I Know You Read online

  He turned to leave the terrace but turned around thinking better of it. “You had better re-enter the ballroom first. I will make my way to the study and see you there.” With that he lifted her hand to kiss it, and then ushered her back toward the door.

  Closing the door, David headed directly for the side table where his father kept the brandy. What was about to happen definitely called for a stiff drink. Did he have the courage - or the heart - to manipulate Anne the way he planned to? It wasn’t as if he felt nothing for her. He actually suspected that he was close to feeling more for her than was safe…or proper.

  The way she had spoken of her love for Geoffrey Rockford had made him feel things that he had been positive that he’d walled off years ago. It gave him a glimmer of the hope that maybe he wasn’t as broken as he’d originally believed himself to be.

  Of course, last night with MacAuley had also made a difference.

  Heat infused his neck - as well as other places - as he remembered his valet’s soft hands running over his stomach in soothing circles, bringing him out of the muddle he’d found himself in at the thought of marrying a woman who loved another.

  Then again, if he was right, then his night with MacAuley complicated things beyond anything else. And though he was loathe to regret the night of passion they’d shared, he couldn’t help but feel guilty that he might be the only one who had participated in it with full knowledge.

  Pushing aside his regrets for the moment, though, he slumped into his father’s chair and allowed himself time to savor the memory of his enjoyment. He hadn’t been sure, at the beginning whether MacAuley would welcome his advances. The two of them had existed in a somewhat convoluted half-state since the beginning of MacAuley’s employment with him. He’d needed MacAuley to be more than just a valet, requiring him to control him, calm him, and understand him far more than any servant ever understood a master.

  MacAuley had been young when he’d first met him. Barely into manhood. David had been on the verge of taking his exams and then seeking the military for service on the continent. The youth that housed in the same building as one of David’s professors seemed bright and full of life the first time he’d clapped eyes on him. But life had hardened that youth when next David had seen him.

  Having just returned from the war, David had visited a professor before heading to London and came across that same boy, now cold and laconic in his manner. All hopefulness had been starved from him in the three years that had passed. And his professor had informed him that the student would require employment upon completion of his exams.

  Once the hellish month that followed cleared from David’s head, all he could remember was MacAuley’s face, and his need to do something kind for someone. So he’d demanded that his father find the boy and give him a job. That job, had been David himself.

  A tapping at the door brought David rushing out of his ruminating. He stood, just as the door creaked open to admit his lovely betrothed. And lovely was a word that did no justice to the state of her beauty. She was light, and hope, and tenderness, all wrapped together in a package of stunning proportions.

  She smiled when she saw David standing behind his father’s desk, and the smile nearly undid all of the resolve he’d built up to go through with his plan. How did he deserve her smile? Could he really break her the way that was bound to happen?

  “My Lord,” she started, before remembering his previous request. “David. I have come.”

  Her words were a simple statement, but also an entreaty to give her instruction. What was she to do? How was she to serve him?

  He walked slowly around the desk and eyed her assessingly. He’d already memorized her curves, her face, and her hair. He even knew her smell by heart. However, her pulse was racing at her throat, and he couldn’t help but wonder if she too was taking stock of him and wanting something just a little more wicked than she was used to.

  “Anne.” Her name on his lips felt right. It soothed his throat and made him think wicked thoughts of undressing her and whispering it on every inch of her skin. He drew closer to her and held out his hand to caress her face. He traced a finger along her jaw and let his mind wander over all of the ways he could lick that patch of skin.

  Her eyes darted down and she moved her face to nuzzle into his palm. She was clearly more than willing to play whatever game he had planned for them - even if she wasn’t aware of the rules quite yet.

  “What was it that you wished to…discuss…here?” Her question sounded forced, as if it was really the last thing that she wanted to say, but it was necessary for her own sanity.

  He sighed, as if in resignation, though he felt no compunction toward that emotion. He was positive that he had her attention no matter what he said in the next ten minutes. She would agree to his plan.

  “I may know where your Mr. Rockford landed.” At the shocked gasp she let loose he hushed her, both with his voice and his finger. “At least, I might know whose employ he took. I was not familiar with a Geoffrey Rockford at Cambridge, however, the man you described may have gone by a different name. You said he was a…er…illegitimate?”

  “Yes.” The excitement in her voice was palpable.

  I cannot promise you that he can be found, or that he is the same man you remember, however, I promise to look into his whereabouts, if…”

  He let the sentence trail off as his finger traced its way down her neck. He knew that she would understand his desire, and he could almost guarantee that she felt just as much desire for him, despite her wanting to find her errant Mr. Rockford.

  If?” Her voice was soft and hesitant. Understandably so. He was offering her exactly what she wanted…it was the price that would now be negotiable.

  “I very much wish to see our arrangement continue.” His words remained low and sultry. He didn’t want the excitement she aroused in him to scare her. “I believe I can make you happy, and I know…” Once again his fingers trailed south, this time to the edge of her décolletage. “I know that you could satisfy me in all of the ways required.”

  “You wish,” she began, but paused to swallow and start again. “You wish a liaison, then. To see if we indeed suit?”

  “Oh no,” he laughed. “I wish for you to only give me a chance to prove to you that I can make you as happy as your Mr. Rockford could. By your own words, Mr. Rockford cannot exist in society. He is illegitimate and cannot hold a place in the world you and I call our own. However, I can give you the world that you know and the satisfaction you seek. I will honor my word and find your Mr. Rockford. You will know where he is and that he is well, but you will also know that you are with a man who can take care of you. One who desires to do so.”

  She shivered at his words and at the breath on her neck. He knew he was being an ass. He was pitting himself against the very man who had once claimed to love her for all of the right reasons, but was stolen away from her through no fault of his own. He was also very much aware that if he was correct in his theory, then he was working against two people who had come to mean more to him than he’d ever thought possible.

  “What if I don’t accept?” The words were broken and hoarse. She wanted to accept. She wanted not just the information he had, but the passion that he offered. She wanted it all.

  “Are you going to refuse me?” The question was mocking, and he knew he was going to have to apologize a million times over once they were done, but he could think of no other way to push the point. He needed her to say yes.

  “No.” It was a whisper.

  “So you are going to let me show you?” He couldn’t keep all of the shock out of his voice. Though he’d hoped beyond all hope that she was going to go along with his machinations, he hadn’t been expecting her to agree so readily. He’d been ready to attempt more convincing.

  Boldly, she met his eyes and he saw no hesitation there, despite the tremor that he still sensed in her body. She wasn’t going to act the sacrificial maiden. Anne was fully aware of exactly what she was sign
ing up for.

  Tenderly, he lowered his mouth to cover her lips, enjoying the way that her mouth moved and played in time with his own workings. As he flicked his tongue against her bottom lip she let out a small gasp, but there was no mistaking it for the shocked reaction of an innocent. No, it was a gasp of desire. She wanted more, and he was going to give it to her.

  He lifted his head and cradled her jaw between his hands. “I will not take from you what is not yet mine to claim. However, I will have your body familiar with the ways it can receive pleasure and remain…untouched.”

  She raised her eyebrows, but her smile told him that she knew exactly what he was talking about. She would be a formidable opponent in the bed sports in their future.

  If they indeed had a future.

  With care and a calmness he wasn’t sure he’d ever truly known he’d possessed, he turned her around and backed her toward the desk. Thanks to his father’s eccentricities, it was already clear of debris. Lowering his head yet again, he claimed her mouth at the same time that his hands circled her waist. He lifted her up to sit on the desk. As she was now at a height he could manage more thoroughly, he took a moment to caress her bosom.

  He spanned his palms across her ribs, running his thumbs along the underside of her breasts. Even with her stays, he could tell that she felt every caress as if it was fire licking her skin. Stealthily his fingers found their way to the edge of her bodice and he lowered it, enjoying once again her pleased gasp as the cooler air in the room wafted across her now exposed nipples.

  David moved his mouth down her neck and to the top of her chest, teasing her ever so slightly before plunging down and claiming the nipple of her left breast. His left hand widened its stretch and feathered over the equally exposed right nipple, bringing it to a tight bud of arousal.

  Her whimperings were yips of excitement, mixed with moans of pleasure. He was doing his job oh so right, leaving her no room for thoughts of Mr. Rockford.

  Moving his right hand down her leg, he caught up her hem and raised it enough to expose the fact that she was not wearing drawers. He brought his head up with a surprised growl in time to see her blush a magnificent shade of crimson.

  “It seemed…” she gasped “pertinent to my cause to be prepared.”

  She’d come here tonight to seduce him into helping her.

  The thought should bother him. After all, she’d tried to manipulate him into giving her what she wanted. However, he knew for a fact that her ploy was a last ditch effort. She had been truly hesitant when he’d asked her before to submit to his show of desire.

  “I do believe, Miss Edwards, that you and I are both aware of where we stand in this scenario.” He locked his eyes on her and a frisson of awareness passed between them before he made his next move.

  Before he could change his mind, he sunk down to the center of her core and licked the honeyed sweetness wetting the curls between her thighs. Though he couldn’t see it, he could tell that she’d thrown her head back and groaned with all she had.

  Her smell was intoxicating. It would be so easy to fall into the passion that was being offered to him. Just nibbling at the bud at the center of her core had her fragrance growing by leaps and bounds.

  Slowly and with all purpose in mind he extended his tongue into her channel and felt the change almost instantly. Her lower lips convulsed as her completion came upon her and she screamed her release.

  He grabbed at his own proof of passion and realized that if she kept moaning and screaming he would not be able to return to the party that evening. So instead of allowing himself to ride out her ecstasy, he lowered himself back onto his haunches and fought to control his breathing.

  She raised herself up onto her arms and looked at him questioningly, but whatever she saw on his face, must have settled her mind, for instead of asking him if something was wrong, she simply smiled and nodded her head.

  He had passed her test. They would proceed as planned.

  Geoff knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that something had happened at the betrothal ball. David had returned home the night before in a state of calm wonder. There was almost a guilty feel to his demeanor that Geoff didn’t truly know how to take. He’d called Geoff to help him out of his jacket, as his formal kit was far more constricting than the coat and waistcoat that he usually wore.

  During this time David seemed reluctant to meet Geoff’s eyes. When Geoff had asked him how the night had gone, David had simply shrugged and said that there had been dancing, and food, and not much entertaining beyond conversation.

  When he’d attempted to ask the name of David’s betrothed yet again, David had changed the subject to plans for an upcoming visit to estates in Essex. It was clear at that point that whatever David had done that night had involved his betrothed, and he hadn’t wished to discuss it with Geoff, whether for fear of her reputation, or a desire to simply keep it to himself.

  As Geoff went around his duties the next night, though, it was abundantly clear that there was something that David specifically didn’t want him to know about. The evasion had continued on and even escalated into a full scaled avoidance. Whenever Geoff entered a room to organize or collect items, there was always proof of a hasty retreat having been made shortly before.

  During one such incident Geoff had come across a handkerchief in David’s pocket that was decidedly not David’s. It was lacy for one, and for another thing, it was embroidered with the initials “AE”.

  While Geoff was not exactly a hardened gossip, he knew most of the debutantes in London, and he could not think of a single one with those initials. He decided that enough was enough and was about to seek out his employer when he heard a knock on the entrance.

  Curiosity got the better of him and he waved away the footman, coming down the hallway. “I’ll get this, Andrews. It’s late, so who knows who this could be.”

  He opened the door, ready to tell off whatever fool had decided to call upon the Marquess at this late of an hour, but his reprimand stuck in his throat. Standing in the dark was the last person he’d ever expected to see at this door. In fact, he’d never expected to see her ever again.

  “Anne?” His voice cracked. How was it possible that she had found him? How had she known to look for him here?

  She stood there, staring at him as if she couldn’t believe he was here either. He looked over her shoulder and suddenly realized the danger of the situation. She was a single lady, without an escort standing on the doorstep of a single gentleman. If she was seen she’d be ruined.

  “Come in.” He grabbed her by the hand and swung her into the hall, shutting and bolting the door behind her. He looked frantically around to make sure no other servants were creeping in the shadows before ushering her quickly into the small parlor off the back of the foyer.

  Making sure to grab a candle for light, Geoffrey shut the door and stared at Anne, still not believing that she was standing in front of him after three years. She’d changed in many ways, having grown into her lanky body and lived up to the promise of the stunning beauty he always knew she would be. But there was also much about her that was the same. Her kind eyes and warm smile that could brighten any moment, no matter how sad. Her ash blond hair that was so pale it looked like a blend of silver and gold.

  “Geoffrey?” Her bewilderment at his presence told him that she honestly hadn’t known he would be here. Yet they were together now. And that meant he could touch her.

  That realization sent him into action. He rushed to her, sweeping her into his arms and crushing her lips beneath his mouth, not wanting to wait even a single moment longer before he tasted the one delicacy that had been deprived him for too long.

  A moan escaped her mouth as he came up for air, and he plunged right back in. She was just as sweet as he remembered. The taste of mint and berries still on her lips from a dessert he knew her cook favored. The memory of the last time he’d had it crashed over him and he found himself laughing out loud.

  “Geoffrey?
How is this possible?” She still looked like she’d been caught in the path of a runaway carriage. She didn’t know which way to jump, so she determinedly stayed put.

  “It was bound to happen. Mayfair is really not so large.”

  “But what are you doing here? At Lord Ridgely’s house, I mean?”

  He wasn’t sure he was ready for her to know the entire story of his need to go into service. He was sure Secily had informed her of the basic plot, but the details were something he just wasn’t prepared to divulge quite yet.

  “You know, what?” she said, her eyes sparkling with joy now. “I don’t want to know. All that matters is that I found you. A promise has been fulfilled. The how of it doesn’t need to be explained.”

  He wasn’t sure what she meant by a promise being fulfilled, but one thing he was sure of was that now that he was holding her again, there was no way in hell that he was going to let her go.

  Gently he lifted his hand up to cup her face. He saw a tear start to streak down her cheek and he wiped it away with his thumb. “Shh. This isn’t a time for tears. This is a time for us. A time for memories.”

  The echoing of their last time together was a strong pull. As one they came together again. Hands wandering over clothing, peeling off layers and exploring the rising heat between them. Their passion didn’t ignite so much as flow over them in waves of warmth.

  They were together again. The feelings of completeness were almost as overwhelming as the sadness that they had wasted so much time apart. How had he ever believed that a life without her was ever one he could commit to? Even in his moments of joy her absence overshadowed everything.

  He couldn’t even stop himself long enough to answer her question from before. Nor could he bring himself to ask her how she had found him. He didn’t even use his given name any longer, having switched to his mother’s name the moment Reginald had ordered him off of Cressledown property, and he wasn’t sure she had ever known what his mother’s name had been.