a harsh laugh. “I still don’t know what to do with that extra one.”

“
You add it to the next column on the left,” Mr. Appleton said quietly. “Or rather, your trusted estate manager does.” He dropped his booted foot back to the floor with an indelicate
tap
. “You don’t have to decide today what you want to do. I’m just asking that you give it some thought.”

“
Why is it that you care so much?”

“
As I said, I know what it’s like to live my life knowing that my eldest won’t inherit my legacy, but rather one that was given to him by someone else.”

Something about how he said those words gave Giles a chill. “How long do I have before I have to let you know?”

“Until my death, I suppose,” Mr. Appleton said, tucking the papers back into his satchel. “It won’t be too late then, of course, but you’ll have to ask Simon to help, though.”

Giles shuddered. “I’ll be sure to decide something before then.”

“Very well.” Mr. Appleton stood and plucked his satchel from the floor. “I look forward to seeing you at the wedding, but just so you know, you’re welcome to come over to have dinner any time you’d like.”

That wasn’t likely to happen. It had been uncomfortable before; he couldn’t imagine Simon’s reaction to him now. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me,” Mr. Appleton said, putting his hat on his head. “Come over and have a drink with me.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ten Days Later

Lucy could hardly believe she was actually walking down the aisle to her waiting bridegroom. Fortunately it was a short walk across his mother’s drawing room or her knees might have buckled beneath her at the way Giles grinned at her from the moment she entered the room. Actually, that wasn’t true. If her knees were to buckle, Seth was right there to help hold her up. For he’d insisted she needed an escort down the aisle and there was no one else she’d rather it be but him.

Next to Giles who was cloaked in blue and gold stood Sebastian dressed in various shades of red. In the spot where the bride’s attendant was to stand stood Isabelle. When Lucy had admitted she didn’t have anyone to ask to be her attendant, save perhaps Giles’ mother, Giles had suggested Isabelle. Though she and Isabelle weren’t close, Lucy agreed it’d make the most sense to ask her and was somewhat relieved when Giles volunteered to be the one to talk to them both about standing up with them. Lucy should have done it, she knew, but Giles was more their friend than she was. Isabelle had graciously accepted and now she was at their wedding with a slightly uneasy expression, beautiful but uneasy. Like her husband, she was dressed in red. A beautiful ruby-colored gown with a gold and silver embroidery pattern on the bodice and gold edging around the sleeves that matched the most beautiful gold flounces at the bottom of her skirts.

For her part, Lucy had worn a silver gown that Mrs. Appleton had helped her choose from a fashion plate. The fabric shone in the light and made a soft whispering rustle every time she moved. The gown itself was plain, devoid of embellished embroidering or yards of lace. Its elegance came in the cut. High on the waist, full, billowing skirts, high capped sleeves and a rounded bodice that gave an onlooker a generous view of the top of her bosoms. Of course that would not do during a wedding (only after it, when alone with the groom), and she’d elected to wear a crushed velvet shawl over top that was a near perfect match to the color of Giles’ emerald eyes.

Lost in her thoughts of love for the man standing before her, the other occupants of the room, comprised of the three Appletons, Seth, and Isabelle and Sebastian, faded away as she heard the minister speak of loving and cherishing, two things she knew she’d be able to do without question. Then the vows were repeated and before she knew it, Giles’ lips were upon hers, sealing their union with a kiss that seared her heart and body solely to him.

After the ceremony, the small group made their way to the dining room for a wedding breakfast. All around Lucy, conversation buzzed, but she heard none of it through the excitement that hummed through her.

Isabelle gave her a knowing look and she blushed. Was she that obvious? The sparkle in Isabelle’s eye confirmed she had been.

Lucy pulled her attention away from Isabelle and looked down the table to where Simon and Seth were chatting about something. Lucy bit her lip. She’d been worried how Simon would respond to the announcement that Lucy was indeed going to marry Giles. Oddly enough, he hadn’t said a single cross word about it. Then again, he’d mysteriously been absent, something about a trip to some country estate. Lucy wasn’t too sure on the details, nor had she inquired.

“
Are you ready to go?” Giles whispered in her ear.

Her skin tingled. “Whenever you are.”

“I’ve been ready since the kiss,” he admitted quietly.

Her blush elicited a few chuckles around them.

Giles reached for her hand and stood. “Thank you all for coming, but we’re leaving.”

Though she’d never actually attended a wedding before, she was fairly certain that wasn’t how one announced they were leaving.

However, nobody seemed to mind. And if they did, they kept their lips firmly closed.

Quickly all the others stood and formed a line to congratulate them and wish them well.

First was Sebastian who gave Lucy a quick hug, then shook Giles’ hand while Isabelle hugged Lucy and whispered something to her about coming to call on her soon. Lucy smiled at the lady’s pleasantries and her smile grew genuine when Isabelle hugged and congratulated Giles. Next was Mr. and Mrs. Appleton. Similarly to Lord and Lady Belgrave, Mr. Appleton hugged Lucy and shook Giles’ hand while Mrs. Appleton hugged—and kissed—them both. Next was a very energetic Seth who seemed to have little interest in hugging either of them but wished them well and pumped Giles’ hand with so much vigor Lucy wondered if he were trying to draw water from a well.

“
You’ll be on your best behavior and remember your manners, won’t you?” Lucy said as a gentle warning to Seth. The Appletons had been kind enough to offer to let him stay there for the next two nights.

“
Of course he will,” Simon said for him, clapping Seth on the shoulders with both hands. “I plan to keep him so busy during the day he won’t have time to get into trouble and at night he’ll be too exhausted to do anything other than sleep.”

Seth grin’s was contagious and soon both Lucy and Giles were grinning at Simon’s words. “Thank you,” she said, meeting Simon’s eyes. There was something in them she hadn’t glimpsed before.

Simon smiled at Lucy then turned to Giles. “Congratulations to you both.” He released Seth’s shoulders and dug his hands into his pockets. “I think you two suit each other perfectly.” Then, without another word or waiting for a response, he touched Seth’s shoulder and guided him off.

Giles turned to Lucy, his eyebrows lifted and his eyes wide.

Lucy grinned. Even when he was confused, Giles was still handsome. “He doesn’t know what to say to us,” she said in hushed tones, reaching for his hand. “But he’s certainly trying.”

Giles interlaced their fingers. “I suppose he is.”

“He is,” Lucy assured him as Giles led her down the stairs and to the waiting carriage.

The carriage ride to her new residence seemed to go faster than she thought it would. Perhaps that was because she was going to Giles’ townhouse not as the fallen Lucy Whitaker, but as Lady Norcourt—Giles’ wife.

She peered up at her still grinning bridegroom as he helped her descend the carriage in front of his house and intertwined their fingers together again. The past week had been a whirlwind filled with fittings and making plans for this wedding. Mrs. Appleton had been a wonderful help to her navigating the shops and placing orders, but it had certainly interfered with any time Lucy might have gotten to spend with Giles. That was about to be rectified, now and forever, though.

“
Nervous?” Giles whispered in her ear when she was safely off the bottom step.

“
Just a bit,” she admitted. It had been a long time since she’d been alone with a man who had the gleam in his eyes that Giles did. It had only been the once, but she did remember the activity well enough. What she didn’t remember was being excited about it.

“
Don’t be.” He unlocked the front door, then put one arm about her shoulders and hooked the other under her knees and lifted her.

Lucy looped her arms around his neck as he carried her across the threshold and kicked the front door shut before carrying her upstairs. This time, instead of taking her to the room she’d assumed was meant for the baroness, he carried her to his room. He paused just inside the threshold to kick that door closed. “Can’t have anyone peeking in on the new Lady Norcourt. It wouldn’t be proper.”

She giggled and brought her lips to his. It had been five days since they’d last been able to sneak a kiss, which had been nothing worse than torture, but made this one that much more exciting.

Giles carried her across the room and to the bed. Then slowly, almost reverently, he lowered her to the thick feather mattress. “You’re beautiful.”

She kissed him. “Thank you. You’re quite handsome, yourself.”

“
Am I now?” He asked between kisses.

It was on the tip of Lucy’s tongue to confirm, but all words and thoughts of them faded away when his lips left hers and started to kiss a slow path across her cheek and down to her jaw.

She lolled her head to the opposite side to give him better access. Which, of course, he took.

His hands released their hold on her from when he’d carried her into the room and moved to the bottom of her throat to untie the velvet emerald cape she had draped over her shoulders to match her silver gown. Freeing the knot, he pushed the thick fabric away from her skin and moved his lips down to where he’d just exposed.

Lucy’s skin tingled beneath his lips. “Giles,” she whispered, digging her fingers into the back of his thick, silky hair.

Giles murmured her name against her collarbone then moved his lips back up to hers, his hands sliding underneath her body. He slowly guided her up to a sitting position with her legs hanging off the end of the bed. Satisfied, he sank to his knees in front of her, bringing his face just two inches above hers.

Lucy lowered her hands from his hair to rest on his broad shoulders. He really was a handsome man. And now he was all hers.

Neither spoke, the only sound between them was their heavy breathing and pounding hearts.

Tentatively, she ran her hands down his shoulders and to the V of his coat. She slipped her hands inside and slid her fingers under the top of his waistcoat, then moved them up to his shoulders. She could feel so much more now with only his thin lawn shirt separating their skin.

“
May I?” His rasped words made her skin tingle with excitement at what he might do. Where he might touch her.

She nodded and began kneading the thick muscles in his shoulders.

He skimmed his fingers from her shoulder blades halfway down her spine then across her ribs before lifting them to the silver chord that held her bodice closed. With an audible swallow, he tugged both ends of the chord until the bow was gone and the knot slipped loose.

Lucy didn’t know whose body became more frozen at that moment, his or hers. She was nearly thirty and had a child. Would he be satisfied with what he saw?

With another swallow that resembled a gulp, Giles released the ends of the silver chord and began to loosen her bodice. It wouldn’t reveal everything to him, but it’d be enough for him to be able to imagine the rest.

After loosening the top two crosses, he moved his hand lower and brushed her breast with his palm. His fingers stilled, his palm pressing ever-so-lightly against her breast, leading them both to swell in a way she’d never expected.

A boldness, she didn’t recognize came over her and prompted her to remove her hands from his shoulders and take hold of his wrists. She guided his hands away from the center of her chest and placed them directly on her breasts. “Touch me.”

As if he’d been waiting for that sort of an invitation for a decade, he did just that. His touch was slow and tentative at first as he moved his palms over the curve of her breasts, from the top to the bottom then back and forth across the sides. “They’re soft,” he commented before cupping them. He gave them a gentle squeeze, looking at her face as he did so.

She didn’t realize her hands were still on his wrists and gave him what she hoped he’d understand to be an encouraging squeeze.

He did.

His touches and caresses became bolder and more intense as he massaged and kneaded every inch of her breasts until she was almost certain they were going to burst right out of her bodice.

“
Would you like to see them?”

“
Of course,” he said automatically, frantically moving his hands back to the ties that ran down the front of her bodice. Jerkily, he tugged on the ties, loosening them only marginally.

Lucy touched his wrists again, staying him. Releasing his hands, she stood and turned her back to him.

It took him only a moment to start slipping the buttons that ran down the back of her gown. With every one he slipped Lucy’s pulse sped up just a little more until he reached her waist. Pushing her gown open just enough in the back, he began loosening the ties on that blasted corset she was made to wear.

With a grunt, he untied the last one. He gripped the edge of the thick fabric of both her gown and her corset and between his pushing and her maneuvering, the offending garments were off her shoulders and in a heap on the floor.

Lucy spun around to face her groom wearing nothing but a thin chemise and stockings as coverings.

“
Beautiful,” he rasped.

“
I believe you’ve already said that,” she teased.

“
Doesn’t make it any less true.” His eyes drifted down her body, settling on her thinly covered breasts.

Taking a deep breath, Lucy reached her trembling fingers up to the thin straps of her chemise, gripped them tightly, then dragged them across her shoulders to the ends and without giving herself time to change her course, let them drop.

***

Every last muscle in Giles’ body went rigid.

He’d heard talk of women’s bodies and what men did to them between their legs, but he’d never given much thought to what Lucy would look like unclothed.

She was beautiful. Nay, she was
magnificent
. He released a pent up breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. She’d allowed him to touch her soft parts earlier, would she again now that she was naked?