Leslie Lafoy (40 page)

“That’s the perfect way of describing it.”

“So have you made any decisions while I’ve been sleeping?”

She grinned wickedly. “Aside from the one to ravage you as thoroughly but as gently as possible in the next few minutes? No, not really.”

Barrett smiled, absolutely certain of his course and the rightness of it. She was everything he’d ever desired in a woman. All that he needed now and ever would. She was perfect for him.

“Would you like to know which ones I’ve made?” he asked.

“While you were drifting in a laudanum haze?”

“No, Belle. Before I left you that morning. As I lay on that dirt floor and realized that I couldn’t get to you, couldn’t help you or protect you.”

“I didn’t—”

“I know,” he said, gently cutting her off, “that you didn’t need to be protected.
I
needed to be there for you. And when I knew that I couldn’t…”

Her gaze was tender, filled with acceptance, with understanding. Had there been even the slightest bit of doubt in his mind … “I’m going to marry you, Belle. And if it takes an eternity to talk you into it, it takes an eternity. I’m going to spend every day of the rest of my life loving you. I’m going to spend every single moment making sure that you never regret loving me.”

“Isabella Stanbridge,” she murmured, her eyes shining.

“It sounds good, doesn’t it?”

She nodded and leaned down. Planting her hands in the feather pillow on either side of his head, she kissed him slowly, deeply, with soul-melting thoroughness.

“Is that a yes, Belle?” he asked when she drew back to gaze down at him adoringly.

She started to answer, then hesitated and sat back. Touching her tongue to her lower lip, she took a deep breath. “What about your parents? They—”

“To hell with my parents,” he broke in, grinning. “You’re marrying
me,
not them.”

The light in her eyes was troubled. “They were waiting here when we brought you from the surgery. Inspector Larson had told them about everything that happened.” She sighed and absently plucked at the lace edge of her wrapper. “I was still wearing my trousers. Your mother sputtered for a second and then fainted.”

“Ow,” he gasped through his laughter. Bringing his arm down to press it against his side didn’t help at all. “Oh, God, angel. Ow.”

“It’s not funny, Barrett,” she protested. “Your father was still too shocked, stunned, and outraged to catch her.”

He could see it so clearly. “Stop,” he begged, laughing and pressing his arm closer.

“Her hoops flipped up over her head.”

“Belle!” he squeaked, unable to breathe, unable to stem his laughter. “Mercy!”

Relenting, she shifted her hips, nipping his amusement in an instant, but doing nothing to help him regain his breath. “It’s going to take her a while to forgive me for that,” she said softly when he could finally fill his lungs.

“I’m glad that you can see some hope.”

“Well, it’s not so much my hope as it is hers.”

“Her only hope in life is grandchildren.” He started, remembering. “And that’s not a worry, Belle,” he promised. “On my heart, it’s not. If you want children, we’ll have them. There are thousands of children out there who need a home, who need to be loved. We’ll haul them in here by the wagonload.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be necessary.”

He blinked and knitted his brows. “For you or for my mother?”

With the barest shrug, she answered, “For either of us.”

Possibility bloomed in his heart and in his soul. God, he didn’t want to presume. It would be so hurtful for both of them if he were wrong. “Belle?” he began warily, desperately hoping he was right. “Are you telling me that you’re pregnant?”

There was a most adorable little shadow to her smile. Part caution, part certainty, part wicked happiness. “It will be another week before we know for sure. But my course is late and Dr. George says that I’m showing all the signs. He spoke with me about it at your mother’s request. You have no idea how incredibly awkward that was.”

And she’d undoubtedly handled it with aplomb. Nothing rattled his Belle for long. Nothing. He wanted to laugh and shout to heaven. Just as much as he wanted to sob with relief. “You have to marry me, Belle,” he said, his heart and soul overflowing. “If you don’t, the scandal will kill my mother. You don’t want that on your conscience.”

“To hell with your mother, Barrett,” she countered, chuckling. “To hell with scandal, too.” She looked down at him, her eyes bright, her smile wide and adoring and sure. “I’m marrying you because I love you. Because I can’t bear the thought of living a single moment without you.”

And he without her. “Kiss me, Belle,” he whispered, slipping his hand beneath the edge of her wrapper to skim his fingertips up the inside of her thigh.

Her smile sparkled with boundless, wanton joy. “Is that all you want?”

“Actually, it’s the very least of what I want,” he admitted, his fingers slipping through her moist curls. “But it’s the traditional place to start.”

“Really,” she drawled, lifting her hips, easing his access. As he caressed her, she closed her eyes and dreamily smiled. “I’ve never been terribly bound by tradition, you know.”

So beautiful in pleasure … “I have noticed that a time or two. I’m not, either. Which, to my thinking, doesn’t bode well for our public reputations.”

She laughed, the soft and throaty sound thrumming over his senses and overfilling his heart and soul with certainty. Forever and always, they were one.

St. Martin’s Paperbacks Titles By Leslie LaFoy

The Perfect Seduction

The Perfect Temptation

The Perfect Desire

Praise for Leslie LaFoy

The Perfect Seduction

“Intelligent [and] sexy … you won’t be able to resist
The Perfect Seduction
.”

—Kasey Michaels,
New York Times
bestselling author

“
The Perfect Seduction
is incredibly delectable and satisfying!”

—Celeste Bradley, author of
The Spy

“Romance, emotion, marvelous characters—no one does it better than Leslie LaFoy!”

—Maggie Osborne, award-winning author of
Shotgun Wedding

“
The Perfect Seduction
is a perfect blend of heart and soul and wit.”

—Mary McBride, author of
My Hero

“I was seduced by the first page.”

—Marianne Willman, author of
Mistress of Rossmor

“The lures of LaFoy’s writing are not just great characters, fantastic storytelling and heightened sexual tension, but also the subtle ways she plays on your emotions.”

—
RT Bookclub
(4½ stars, Top Pick)

“LaFoy’s remarkable characters utterly seduce the reader.”

—
Booklist

THE PERFECT DESIRE

Copyright © 2005 by Leslie LaFoy.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

ISBN: 0-312-98765-X

EAN: 80312-98765-7

St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / January 2005

St. Martin’s Paperbacks are published by St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

eISBN 9781466829701

First eBook edition: September 2012