Libertine's Wife (43 page)

“
That should keep us at home
more, I think.” Arianne kissed his chest, sighing to feel his skin
beneath her lips once more, hungry to feel all of him.

“
I love you, Arianne.”
Garret’s hand went to her chin and brought her lips to his. “I was
terrified today when I realized you’d been taken. I know I’ve hurt
you. We’ve hurt each other. I meant what I said. I mean to try this
time. I cannot think of my life without you. I know that
now.”

“
I love you too, Garret. I
wanted to say that to you for so long.”

“
Why didn’t you?” Garret
touched her cheek. “Am I so intimidating to you still?”

“
I didn’t see you dangling
your heart under my nose either, Garret. You have no room to
talk.”

Garret grinned and stared down at her
sodden lavender and black silk lingerie with a slow, sensual smile,
making curls of heat unfurl within her at what thoughts he must
have at that moment.

“
How did you find me so
quickly today?”

“
You have to thank your
Romeo for that.” Garret chuckled at her disgusted expression. “He
recalled the place where he made the exchange for Jaime. It was
just a hunch. He recognized the two women who helped Dench last
year. They work there at the tavern. Your former lover is quite
clever at some things, but damned stupid at others.”

“
I could say the same for
you, my love.” Her teeth scored his shoulder, annoyed at his
rubbing her nose in her relationship with Julian.

Garret looked at her with a knowing
look. “About those clever things I know. How did you get out of the
chair in the cellar?”

Arianne smiled as her finger traced his
rugged cheek, the warmth of the water sapping away the day’s
stress. “I’ll never tell.”

~ ~ ~

Arianne rocked Stephen and sighed with
contentment, glad to be home at last. It was three wonderful days
since her husband stormed the cellar at The Lone Sparrow to rescue
her. She sighed with delight as she thought of how perfect
everything was since then. Her sons were a delight. Her baby warmed
up to her quickly. She made up for lost time. Jaime grew to be
clingy and followed her about; as if fearful she would disappear
again.

They learned through Garret’s spy
within Vale’s household the earl was rescued by his wife and
several men she hired. Dench and his men scattered when they
descended on the inn, pistols keeping all at bay as Lady Vale
retrieved her husband from the cellars. He was now at Vale House
recovering from his ordeal under the care of his wife.

Lady Adeline was now living at his
London residence after her daughter-in-law summarily threw her out.
Garret choked with laughter when Arianne read the end of the note
for him. The servant gave it to them after it arrived from Julian.
She would not let up until she knew Julian was safe. He received
another questioning look from his wife after he stopped
laughing.

“
What is so amusing to you,
Garret? Every time I read the end of his note, you
laugh.”

Julian wrote a brief message to
alleviate any worry or concern to his servants. He said to make his
mother welcome as she would be residing there from now on. He ended
his missive by saying he would be tied up at his estate for some
time.

Arianne thought her husband was acting
more than a little strange. He acted as though he knew something
she didn’t. His annoying smirks and gloating expressions started to
make her suspicious he knew something he didn’t share with
her.

The days that followed made Arianne
also aware she was more like a prisoner in her own home. Garret
refused to even allow her and the children even into the gardens
unless an armed guard he hired was there. They argued it, but he
wouldn’t relent, convinced Eustace was on the loose. She relented
to think of what Dench planned for them.

She worried to think Eustace had a hand
in all that happened to her and her child, all to get money to feed
his addictions. Garret was convinced he never got on the prison
ship headed for Australia. She couldn’t dwell upon
Eustace.

She had two sons to adore once more and
a husband—she closed her eyes and sighed in relish when she thought
of him. Garret made all up to her these last days, determined to
forge ahead and put the past behind them. Sometimes she questioned
how he could forgive her so easily.

The gossip papers were now filled with
the news Lady Ravensford threw Lord Vale over for her husband. She
knew Garret had a hand in that tidbit being bandied about. Now
society was in a furor over the Ravensford’s reuniting so suddenly.
The scandal over her former relationship with Lord Vale was
forgotten for now. She and her husband were on everyone’s lips, all
speculating what brought them back together.

The overtures to her would be slow in
coming, but it was a means to repair her damaged reputation. She
felt as he did. She could care less to rejoin society. They
discussed retiring to Ravensford Hall to raise their sons quietly.
Until Dench was caught and he was satisfied Eustace didn’t harbor
any threat to her or the children, they lingered in
London.

A feeling of relief was felt each day
she woke and saw Garret sleeping next to her. Her secret hadn’t
destroyed her life as she once feared it would, but possibly
brought her and this man closer together.

Garret still had issues with her very
public affair with Julian, but for some unknown reason, he forgave
her far easier than she could have ever believed. They vowed to
never keep secrets from that moment on. Yes, everything was
perfect.

~ ~ ~

William Spencer arrived for a visit
that following week. Will was Garret’s first cousin and reminded
her of Edmund St. Ives at their first meeting. He was pretty in his
foppish attire, almost effeminate with his slight frame, lilting
lisp, and shrill laugh.

Will had nothing better to do with
himself than drag her husband away to his clubs, demand
entertainments he couldn’t pay for, and pressure Garret to buy him
the new hunter he had his eye on.

Arianne took all of it in with an
insolent smirk. She enjoyed her husband’s daily glower to see the
young man’s time at the university was wasted. Will was an
unrepentant fop who had more clothes than Arianne. She found his
exaggerated lisp annoying and mimicked him to her husband’s chagrin
every chance she got.

Will’s pale grey eyes fell on her more
than once during his stay with a decidedly unfriendly gleam in
them. She was sure the man despised her. He was determined to
embarrass her at dinner, asking prying questions about her family
until Garret put a stop to it.

No, Will had no affection for her. She
could see his resentment to be denied Ravensford at the onset. They
way he looked at her sons made her shiver with unease.

Her husband grew disgusted with his
young relative; that much was made obvious. Will was useless. He
was an over-indulged product of too much good breeding and not
enough good character. This would have been her husband’s heir, she
reminded Garret, on more than one occasion during his
stay.

Garret hadn’t seen the young man in
quite some time. When Will arrived without notice, they had no
choice but to take him in. She knew Garret was not happy about the
intrusion. Her husband was annoyed he couldn’t lavish all his
attentions upon her. Arianne loathed William on sight. He was on
his way to becoming just as indolent as most men of his class,
reared without purpose or conviction.

She was brushing her hair at her
dressing table when Garret entered the bedroom. He had a dark scowl
on his face. She knew the cause and said nothing. Will stayed for a
fortnight, ran up several bills for his older cousin to manage, and
expected Ravensford to finance his upcoming tour to Paris with his
friends.

“
Is Will leaving in the
morning?” She saw how disappointed Garret was in the younger
man.

Garret tossed his frock coat over a
chair and glanced at his wife and nodded. “He was none to be
pleased to be denied his holiday in Paris.”

Arianne said nothing, knowing her
husband was more than disturbed to know this man could have been
his heir. All that Garret loathed in her brother and others like
him waltzed into the manor and reminded him how lucky he was to
have married when he did. It brought up another matter.

She decided it was time they discuss
his plans for Jaime and Stephen. Will’s arrival reminded her that
her husband still kept Jaime as his heir, denying his true son his
title as the Marquis of Ravensford.

Jaime held his lesser title now, the
Viscount Haverhill. She was agog to know her son was in possession
of three estates in England and one in France, and other lesser
holdings. Haverhill was a rich title, entailed to her son until he
took his father’s one day. And it all rightfully belonged to
Stephen. Her heart hurt to realize Jaime was entitled to nothing
under the law. Even Julian couldn’t offer him more. She couldn’t
put the matter off.

“
As much as you love Jaime,
Garret, you have to realize your title should go to Stephen. It is
the way it should be,” Arianne began and saw him stiffen, sorry she
brought it up then. “I know this bothers you, but it’s hardly fair
to your younger son to be denied his rightful due.”

Garret scowled at his wife and plopped
down on a chair before the fireplace. “Nor is it right Jaime should
bear the stigma by an accident of birth. My mind is set. He’s my
heir and I won’t hear any more of it.”

“
Why are you doing this?”
she asked quietly as she swiveled on the bench to look at him, her
eyes searching his. “You don’t have to do this for me, my love. Do
you worry what others will think? None know but us.”

“
I certainly don’t care what
anyone thinks. I didn’t do it to outdo Vale either; I can assure
you of that!”

“
Then why do you do it?” she
ventured, still puzzled by his actions.

Garret got up and approached his wife,
his green eyes filled with a hint of sadness in them. He reached
out and touched her cheek. “Because I loved him no different
knowing he wasn’t mine, Arianne,” he said with a shrug, making her
heart clench to hear his words. “I realized that when I took the
boys from you.”

“
What of Stephen’s
rights?”

“
My younger son can stand in
line, and hope he has more to look forward to in life than gaining
a bloody title, Arianne. I’ll not be swayed in this. Vale can
hardly offer the boy anything. Love him though he might; he has a
wife. They will have other children one of these days. I saw no
need to make any distinction between our sons for that
reason.”

Arianne saw why he did it now. Tears of
happiness brightened her eyes. He had changed these last months;
she saw. It wasn’t pride or giving Jaime something Julian couldn’t
out of arrogance or jealousy. He loved Jaime enough to not care who
fathered him.

“
I am blessed to have such a
thoughtful husband and father for my children,” she said and was
overwhelmed at his kind gesture.

Garret smiled gently and threaded his
hands in her silky hair. “Can you show your thanks more
aggressively, my sweet?”

Arianne came into his arms, a sultry
smile playing about her lips as she pushed him towards their bed,
making him chuckle at her obvious eagerness. She undressed him
slowly, her eyes never leaving his.

When he was naked she shoved him
backward onto the bed as hard as she could. She came down upon him,
her blue eyes filled with need.

“
Oh, I plan to show you my
thanks, Garret,” she purred softly as she nibbled along his flat
stomach. “Make no mistake; you will have your due of
me.”

Garret looked delighted as he watched
his best progeny to date, proceed to seduce him until he was
gasping and wretched with need. Her artful hands and sinful mouth
made him groan in rapture to be back in his wife’s arms once
more.

She taunted him and teased him until he
could stand it no more. Finally, she eased down on him, joining
their bodies and pulled away leaving him weak and wanting. She made
him burn for her in those moments, her eyes aglow with the power
she wielded over him with just a touch of her hands.

“
Say my name, husband,”
Arianne whispered tauntingly at his ear while she bit at it and
thrust down upon him deliberately. “Say my name so you can recall
what woman is fucking you now.”

Garret was in awe of her, arching under
her, his hands fondling her full breasts. He closed his eyes as his
wife wrung her name from his lips, her low throaty laugh enflaming
him before she gave him what he desired for months. Arianne
tormented him and brought him to the height of his passion, her
nails raking across his chest as she teased him into
submission.

He lay breathing raggedly, eyes closed
as she lay sprawled across his chest. It wasn’t often he let her
take the lead in their play. The contradiction wasn’t lost upon
him. Somewhere between losing her and getting her back, they’d
become equals in all things, even in their bed.

“
I would very much know now
how you got untied from the chair, my love,” Garret whispered. “I
would have liked to have seen that. Perhaps we could reenact the
scene for my enjoyment?”