Authors: Hannah Howell
He leaned closer and whispered in her ear, “You should slap me. I grow too bold.”
“Actual y, I believe I should kick you right off this settee and pour the last of the wine over your head.”
Chloe felt a shiver of pure, raw desire go through her as he laughed softly and his warm breath caressed her ear. She real y was a fool to al ow
him to continue what was clearly a seduction. After the way he had spent the last year, it should be easy to keep her distance from the man, to be
reasonably wary of his every sweet word and soft touch. In many ways, she did question the sincerity of his desire, but not enough to save herself. The
best she could manage was to hope that he was not using her simply because there was no other woman in reach.
“A little violent, but it would certainly prove effective.” He kissed the hol ow beneath her ear. “I am stil married.”
“Who are you reminding of that fact? Me? Or yourself?” Chloe decided that, if any man had a right to forget his wife, it was Julian.
“Both of us.”
“I, m’lord, have never forgotten that. Not once.”
“Yet, you do not push me away.” He turned her so that she faced him and held her face in his hands, stroking the softness of her cheeks with his
thumbs.
“Nay, although even a few stolen kisses are wrong by al the rules we try to live by. I tel myself that al the time but,” she felt herself blush and
continued in a whisper, “I rather like your kisses. Not that I have anything to compare them to.”
“And that pleases me far more than it should. It also should make me leap up and flee this room, for you are clearly far more innocent than most
misses your age. However, it seems that al it makes me want to do is to steal another.”
Before she could approve or disapprove of his plan, Julian was kissing her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sank into the wonder of it.
Chloe savored the way his lips and tongue stirred a heat inside her, one that traveled rapidly from her lips to her toes and warmed al the places in
between. She savored the taste of him, the crisp male scent that was his alone, and the way her smal soft body fit against his large, hard one with such
perfection. She even savored the way his touch and his kisses silenced the voice in her head that told her she should not be doing this. This was what she
wanted and, maybe, for once in her life, she real y would just reach out and take what she wanted.
Julian could not believe how sharp the bite of hunger was but he could not deny it, either. Chloe, with her innocent kisses and unfettered passion,
did things to his body, mind, and heart that he had never experienced before. Not even Beatrice with al her wiles had made him so crazed with need so
quickly. And crazed he most certainly was, for even thinking of his murderous wife did not make him hesitate in slipping his hand inside the bodice of
Chloe’s simple blue gown. The way she trembled in his arms as he stroked her ful breast, the way her breath caught in her throat and her nipple hardened
to a tempting point with just the light brush of his fingertip ensured that nothing would make him stop now.
“Is this how you repay the debt you claim you owe us? By seducing the woman who saved your son?”
Except that, Julian thought as Chloe squeaked and pul ed away from him. The sound of Leo’s voice was like a splash of icy cold water. His
questions were like a knife to the heart. Shame reddened his cheeks as he turned to look at the man he had begun to consider as good and true a friend
as Edgar. The cold steel in the man’s voice and his tightly clenched fists told Julian that Leo was fighting the urge to beat him bloody. Julian knew that he would not have shown such restraint if he had caught some man pawing one of his sisters.
Chloe looked from her cousin to Julian and back again. If they were dogs, their hackles would be up and their teeth bared in snarls. She was not
sure what she could do to soothe the violently troubled waters between the men, but she had to do something. After al , she was as much to blame for
what Leo had seen as Julian was.
“It was just a kiss, Leo,” she said in what she prayed was a mature, calm voice and then winced when Leo fixed his glare upon her.
“A kiss does not include fondling a woman’s breasts,” Leo snapped.
Despite the heat of the blush flowing over her cheeks and throat, Chloe frowned at Leo. “I do believe I know that. I also know that I am a grown
woman and what I al ow or do not al ow is my business, not yours. Any fol y I stumble into is also my business alone.”
“You are an unmarried woman under my protection. Whatever fol y you attempt to commit
is
my business.”
Shaking free of his surprise over the fact that Chloe was not sitting quietly, blushes covering her pretty cheeks, and awaiting her fate as decided
by men, Julian looked at the two cousins. It was plainly evident that they were about to get into a heated argument. Although it was tempting to let them
brangle for a while, giving him time to col ect his thoughts before Leo’s fury was turned back on him, Julian resisted. He could not al ow these people who had done so much for him have a fal ing-out simply because he could not control his lusts.
“As soon as this trouble is over and I am free of my wife, I wil marry Chloe,” he said.
He waited for a feeling of being trapped to sweep over him, choking him, but it did not happen. Julian realized that he felt very calm about stepping
out of one marriage and straight into another. It would be easy to think of al the reasons why he did not want to get married again, but his mind refused to fol ow that path. Instead, al he could think of were the many advantages there would be to having Chloe as his wife, including giving his son a mother who loved him. First, however, he had to make the two people staring at him in shock understand that he meant what he said.
“That would be acceptable,” said Leo.
“Pardon, cousin, but I do not believe he was asking
you
to marry him,” Chloe said, outrage weighting her every word. “S’blood, he did not even
ask me!”
“This is not a proposal, Chloe, but a statement of fact,” said Julian, finding a perverse pleasure in her fury.
“I should have some say in this,” she began, only to make an odd little squawk when Leo strode over to her, grabbed her by the arm, and started to
drag her to the door. “Are you, even for one tiny heartbeat of a moment, thinking of tossing me out of this room?”
“Aye, I am,” said Leo and he pushed her out the door, shut it, and latched it.
Chloe stared at the locked door in utter disbelief. “You let me in right now, Leopold Wherlocke!”
“This is men’s business, Chloe.”
She kicked the door and ignored the sharp pain in her toes. “Wel , when you are done planning my future for me, do not forget to tel me what it is.
Then
I
shal tel you exactly what
I
think! Pithily!”
Resisting the urge to kick the door again, Chloe strode off to her bedchamber. There might be a few things she could find there that she would not
miss after she threw them at Leo’s and Julian’s heads, she thought. She was al the way inside her room before her temper cooled enough for her to start
thinking of anything aside from causing those two men as much physical hurt as possible.
It was al her fault, she thought. If she could just have control ed the fierce infatuation she had for Julian, she would not be facing this trouble now.
Chloe had to wonder how anyone control ed desire when it felt so extraordinarily good. It was a wonder people were not indulging themselves in their
desires every day and night.
“Considering where I found Julian, they probably are,” she muttered.
The thought of marriage to Julian brought both delight and despair. Chloe would like nothing more than to be his wife, but not this way. She wanted
more from him than the fact that he wished to bed her, and there had not been much sign of any deeper feelings from the man. He would also feel
trapped, and that could be a curse upon any marriage.
One thought kept her from panicking completely. If she married Julian, then she would truly be Anthony’s mother. Chloe quickly shook the thought
from her head. She would not al ow that to tempt her into accepting something she should not. For a marriage to work, especial y to a Wherlocke, there
had to be more behind it than reckless desire.
The only way she would agree to marry Julian would be if he revealed some feeling for her beyond a need to bed her. Julian would have to prove
to her that he felt something, no matter how mild, beside desire. Her reputation was of no matter to her, for she was not truly accepted by the society he
cal ed home anyway. She was penniless, cast out of her family by her own mother, and one of the very eccentric Wherlockes. It was only Leo’s presence
at her side that kept her from being shunned completely. Julian could do so much better then her.
A forced marriage born of some chivalric need to protect her good name and no more could not happen. Chloe knew both her cousin and Julian
would not understand what troubled her about it. She also doubted they would listen to her qualms. There was only one thing she needed to think about
right now while the men planned her fate. She needed to plan how to avoid it.
Julian joined Leo in staring at the door an angry Chloe had kicked, waiting to see if she had any more to say. He suspected she would rebuke
them both soon—pithily. It was hard to believe, but that one shouted word had almost made him laugh. When there was no other sound for a few minutes,
he turned his attention back to Leo, who was scowling at him. Julian sighed and sat down, knowing he had no excuse to offer for what he had tried to do
with Chloe.
“Have you changed your mind?” asked Leo. “Are you about to say you do not wish to marry my cousin?”
“No, I wil marry her as soon as I am free of Beatrice. On that I swear.” Julian decided that now the decision was made, he could clearly see just
how many advantages there were to marrying Chloe, ones far beyond the need to get her into his bed. “I realize that I have abused your trust in me.”
“Only as pertains to my cousin.” Leo cursed and moved to pour them both a brandy. “I should have seen it. Now that I think on it, it was right there
before my eyes. Ha, it was right there in Chloe’s eyes.” He handed Julian a brandy. “Yours as wel , but that did not worry me al that much. Chloe is a pretty little thing, and you were not dead. It would have worried me if I had thought more on the way Chloe often looked at you. Leaving the two of you alone as
often as I did was asking for trouble.”
“I should have had more control,” Julian muttered and then looked at Leo in surprise when the man laughed.
“When the attraction is equal and the woman has the strange idea that she can act with the freedom of a man? Aye, you should have, but I cannot
put this al on your shoulders. Nay, I do not blame you for al of this. Some, but not al . I should have behaved like the guardian I thought myself and I should have paid far more attention to what was brewing right beneath my nose. You
will
treat her wel .”
Although it had been a command and not a question, Julian nodded. “I honor the vows I take, even the marriage ones. What happened with
Beatrice…” He paused as he struggled for words.
“Bah, I have no worries that you wil act as the debauchee once married. Chloe wil never behave as Beatrice did. And I do not consider you
married even though the law says you are. The law and the church. That marriage is long dead, and it is just a matter of when you see the knot untied
legal y and final y. As to that, it can be as soon as you wish, as I have found two men who can swear that your wife was their lover before she married you.
Embarrassing for you, but a perfect way to get the marriage made nul and void.”
“I believe I can tolerate a little more embarrassment as concerns Beatrice. And I doubt I am the only man who was fooled into thinking the woman
he bedded was an innocent. In fact, that whore who played the virgin so many times proved to me that it can be a hard thing to detect for a certainty. What is it?” he asked when Leo suddenly scowled into his drink.
“Virginity,” Leo muttered and then cursed. “I hate to say this, but I think we need to prove that Chloe stil has hers.”
“I did not take it. We—”
“I know. I was thinking of Anthony. She has had him in her care for three years. The world and its mother think Anthony is her sister’s child, and a
few do whisper that he might be Chloe’s. If you wed her, that is the rumor that might grow and it might give someone an opportunity to question his
legitimacy.”
Julian cursed. “And even if it cannot be proven that Chloe is his mother, the rumor wil never fade. It wil dog both Chloe and Anthony for the rest of
their lives. It is also the sort of thing Arthur wil immediately try to do. But we cannot go about announcing to one and al that Chloe is a virgin.”
“We do not need to. We just need to have it documented that she is one and that she has never borne a child
before
you remove that thin bit of
proof.”
“I wil —”
“Not touch her? You are betrothed now. You have given your word that you wil marry her as soon as you are able. You are both attracted to each
other. Are you a saint then to ignore al those things and hold fast to a vow of celibacy until wed? I sure as bloody hel would not be.”
“
I
know I am betrothed but I am not sure Chloe believes she is.”
“That wil pass. You need to let her know that it is not just because you want her in your bed.” Leo held up his hand when Julian started to speak. “I
do not ask that you whisper sweet words of undying love unless you discover that you feel them, but you must convince her that you feel more than lust. We