To Tame a Highland Earl (45 page)

“
She told you—her six year
old daughter--that your father no longer…” His eyes misted as if he
were remembering long ago. “I had no idea the illness had corrupted
her mind so thoroughly.” His focused cleared. “Lydia, it wasn’t
true. Yes, I loved Moira. Your mother knew as well as I that ours
was an arranged marriage…we agreed. I never lied to her. But to say
that I couldn’t… it was not true. She became ill and we—I—simply
couldn’t force her to—”

“
You deserted her,” Lydia’s
voice trembled. “She told me how much she loved you and how you
were always with your mistress. I remember—”

“
You remember a child’s
desperation,” the marquess interrupted. “Your mother was ill, she
wasn’t herself. Surely you can see that. Oh, had I but known then
what she had said. Perhaps I could have made you understand the
truth and this bitterness wouldn’t have devoured you.”

“
Nothing you say can change
what you did,” Lydia spat.

Eve stood stunned. Here sat a reflection of
her future self if she wasn’t careful. “I am sorry for you,” she
said.

“
Sorry for me?” Lydia
gritted out. “I am not the one you need be sorry for. Pity
yourself, for you have married a man who will abandon you just as
his father did my mother.”

“
He has not abandoned Lady
Rushton,” Eve said.

Lydia’s mouth twisted in distaste.
“
Sassenach
. Perhaps that is what it has been all along.
Moira was but your mistress and my mother meant nothing to you.
Both were Scottish women.”

Eve gasped, and saw the marquess take a step
toward his daughter, but it was Connor who seized her arm and gave
her a hard yank.

“
This is beyond the pale
even for you.” His head snapped up and he said to the marquess, “We
will be leaving. Never fear, Justin, I will deal with
her.”

Everyone stood aside and watched as he
hurried her out of the alcove.

“
She’s damned angry that
she can’t get her hands on Ravenhall,” Ash said.

Eve tore her gaze from Lydia, who nearly
tripped while attempting to keep up with her husband’s long
strides, and looked at Ash. “Surely, she knew that Lord Rushton
would marry?”

“
Val didn’t return from
war,” Ash said. “It was just as possible Erroll wouldn’t return
either. Since his return, she has probably been stewing about how
she was robbed of her revenge.”

“
Revenge?” Eve
repeated.

Lord Rushton squeezed her fingers and Eve
realized her hand still rested on his arm.

“
It seems you were right,
sir.” Lord Rushton looked at his father.

The marquess still stared at the door through
which the two had disappeared. He glanced at the group. “I have
business to attend to.”

Eve’s heart twisted at the pain she heard in
his voice.

Lord Rushton tensed beneath her fingers and
she sensed he wanted to say something, but his father strode from
the alcove.

The earl released a long breath. “I believe I
need to rest. Come along, my dear. Ash, we will see you later?”

“
I wouldn’t miss the rest
of your wedding party for the crown jewels.”

The earl nodded and before Eve could think of
a protest, he led her from the room. Her heart sank as they headed
for their suite.  

Chapter Twenty Three

When Erroll closed the door to their suite,
his wife whirled on him. “What are you doing here?”

“
Why am I not gone to
England, you mean?”

“
Yes.”

“
Because I realized what a
fool I am.”

She barked a laugh. “It is I who am the fool.
By the by, what was all that drivel out there?”

Ah, here was the crux of her anger. She
wanted to know why he’d professed love in front of his family.

“
You certainly put your
sister in her place,” Eve went on. “And you put me in an untenable
position.”

“
I have?”

“
How much more of fool will
I appear when you leave for England and I stay behind? I won’t do
it, which means I cannot stay here.”

“
Indeed?” he
murmured.

“
The least you could have
done is warned me you were going to say such ridiculous things.
Your family wasn’t fooled for an instant.”

Erroll frowned. “You make it sound as if a
declaration of love is impossible.”

“
Of course it’s impossible.
The only person who didn’t see through the ruse was your
sister.”

“
I think my declaration of
love was the only thing she
did
see clearly.”

“
Let me make something
perfectly clear, sir. I am not like my sister.”

“
Yes,” he said. “And I
thank God for that every day.”

“
Ah, yes,” Eve said. “You
did say all along you wouldn’t marry Grace. She clearly was not to
your liking. Women like Laura Greenwood are more to your liking,
are they not, my lord?”

Erroll grimaced. “Not more to my liking at
all.”

Anger
and
hurt sparked in her
eyes.

“
What is it, love? Surely,
you aren’t still thinking of the fact that she visited me in my
hotel in Manchester? I told you there was nothing to
that.”

“
How interesting, my lord,
that you should so highly prize honesty in your wife, but are
incapable of it yourself.”

“
Eve, if Laura said
something to you—”

“
I am not such a ninny as
to take as gospel anything your past paramours might say to me.
Your sister is another story, however. She has given me a glimpse
into what it is to have bitterness consume you. I will not allow
that to happen to me.”

“
Eve, I will not do that to
you,” he said with emphasis.

“
I think I misspoke,” she
said, as if not having heard him. “I cannot live with
you.”

“
But you said you couldn’t
stay here at Ravenhall.”

She shook her head. “France perhaps, or the
Colonies.”

Erroll startled. “I won’t let you go to
France, much less the Colonies.”

Eve shrugged. “You really cannot stop
me.”

She couldn’t be serious. “You said you were
coming to England with me,” he said.

“
Yes, but I spoke in haste.
It is only a matter of time before…”

“
You are allowing what
Lydia said to sway you,” he insisted.

She gave a deprecating snort. “Only two hours
ago you were returning to London and leaving me here. How can you
say that your sister’s words are the thing that swayed me?”

Guilt stabbed soul deep and fear pumped
through him. “Eve,” he began lamely, “I-you were making plans to
stay and I...”

It was a ridiculous response. He hadn’t
planned on leaving Scotland for a week, maybe two. In fact, he
could have stayed a month before returning to Norfolk to begin work
with the thresher. But the truth was, he’d been struck with the
fear that she would gladly have stayed in Scotland with his
family—without him—so he had…he had been an idiot.

Erroll reached for her. Her eyes widened and
she retreated a step, but he caught her arm and drew her close.
Erroll wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her head.
She stood within his embrace, rigid, arms at her sides.

Erroll closed his eyes. “I made a mess of
things, did I not?”

She didn’t reply and he envisioned her on a
ship bound for France, then lost in the Parisian city, beyond his
reach. His chest tightened. God help him, in a week’s time, he’d
fallen hopelessly and completely in love. Erroll tightened his arms
around her. If he stayed in Scotland, would she promise not to
leave? Could he rest easy with that promise? What would she do when
he returned to England for even short periods of time? Would she
leave with him? Would she be here when he returned?

He would live each moment they were apart in
fear that he would return to find her gone. His heart hammered. He
couldn’t seclude himself on Mull forever. He had to return to
England, had to face his responsibilities there. But an incident
like Laura Greenwood coming to his hotel room could drive a wedge
between them that could separate them forever—even if they lived in
the same house.

A lump formed in his throat. “Eve,” he
rasped.

She shifted and he grasped her chin and
tilted her face upward. She stared, and Erroll found himself lost
in her dark eyes…found himself lowering his mouth. Their lips
touched and she stiffened, then gasped when he brushed her mouth
with a feather-light touch. She gave a small cry and threw her arms
around his neck.

Blood roared through his ears. He slipped a
leg between her legs and the heat from her thighs caused his heart
to thunder. He tugged down her bodice, then covered one ripe breast
with his hand. Gently, he kneaded the creamy flesh until her nipple
pressed hard and insistent into his palm. His cock throbbed with
blinding need, and when she thrust her tongue into his mouth,
desire swamped his senses.

God, how was he going to show her what was in
his heart if he couldn’t think? Erroll sparred with her tongue,
thrusting in quick bursts. She drew a stuttered breath and he felt
drunk with the knowledge that she wanted him. He rolled the nipple
between his fingers. Her hands slid around his back, searing a path
downward until they cupped his arse. Erroll undulated his erection
against her abdomen. Her fingers tightened into his backside and he
feared he would spend himself in his breeches.

She released his buttocks and slipped her
hand between their bodies. Erroll realized she was undoing the
falls on his breeches and he stilled, heart thudding until his cock
sprang free. When she grasped his engorged member, pleasure rammed
through him. Erroll thrust into her slim fingers. He was going to
spew his seed into her hand and God help him, he wanted that as
much as he wanted to be inside her. But not yet. The resolution
didn’t stop him from thrusting again. He would have this from her
and so much more in the years to come. This moment, however, was
for her.

Erroll broke the kiss and, in one quick move,
tugged her dress and chemise up, forcing her to release him as he
pulled the garments over her head. He stared at her, blood heated
at the sight of her vulnerability. In an instant, he kicked off his
boots and shucked his clothes. Her gaze dropped to his erection and
satisfaction pulsed through him when her eyes widened. This was, he
realized, the first time she’d taken in the sight of
all
of
him.

Erroll grasped her hand and backed up,
guiding her with him to the bed. His calves bumped into the edge of
the mattress and he held her close as they fell backwards onto the
mattress. Her body tumbled onto his and he gave her a long,
languorous kiss before scooting back on the bed. He pulled her
knees up alongside his hips and urged her to straddle him. Eve
looked down at him, eyes dazed, hair tumbled across her
shoulders.

He swallowed. She’d never looked more
beautiful. Eyes locked with hers, he slipped a finger between her
wet folds. She jerked, and seized his forearms. He gently massaged
her sex and she began to rock against his finger. Her movements
quickened and Erroll yanked his finger away and seized her hips,
grinding his rod against her.

Eve moaned and continued to rock. Pleasure
radiated through him as she crashed onto his rod over and over, but
he forced back the urge to climax. When she cried out, Erroll
arched as she bore down and her heat flooded his member. He bolted
upright into a sitting position and hugged her close. She went limp
against his chest.

“
Wrap your legs around me,”
he whispered.

She pulled back and looked at him, eyes
unfocused. Erroll grasped her legs and eased them forward so that
she no longer knelt but sat on his lap.

“
Now wrap them around
me.”

She locked her legs around his waist. Erroll
grasped her buttocks, lifted her then drove into her channel. She
tossed her head back as he lifted, then brought her down onto him
over and over again. Blood roared through his ears, but he forced
himself to slow, carefully stroking her inner walls with each rise
and fall of her body.

He detected the shift of her hips. She began
to pant, and Erroll felt his resolve slip as climax rolled closer
and closer to the surface. He couldn’t halt the compulsion and
arched as he brought her down onto him, moving faster until she
cried out and he exploded with a bone-deep shudder that blocked out
all light, all feeling, except for her.

*****

Erroll awoke the following morning alone. He
rose and searched the suite but Eve wasn’t there. After dressing,
he searched the usual rooms she’d frequented the last few days, and
found his mother and Grace.

“
Have you seen Eve?” he
asked.

“
I saw her at breakfast
early this morning,” his mother said.

“
Not since then?” Erroll
asked.

She shook her head. “I assumed she went back
to your suite. Is something amiss?”

“
I do not know,” he replied
in honesty. He hadn’t thought so after what had passed between them
last night.

“
Eve often takes walks,”
Grace said. “Particularly in the morning.”

“
Perhaps we should help
find her.” His mother set aside her embroidery.

Erroll shook his head. “I’m sure I will find
her.” And when he did, he was going to lock them in their suite and
make love to her until she was too weak to go anywhere. Apparently
he hadn’t accomplished that last night.