How I Married a Marquess Read online

  “This is about proving my worth as a spy,” he admitted. “And getting that life back.”

  She raised her chin defiantly when she couldn’t free herself from his grip. “But you’re not a spy anymore. You’re—”

  She froze, suddenly stopping her struggling. Her green eyes flashed knowingly with a hundred emotions—and a thousand accusations.

  “That’s it, isn’t it?” she whispered. “Why you want to arrest me…so you can be a spy again.”

  The earth dropped away beneath him at her words. The terrifying burn flared up beneath his skin again, the same anxiety and desperation that being in her presence had held at bay. Until now. When he was losing her even as she sat perched on his lap.

  He took a deep breath to steady himself. “It’s not—”

  “That’s why you rode into the fight tonight to rescue me. It wasn’t that you didn’t want me arrested”—she swallowed hard, the words choking her—“but that you wanted to arrest me yourself. Wasn’t it?”

  “Josephine, please listen—”

  She pounded her fists against him. “Damn you! All this time you were lying to me, and I trusted you. You bastard!”

  “Listen to me!” He grabbed her wrists and held her hands still. “This is my last opportunity to be a spy again, so I took it.”

  “And what was tonight, then, Thomas? An opportunity for you personally?” She glared at him in betrayal, furious tears glistening accusingly in her eyes as she whispered, “You used me…”

  “I didn’t use you, damn it!” He tightened his grip around her wrists. “Yes, I came here because Royston promised to recommend me to the War Office if I stopped the highwayman. But then it all changed.” He dragged in a harsh breath. “And you, Josephine—I never expected to find you.”

  With a scowl he released her and set her away from him, letting her bottom bounce on the mattress as he dropped her, then stood and began to pace beside the bed, suddenly unable to stand still as anxiety and agitation rose inside him. But the unease wasn’t due to the demons and the darkness that had plagued him during the past year. This time it was desperation to keep from losing her.

  Her gaze followed him silently, glaring at him, but now more wary than furious, more confused than wounded.

  “And I certainly didn’t expect…this!” He gestured toward the bed in frustration. “You’ve changed everything for me.”

  He ran a hand through his hair and resisted the urge to punch the wall. She was angry at him, deservedly so, but her anger ate at him. He couldn’t ignore it, not after being so close to her. Not when he still wore the scent of her on his skin and still held the sweet taste of her on his lips.

  “I don’t believe you,” she said reservedly, her voice even. She was clearly not fishing for empty compliments as she added, “Actresses, opera singers, the darlings of London society—you must have been with lots of women, and I don’t presume to be special compared to them.”

  “Go ahead and presume it, chit.” He placed his hands on the mattress on either side of her and leaned in menacingly. “Because you are. I’ve never come across another woman as stubborn, self-confident, challenging, and downright aggravating as you.” When she scowled at the insults and tried to push him away, he leaned in even farther, so close he could feel the warmth of her breath on his lips. “Or one so beautiful, captivating, interesting…Half the time I don’t know whether to kiss you or throttle you, and I don’t care which as long as I get to have my hands on you.”

  Her lips parted silently in surprise.

  “And tonight, when I watched you ride toward that carriage and heard the gunshots, I was terrified. That’s why I rode into the fight to save you. Because I was terrified you might be hurt.” He shut his eyes tightly for a moment, “That I would lose you before I ever had you.”

  “Thomas,” she whispered.

  “And it stops now, understand? All this highwayman madness, all the robberies and the deceit. You nearly got caught tonight, and sooner or later you will misstep.” He roughly grabbed her shoulders and ignored her soft gasp. “Then I won’t have any choice but to arrest you, and no one will be able to save you. Do you understand?”

  He pushed her down onto the bed, his body sliding over hers and trapping her beneath him as his eyes bore into hers. They were lovers now, but also adversaries, and she was still the obstacle standing between him and his old life. Only now she was much more than just the highwayman he needed to arrest. Now she was also the damsel he needed to save, only this damsel kept putting herself into distress, and he worried he might not be able to save her if she kept on.

  Worse, his attraction for her went far beyond just a physical need to possess her, and even the hours he’d spent with her tonight had only whetted his appetite, not satiated it. The way she smiled and laughed, the unexpected comments that left him wondering what she’d do next, the fearless way she held her own against him…the woman cleaned orphanages on her hands and knees, for God’s sake! And all while somehow making him feel comforted. If he kept feeling this way about her, he might just be tempted to forget about returning to his old life and begin a new one. With her.

  His mouth swept down to capture hers, molding against hers and demanding a response until she moaned against his kiss.

  “Stop this business now,” he ordered, nipping his way down her jaw to her neck. Desire sprang up instantly between them again, but the cold warning in his voice was clear. “Or I’ll make certain you do.”

  “You can’t—”

  “I will arrest you if I have to in order to keep you safe.”

  He grabbed her arms and shoved them up over her head, pinning her against the mattress. When she tried to struggle, she could do little more than wiggle helplessly beneath him. Sweet Lucifer. His cock stiffened instantly.

  “No one will believe you,” she panted out her protest.

  “I don’t have to make them believe me. I just have to raise suspicions. The daughter of a baron accused of highway robbery? Your every move will be watched so closely you’ll never escape notice again.”

  “They’ll think you’re mad.”

  “Then I’ll tell them I know for a fact you aren’t the highwayman because you spent tonight in my arms.” He lowered his head and bit possessively at her throat. “All night.”

  The blood drained from her face. “That would ruin me…you wouldn’t dare!”

  “To keep you safe and alive?” He threatened, “Just try me.”

  Holding her breath, she stared up at him, and he could see her searching his face, attempting to discern how resolute he was. And when her shoulders sagged with a heavy sigh, although one still filled with anger and irritation, he knew she’d given up any attempt to defy him. Which was a good thing, too. Because when it came to protecting her, he wasn’t bluffing.

  “All right,” she agreed reluctantly through gritted teeth, as if every word pained her, “I won’t hold up any more coaches. Now let me go!”

  With a wave of relief so deep it surprised him, he released her. “At least you’ve come to your senses and will leave Royston alone—”

  Catching him off guard with a fierce shove, she flipped him onto his back, bringing her body over on top of his. It was her turn to trap him beneath her, yet if he’d wanted, he could have easily sent her flying across the bed with just a toss. But at that moment, with her legs straddling his waist, his hardening cock brushing tantalizingly against her inner thigh, escaping was the last thing he wanted to do.

  “To be clear, I never agreed to stop going after Royston,” she explained, leaning over him to pin his arms to the mattress above his head as he had done to her. Her bare breasts dangled deliciously in front of him.

  His lips twitched. She had no idea of the temptation she posed.

  “I agreed not to rob coaches.” She smiled slyly, and he wondered, again, exactly what he had gotten himself into with this woman. “I never agreed to stop robbing Royston and his cronies in other ways.”

  “Josep
hine.” Her name was a growled warning. “You will leave Royston alone, do you hear me? He’s dangerous. He sent men with guns after you tonight, and if he thinks he has nothing to lose, there will be nothing to stop him from hurting you.”

  She lifted her chin. “Maybe I have nothing to lose by going after him.”

  You have me to lose, but he bit his tongue. “You have a lot to lose,” he said instead. “Your family and friends, your home…” Your life.

  Her chestnut hair fell forward across her breasts as she leaned over him, as if waiting for him to continue and admit his feelings for her. But he couldn’t. He wasn’t ready to acknowledge those, not to her, nor even to himself. Not when he was too confused to know exactly what to feel about her.

  But he could offer her a piece of himself. “Let me do it, then, and not you.” He easily slipped his hand free from her grasp and brushed her hair over her shoulder and down her bare back. “Spying is what I do best.” His fingers curled around her shoulder to gently tug her toward him. “I’ll find your proof against Royston.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know yet.” He pulled her down to his chest and raised his head to touch his lips to hers.

  “But you will?”

  “I will.”

  “Promise?” she pressed.

  “Dear God, woman, you are difficult!” he muttered. In response her mouth curved into an amused smile.

  She shifted as she moved to slide off him, unwittingly brushing against his erection. Sucking in a mouthful of air between his teeth, he grabbed her hips and stopped her, to hold her still until he could recover.

  “Don’t move,” he ordered in a voice that sounded strained even to his own ears.

  But of course, she wasn’t about to do anything he asked of her. Instead the frustrating woman wiggled her bottom and sent an electric jolt pulsing through him.

  When she wiggled again, he knew she was toying with him. Purposely trying to drive him out of his mind. And succeeding. Because he was steel-hard now, throbbing painfully, and longing to bury himself between her legs.

  His breathing came shallow and ragged as he fought for control. If she didn’t stop rubbing against him like that, he was going to lose himself right there against her thigh before he was even inside her.

  “I want you, Thomas,” she whispered. “Just like this.” Her words sent heat pulsing into him. “Can we…is that possible?”

  His chest swelled. He felt impossibly more attracted to this woman who was so adventurous yet so inexperienced at the same time. He wanted to possess her. All of her. Every inch of her delectable body, every sigh and soft breath passing her lips, every misguided but kind and loyal thought stirring inside that sharp mind of hers.

  “Very much possible,” he answered with surprising tenderness.

  “Show me.”

  He shook his head. He wanted her desperately, but he would never hurt her. “You’re still sore from the first time.”

  “No, I’m not,” she insisted.

  He slid his hand between them to stroke his fingers against her damp heat. Already she was wet and quivering for him. “Are you sure?”

  As his fingers teased against her, she briefly closed her eyes. An expression of delight crossed her face, and her tongue darted out to lick her lips. “Oh yes.”

  “Then lift up.” He directed her with a hand on her hip as she rose onto her knees above him, her legs straddling his waist. His full erection pointed sinfully upward between her thighs like an arrow, large and long, and aching to strike its mark. “Now lower yourself.”

  As he guided her down slowly, a moan of pleasure sounded from the back of her throat as his cock slid smoothly inside her slick warmth, burying deep within her. Her full lips pulled into an O of silent surprise at the sensation of having him inside her at this angle as she sat perched on him, her sex fully sheathing his manhood. He held her unmoving against him for a moment to let her adjust, knowing she would be sore despite her protests to the contrary but unable to resist her siren song. Then he began to lead her in slowly raising and lowering herself, sliding so delectably up and down along his length in a steady rhythm.

  “Thomas, that feels so…” She trailed off into a deep sigh of pleasure.

  “Yes—yes, it does,” he agreed in a husky groan, his body aching with the same desire now moving through hers, and he thrilled that he was able to give her such pleasure.

  Letting her set their pace, he brushed his hands up her body to cup her breasts. He squeezed hard at the pebbled nipples between his thumbs and fingers in time with each rise and plunge of her body over his. Her eyes closed with a soft whimper, and she began to move faster as she ground her pelvis down against his with every rise of his hips beneath her.

  Her unpracticed movements felt incredible, but he wanted more. Grabbing her shoulders he pulled her forward until she lay nearly horizontal across his chest even as he continued to thrust upward into her, her fingers digging into the muscles of his upper arms and hanging on as if for dear life.

  “Like this,” he rasped, his hands sweeping down to cup her bottom and press her down harder over him as he drove up into her. He groaned. “Sweet Jesus, yes…just like this.”

  With the new angle of her tilted hips allowing him to plunge even deeper inside her, he shivered from the intensity sweeping through him, from the pleasure that he found in someone so fierce yet so gentle at the same time. Taking this much raw satisfaction in a woman seemed impossible, yet she was giving him exactly that. She made his body shake, his mind swirl, and his soul weep.

  She rocked forward and back over him now, her legs folded beneath her, her feet pushing for leverage against the mattress with each thrust. “It’s like…Oh my!” She paused to catch her breath, finally panting out, “It’s like riding a horse.”

  An unbidden memory stabbed into his chest of those mornings he’d spent with Helene in the stables, letting her bounce off on top of him. “It’s nothing like riding a horse, damn it,” he growled.

  Before she could respond, he lifted his head to snatch one of her breasts into his mouth as they danced just above his face, his lips latching tightly onto the nipple and sucking hard. He heard her gasp, then she arched her back and drove her breast deeper into his mouth even as her hips bore down against his cock. All those little muscles inside her drew up deliciously tight around him at the same time her nipple puckered against his tongue, and his cock jumped inside her. He was ready to burst.

  Her fingernails dug into his shoulders as she clenched her body around his. She was on the edge, ready to come at any moment. He took her nipple between his teeth and bit down.

  Tossing back her head, she cried out his name, high and helplessly. Her body shuddered violently against him as her thighs convulsed around his waist. Then she collapsed against his chest, her limp body trembling with spent desire.

  At the last possible moment, when he could barely hold back any longer and the first squirt started from his cock, he lifted her off him. He grabbed a pillow, placed it over his hips, and with a groan released himself into it, pulsating dully with exquisite satisfaction. He tossed the pillow onto the floor and gathered her into his arms, pressing her warm body into the tall curve of his. Then he kissed her with all the surprising tenderness swelling inside him and reached down between her legs. Even now he could still feel her orgasm throbbing dully against his fingertips and wished he could still be inside her, sharing that pleasure with her.

  His gut clenched as he placed a kiss against her hair. There was a time when he hadn’t cared about the consequences of bedding a woman, when he was younger and reckless and stupid. When he thought no harm would ever come to him. Now, though, he knew better. He was still willing to play with fire, he supposed, but the difference was that now he knew how devastating those flames could be.

  And with the wildfire that was Josephine Carlisle, well, it was only a matter of time until he got burned.

  Like riding a horse, she’d said. Never. Never something
that base. Not with her.

  He deserved that laugh from fate, he supposed, for the way he’d used Helene and let her use him. During all those mornings in his stable, he’d known he meant nothing to her and was simply an aristocratic cock servicing a bored widow. He’d thought she’d been fulfilling a need, but he’d had no idea how deep his need went until he met Josie. She did more than satisfy the need—she’d begun to heal him.

  Holding her naked and trembling in his arms, the heat of lovemaking still warm between them, he knew now the answer to the question that had been plaguing him since he arrived at Blackwood Hall. Why she affected him with such a primal pull the way no other woman ever had. Because with Josephine, what he experienced was more than physical lust, more than distraction—within her arms she held the possibility of happiness.

  The further irony was that Helene had never been up on a horse, not even for a slow amble through Hyde Park, while Josie was not only an expert rider who fearlessly charged into fights—

  His heart froze as the realization sank sickeningly through him. The damned horse!

  Scrambling to sit up, he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up with him. “Your horse,” he demanded, ignoring the sudden confusion flashing across her face. “Where do you stable it?”

  She blinked. “What?”

  “It ran away.”

  “The gunshots frightened him. Why—”

  “Think!” He shook her, trying to drive into her the importance of this. Christ! A spy lived and died by the details, but in his desire to spend the night with her, this detail had completely slipped his mind. “The men who came after you tonight saw it run off and will track it. Where would it have gone?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Chestnut Hill?”

  “No, I’ve never had him there.” The blood drained from her face. “But I’ve ridden him here.”

  He shook his head. “If your horse had come here, the constable would have arrived by now. Where is it stabled?”

  “With John Cooper and his family on their farm.” She pressed her hand to her mouth. “Oh God!”