Haunted by the Earl's Touch - By Ann Lethbridge Page 0,100
a villain.’
‘And I am the daughter of a vicar. The mixture will be interesting, I am sure.’
He looked at her beautiful mouth with longing. ‘You are determined, then?’
‘Am I ever anything else?’
No, thank God. He kissed her until he was dizzy with wanting her in his bed. It was all he could do not to carry her off to his chamber and make sure this was not all a dream. Make sure she could never change her mind. But there was a better way to do that.
‘We will take that passage to London, first thing in the morning, and I will obtain a special licence.’
‘The banns will be read and we will be married in the parish church for all your people to see, as already arranged, according to my father’s wishes.’
‘You don’t know your father’s wishes.’
She looked down at the note in her hand. ‘Yes,’ she said softly. ‘I do.’
Tears burned behind his eyes at the tenderness in her voice. ‘I don’t want to wait weeks to have you in my arms, in my bed,’ he groaned. ‘but if that is your wish...’
Her arms came up around his neck. She kissed his lips, a small press of her lips against his, before she drew back with a smile. ‘There is absolutely no reason for us to wait until we are married, is there?’
‘You are a wicked woman.’
‘I’m a blue-stocking, remember.’
Right then, with his blood pounding in his veins, he couldn’t remember a thing except his need to be inside her. He picked her up in his arms and strode for his chamber, knowing only one thing. She was his and he was the luckiest man alive.
Epilogue
‘So Beresford, I finally get to meet your lovely wife,’ Templeton drawled.
Bane narrowed his eyes as his friend, the blond darling of the ton and heir to the Marquisate of Mooreshead, bowed over Mary’s hand. He’d given this ball at his newly renovated London town house, invited the ton, in order to introduce her to society. He could hardly complain that so many of them, including his oldest and most trusted friend, had come. Most of them were curious to see who the bastard earl had married, no doubt. Still, he did not have to like that his best friend and well-known rake, Lord Templeton, was eyeing his wife like a wolf who had just spotted dinner.
As usual he’d come late to the party. There were only a few more dances now supper was over and the last of the guests would depart.
Gabe caught his glare and laughed. Damn, the man was far too handsome a fellow with a smile on his lips, even if he was one of His Majesty’s most dangerous spies.
‘I wish you both much happiness,’ Gabe said.
‘Thank you, my lord.’ Mary dipped a curtsy. She looked beautiful tonight in a gown of pale-rose silk, her hair arranged artfully by Betsy, her height lending her the elegance of a queen. Pride filled him, every time he looked at her, along with the desire to glare at any male who approached.
‘Do you plan to return to that pile of rocks in Cornwall?’ Gabe asked.
‘In time,’ Bane said. ‘It needs some major renovations before we will feel comfortable there.’ Like the closing up of passages behind the walls.
Mary nodded her agreement.
‘Before you do anything to the house, would you be willing to lease it to me? For a year or so? Its inconveniences might prove very useful to my enterprise.’
Mary didn’t so much as blink. They’d agreed they would keep no secrets from each other and, after receiving Gabe’s permission, he’d told her all about his friend’s work for the Foreign Office.
He sent her an enquiring look and she nodded. ‘I owe you for finding my friend Mrs Ladbrook.’
Bane had wanted the woman to pay back the money she had salted away, but Mary wouldn’t allow it. A woman alone had to do what she needed to survive. Besides, they were friends.
She turned to Bane. ‘Since you will be busy making your mark in Parliament, and working for better conditions in the mines, and I have an idea for a school for miners’ children I would like to raise with the denizens of the ton, I don’t see why not,’ she said. ‘We will need its return when we begin our family.’
A family was her dearest hope, he knew. But he hoped it would not happen too soon. He liked having her to himself.