The Widowed Countess (27 page)

Chapter 28

In the Middle of the Night

A sob caught in her throat and she found she had to lift her head to take a breath. A handkerchief was suddenly filling one of her hands while a warm hand settled on her shoulder.

“Clare.” Her name came from over her in a barely heard whisper as strong arms wrapped around her shoulders. Her head landed against the satin of Daniel’s dressing robe, the scent of sandalwood and citrus filling her nostrils as she clung to his arms, as she wrapped one arm over his shoulder and raked her fingers through his dark, wavy hair. “Daniel!” she whispered as profound relief swept through her. “Oh, Daniel, I was just about to ...” She let a sob interrupt her when she realized how wanton her comment would sound if she told him she was about to visit him in his bedchamber. Her dreams had been filled with demonic angel fish and David.

“About to ... what?” Daniel whispered, one hand pushing her hair away from her face. He had one hip propped on the edge of the mattress as he held her, one bare foot planted on the carpet below to support his weight.

Clarinda used the handkerchief to wipe away some of the tears. She was mute for a long time, sobbing quietly. “Honestly, Daniel, until two nights ago, I did not believe you were ever ... that you ever ... felt affection for me. I truly thought you were David. Even when you tried to convince me – that time a couple of years ago when you told me how you’d courted me and how you asked for my hand – I truly thought David had been the one who did those things. Back then, I couldn’t tell you two apart. That’s why I didn’t believe you. That’s why I slapped you when you made those claims.” She buried her face in her hands just then. “Can you ever forgive me?” she whispered, new tears pricking the corners of her eyes.

Daniel sat very still for a long time, his arms still wrapped around her shoulders as he listened to Clarinda’s admission and thought he had heard the same request for an apology before. He could claim he hated her for what she had done, feign indifference over her apology, even ignore her altogether. But, in the end, he could do none of those things. “So, how is it you know
now
that I was the one who courted you?” he asked, suspecting what her answer would be but wanting to hear it from her lips.

“David told me.”

“And how do you know I was the one who asked for your hand in Kensington Gardens?”

“David told me.”

Well, at least in death his brother was an honorable man. He had hoped that when they returned to London, David would stay behind at Norwick Park and leave them to their lives in Norwick House. Since his earlier visit and his disappearance after determining he’d died from a blow to the head by a crate of tropical fish, there had been no sign of the ghost of David. “I take it he just paid you a visit?” Daniel whispered, repositioning himself so his back was against the bed’s headboard and Clarinda lay in his arms.

“The day we buried him, near his grave,” she answered, one hand moving to cup his jaw. “He told me it really was you who courted me and asked for my hand in marriage that day in Kensington Park. I should have believed you. I’m so sorry, Daniel. Can you ever forgive me?”

  Staring down at the woman he held, Daniel nodded. So, his brother had done right by him in the end, then, and set the record straight.

If he hadn’t, Daniel had every intention of haunting David when he had the chance.

Assured by his older brother that he would live to a ripe, old age, Daniel closed his eyes and decided he could forgive his brother. It might take several years and a good deal of pleading, but he would eventually forgive the scoundrel. As for Clarinda ...

Daniel reopened his eyes to find the love of his life regarding him with her large, aquamarine eyes still limned with tears. Before he could give her an answer, she had reached up with her other hand and pulled his head down to hers, her lips taking purchase on his in a kiss that was as possessive as it was desperate. He returned the kiss in equal measure, surprised by her passion, humored by the mewling sounds she made as he nipped her lower lip and allowed her tongue to explore his mouth before his tongue tangled with hers. And then they were simply kissing, soft lips sliding over firm lips, little murmurs of pleasure escaping here and there.

When Clarinda finally pulled away, it was to hug him close and lay her head against the bare skin just above his robe’s closure. At some point during the kiss, Daniel had lowered himself onto the bed, holding onto Clarinda as he stretched out his legs and settled her body atop his.

“I am happy I’m having twin girls,” Clarinda murmured proudly.

Daniel let out a chuckle. “So am I,” he replied, caressing her hair. “I, of course, will provide protection and act as a father to your daughters. They’ll be my nieces, after all,” he added when her face seemed to fall all of a sudden.

“Thank you,” Clarinda replied, reaching up to kiss the corner of his mouth. “Will you love them as much as your twin boys?”

Daniel straightened his body on the bed and looked down to regard her. “Probably more,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “I was a twin, remember?”

Clarinda gave him a tentative smile. “I remember. But, if it’s true – what David said about me having twin boys – you’ll have an heir and a spare.” The comment was made with just a hint of hope, as if Clarinda still wasn’t sure of her future as Countess of Norwick.

Cocking his head to one side, Daniel considered his future as Earl of Norwick as per David Fitzwilliam. “Are you truly willing to be the mother of those twin boys?” he asked, his face displaying a rather harsh demeanor.

Clarinda allowed a gasp of surprise. Or indignation, perhaps. Daniel wasn’t quite sure. “Well, of course,” she replied, moving so she could see his eyes. She noted the gleam in his and realized he was teasing her. Her indignation disappeared, and she lowered her head back down against his shoulder. “If you still want me as your wife, and I won’t blame you if you do not, I will happily marry you,” Clarinda murmured into the small of his shoulder before she sniffled. “Tomorrow, if you’ve a special license that allows it,” she added when Daniel didn’t respond immediately. She waited a moment, expecting him to say something.

The silence stretched out for some time, prompting Clarinda to put voice to the sentiment she had come to realize a long time ago. “I love you,” she said quietly before taking a breath that was interrupted by a sob. “My daughters will need a father, and your twin boys will need a mother,” she continued, becoming concerned that Daniel hadn’t made a sound in reply since she kissed him. “And you’ll require a countess, of course, since you
are
the Earl of Norwick. And since I’ve been the Countess of Norwick for the past four years, I’ve quite a bit of experience,” she murmured, thinking she was doing a good job of listing her qualifications for the position of being his wife. “I shan’t embarrass you.” She stilled herself, waiting for Daniel to say
something
. Her hand slid beneath his robe’s fold and settled onto his chest. She felt the even beating of his heart, felt the steady rhythm of his breathing, found the small divot where David had shot him, and she sighed.

He fell asleep!

How could he
sleep
? She was making a confession of her love and adoration for him. She was finally agreeable to the idea of being married to the man – to the man to whom she should have been married all these years. He should be awake. He should be hanging on her every word and agreeing with everything she was saying! He should be kissing her and consoling her and promising his everlasting love and devotion!
Was he truly sound asleep
?

Clarinda was about to lift her head to check when her stomach rumbled, hunger pangs suddenly reminding her it had been several hours since her last meal.

A deep chuckle shook Daniel’s chest as his hands slid down her back and over the swells of her bottom to cup them through her night rail.

Surprised he was awake, Clarinda gasped. “You
are
awake,” she accused, wondering if he’d heard everything she’d said.

“Of course, I am. It’s rather difficult to sleep when my beautiful betrothed sounds – and feels – like a little volcano,” he countered, his voice filled with amusement. Besides, how could he sleep when he had the woman of his dreams lying atop him with barely a stitch of clothing separating their bodies? How could Clarinda not have noticed his raging cockstand pressing into her belly?

Despite her initial thought to pound on his chest with her fist, Clarinda suddenly giggled. “I cannot help it. I am hungry,” she murmured, wondering if he would help her up from the bed and accompany her to the kitchen.

Then she realized what he had said and inhaled sharply. She lifted her head, placed her hands on either side of his chest and spread her knees so that her thighs straddled his hips. A curtain of brunette hair falling from over one shoulder, Clarinda stared down at Daniel. In the dim lamplight, she saw the humor leave his eyes as he regarded her. “Betrothed?” she repeated, her voice barely a whisper. She swallowed.

Daniel watched her throat work and then lifted a hand to cup her cheek. “You just said again you would marry me, didn’t you?” he whispered, one eyebrow cocking with his question, much like David’s would do under the same circumstance. “I suppose you’ve already forgotten you told me several times during dinner you would marry me,” he accused. It was the middle of the night, though, and she had, no doubt, just awakened from a bad dream when he found her crying.

Clarinda nodded, giving him a tentative smile. Her stomach growled again. When she glanced down, she saw the evidence of Daniel’s arousal poking up from between the folds of his robe, the wet tip hard against her belly. She turned her attention back to Daniel’s face, saw the desire in his eyes, felt the heat that radiated from his chest and arms. Her own body, suddenly too warm in the night rail, begged to be bared. Her breasts, heavy with anticipation, made their presence evident when her nipples left their silhouettes in the thin fabric.

Before she was quite aware of what she was doing, the anticipation of what they should be doing at that moment suddenly pooled between her thighs. Lifting her arms above her head, she crossed them and grasped the folds of the billowing fabric. She pulled the night rail from her body as she also lifted her body onto her knees and then lowered herself so that she impaled herself on his turgid manhood.

Daniel recoiled in surprise at her sudden movements, at the feel of her tight sheath suddenly sliding over him and trapping him deep inside her, and the wash of cool air as she spread open the front edges of his robe, at the sensation of her tongue and lips covering one of his nipples. “Christ, Clare,” he managed to get out before she’d lifted her hips so he was nearly outside of her. Then she pushed herself back down on him again. Her nipples brushed over the dark, curly hair that covered his chest, eliciting a gasp from her before her hips were back up.

With the initial shock having passed and grateful he hadn’t allowed himself to climax from sheer surprise – the sight of Clare naked atop him would have been enough, he realized – Daniel matched her rhythm, meeting her downward motion with an upthrust that shocked her. She released one of his nipples to inhale sharply, only to trace her nose across his chest and latch onto the other with her teeth.

Daniel growled in response and managed to get a hand onto one of her breasts, his thumb brushing over and around her erect nipple until she was mewling. Moving both his hands to her hips, he grasped them and guided their movements as she continued to lift and lower herself.

When he moved one of his thumbs to the place just above where their bodies met and merged, she inhaled sharply. The slightest pressure there, the smallest movement of the pad of his thumb against the swollen nub of her womanhood, and ... Clarinda fractured. Her movements faltered, her lips took harder purchase on his chest to stifle her cries of pleasure, and Daniel allowed his own blessed release.

His groans of pleasure filled the bedchamber, stifled when her lips found his and captured the sounds until he could no longer make them and she felt the last of the tendrils of pleasure course through her body. Sated and limp from exhaustion, she settled her body atop his, her breasts resting against his chest as her head sank into the pillow next to his head.

His cock still quite hard inside Clarinda, Daniel took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Although he had imagined bedding this woman more times than he cared to admit, had pleasured himself countless times to the image of what she might look like with her hair down and her clothes removed, he had never imagined
this
. Never imagined she could be so wanton, so wicked, so soft and so warm. So explosive. He was reminded of her temper, how it could erupt like a volcano when provoked. But now, it was as if his manhood had been the wick, and once inside her liquid heat, her stoked fires had been lit. He had tapped that built up passion until she could no longer contain the steam and molten lava and she had simply exploded all around him, at once breaking apart and constricting around him so tightly he thought he might have become one with her. His body suddenly shivered again with the remembering of what she’d just done to him.

As if she could hear his words in his mind, Clarinda lifted her head and moved it onto his shoulder. “I apologize. I don’t know what came over me just then,” she whispered, her breaths still a bit short. One of her hands had ended up grasping his shoulder while the other smoothed down the side of his body, leaving a trail of heat in its wake.

Daniel imagined a burn scar would appear there before morning.

Apologize
?!
Daniel inhaled sharply in an attempt to stifle the laughter that nearly exploded from his chest. “Don’t you dare,” he whispered back, his lips finding her forehead to kiss her. “Don’t ever apologize for having your way with me.”

Clarinda sighed. “It was terribly wanton of me,” she whispered. “Are you sure you didn’t mind?”

Daniel’s body shook with mirth, sleep tempting him almost as much as her luscious body still pressed against him. “I didn’t mind a bit.”

Sighing, Clarinda smiled and allowed herself to go limp atop him. Within moments, they were both sound asleep. When her stomach grumbled again, neither one of them heard it.