Devil's Bargain (25 page)

An hour before sunset, Dunwort returned to move the barricade. They both heard it. Indeed, the sound of a table being pulled away from the door was hard to disguise. How Adrian had missed it being placed there, he had no idea.

“I should sack you!” he bellowed through the library door.

“Yes, sir,” returned Dunwort from down the hallway.

“Your only hope is to disappear. Be gone at least a day,” Adrian growled.

There was a moment’s silence. Then, suddenly, he heard Dunwort speak, his voice quick and light. “The baroness has gone out. There’ll be no one here to serve you.”

“Then there will be no one to sack!”

Another slight pause, and then they heard Dunwort’s running feet, dashing down the hallway. As if from a great distance, they heard his gleeful,
“Yes, sir!” before the front door slammed.

They were alone.

Adrian wasted no time. Lifting Lynette into his arms, he strode to the door. He did not release her to open the latch. He did not let her down to climb the stairs, nor relinquish her when he shouldered his way into her bedroom, the nearest door after the stairs.

Indeed, he did not intend to let her go for many hours.

And when, for the third time that night, he poised himself between her legs, he finally found the strength to say the words back. Lowering his mouth to just above her lips, he whispered,
“I love you.”

Then he kissed her full upon the mouth. Below he entered her, using his body to build her passion, to stoke the fire that burned between them; and after the fiery climax, as he collapsed beside her, drawing her into his arms and whispering into her ear, “Always.”

Intertwined, they slept. And when he woke, it was daylight. Indeed, it was well into afternoon on the day Lynette was to have her final fitting for her wedding dress.

It was a beautiful gown, he knew. All his girls had beautiful gowns, begun the day of their first fitting, prepared in anticipation of the event to come. And Adrian had spared no expense on Lynette’s.

Now she was stirring beside him, groaning slightly as her body protested the night’s events. But when she opened her eyes, it was with a smile. And the first words she spoke were the ones he knew he would cherish forever.

“I love you.”

She must have seen the anguish in his eyes. Indeed, so close were they now, so intertwined in body and
mind, she must have shared the pain that gripped his heart. So she leaned forward, kissing his lips, and he felt the wetness of her tears slip onto his face.

“I cannot release you,” he said, his voice thick with anguish. He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her against him, clutching her to his heart where she could never be ripped away. “I do not care what happens, Lynette, I cannot!”

She nodded, and he felt the gasp of her sobs.

“Oh, God,” he moaned. “We will go to debtor’s prison.”

“My plans for my family are ruined,” she whispered. But then she lifted his face, brushing away his tears though her own flowed freely. “But we will be together.”

He laughed. The sound felt torn from his throat. “Not in debtor’s prison, we won’t.” He held her to him, burying his face in her shoulder as he struggled to retain some measure of control.

There was none. No control. No respite.

And so they came together one last time in a flurry of passion and hunger, but afterward there came no relief.

Only a knock at the door.

Adrian stiffened, and beside him, he felt Lynette’s entire body still as they waited in clenched silence.

Again, the knock. “My lord?”

Adrian frowned. “Dunwort?”

“Aye, sir.”

He felt a wash of fury seep into his soul. “What the devil are you doing?” His words exploded like a curse.

“A message, my lord. Two, in fact.”

Adrian felt his hands clench. “Bloody hell, man, what do I want with a couple of damned messages?”

“One is from the baroness, sir. The other’s from Songshire. I’ll just slip them under the door.”

He watched in amazement as two white envelopes appeared.

The last thing Adrian wanted to see was a note. Any note. But one from Lynette’s fiancé was beyond the worst. It sent him reeling directly to hell.

Glancing at Lynette, he saw that she, too, was hurting, her body curled in on itself as she stared at the two white squares.

“Should I burn them?” he asked, praying she would say yes.

She shook her head, and wrapped her arms around her knees.

Adrian stood, hating himself for doing it but unable to stop. He picked up the notes. Coming to the side of the bed, he stared down at the offensive objects. Lynette pulled into herself even more, her head buried in her arms. Her voice sounded hollow as it emanated from deep within her curled form. “Read to me.”

He knew she meant the letter from Songshire, but he could not do it. He could not open and read a letter from her fiancé even though it was addressed to him. So he tore open the message from his aunt, frowning as he made out her rushed and hurried words.

“ ‘Beauty means nothing,’ ” he read aloud. “ ‘Only love. And a bit of canniness in the end. Love, Agatha.’ ”

He looked up, confused. Looking across the bed, he saw Lynette lift her head, the same expression mirrored on her face. But then he saw something else: dawning hope in her eyes. It showed in her body, too, as she dropped her arms and reached for Songshire’s envelope.

Adrian remained confused. “What does it mean?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. What does the earl write?”

“Lynette…” He meant to force her to explain, but she was too quick for him. Snatching the earl’s missive from his hands, she ripped it open. He watched in terror, hope and fear warring in his gut.

She read and reread the letter to herself. Then she looked up.

Her expression changed slowly, by inches, but the change came over her entire body. One moment she was tense, anxious, and worried. The next, she was smiling. Then grinning. Suddenly she fell on her back while laughter rippled out of her. It rolled out of her in a gale, echoing through the room, reverberating in Adrian’s ears.

He did not demand an explanation. Indeed, she was laughing so hard, he did not believe she could give one. As it was, she barely managed to draw breath before collapsing again in another fit of laughter.

He snatched the earl’s note out of her hand, quickly scanning the contents for an answer. Then he froze, forcing himself to read the page slowly, making sure he understood every word.

I was somewhat startled to discover that a woman of age can be every bit as innovative as any Marlock girl. Plus, she has the added benefit of shared experiences, a lifetime of perspective, and a heart that withstood the test of time. The contract stands, but for Agatha, not Lynette.

Songshire

Adrian looked up, seeing his love still collapsed in merriment. The truth began to blossom in his mind.

“Does this mean…?” He didn’t dare finish the thought aloud.

But Lynette did. Rolling onto her side, she grinned at him. “It means that your aunt has won her bet with me.”

His smile faded, but she answered even before he could phrase the question. “I dared her to prove herself. I challenged her to pick a man and bring him to his knees without benefit of youth or great beauty.”

Adrian looked down at the missive still clutched in his hand. “Songshire?”

She giggled in response. “You did not know they’d been acquainted for many years?”

His eyes widened as names, dates, and a whole variety of particulars fell into place in his mind. “I believe they grew up in the same neighborhood. But she was poor…”

“And he a future earl,” she finished for him.

He shook his head. “It cannot be.”

Lynette crawled forward, dropping kisses all over his face in her joy. “I believe it is.”

At last the full magnitude of their good fortune burst upon his senses. The contract stood! Lynette’s settlement with Songshire remained. The money, the provisions for her eventual widowhood, his cut of the agreement, her place in society—it all remained, including the cash that would at last set his finances on their feet. But for his aunt, not Lynette.

He grinned up at her. He was free!

As was she.

Scrambling off the bed, he ran to her side. She shifted, following his movements with a startled look, but he did not care. He reached her in mere seconds, dropping to the ground, heedless of the fact
that he was naked and had just skinned his bent knee.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

He did not answer. Instead, he gripped her hand, pulling it toward his chest as he gazed at her, his heart in his eyes. “Lynette Jameson, will you do me the greatest honor of my life? Will you marry me?”

She gaped at him, surprise washing into joy. She cried out. She would have answered immediately, but he stopped her, putting one hand to her lips.

“Wait,” he pressed. “There is more.”

Obediently, she settled into silence, though her eyes shimmered their answer, and his heart pounded in anticipation.

“It will be very hard. We will not live here. My estate is in—”

“I love the country,” she interrupted, using the motion to push away his fingers.

“There is a great deal of work to do—”

“I’m used to hard work. I watched over much of my father’s parish.”

“The estate is crumbling to the ground. It is dank, dark, and filthy.”

“The children will love it.”

His body jerked in reaction to her words. Children, he thought with glee. Children!

“But you hate children,” he said.

She shook her head. “Not yours, I won’t. Your children will be wonderful. Besides, my mother will be a great help.” She paused, doubt showing on her face. “There will be enough room for them, won’t there? My family? They will be most helpful, and it will be much better than at my uncle’s.”

“Lynette, it is a huge, moldering pile. If they do not mind the dust, we could use the extra hands.” Then
he stopped, at last realizing what it could be like. Not only Lynette, he could have a whole family. Filling the old pile of rocks with joy and life again. He gasped, trying to find the words to express his hopes. His happiness. His love. “Lynette, will you—”

But she did not let him finish. She surged forward, crying out as she moved. “Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!”

She wrapped her arms around him, kissing his face, his eyes, his mouth, overbalancing him until they both toppled to the ground. He did not care. She was in his arms as firmly as she was in his heart.

“I love you,” he said. “Forever.”

She grinned. “Forever.”

She lowered her head then, intending to kiss him, but they were interrupted. Outside the bedroom, they both heard Dunwort’s loud whoop of joy.

“Didn’t I tell ye, girl!” came his voice through the doorway. “Ye gots to do it with love!”

Lynette began to laugh, the ripples of her joy flowing into Adrian’s body until he, too, allowed happiness to take him.

“Yes, you did, Dunwort,” she called. “You did indeed!”

“Now get out of here before I sack you!” Adrian bellowed.

His only answer was another whoop of glee and the sound of footsteps racing down the stairs. The front door slammed.

“At last,” Adrian whispered, turning back to his bride. “An end to it all.”

“No,” she answered as she began to move on top of him, her eyes dancing with merriment. “The beginning of forever.”

A LEISURE BOOK®

February 2010

Published by

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Copyright © 2004 by Katherine Grill

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