Page 14 of A Kiss For All Time (For All Time #2)

“Who is she?”

Lady Witham cast Benjamin’s guest a slanted glare while she sipped her tea in the dining Hall.

“My Elizabeth heard she comes from Belstead,”

the Duchess of Braintree said in a low, secretive voice.

The ladies at the table turned to the Marquess of Ipswich’s wife, who shook her head.

“No one in Belstead has heard of her.”

“The duke certainly seems smitten with her,”

Margaret Somner’s mother, the Duchess of Halstead remarked.

“If anyone knows anything about her, it’s you, Lady Prudence.”

The Duchess of Nottingham, Lady Charlotte’s mother, set her resentful gaze on Prudence.

Her pride was still wounded since Benjamin had Lady Charlotte removed from Colchester House.

But it hadn’t stopped her from accepting Prudence’s invitation for tea.

“I know only this; my brother is smitten indeed,”

Prudence told them, looking up from her cup and setting her gaze on Miss Ramsey sitting across the room with Stephen and Edith and two other servants.

Soon, she’d have all the servants sitting at the tables with them!

“You don’t like her,”

Lady Witham said snidely.

“What I think of her doesn’t matter.”

But truthfully, Prudence didn’t hate her.

She was homeless, as Prudence had once been.

But that was where her empathy ended.

Benjamin needed to keep their father’s name well respected.

She let her gaze slip to her brother speaking to these women’s husbands.

Prudence knew him well enough to see by his fidgeting that he wanted to finish up with them and get back to Miss Ramsey.

She’d wondered what it was about her brother’s guest that attracted him so much, but after watching Miss Ramsey flip her brother twice and knock Lord Sudbury off his feet, Prudence could see how such an unconventional woman would pique Benjamin’s interest.

Was that all it was? Curiosity? Would he grow tired of her? Watching him flick his gaze to where Miss Ramsey sat laughing with the help made Prudence doubt that it was trivial.

She couldn’t remember a time in Benjamin’s life when he was interested in a girl.

What girl would have shown him any interest back then when he was always covered in bruises? She realized her brother was considered very handsome now, but when he had a black eye and a fat lip he was less adorable.

Goodness, but did he smile every time he met Miss Ramsey’s gaze? The fact that he smiled at all…Simon had been correct.

Her little brother looked happy.

She had to admit, it was nice to witness.

It took her a moment to realize there was a server standing beside her about to set down a tray of cinnamon scones on the table.

“What’s this?”

The server didn’t answer but moved aside to make room for Miss Ramsey.

“I hope you don’t mind, Lady Prudence.

I asked Lord Sudbury what you enjoyed at the table and he told me you liked cinnamon scones, so I asked the baker to prepare them for you.”

Prudence sat there stunned for a moment.

What was she to say to that? The scones smelled delicious.

She looked over to where Simon sat and smiled at him.

Then she turned her gaze on Miss Ramsey.

“Thank you.”

“Does the baker take orders from you, then?”

the Duchess of Braintree asked.

“I didn’t order him to do anything,”

Miss Ramsey told her.

“He did it because it was for Lady Prudence–”

Miss Ramsey smiled at her– “As anyone here would do.”

Prudence knew the baker didn’t do it for her.

None of the servants cared for her.

She was unkind to them.

The baker did it for Miss Ramsey.

“Until someone takes my place,”

Prudence brought up with a short laugh.

“No one can take your place,”

her brother’s guest assured her.

“Most of these people have known you since you were a little girl.

They loved you then and they love you still.”

Prudence cleared her throat and took a moment before she spoke.

She found her brother, coming toward them.

He was still smiling.

Simon was smiling, as well, but then, that was nothing new for him.

“What’s this?”

her brother asked when he reached them and saw the tray of cinnamon scones.

“They are a gift from Miss Ramsey,”

Prudence told him.

So then, he wasn’t a part of this?

He set his gaze on Miss Ramsey and Prudence swore she hadn’t seen her brother’s eyes go so warm in almost twenty years.

Something in her heart thumped watching him.

Did this woman make him happy? Prudence had to ask herself, what was more important, her father’s name, or her brother’s happiness?

“That was very thoughtful of you,”

he told his guest with the most tender inflection in his voice his sister had ever heard.

He turned to Prudence.

“Wasn’t it.”

“Yes, very,”

Prudence agreed.

“Why don’t you both have one?”

Her brother accepted, but Miss Ramsey refused the offering.

“The baker wouldn’t allow a single scone to leave the kitchen if it wasn’t perfect.

I ate two of them already.”

Her smile widened into a grin that Prudence hated to admit, was quite endearing.

Her brother thought so too.

Staring at her, he let out a little laugh.

Prudence looked at Simon leaving his seat and heading their way.

She knew what these looks and dreamy smiles meant, for she shared them with Simon since she was a child.

“What else is the baker holding back in the kitchen?”

Benjamin’s voice dragged Prudence’s attention back to him and Miss Ramsey.

“Come, show me.”

“Yes, Your Grace,”

Miss Ramsey replied with a secretive smile, then sweetened it up when she turned to Prudence.

“Good day, my lady.”

Prudence watched them walk away.

Simon was stopped by the Earl of Chelmsford.

She was happy the nobles who’d come for her ball were leaving in a few days.

Benjamin had refused to open the guest rooms to most of them, so their lodgings were elsewhere.

Still, they came for tea and to hopefully find out who among their daughters her brother was thinking of choosing for his wife.

“She has her hooks in him and now she’s trying to dig them into Lady Pru,”

snarled Lady Rayleigh, mother of the well-educated Joan D’Artane.

“He’d never choose her as a wife, would he?

“She’s like a red witch with that hair of hers falling all around her.

Why isn’t it tied up?”

Lady Witham complained.

“Why doesn’t she powder her face? She almost looks indecent!”

Lady Rayleigh added indignantly.

“Poor duke.

He’s helpless toward her,”

Lady Ipswich lamented.

Everyone knew her daughter was in love with Benjamin.

Prudence wanted to hold her hands over ears to block out their clucking voices.

Yesterday she would have sat here agreeing with them.

But today…she thought of her brother’s happy face.

She looked at the scones.

“We should help him,”

the Duchess of Braintree suggested.

“She just showed up here one day,”

said the Duchess of Nottingham slyly.

“She could disappear just as easily.”

Prudence closed her eyes.

How had it come this far? What were they saying?

“With her out of the picture, the duke would have to choose one of our daughters,”

Lady Ipswich pointed out.

“What do you suggest we do?”

asked Lady Chelmsford, biting into a scone.

“Bringing her harm isn’t the answer,”

Prudence told them.

“Besides, I doubt anyone could lay a hand on her without ending up flat on their back.”

“Have you been so easily bought with a tray of cinnamon scones?”

the Duchess of Nottingham asked her.

“You should have tossed them in her face.

Prudence had enough.

She turned her clenched jaw on the duchess.

“Are you now telling me what to do in my own house, Duchess?”

“Good afternoon, Ladies,”

Prudence’s handsome beloved saved her from saying more, like; get out and stay out! No, the Duke of Nottingham’s eldest son had fought alongside Benjamin.

She almost sighed thinking how that fact hadn’t mattered to her brother when he threw Charlotte out.

“Lady Prudence, may I speak with you?”

She blinked to clear her thoughts and smiled at him.

He still made her heart race.

“Of course.”

“Let’s go for a walk in the garden,”

he suggested, taking her hand as she hurried to him.

She heard the other women swooning and sighing over Simon.

She wasn’t jealous.

They were old, powdered, married ladies.

No one had ever made her jealous.

Except Miss Ramsey that day in the hall while they shared laughter over a kitten.

But her brother had vanquished every doubt about to whom Miss Ramsey was losing her heart.

She may be poor and she may have come here to take Benjamin’s money, but she looked at him the way Prudence looked at Simon.

He led her to the garden outside and turned to her.

She looked up at him knowing and loving every inch of his face, every curve of his lips and how they felt against hers.

He pulled something from his coat and took her hand.

“Prudence, marry me today.”

He held a small box open before her.

In it was a ring–

“I’ll extend my leave,”

he vowed, handing her the ring.

“We’ll go home to Sudbury and you can make it our home until I come back to you.

It’s time, my love.”

It was time.

Benjamin must have told him something–that he no longer needed her.

“More than anything I want to be your wife.

Let me just get Ben– He shook his head.

“Ben has fallen in love with Miss Ramsey, Prudence.

Can’t you see it?”

“Yes, but that will wear off.”

“Has it worn off for you?” he asked.

She stopped arguing lest he believe it had.

“No, my love.

It never will.”

“Then trust the man with whom you share blood.”

“But, Simon, what if he loses everything?”

“If that happens, be grateful he’s with a woman who knows how to live with nothing.

But he’ll never have nothing.

Not as long as I live.”

She looked up into his eyes and then threw herself into his arms.

While he held her and then placed the ring on her finger, she thought about what the ladies meant about Miss Ramsey disappearing.

Should she tell Simon? Her brother? Or maybe this was the answer to her prayers.

Miss Ramsey would no longer be a concern and Prudence would have had nothing to do with it.

#

Ben watched her move toward the kitchen, then hurried forward and grabbed her wrist to stop her just before she entered.

“I thought you were hungry?”

she asked.

He smiled and dipped his gaze to her throat like a wolf that hadn’t eaten in a week.

She squeaked with surprise and excitement when he swooped down on her.

Narrowly escaping, she took off running.

Ben grinned watching her departure.

He drew his bottom lip between his teeth and then gave chase.

He couldn’t stop the thought of his thrilling victory with her alone in the vacant east wing–where she was heading.

All day, while he was stuck entertaining boring noblemen, his thoughts were with Fable and the night they spent together on the floor in his study and then in his bed.

She was bold and playful, innocent and yet purposefully alluring and unashamed.

She thrilled him.

He couldn’t get enough of her and after talking through the night and making love in between, he wasn’t done.

He almost caught her twice and basked in the sound of her laughter.

He could have outrun her, but what fun would that be? They passed a few servants, who stopped what they were doing to watch them in stunned silence.

When Ben saw a large set of wooden double doors, he sped up, took Fable’s hand and led her the rest of the way.

He pushed open the doors and pulled her inside and into her arms.

“Where are we?”

She giggled into his mouth when he kissed her.

“It’s a guest room that probably hasn’t been occupied since the house was built for my father.”

He looked around, trying to see into the shadows the shuttered windows created.

“I think it’s used for storage now.”

“Are there candles?”

she asked into his chest.

“I want to know for certain that no one is watching us.”

He checked around and found some candles and lit two then inspected every corner.

When he came to the last wall, he turned to toss her a reassuring smile.

They were alone.

There were paintings resting against the wall.

His candles fell on a painting of a face that still haunted his dreams.

He went still.

His father. How long had this been here? He would have it brought to his rooms tomorrow. For now, he turned it around to face the wall, and not him…or her.

He turned to smile at her.

“What is it?”

“A painting.

Come, through there.”

He pointed to another door.

“So I can have my way with you.”

His eyes darkened on her and he laughed and led her forward.

The next room was a parlor with cushioned chairs and a sofa upholstered in crimson linen.

“Are you trying to win over Prudence?”

he asked her while she stepped around the sofa to open the shutters of a window.

“Yes.

Should I not?”

He went to her and closed his arms around her.

“I think it’s an excellent idea.

I know Prudence can be difficult.

Thank you for trying.”

He bent his head to kiss her mouth.

He felt as if he were living in a dream.

He was happy.

He had truly forgotten what it felt like.

Seventeen years of plotting revenge, training in order to carry out that revenge.

He’d killed hundreds of them before and after he returned from Germany.

How many more before his heart was satisfied?

But he didn’t think about revenge or fighting when he was with her.

She made him care about living.

While he branded her mouth with his, a fleeting thought crossed his mind about what he was willing to give up for her.

Today he cared less about fighting than he did yesterday, and less yesterday than the day before that.

He only wanted to kiss her, breathe her, hold her–

And now they were finally alone.

He kissed her wildly, passionately while he pulled her out of her clothes, and she pulled him out of his.

He stopped now and then to have a look at her, to gather her in, and reassure himself that she was his.

When he set her naked body down on the sofa, she spread her legs to receive him.

His heart thundered like a war drum in his ears.

He loved her for wanting him.

He’d make certain she always wanted him.

He moved over her then rested his chest against hers.

“Do you feel my heart beating?”

She nodded and smiled.

“Is that because of me?”

“Yes,”

he told her softly while he pressed his lips to her chin and her neck.

He stopped and looked at her as he sank into her.

“You make me feel like I’m being reborn.”

He couldn’t look at her without almost falling off the edge of control.

He didn’t want this to be over so quickly, so he closed his eyes.

He lowered his head to drink from the breasts she offered him.

His muscles trembled at her hold on him, closing tight around the length of him until he almost cried out.

He lifted her to him when he hovered over her and thrust deep into her over and over, slowing his pace, and then quickening it again.

He kissed her and whispered things over her skin about how very beautiful she was to him, and how much she meant to him.

Every promise to love and protect and honor her–and anything else she added–was sealed with a kiss.

When they almost slipped off the sofa in each other’s arms, they laughed and kissed some more.

He let her turn over so that he was sitting up under her, his back slouching against the cushioned back, his erection pointing straight up.

She wasn’t afraid to climb right on him.

He smiled and held her hips while she moved up and down, tossing her head back like some wild forest faerie sent to steal his heart and his virginity.

He smiled and sucked in his bottom lip.

He’d gladly give up both.

He watched her as she deepened her movements and clenched him tighter as he swelled inside her.

They released their passion together, and when it was over, she fell over him.

He took his time catching his breath, though with all his practice on the field, it didn’t take long.

He took her face in his hands and smiled into her eyes.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,”

she replied in turn.

“I told Sudbury so that he could prepare himself,”

Ben told her, “for when I tell Prudence that you and I are to be married.”

“Married?”

Fable asked in surprise.

“Yes, Stephen has sent for the priest.”

“You’re really going to marry me, Ben? I’m poor.”

“Not for long.”

He smirked smugly.

When she laughed behind her hand, he pulled her down for a kiss, then pushed her down on her belly and rose up above her.

He smiled and bit his lower lip, then swooped down on her.