Romancing Lady Stone (A School of Gallantry Novella) (20 page)

A muffled knock resounded in the room.

Konstantin tossed the book he’d been reading onto the bed where he lounged, rolled over and grabbed his pocket watch from the nightstand. He flicked the lid open and paused, realizing it was exactly midnight. Jesus. He set his pocket watch back onto the night stand and glanced toward the bedchamber door. Between all the servants and the duc, he could never get any time alone to even think. Not even at midnight.

Not that he was complaining.

“You may enter,” he grudgingly called out in English, sitting up. “I am still awake.”

The door slowly edged open and a tall, womanly figure in a bountiful evening gown lingered in the shadows, the hallway beyond much too dark to unveil a face.

He scrambled off the bed, re-tying his robe around his nudity realizing there was a woman standing in the doorway.

Konstantin blinked in disbelief as the shadow stepped forth with determined grace and poise into his room. The golden glow of candlelight revealed the pale face of a woman he’d dreamed about since leaving Russia.

His heart skidded and he almost choked.

It was Cecilia.

Only…a more provocative and dazzling version of her.

By God. She had come to him. At midnight.

Her thick, dark hair had been perfectly swept up into an elegant top knot which had silk ribbons intricately woven through its lush strands. Her pale throat, ears and wrists were showcased by large emeralds that gleamed against the candlelight of the room. And the gown she wore was a stunning golden gown that made that curvaceous body look as if the silk had been painted on in strokes across her shoulders and her waist.

Her dark eyes met his from the other side of the room and softened.

He stiffened and stupidly returned her stare.

She searched his face, lingering on his hair and then the rest of him. “I scarcely recognize you. You look so different.”

For some reason, it didn’t sound like a compliment. He ran a trembling hand across his face. “I…uh…I shaved and I cut my hair.” He dropped his hand to his side, feeling heavy all over.

“You look incredibly handsome.”

How he remained standing was beyond his comprehension. “How did you find me?”

She firmly shut the paneled door with the heel of her delicate satin slipper. “You left an address with my son.”

A breath escaped him. He didn’t think she would want to see him again. He had thought it was over.

She hesitated and with a slight tremor of her lips softly announced, “No babe.”

His stomach flipped at the mention of a babe. He really hadn’t expected those to be the first words from her lips. A part him was somewhat disappointed there was no babe. Which was idiotic really. He wasn’t ready to be a father at her expense. “Thank you for telling me.” The words were rote. He needed them to be, lest emotion break him.

A faint line of worry appeared between her brows. “Our last moments together should have been different.”

He adjusted his robe to keep his hands steady. “I agree.”

She hesitated. “I took advantage of you, Konstantin. I belittled you by proposing something unworthy of you because I was selfishly trying to keep you in my life in the only way I knew how. Do you forgive me?”

He swallowed back the ache building within him. “There is no need to apologize.”

“When you left the way you did, I knew I had wronged you. I…you were very angry with me, weren’t you?”

“No. I was not.” He smiled brokenly, still in disbelief that she was standing before him. “Far from it. I left because it was the right thing to do for you and your girls. I did not want their good names exposed to harm given how young they are. I did it for you.”

Her lips parted. “So you left that night without a word because…?” A breath escaped her as if she were in awe. She finished closing the space between them, the primrose skirts of her flowing evening gown whispering around her slow movements. She paused before him.

A new scent, one of delicate lilacs bloomed around him, heightening his awareness of her body and its heat. He liked it. A lot. He wet his lips and blurted the first thing that came to mind. “You are wearing a different perfume from the one you wore in Russia. I like it.”

“I was hoping you would.”

They lingered, barely a step away from each other.

She embraced him, her hands clinging to his waist before jumping to his back. Tucking her head against his chest, she said, “I wasn’t ready to say it before but I am ready to say it now. I want to get to know you beyond the two days we spent in each other’s arms. I want to get to know you in a respectable manner. Is that possible?”

He momentarily closed his eyes, savoring her embrace which he missed so much. He dug his fingers into her soft hair, trying to keep his hands from trembling. Knowing he shouldn’t hold her for much longer, he stepped back and away, pulling himself out of her arms. Re-opening his eyes, he took in a calming breath, trying to keep his mind steady. “Cecilia. I did a lot of things in my life that I will never be able to even tell you about. I used to hurt people. Physically. You do know that, yes?”

Her features flickered. “But you don’t hurt people anymore. You are not that man anymore.” She tilted her chin upward, so as to better observe him, her eyes unreadable. “Would I be standing here if I believed you unworthy of a chance to be part of our lives? If anything, I proved I was unworthy of
you
by letting you go.”

He didn’t need this. He had just learned how to breathe without thinking about her and their nights in Russia. And now she wanted him to be a father to all three of her girls and whatever other children would come of them being together?

Wanting that responsibility was one thing.

Doing it justice was quite the other.

He strode around her, chanting to himself to remain calm and made his way toward the door and opened it. He was determined to do right by her. Determined.

He gripped the handle of the door. “I ask that you give yourself time to think about what you are saying. If you are saying these things because you feel the need to do right by me, know that I am well, Cecilia. I am forging a life for myself and am buying a home next week. It overlooks the park and will prove peaceful. The duc promised to provide formal introductions to men and women of my standing. The
nouveau riche,
as they are called. I will be accepted by these men and women for what I am. It is a good path for me to take.”

She turned, tears streaking her eyes. “Have you already moved on?”

The raw hurt in her voice and the tears that streaked those beautiful eyes punched him in the gut. It was like she felt for him what he felt for her. A genuine connection and passion. He swallowed. “No. I have not moved on. How…how can I? I simply…” He opened the door wider, trying not to look at her. “Please. Let me do this for you. You do not want or need a man who used to protect all the wrong people.”

“Konstantin—”

“
Please let me do the right thing
.” His voice was ragged. “Think about your daughters.”

She drifted toward him. “I am ready for a new husband and my girls are ready for a new father.”

“Cecilia—”

“I want you to show my girls what a good man ought to be before they go out into the world and find men of their own. Please say you will call on me tomorrow afternoon. Please. It can be a short visit. Juliet, Giselle and Abigail ardently wish to meet you. You can decide then.”

Her daughters knew about him? She had told them about him. Him. As if he were worth knowing. He envisioned youthful faces gathering around him and eagerly beaming up at him as if he worth the glory of their attention. Despite his past.

Cecilia lingered before him and the open door. “We don’t have to stay in London. In fact, I do not wish to stay and allow any of us to be subjected to the cruelty of a circle that does not understand genuine people. Let us go to Paris and then back to Russia as a family. Why not show my girls the city you grew up in? It could be a beautiful adventure for all of us.”

Konstantin’s pulse quickened. “You would move your entire family to Russia? For me?”

“Of course,” she softly insisted.

She clearly understood that Russian society was more accepting. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because destiny demands this. Destiny has proven its existence. As you told me it would.”

He searched her face, desperately needing to believe that destiny was with them, not against them. “How has it proven its existence?”

A small smile touched her lips. “My daughters and I live right next door at 30 Belgrave Square. ’Tis overwhelmingly obvious what destiny has in mind for us.”

His lips parted, his hand dropping from the door he held open.

She released a steadying breath, her smile fading. “My girls have announced they are ready for the transition and would like to meet you based off of my affection for you. Would you be willing to agree to a courtship with a possibility toward matrimony if we find we are match?”

He dragged in an astounded breath. She wasn’t just asking to get to know him. She was asking him to be part of her life. “You are asking
me
to court
you
?”

“Yes.” She stepped closer. “What is your reply, Mr. Levin?”

He focused hard on pinning his attention to her face. It was the only way he was going to remain calm. This was a moment money could never buy. It was a moment that made him feel like a man. Not a criminal who had stolen a woman’s heart but a real man who had won the affections of a real woman by…being himself.

He adjusted the belt of his robe, feeling awkward. “I, uh…I am without words. Truly. When I am properly dressed and-and…
ready
, I will call on you tomorrow afternoon. I have some errands to oversee.” Flowers and a ring. He needed a ring. “Expect me at three.”

She hesitated. “So there is no reply?”

He smiled, unable to hold it back. “Tomorrow afternoon I will deliver a reply.”

“Drat you for making me wait.” She sighed. “I suppose I won’t die.”

Her voice clearly indicated she might.

She fingered the pearl button on the inside of her glove and eventually offered, “It appears our respectable fifteen minutes are up. I wish you a good-evening, Mr. Levin. I will see you at three tomorrow afternoon.” She smiled rather superficially, turned and swept quietly down the corridor.

Something told him the woman had been waiting for a kiss. Not just an answer. Which meant, he should do this the way
he
envisioned. Not the way her circle envisioned.

“Cecilia,” he called out, quickly walking toward her.

She paused and turned, her dark eyes capturing his.

He finished walking toward her and jerked to a halt before her, unable to breathe.

They stared at each other, the corridor pulsing and shrinking to a pinpoint.

“My answer is yes,” he unabashedly announced.

Her lips parted. “Truly?”

“Truly.” He grabbed her waist and yanked her against himself, dragging his hands down the curves of her body. “Now stay an hour. Stay an hour so I can strip you naked and keep telling you yes.”

Her gloved hands jumped up to his face. “If I stay an hour,” she whispered, “do you promise to still come over tomorrow at three?”

“With flowers and a ring,” he whispered back. “I promise.”

She grabbed the lapels of his robe and yanked him down toward herself and to his astonishment, tongued him, angling her mouth harder against his own.

He melted against her and feverishly tongued her back.

Their hands were suddenly everywhere, desperately looking for skin to touch.

They stumbled and fell against the nearest wall, kissing and kissing.

He frantically undid his robe in between ragged breaths, revealing his nudity and a more than ready cock. He slid down the length of her body, until he was on his knees before her and jerked up her skirts. Holding the fabric away from his head, he tugged up her chemise. Finally finding her through the sea of fabric, he leaned in, spreading her thighs open and sucked her wet nub.

She staggered against the wall and started sliding down. “Maybe we should…go back into the…
room
,” she choked out. “Maybe we should…”

He suckled that nub until she could no longer speak and her body trembled against every flick of his tongue. She dug her hands into his hair and slid further down the wall until they were both on the floor and she was beneath him, her hair spilling out of its pins in a cascade.

He flicked his tongue faster.

“Konstantin,” she panted. “I…oh God!” She held his head tighter against her lower half and writhed.

His mouth finally released her nub. “Hold onto it. Not yet.” Moving her head away from the wall, he shoved her gown further above her waist, letting the curtain of fabric fall over to the side of them and grabbing a hold of each leg, he wrapped her legs around his waist.

He drove his length deep into her wetness and choked back, “I am taking you in the corridor where you—” He rolled his hips into her “—proposed to me.”