His Lady Mistress (37 page)

Authors: Elizabeth Rolls

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Historical, #General

He interrupted savagely, ‘Why he ambushed you in a sea mist with two loaded pistols? Damn it, Verity! Listen to me! He brought it on himself, trying to kill you. You saved yourself!’ Grimly, he continued, ‘Even if you hadn’t thrown that stone he’d still be dead, because
I
would have killed him! It wasn’t your fault! Do you hear me?’

‘You’d have
killed
him?’

His jaw dropped. She could even
ask
? He shut his eyes. ‘Verity, Godfrey was a dead man from the moment he fired that first shot. I told you that I love you. I think I always loved you, but I was too damn blind to see it!’ He covered her lips with his, kissing her until she clung to him, her body
pliant and yielding. Then he released her mouth. He had to tell her, make her understand.

Pushing back a tousled lock, he said, ‘Darling, I’ve made such a mess of things. When I asked “Selina” to be my mistress, I thought I could never marry. But I knew I didn’t want the sort of liaison I’d had with other women.’ He hesitated. Oh, God. How to say it? ‘You were different. So very different.
I
felt different.’ He smiled. ‘I planned a very long affair. Believe me, sweetheart, no
other gentlemen
were going to
see
you, let alone further your apprenticeship! But you refused me. I thought that was that. You’d refused. I would forget you. But I couldn’t. You wouldn’t be my mistress, but I couldn’t leave you unprotected. Do you understand? It wasn’t just desire. I wanted to protect you. And one way or another I was going to do it.’

‘You didn’t want a wife, though,’ she whispered.

‘Not then,’ he agreed, holding her closer. ‘Do you know what would have happened if I’d known who you were?’

She shook her head.

‘I was already planning to take “Selina” to Aunt Almeria as a companion,’ he told her, brushing his mouth tenderly over hers. ‘So I’d have seen you. Frequently. And fallen in love anyway. With Verity,
or
Selina. No matter when you told me the truth.’

‘But…’

He kissed her again and then continued. ‘But you came to me that night, and my conscience didn’t stand a chance. I knew that I ought to suggest to you that you could go to Almeria. That I would see to your safety, but I
wanted
you. I needed you. Just
you
. Whoever you were. And even if “Selina” had been real and I’d taken her as my mistress, the moment I discovered she was bearing my child, I’d have been banging on the doors of Doctors’ Commons for a special licence!’

‘But…’

‘But nothing,’ he said. ‘We would still have reached the
point where I realised that I wanted you as my wife. Not my mistress. Where I had to say to you—sweetheart, I love you. No matter who you are, no matter who your father was. I love you and you’re mine. Always. In every way there is.’ He bent down to her and kissed her gently. ‘My love…my wife…the mother of my children.’

Each tender avowal was punctuated with a kiss, deepening each time until Verity clung to him, her tears salty on her cheeks.

‘But Richard—’

‘Would prefer to be an uncle and godfather rather than an earl. He told me so in as many words.’ He kissed her again. At last he whispered, ‘God knows why you love me again, but you do and I’ll never let you go.’

She drew away a little and raised a trembling hand to his jaw. ‘I never stopped loving you, Max. Never. I always loved you. That was why I came to you that first night, because—’

His fingers gripped her shoulders and amber burned into her. ‘You loved me
then
? But why?’

She saw him through a mist. ‘You need ask? After what you did for me when Papa died? I dreamed of you for years. Read about you in Papa’s journal.’ Love was an aching lump in her throat. ‘And then I saw you again and you protected me without knowing who I was. You even protected me when you did know. Even though you were furious with me.’

‘Even though I was a damn fool,’ he muttered, holding her closer. She gave a contented little sigh and wriggled further into his embrace, settling her head on his shoulder.

He rested his cheek on her hair, breathing the fragrance deep, absorbing it. His future, his life, encapsulated in the woman in his arms and the tiny life blossoming within her. He had it all now. Everything he’d never known he wanted. He didn’t know the words to express what he felt. They probably didn’t exist. Fortunately Verity seemed to be quite content with the usual, inadequate words.

‘Did I mention that I love you?’ he asked softly.

‘Yes, but you can remind me, if you like.’

‘Oh, I will. I promise you,’ he said fervently. ‘Always.’ It was a vow made freely and openly. The most important one of his life.

* * * * *

Look for Elizabeth Roll’s next books from Harlequin Historical!
LORD LADYBROOK’S PENNILESS BRIDE
June 2009

ISBN-13: 978-0-373-29372-8
ISBN-10: 0-373-29372-0
eISBN: 978-1-4268-3072-3

HIS LADY MISTRESS

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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