Leo sat, his head spinning, his thoughts whirling around, grappling over what he should do next...until Pennybacker came into the gaming room and demanded in a loud whisper what Leo wanted with his Weslorian maid and asked him to take his leave.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN


A certain peacock, whose feathers are easily ruffled, is nonetheless fanning them fully to attract the attention of a bachelor viscount. We have high hopes that someone will offer for the little bird before she molts.

Two ladies were spotted in gowns designed by Lady Caroline Hawke. There is some talk that Lady Caroline will invest in a shop so that she might share her talents with all the ladies of London.

Ladies, it should not have to be stated that gray is not a suitable color for a summer ball, and perhaps should be reserved only for a period of mourning.

—Honeycutt’s Gazette of Fashion and


Domesticity for Ladies

IT REQUIRED BOTH Leopold and Garrett to engineer Beck into the house and to his bed, with Caroline hurrying ahead to remove any obstacles to their progress. When he was at last on his bed, one leg sprawled off the side, Beck lamented the amount of money he’d lost at the gaming table.

As Garrett was in his nightshirt, Caroline said, “See to Beck, Garrett. I’ll see the prince out.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Beck said from the bed and struggled up onto an elbow. “Leo...promise me if anything were to happen to me, you’ll take care of Caro.”

“Beck!” Caroline exclaimed. “Nothing will happen to you. You’re drunk and talking nonsense.”

“Promise me, man,” Beck insisted. “I know you keep an eye on her—don’t think I’ve not noticed,” he said, wagging a finger at empty space.

“Je, friend, I promise,” Leo said with a grin.

“Come and fetch her if you must. She’d be better off in Alucia than she would be with these jackals.” His eyes slid closed.

“My goodness,” Caroline said. “Your Highness, shall I see you out?”

They walked out as Garrett attempted to remove Beck’s shoes.

In the hall, as Caroline closed the door to Beck’s room, Leo leaned against the wall, smiling ruefully. He’d undone his neckcloth and looped his sash over one arm. He was so appealing standing there that her heart began to skip. She grabbed his hand and tugged him along, hurrying down the stairs and into the drawing room.

The hearth was cold, the drapes drawn. She groped on a table for a candle and found one, struck a match and provided a small bit of light. She held it up and turned around.

He took the candle from her hand and placed it on the table, then took her into his arms.

She didn’t know what she was doing, other than she couldn’t bear to lose a moment with him. “Everything has turned on its head, hasn’t it? Hollis told me what happened, but not before Katherine Maugham came to tell me that out of concern for my feelings, she thought I ought to know that she saw you trying to seduce a maid, and I should not believe that your attentions to me were anything but for show.”

“She said what?” he asked, incredulous.

Caroline waved a hand at him. “She delighted in telling me, you may trust.”

“She delighted in telling Lord Pennybacker, as well,” he said wryly. “It doesn’t matter. Rasa refused to go. She likes her post. I told Pennybacker that the poor lass had rebuffed my advances and fled.”

“Leopold!”

“What was I to say? I couldn’t risk the blame falling to her.” He stroked Caroline’s face. “I have tried my best, but I think I must accept that I can’t save them all. Rasa has refused me, and the girl at the Farringtons’ may, as well. And that leaves one missing yet.”

“Maybe the girl at Priscilla’s will know where the other one is?” Caroline offered hopefully. “I’ll help you in any way that I can.”

But Leopold was already shaking his head. “No matter what happens at the Farrington supper, I will depart a day or two later, depending on the tide.” He stroked his thumb across her cheek.

That was it, then—the end date. Caroline lifted her hand and wrapped her fingers around his wrist. “Leopold...” She couldn’t bring herself to say the words that were in her heart and on her mind. She suddenly threw her arms around his neck to kiss him. He caught her by the waist, making a sound like a laugh into her mouth. But this was no laughing matter to Caroline. She had found the one she wanted. The man who made her want to leave everyone else behind. The man who had made her think beyond herself, who had seen something in her beyond her looks.

The need for him struck her almost violently. The swell of adoration for him was so powerful it left her dizzy, almost like a waking dream.

His arms circled tightly around her, his tongue seeking hers. Her desire enveloped her like a blanket of torment and pleasure—her heart ached and swelled and pounded against her ribs. She felt as if parts of her were cracking open, and the heat of him was seeping into her marrow. She clung to his body, to his lips, and her thoughts deserted her.

Leo groaned from somewhere deep. He lifted his head, gripped her arms tightly. “Don’t, Caroline. I have reached a point where I can’t continue like this, not without...”

“I won’t stop,” she said, and eagerly sought his mouth as her fingers tangled in his hair.

Leo suddenly lifted her off her feet and moved to the settee. He dipped down to the hollow of her throat. “I haven’t forgotten what you said. That you will defend your virtue until you marry,” he said roughly, and shoved his fingers into her curls, pulling some free.

She pushed against his shoulder and made him look at her. “That’s not what I said. I said I wouldn’t part with it unless I was in love.”

Leo’s blue eyes darkened in that low light and he sank back. “Are you in love?”

“Do you really need to ask?” She cupped his face with her hands. “I love you, Leopold. I ardently admire you. I adore you. If you were any other man, I would beg you to ask for my hand.”

Leopold’s expression turned wild. He grabbed her hand and pressed her palm against his chest so that she could feel his wildly beating heart. The force of it surprised her. He looked almost pained as he caressed her face, her shoulder, his fingers trailing over the swell of her breasts. “I love you, Caroline. I don’t know how it happened, how you crept under my skin and into my heart. I don’t know how you inserted yourself into my every waking thought. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was never meant to be like this.”

“I know, I know, but I don’t care,” she said breathlessly. “I know I can’t have you, Leopold, but I can’t let you leave and not say or experience these raging feelings for you. I’m desperate with want. Aren’t you?”

“Desperate,” he muttered. He stroked her face, his eyes searching hers. But then his gaze fell to her lips. “Close your eyes.”

Caroline closed her eyes and lay back on the settee, giving in to her desire and to him. He moved his mouth over her skin, his touch burning a trail in its wake. She felt white-hot inside, desire thrumming and pulsing in her, anticipation and such incredible longing shimmering out through her toes and fingers.

He slid his hands down to her ankle, then his fingers beneath the hem of her gown and on her calf, and then up, to her thigh, to her sex. She skated her hands over his shoulders and his chest, insistent. She kissed him and pressed her body against him, wanting more, wanting everything about him.

His kisses turned blistering, and his hands were between her legs, stroking her. But it wasn’t enough for her this time. Caroline slid her hand down his body and stroked his erection. Leo grunted and pressed against her, so that she could feel how hard he was, how he wanted her.

It was extraordinary that desire could burn so fiercely in her that she could abandon the barriers she’d erected to keep her virtue. He had easily torn down the doors of her defense and made her his. All that Caroline knew was that she’d never felt anything as urgent, as imperative, as the desire to have him.

He filled his hand with her breast, kissed her chin, her throat and the spill of her flesh above the bodice of her gown. He moved down her body, kissing her stomach through her dress and her corset, then moved up, sank his fingers into her cleavage and released a breast. He suckled it, then rolled the tip between thumb and forefinger. Caroline gasped with pleasure.

“You must be sure,” he said, pressing his forehead against hers, his breathing as ragged as her own. “You must be certain this is what you want, because God help me, I am not man enough to help you decide. I am but a breath away from ravaging you. Do you understand me, Caroline?”

He was a good man. A decent man. She drew up on an elbow and kissed his mouth. “I’m not asking you to help me decide anything, Leopold. I’m asking you to take me.”

The light in his eyes seemed to shimmer in the darkness. He muttered something in Alucian and lowered his head to hers, kissing her tenderly, reverently. But the tenderness quickly gave way to heat, and his hands and his mouth were everywhere. He ripped the coat from his body, grabbed the shirt and pulled it over his head. Her hands touched the flesh of his chest for the first time and Caroline groaned.

He reached his hand between her legs and began to stroke her, moving his fingers inside her, helping her body to open. She was wild and uncertain what to do, or where to put her hands. Her breath was so shallow, as if she’d run for miles to him. She could feel the inevitable release building in her, and she grabbed his nape, pulled his head to hers, kissed his lips and bit the bottom one. “It’s time.”

“God, woman, you drive me to madness,” he said. “Be still now. Be easy,” he whispered.