Reason to Wed (The Distinguished Rogues Book 7) Read online

  The man at her side grunted. “What happened to her husband?”

  “A riding accident.” She winced. He did not appear happy with her choice or suggestion or the subject under discussion, but he had asked for her opinion. “Beauchamp’s death was sudden and her year of mourning ended some time ago.”

  “I see. How well do you know her?” he asked.

  “Enough to wish her a better future than her present.”

  “All right, I’ll bite.” He turned in the saddle, one hand on his hip. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “She lives with her husband’s parents. The second son will inherit and she’s looked upon I think as if she’s let them down. The second son mocks her openly. I do not like that.”

  Windermere fiddled with the reins. “I’ll think about it. After the house party.”

  After their affair ended was the meaning she heard behind his words. She would be sorry when their time was up, actually. She had enjoyed his attentions a great deal the past few days. They hadn’t argued, but the time they spent together was filled with tension of a different sort. A pleasant excitement that never failed to arouse her.

  After she left his estate, after the house party, she would have to make sure she never lapsed into foolish nostalgia because she felt certain she would remember every intimate detail of him.

  He turned into the forest, and she let the matter of whom to wed drop. It really wasn’t her business when or who he married, but Lady Alice Beauchamp was a nice young woman who’d already proven herself in childbirth. The woman would be a good candidate if he’d but listen to her suggestion and make a wise choice this time around.

  Esme held her mare in check when it would have followed him and stared across the valley behind her. To her left, farmland patched the valley floor and to the right, dense woodland stretched up to the highest peaks. The estate was a well-run enterprise with no loss of beauty or hardship for those who lived here. Behind her back was the forest marking the eastern border. Windermere kept his own woods sacrosanct and it had been rare he suggested a guest venture there, so she was doubly sure to enjoy such a boon.

  She enjoyed the view a time alone then urged her mare to follow him into the dark wood. The trail appeared to take them far away from prying eyes and into a world of dappled light and quiet sound.

  Windermere had waited for her a short distance in. He turned slightly in his saddle to see her. “Ride slowly,” he advised. “The branches are low in places and I’d not like you hurt.”

  She lifted her brows. “Such a gallant gentleman.”

  He grinned. “Compliments so early in the day? But it’s only eleven, Esme.”

  “Ungrateful rogue,” she teased, with only half her heart in the rebuke.

  Her breath caught as the real world fell far behind them. After a short ride, Windermere dismounted and led his horse toward a rough-hewn stone enclosure, almost a ruin. The place was likely private enough that no one would stumble upon the horses for some time.

  She remained in her sidesaddle, watching him tend his horse with experience and familiarity in every movement. He was in his element, running away from his responsibilities and his guests to play with her. The idea of it pleased her immensely, if only briefly.

  He came back to her grinning. “We’ll walk from here.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Somewhere I’ve never taken anyone else.”

  She leaned forward onto her knee. “Should I be honored?”

  “If you like.” He caught her about the waist and lowered her to the forest floor, then stole a long, hungry kiss from her lips. He teased into her mouth with his tongue, feeding the desire that lingered when he was near. She was breathless when he drew back and then he smiled, one brow rising over his striking blue eyes. Far too handsome for his own good.

  He took the reins from her, tended to her horse then secured both mounts in the small space. She frowned at the meager barrier.

  “Don’t worry,” he said, reading her mind. “They’re used to being left here and will remain calm until we return.”

  He held out his hand and she slipped hers into it. “I am very intrigued, Windermere.”

  “I hope so.”

  They walked a further ten minutes through pristine woodland, though following a well-trod path that she could never see the end of. “Others must come here.”

  “The family does, and some tenants if they’ve the stamina for the climb.”

  She glanced at the canopy of leaves above her head, but couldn’t see the peaks above. “Are we going up the mountains today?”

  “No, we’re here. Almost.”

  The rush of water greeted her, a fast-flowing stream, tumbling over mossy rocks not far ahead. Windermere guided her to the stream and then away. They squeezed between two trees grown close together and her heart lightened immediately.

  “Oh my.” He’d led her to a clearing, a grassy field protected by tall trees where the sun shone brightly through the gap in the canopy around them. “Heaven?”

  “Very close to it,” he murmured as he stripped off his gloves and shoved them in his pockets.

  She was drawn to the center and spun about in a slow circle. A tight feeling began in her chest and she set her hand over her heart. “I knew your home was beautiful but this I never expected to find hidden away.”

  Windermere strolled toward her, dropped the blanket he’d carried and caught her face between her hands. “As beautiful as you. Are you done communing with nature alone?”

  “Perhaps never,” she whispered, heart pounding at the wicked gleam in his eyes. Windermere removed her gloves and drew a straight line from the tip of her longest finger to her wrist. She swayed toward him a little.

  “I’ll tempt you away somehow.” He kissed her, slid his fingers into her hair and held her against him tightly. When the kiss broke, he brushed her cheek with his. “I’ll spread the blanket.”

  He chose a spot with a slight incline and removed his coat, waistcoat and footwear. He patted the space at his side. “We won’t be disturbed here. Come and lie down with me.”

  Then he tugged his cravat undone and left it dangling around his neck. He stretched out on the ground, sprawling on his back, his gaze locked on the patch of blue sky above them without a care in the world.

  Esme considered her surroundings a moment more. They were very alone and unlikely to be stumbled upon. She removed the dark-red jacket of her riding habit, and on a whim stepped out of the heavy skirt too. She stood in corset and shift beneath a soft undershirt but kept her footwear on, letting the sun bathe her in light and warmth. When she joined Windermere on the blanket, his eyes were fixed on her body. She held herself away from him and stretched her limbs.

  The peace of the place enveloped them. After a time, birds darted overhead, moving from tree to tree, the stream bubbled off in the distance. But nothing else moved or caused sound to be made. It was as if they were the only two humans in existence. She found Windermere’s hand and held it. “How long can we stay?”

  “An hour. A day. Forever.” He smiled lazily. “I’m in no rush to leave.”

  His words, although certainly not intended that way, caused her pulse to jump. He made her think of intimacy and sex and his grasping hands no matter where they were or what they were supposed to be doing. Making love to him came so very easily and as she lay on the forest floor, an undeniable surge of anticipation filled her. She wanted him. She always seemed to want him the moment they were alone.

  Windermere rolled toward her at the same moment she rolled toward him. They kissed again, lazy brushes of lip that set her body trembling. He cupped her breast and then dragged her close against his body. With the warmth of the sun and the scent of nature filling her lungs, her desire doubled.

  She’d always enjoyed the outdoors but rarely enjoyed it half dressed.

  Esme pushed Windermere onto his back and then straddled his lap, determined again to bend him to her will. Windermere slowly unfa
stened his trousers, pushed them down his legs and met her gaze. His cock was full, hard already.

  “I need you,” she whispered.

  “I need you too.”

  He smiled as she moved to mount him. Her body was ready and moist and she ached in lovely places. The slide of his heat into her core sent a moan tumbling from her lips. “That’s what I want,” she whispered.

  “On top again?” Windermere squeezed her bottom with both hands. “Ride me then, Essy.”

  She overlooked the shortening of her given name. She had overlooked half a dozen things he had done in the last days that had previously annoyed her. All so she might make love to him again.

  She let him slide in and out of her body, teasing herself, fulfilling her deepest desires to have her way. It had been rare to make love outdoors too. She’d never been this entirely private with a man outside and relished the sheer indulgence. She made good use of the occasion and expressed her pleasure openly, loudly.

  She pleased herself, pleased her own body’s astonishing craving for Windermere. She made her pussy ache, shoving him deep then holding him at her entrance. She rotated her hips and ground down onto him until she could take no more. And still it wasn’t enough. She was still hungry for him.

  She met his gaze and saw his eyes were wide, brow coated with sweat. His fingers dug into her thighs as she slid up and down his length. She was torturing him, exciting him. She couldn’t deny he did the same to her.

  “Tell me what you want,” he whispered.

  “I want to hear your voice.” She caught the ends of his cravat where it lay on his chest and tugged him up. “Tell me how you feel.”

  He rolled up, one hand slipping between her legs, the other sliding over her rump. His panting breath tickled her ear. “I would fuck you three times an hour if I could manage it. I would spread you over my lap, everywhere in my home, and possess you. I want my mouth on you, my cock in you at the same time. Dear God, I’ve never been with someone who made me feel so alive, so bloody eager. It’s like I’m sixteen again and with my first woman.”

  He squeezed her bottom again and she gasped. She tightened her grip on his cravat, using it as a tether, as reins as she rode him.

  He teased the bud of her clitoris with firm, fast strokes.

  She came undone suddenly. Caught unprepared, she screamed his name even as he shouted hers.

  The shocks of her climax continued to roll on and on until Esme was left shaking and weak.

  Richard caught her as she fell boneless into his arms, her grip on his cravat loosening. He eased her to the blanket with such gentleness that she closed her eyes. She had not experienced a release like that in her entire life and she hadn’t been prepared for the rush that had swept over her. She wanted to hold on to the feeling, the blinding contentment enveloping her, forever and never return to earth.

  “What the devil?” Windermere exclaimed when she did not stir. He slapped her cheek very gently. Once, twice.

  On the third, she opened her eyes and laughed at him. “I still breathe.”

  He sucked in a sharp breath. “Did you just black out?”

  Had she? “No, but I believe I’ve been to heaven and back in the space of a few perfect moments.”

  His brows rose. “Perfect?”

  “Oh, don’t let it go to your head.”

  Unfortunately, he puffed out his chest. “I am very pleased madam is so thoroughly satisfied with me.”

  She stared at him a moment then covered her face with both hands. “Gods, I thought you would be smug but that smile is beyond reason.”

  “I’m satisfied too, you know. I did not know it would be like this. This good between us.”

  “Well, now you do.” She lowered her hands slowly, just a little bit proud of herself as well. “Don’t ever doubt me again.”

  He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “Never, ever again.”

  He pressed a kiss to her breast as he rolled away to lay flat on his back and watch the sky above. He caught up her hand again and held it tightly within his. “What will I do after the house party?”

  She shaded her eyes with one arm, wondering the same thing. “There’s always another set of breasts, Windermere.”

  And there would be other men for her too.

  “True, but the rest of the lady matters, as you’ve just proved to me.” He kissed the back of her hand reverently once more. “I’ll return shortly.”

  Esme lowered her arm from her eyes to watch him walk away, hitching his trousers up as he went and fastening them. Her heart skipped a beat. She would be sorry to lose him as a lover but it was inevitable. He needed a wife who could give him babies and she never dabbled with married men.

  For an affair he was possibly perfect, but the rest she could never hope to have.

  Eleven

  Esme gritted her teeth a moment before responding to the insult her lover’s brother had just delivered very loudly to a crowded room. “Lord Avery, your compliments take my breath away.”

  For the life of her, she couldn’t fathom why Lord Avery Hill had taken a set against the world tonight, but he’d grown particularly cutting toward her in the last few minutes.

  “Wasn’t a compliment,” Avery slurred, the effects of his indulgence in spirits very obvious in the way he formed words. “Dragons need slaying and my sword is at the ready, ill-tempered wench.”

  The hovering crowd of guests sucked in a collective breath and the ladies began twittering behind their fans. Esme shook her head at their whispers. Avery was not always a nice man. Somewhat belligerent and entirely too sure his way was right, and they occasionally locked horns over his attitude that women were nothing more than disposable pleasures. Esme would weather whatever insults he threw out well enough, but the small crowd would remember every word he said and spread the news all over London.

  “I’d say you fit that description better than I.” She studied Avery with growing annoyance. He had already offended three other ladies tonight, made a pass at more than one servant, and refused to take himself somewhere more private to continue his drinking.

  And after such a satisfying ride with Windermere, and their tryst under the warm summer sun earlier, Avery’s attitude threatened to suck all the joy out of her day.

  Unfortunately Windermere was nowhere to be found, and since Oswin and Lady Jillian appeared helpless to control Avery, Esme could see no choice but to step in and save the evening from total ruin. “If you could lead the others away,” she whispered to Lady Jillian. “You might leave him to me.”

  Both Lady Jillian and the butler frowned at her request.

  She smiled reassuringly to both. “I know exactly what to do with him. Trust me.”

  Lady Jillian bit her lip a moment, torn but too timid to take charge herself. “You do not mind?”

  “Never fear. I grew up around belligerent men.”

  Jillian kissed her cheek. “I will owe you for this.”

  “And I promise to collect one day,” she returned halfheartedly before she ushered Jillian and the milling guests toward the door. Best not to have Lord Avery utter any further scurrilous opinions on her character to others. If he didn’t like her, so be it. But why he chose tonight to tell the whole world was disappointing.

  The butler hovered at the doorway, dragging his feet in leaving. “I should stay,” he offered.

  The faithful retainer appeared so concerned that Esme shook her head firmly. Better to have the older man elsewhere in case Avery’s attitude worsened. “Make sure everyone else is comfortable, Oswin,” Esme advised, and then slowly closed the door in his face.

  She knew how to handle men like Avery Hill. Her mother had died young and her brothers and father had been fond of drink in the years after. It had always been left to Esme to clean up the mess and right the furniture they’d knocked over as well as soothe ruffled feathers when she’d lived at home with them. Men often thought they were so clever, but a little gentle persuasion tended to go a l
ong way.

  She turned around and squared her shoulders. Avery followed her movements about the room through hooded eyes. He had made quite a mess and she straightened a few things back as she remembered them being positioned.

  “Why are you still here?” He scowled. “Get out too. Stay away from me. I’m not going to poach on my brother’s preserve.”

  Esme rolled her eyes at his contrary statements. “As if that were possible. A man of your appetites leaves me quite cold, I assure you.”

  His face darkened with anger. “I wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot pole.”

  “Say what you like to me, but I’ve always thought it preferable not to offend absolutely everyone at a house party when it’s only halfway done.” She smiled. “I sent the others away so you might enjoy keeping some friends for tomorrow and not completely embarrass your brother and poor sister.”

  “You can’t tell me what to do,” Avery hissed. “Just because my sainted brother got under your skirts doesn’t mean you’re on your way to becoming mistress of this house.”

  She burst out laughing at the mention of her fling with Windermere leading to a permanent situation between them. “Oh, my word, you must be foxed. I have a certain interest in your brother for the moment but I’ve no right or desire to keep him about for long, nor he me. In fact, I don’t believe I’ve ever entertained the idea before, but I do thank you for the amusement.”

  “Harridan.”

  She reached for the bottle at his side and lifted it to her nose. “Gin. How very common of you.”

  “It does the job. Damn Oswin hid the wine cellar key from me again,” he grumbled, sprawling deeper into the chair, holding a silver tankard at a clumsy angle in his fingers. Avery was so far gone he hadn’t noticed he’d run out. A little more spirits in him and hopefully he’d pass out and that would be the end of him for the night. Esme grinned at the idea, steadied his hand, and refilled the tankard halfway.