Page 36 of Entertaining the Earl (Vows in Vauxhall Gardens #2)

S he thought she had dozed for a while, although she had no way to tell. What she did know was that she was entirely naked, curled up against his solid body, a blanket pulled up to their waists.

He wore nothing either, and she blushed in that knowledge, even after all they had done.

“Colin?” she whispered, not wanting to move in case he was asleep.

“Yes, my love?” he mumbled. Those words again…words that filled her chest with warmth. Words that he seemed to truly mean.

“I love you.” She said it softly at first, testing it out, then repeated it with far more conviction. “I love you.” She thought she might have fallen in love with him the day he walked into the parlor and took her breath away. Love at first sight; it was not a notion she had believed in before.

But she could not deny its existence now.

“As I love you,” Colin said sleepily, leaning his head down to press a kiss to her mussed hair.

Sighing with contentment, Susannah leaned her cheek against his chest and closed her eyes, and she drifted back to sleep with his heartbeat as her lullaby.

*

Susannah had seemed surprised when Colin had expressed his wish to go to Vauxhall Gardens before they left on their travels.

“If it’s something you really don’t wish to do, I understand,” Colin said as they lay together in the bed of the inn, the morning sunlight streaming through a gap in the curtains, their bodies sated, weary, and joyful.

“I don’t mind,” Susannah said, lazily drawing circles with one finger across his chest. How glorious it felt to be able to touch him like this whenever she liked. “I just suppose I wasn’t expecting such an event. You never seemed to care greatly for society events, just like me.”

“I do not,” Colin agreed. “But I would like to do this, just once, before we leave for a while. If you’ll indulge me?”

She tipped her head backward so that she could kiss his lips and then settled back against his chest. “Of course. Anything, my love.”

He did not tell her the true reason he wished to attend, for he thought it might make her nervous or uncomfortable.

And perhaps it was wrong of him, that he had a strong urge to return to the place where he and Susannah had made their silly vow of a fake courtship—in return for some peace and quiet, both from the ladies of the ton and from Susannah’s parents.

He did not only wish to return, but to show the gossiping busybodies there what a love match really looked like.

He didn’t imagine Susannah had even thought of such a thing, but he wanted to display her triumphantly as Lady Bourne, to silence those witches who had spoken of her so cruelly before they disappeared to enjoy each other without others around to complicate things.

He thought there was a good chance they would not return to England for several months. Perhaps longer; there was so much he wanted to show Susannah. And he wanted to leave England under no illusion that Susannah had been his choice .

And that he was wholly in love with her.

And, as she had revealed to him the night before, so was she.

Things really could not have ended more neatly.

*

Even though visiting Vauxhall Gardens had been one of the society events Susannah had least detested, she still found her stomach filled with butterflies as they made their way across by boat.

She didn’t really understand Colin’s desire to attend, but considering the happiness he had brought her, she had no intention of denying him anything he wanted.

Most of her belongings had been packed in trunks for their journey north and then across the sea—but she had managed to retrieve one of her more fashionable dresses. She did not want to let Colin down by looking like a dowdy maid.

He had made it clear to her on several occasions the previous evening that he found her beautiful, and she almost believed that he did. But that did not mean that society would see her through such rose-tinted glasses.

They had planned to travel abroad without servants and hire them when needed once they arrived, but Susannah had sent for Louise to come to the inn that evening, and the maid had happily done so to help her dress and fix her hair.

She had not expected to be on display quite so soon, and the thought of what the gossips would have to say about the new Lady Bourne made her stomach churn.

As if reading her thoughts, Colin reached out and took her hand. “All will be well. We will see the Cascade, dance, watch the fireworks—and then tomorrow we shall depart and leave all of this behind us for the time being.”

Susannah nodded. She did not want to confess her worries to him, for they seemed so silly.

Did it matter what others thought of her when she was confident in his opinion of her?

She had allowed their opinions to cloud her judgment, to make her believe that Colin had to be false, for no man—and certainly not one as handsome as him—could ever have considered her for a wife.

And yet he had. And she was Lady Bourne. So she knew the words of those vipers should not matter.

And yet she was rather afraid they would still hurt.

The gardens were buzzing with conversation and music and laughter, and Susannah held on tightly to Colin’s arm as they moved through the crowds, making their way to procure refreshment.

Whenever they were noticed, Susannah was sure that whispering followed, but she tried to hold her head high and ignore it. She definitely heard the words Miss Lyttleton , and plain , and surprising —but she hoped Colin had not.

After a drink to fortify her nerves, Colin turned to her and asked, “Would you do me the honor of the next dance, Lady Bourne?”

She smiled in spite of herself at her new name and took his hand gladly. “You may have every dance,” she said, and he led her onto the dance floor, where they certainly had the interest of the audience.

Once the music began, Susannah tried very hard to focus only on Colin, on the steps, on the fact that the last time she had danced with him here, she had thought he was a kind, handsome man whom she would never know better—and now she was his wife.

As they danced, it became easier to forget the crowd around them, and when the music ended, it felt as if they were the only two people there.

Colin bowed to her, and she giggled and curtsied back, then threaded her arm through his, resting her head momentarily on his shoulder as they exited the dance floor.

It was then that she became aware once more of the eyes upon her and realized she was probably being far too familiar for a public setting.

And yet Colin didn’t seem to mind—in fact, as they approached the Cascade, he turned his head and pressed his lips briefly to the top of her hair and squeezed her hand.

“The Cascade is beautiful, is it not?” Susannah said with a sigh.

“It is,” Colin agreed. “But not as beautiful as my wife.”