Trapped by Scandal (32 page)

“Far be it from me to give you advice,” Hero said with a half smile, “but I think it's time you and your daughter acknowledged each other properly.”

“Jeanne would agree with you,” he responded with a rueful smile. “I wish I could kiss you, but . . .” He glanced around at their surroundings with an expressive gesture, just as a pony and trap rounded the corner from the stable yard, Marcus's horse tethered to the back.

“May I offer anyone a ride back to town?” Marcus called down from the driver's bench.

William lifted his daughter into the trap and held out a hand to Hero. As she put her hand in his, his fingers closed tightly over hers, and he bent and kissed her ear, murmuring, “That will have to do for now.”

Hero climbed up and took Marguerite's head onto her lap as William climbed up beside Marcus, and the small conveyance moved off, leaving Dover and the final residue of the Terror behind.

“What kind of a wedding do you want, sweetheart?” William asked, smoothing the caramel-striped cascade away from Hero's face as she lay with her head in the hollow of his shoulder. Mid-morning sunlight streamed through the casement window on Half Moon Street. The clothes of a fisherman lay in a heap on the floor, incongruously entangled with Hero's riding habit and britches, her undergarments strewn hither and thither.

Hero yawned involuntarily. They had exchanged the pony and trap for a fast chaise and four at a coaching inn on the road back to London and had reached Half Moon Street soon after dawn, but they had still not slept. There had been too many promises to make and to seal, but now, in the afterglow of passionate renewal, she could barely keep her eyes open.

“A big one,” she stated, hiding her smile in his neck. “St. George's, Hanover Square, with Alec giving me away to a French agent in the eyes of all Society.”

William groaned. “If that's what you want, my love, so be it.” He felt her body quiver against him and seized her beneath the arms, pulling her on top of him. “Wretched creature, don't make mock,” he scolded, pushing his hands through the veil of her hair to reveal her laughing face. “It was a serious question.”

“Well, forgive me, sir. What kind do you want?”

“To be honest, I don't give a damn. I just want one.”

Hero kissed him, lightly brushing his lips with the tip of her tongue, before giving him butterfly kisses with her eyelashes. “Are you quite, quite sure, William? I don't need to be married to love you.”

“You're going to be, though.” He ran his hands down her back, lingering over the swell of her hips. “Make no mistake about that, my Lady Hero. I will not lose you again.”

“Then let's get married in the chapel at Bruton Manor. Alec and Marie Claire are already there. Marguerite can meet her new baby cousin, and Marcus can be your best man. What could be more perfect?” She moved sinuously above him, her hips lifting a little in invitation, sleepiness miraculously forgotten.

“Nothing,” William agreed, his hands on her hips as he entered her slowly.

“And we shall make babies,” Hero murmured, moving above him. “It's time Marguerite had other children to play with.”

“I need to learn to be a father first,” he demurred, his eyes holding hers as he watched for the moment when she drew close to her climax. He loved to see the sudden quickening light, the look almost of surprise that suffused her in that moment.

She shook her head. “I beg to differ, sir. I have seen you with your child, and you seem to know exactly how to be a father . . . Oh . . .” She bit her lip, a smile gathering in her eyes. “Oh, how I love you, William Ducasse.”

“And how I love you, Hermione Fanshawe.” He held her tightly as she fell upon him, and he yielded to his own climax a second later, with the same glorious knowledge that all, at last, was right with the world.

Love historical romance? Check out Jane Feather's other titles for great reads!

Don't miss her most recent title, where a young woman is forced into marriage to unite two feuding families—and discovers a most unexpected passion. . .

Trapped at the Altar

Get lost in this seductive story of a spy and a counterspy dueling beneath the mistletoe. Pick up or download your copy of Twelfth Night Secrets today!

Twelfth Night Secrets

Can Perry court the daring and independent young Alexandra, win her heart, and inherit a fortune?

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ALSO BY JANE FEATHER

Trapped at the Altar

Twelfth Night Secrets

Rushed to the Altar

A Wedding Wager

An Unsuitable Bride

All the Queen's Players

A Husband's Wicked Ways

To Wed a Wicked Prince

A Wicked Gentleman

Almost a Lady

Almost a Bride

The Wedding Game

The Bride Hunt

The Bachelor List

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2015 by Jane Feather

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First Pocket Books paperback edition July 2015

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ISBN 978-1-4767-0369-5
ISBN 978-1-4767-0377-0 (ebook)