How I Married a Marquess Page 16

Althorpe finished his coffee and handed the empty cup to a nearby footman, then walked away. He approached Josie and said something that drew a relieved smile from her. Then he affectionately leaned over to place a kiss on her cheek before taking her arm to escort her across the room to join his wife at the pianoforte.

  Thomas stared after them, the look of love Josie gave her father taking his breath away. Althorpe was right. She was nothing like Helene or the other ladies he associated with. She was so much more beautiful and special than those women could ever be. Every moment he spent with her only confirmed it.

  Always before, he’d bedded women for nothing more than sexual satisfaction. But with Josie, the primary desire he longed to satisfy wasn’t physical. He felt a yearning for her that set his soul on fire, and he craved the comfort and solace he knew she’d bring to him merely from being with him in the darkness. Oh, the thought of having her naked beneath him was certainly appealing, but so was the thought of simply holding her close, of falling asleep knowing he’d still be in her arms when he woke.

  Yet he couldn’t purge his doubts about her, even as he couldn’t stop the churning of desire and frustration battling inside him.

  He set down his half-finished coffee and left the room in search of whiskey. The night was going to be damnably long.

  * * *

  In the dark shadows of the silent woods two hours later, Josie cinched the black mask tighter around her head and tried to ignore the terrified pounding of her heart. The robbery would happen at any minute.

  She’d done this nearly two dozen times in the past, every move perfectly choreographed and expertly anticipated, every man there entrusted with her life. Yet still she couldn’t escape the absolute terror that would cascade through her at the moment when the rumbling noise from the approaching carriage finally echoed through the dark woods, the sickening dread in the pit of her stomach when she had to give the signal to her men to swarm. Perhaps she never would grow used to it. Perhaps that meant she hadn’t yet become the cold-hearted criminal Thomas accused her of being.

  But at that moment, with the carriage rolling into sight and only seconds from another holdup, that was exactly what she was. A criminal. But one without a choice.

  The carriage rolled to a sudden stop, the team of horses nearly skidding into the felled tree blocking the road.

  Now.

  She placed two fingers to her lips and let loose a shrill whistle.

  The woods came alive as men on horseback plunged down the hill toward the coach, and two men leapt out from the bushes to pull down the driver and tiger. She raced her horse toward the carriage, dropped to the ground, and pulled out her pistol as she grasped for the door to fling it open.

  From out of the darkness, shouts split the night as the pounding of horses’ hooves sped toward them on the hard-packed road. A gunshot cracked through the trees. Her horse reared onto its hind legs, and she fought to hold on to the reins while around her the small band of robbers panicked. The shouts and gunfire came closer now. One of her men fired into the darkness.

  “Hold your fire!” she shouted.

  But a barrage of guns erupted from everywhere around her.

  Her horse jerked back its head and spun on its hindquarters, ripping the reins from her hands and bolting down the road, leaping the felled tree and disappearing into the black night. She stared after it. Terror paralyzed her. Without her horse, she was as good as dead.

  A horse crashed out of the dark woods to her left and galloped straight toward her. The tall, broad rider rode with his hat pulled low over his face, his thighs clenched tightly to keep him in the saddle even as he held the leather reins clenched between his teeth and a pistol in each large hand. He fired a pistol into the top of the coach, splintering the empty driver’s seat with a loud crack. Dropping the first pistol, he fired off the next shot behind him toward the onrushing outriders, scattering them into the trees, then flung the spent pistol to the ground and shoved his hand down toward her.

  “Take hold!” he snarled.

  His long fingers grabbed her wrist and jerked her off the ground. She was barely off her feet and not yet on the horse when he dug his heels into the animal’s sides and sent it charging back into the black woods. A tree limb just missed her head, but he never slowed the horse to give her time to find her seat behind him. Instead he urged the horse faster.

  Her arms went around his waist as she finally got her leg across the horse’s back and sat astride behind the saddle, then clung to him for dear life. She couldn’t see her rescuer’s face with the hat forced down low on his head, but she knew…the solidity of his body as she pressed against him, the hard panes of his chest beneath her palms as her arms encircled him and held tight, that familiar scent of leather and soap—

  “Thomas,” she sighed with relief, her eyes stinging as she squeezed them shut against the hot tears.

  “Are you hurt?” he asked.

  “No.”

  A fierce curse exploded from him, and she flinched, more startled than she’d been at the gunfire.

  He spun the horse in a circle and charged back in the same direction they’d just traveled for a dozen or so yards, then pointed the large gelding downhill toward the river. Without hesitating the well-trained mount plunged into the cold water and galloped on in the knee-deep current for several minutes before finally turning up the bank and out of the water, straight toward a small stone fence. The horse took the jump as easily as if the wall weren’t there at all, and they galloped on along the edge of the dark meadow, circling slowly back toward the woods.

  “Where are we—”

  “They’re hunting us down,” he snapped. “I’m confusing our tracks.”

  Once again she was reminded that he was no ordinary man, and if she’d doubted him when he told her that he was a spy and a soldier, she was certain now. Just as she was certain that barely controlled fury burned white-hot inside him.

  “Which way to the cottage?” he demanded.

  She pointed to the right, past the clearing with the hollow tree where she usually dropped the burlap sack.

  “Give me your gun.”

  She unbuckled the strap at her shoulder and handed over the holster and pistol. He flung them away into the trees.

  She gasped, stunned. “What are you doing—”

  “If they find us, I’m not giving them an excuse to kill us,” he snapped at her over his shoulder. “I won’t die for you, Josephine. Not tonight in the woods, nor on the gallows.”

  Her heart thudded painfully. Of course he wouldn’t—she would never ask that of him—but dying…Oh God! Thomas could have been killed tonight, and she couldn’t bear the thought that he might have been hurt while trying to save her.

  “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, her words muffled by the rough wool of his greatcoat as her cheek rested against his back. “Thomas, I’m so sorry—”

  “Stop apologizing,” he growled. “We’re not out of this yet.”

  As if on cue, more shouts and gunshots echoed from the woods behind them, distant but clear, and close enough that she pressed herself even closer to him, her arms tightening around his waist.

  He leaned forward and urged the horse dangerously faster through the black night. No moon, no stars, not even shadows. Only darkness so deep she could barely see a few feet ahead of them. But she closed her eyes and placed her trust and her life completely in his hands.

  They arrived at the cottage and rode the horse into the lean-to stall. As Thomas jumped to the ground and tied the horse, she slipped down from its back. Her feet had barely touched the ground before he grabbed her wrist and yanked her away, pulling her through the darkness toward the cottage door.

  Stumbling to keep up with his long strides, she followed him inside the dark cottage. He closed the door and slid the bolt home, locking them inside. Instead of releasing her, he pressed her back against the door and covered her mouth with his hand to keep her quiet.

  Frozen in place, she listened to the
night around them but heard nothing except the rush of blood pounding in her ears and the fast, shallow sound of his breathing, so close to her in the darkness that each exhalation fanned hot against her cheek. Outside, the woods were silent, the men no longer chasing after them, and inside, the cottage was cool and dark. So dark that for a moment she didn’t know if her eyes were open or closed. So dark she couldn’t see Thomas as he stood less than a foot away from her.

  And then his fingers weren’t covering her mouth to keep her quiet anymore. They were caressing her lips, tracing their fullness, seeking her out in the darkness.

  “Thomas,” she breathed achingly against his fingertips.

  His thumb tugged at her bottom lip, and then his mouth was on hers, ravaging her lips in a hot, openmouthed kiss. In the blackness she couldn’t see him, but oh God, how she could feel him—the insistent thrusting of his tongue between her lips, the rough strokes of his hands down her body. And when he pressed against her, pinning her between his body and the door, his erection jutted hard into her belly.

  He wanted to possess her, and oh heavens, she desperately wanted to let him! Giving herself to him would be wrong, sinful, dangerous. She would be ruined. But she didn’t care. Deep in her heart, she knew there would never be a more wonderful man with whom to share this night than Thomas. She had long ago resigned herself to never having a husband to share her life, to never being loved, but she could have tonight. And even this one night with such a special man was more than she’d ever let herself dare to dream of having.

  One night with him would be enough. It had to be. Because she couldn’t bear not having him at all.

  When she shifted her hips against his to declare her decision, she heard his answering groan from the blackness.

  “We shouldn’t do this,” he half growled, half whispered against her neck in weak protest.

  “I need you, Thomas,” she breathed into the darkness, unable to find her voice. “As much as you need me.”

  A shudder swept through him, and his hands tightened their hold on her, as if he were determined not to let her go even as he argued, “I am not one of those men, Josephine, those bastards who thought they could use you for their own pleasures.”

  “I know. You’re—”

  Interrupting her, he cupped her face between his palms and kissed her deeply and tenderly, stirring a yearning inside her that she knew only he could satisfy.

  “I want you so much, so much more than you realize.” He rested his forehead against hers and took deep, steadying breaths. “But I won’t marry you.” Anguish laced his voice as he murmured into the darkness, the sound cutting deep into her heart, “I can’t marry you.”

  “I know.” Her chest panged at the raw honesty in his quiet admission, and she thanked God that he couldn’t see the pain on her face. They had no future. She’d known the truth of that all along, yet knowing it hadn’t stopped her from dreaming that a man like him might want her after all, just as it didn’t stop the sharp rejection knotting agonizingly in her belly. Or dull her need for him.

  But they had this night, the one they’d been destined to share since the moment their eyes met across the ballroom. Fate had cheated her out of so much because of her birth; she refused to be cheated out of this, too.

  Her body ached for his, throbbing and trembling to have him impossibly close to her, to have him inside her and his arms around her, making her feel wanted and safe. And yet—

  “You can prevent…I mean…” She swallowed, hard, then stumbled over the words as they tumbled out in a rush, even now thinking of the orphans. “I’ve heard there are ways to prevent getting a child—because if we—if I were to—”

  He silenced her with a soft touch of his lips to hers. “There are,” he assured her quietly.

  “Then give me tonight.” She nuzzled her cheek against his palm, wanting the comfort she knew she’d find with him. “That’s all I ask.”

  “Josephine,” he murmured softly, then kissed her with such tenderness and longing that she shivered from the intensity of it. From the promise of what was to come.

  Her hands grasped his caped greatcoat and pulled it over his shoulders, down his arms and back, to cast it away into the darkness. And then she hunted for the buttons on his waistcoat, fumbling as she struggled in the darkness.

  “Let me.” His raspy voice floated down to her from unseen lips. His hands closed over her trembling fingers to remove them from his chest, and quickly he unbuttoned his waistcoat and shrugged it away onto the stone floor at their feet.

  She reached blindly for him in the darkness, and sudden panic swelled inside her when she couldn’t find him. “Thomas?”

  “Yes?” he murmured. His mouth brushed along the side of her face as he lowered his head toward her and found her lips to kiss her again, heated and urgent.

  She sighed with relief. “Don’t lose me to the darkness.”

  He froze for a heartbeat, one instant when every muscle in his body seemed to tighten. Then just as quickly he relaxed, and his lips smiled against hers. “I won’t lose you, Jo. Don’t you dare lose me.”

  “Keep your hands on me, then.” She grasped his shirt in her fists and yanked it free of his breeches. With one palm resting against the warm skin beneath, she pulled it up over his head with the other hand and tossed it off into the darkness. “Keep touching me.”

  He groaned. “Absolutely.”

  His hand covered hers as it rested against his hard stomach, the muscles rippling as she flexed her fingertips against him, then he shifted away from her and bent down. She heard the soft thump of a boot hitting the floor, followed by its mate. A hot shiver slipped through her, like a silk ribbon unraveling from lace. He was undressing, and soon his attentions would turn to undressing her.

  As he straightened, he brushed up along the length of her body, his mouth trailing up her throat to claim her mouth again, to mold her lips against his and steal another moan from her.

  Emboldened by the darkness, her nervousness hidden from his experienced eyes, she stroked her hands down his bare chest, then leaned forward to trace her mouth after her fingers. When her seeking fingertips found one of his flat nipples, she dipped her head forward to flick her tongue over it before closing her lips around it and sucking gently. He inhaled through clenched teeth, and she thrilled at the reaction she stirred in him, wondering what else she could do to cause such a response, where else she could trail her mouth…

  She lowered her head to lick down his chest to the rippled muscles in his abdomen. Her tongue flicked over each hard ridge, slowly moving lower—

  With a sharp gasp, he shoved her backward and pinned her shoulder against the door with one hand to keep hold of her in the darkness while with the other he reached between them and worked at the buttons of his breeches. She heard the rustle of material sliding across flesh as he shed them from his legs, and heat washed down her body, all the way to the tips of her curling toes.

  He stood in the darkness with her, now completely naked. And she desperately wanted to touch him. Biting her lip to keep from losing her courage, she brushed her fingertips over his warm, bare body. Down his chest, lower to the muscular ridges of his flat stomach, then lower still…

  When her seeking fingers found him, large and erect, he flinched against her touch but didn’t stop her or shift away. So she traced her fingertips curiously up and down his hard length, making him shudder by gently rubbing her thumb across his tip. Her fingers trembled. So this was what a man felt like…Amazing. He was incredibly smooth, with soft skin belying the steely hardness beneath, and when her hand closed around him, his entire body stiffened as much as the thick shaft she now stroked within her palm.

  Her mouth went dry. She licked her lips, asking more huskily than she’d intended, “Is this…all right?”

  He groaned softly, and the hand he’d held pressed open-palmed against her shoulder curled slowly around her arm, gripping her as if to hold her in place, as if he were afraid she might slip
away into the darkness out of his reach. “It feels…” The words tore from him as she found a drop of wetness clinging to his tip and smeared it gently across his skin with her fingertip, and he had to draw in a deep breath to continue. “God, that feels so wonderful. You have no idea…”

  “Good,” she purred as warmth filled her at giving him this pleasure when he’d already given her so many.

  Although she thrilled at the way his breathing now came in labored pants, she was unprepared for the reaction that surged through her own body as the wet heat rose between her legs and her nipples tightened achingly. After their encounter in the morning room, she knew how wonderful he could make her feel, and she shamelessly wanted him to do that to her again.

  “Thomas,” she begged breathlessly, “please.”

  Answering with a groan, he grasped her in his arms, pressing her tightly against him as he turned with her in the darkness and backed her across the room. His lips were on her mouth, her jaw, her neck. His hands swept up and down her back, pausing to cup her buttocks though her breeches and squeeze in time with the plunging of his tongue inside her mouth. As if he couldn’t touch her enough, taste her enough—

  The backs of her knees hit something in the darkness. With a gasp she tumbled onto the sofa, flinging her arms around his neck to pull him down with her. As he leaned over to kiss her, his hands found the collar of her jacket, pushed it down from her shoulders and off her arms, then made equally quick work of unbuttoning her waistcoat.

  She tensed, unable to prevent the hard stab of jealousy at the thought of all the other women he must have undressed to have become such an expert at blindly undoing buttons in the dark. A stinging burned behind her eyes, and she trembled, suddenly realizing how far out of her depth she was with him. She didn’t even know where to place her hands or if the untrained caresses she’d just given him had been pleasurable enough.

  “Thomas, I’ve never…” She swallowed, nervousness at her lack of experience overwhelming her, and she trembled. “I’ve never been…undressed by a man before.”