Page 21 of The Lady’s Sweet Revenge (Safely in Scotland #3)

H arlow hoped she’d done an adequate job of hiding her disappointment when she opened her door to find Lady Breckenridge rather than her son.

After they’d gone their separate ways, Harlow had grown weary and returned to her room to ready for dinner. But when the time came to descend the stairs, she couldn’t do it.

She didn’t want to sit with them at dinner, making polite conversation and spewing more lies. Lies she feared the woman might see through if Harlow was not on guard the entire meal.

She could only feign their innocence for so long when what she was really thinking was how she might pull Reese into a dark room and kiss him again. No, it was better if she hid away and took her meal in her room where it was safe.

“We missed you at dinner, my dear. Are you well? The earl stated you’ve had megrims quite often since you arrived.”

Harlow smiled at the way the woman made it sound as if she’d arrived in a carriage instead of spat out on the shore by the sea.

“That is true. After being hit on the head, it has bothered me. But it is not as bad as it once was. Originally I could hardly stand the light.”

The woman nodded.

“It was lucky my son was at home to aid in your recovery.”

“Yes,” Harlow said carefully wondering if it was a trap. This was the very reason why she hadn’t gone down to dinner.

“I don’t recall you being betrothed.”

“Pardon?”

“You turned down my son’s offer. I can only think you would do so if you were already engaged.”

“No, my lady. I am not engaged. It is just that I know Re—Lord Breckenridge does not wish to marry.”

The woman’s brow rose at Harlow’s near slip before she let out an unladylike sound and waved. “The lad is stubborn is all. He doesn’t know what he wants.”

Harlow winced at this and shook her head.

“No. He’s a man. And while he made an offer to be honorable, it was clear he wishes to marry only when he is free to do so. Not out of duty or obligation. And, I would say, I agree. I’ve turned away many suitors already. Men who wanted my dowry without a thought for me.”

“It is a luxury many do not have to be choosy.” She raised her blonde eyebrows at Harlow.

“I understand. And I realize now, that perhaps I relied on other opinions too often. Still, I will accept a man I can consider a friend and partner.”

“I see.” She let out a breath and turned for the door. “I’ll leave you to your rest. I hope your megrim subsides by morning. You and I will be spending a great deal of time together. I do hope you like embroidery.” Somehow the woman had made it sound like a threat.

After Harlow had assured Lady Breckenridge she was in good health and looked forward to seeing her in the morning, the woman patted Harlow’s hand and left the room.

Harlow waited a moment before she peered out in the hall to see what room the woman had gone to.

She saw the door at the far end of the hall close and returned to her own room.

Harlow changed for bed and then lay there looking up at the canopy above her for the next hour. For as tired as she’d been earlier, she didn’t feel the faintest hint of fatigue now.

She tossed to her other side as her mind whirled with thoughts of kissing Reese and the way he’d touched her. He’d shown her how to touch herself to bring about her own pleasure, but she knew it would be a poor substitute for the man she wanted in her arms.

She appreciated that he’d stopped them before anything had happened. She understood why he’d done as much. He’d been right, she’d not been thinking clearly. Her mind had been muddled with desire.

He’d trusted her to know her own mind, but wanted her to be sure. Now, here alone, with her body cooled—or at least not as heated—she found she still wanted him just as much as she had that afternoon.

Of course, if they’d proceeded earlier, they would have certainly been caught by his mother when she’d arrived.

Harlow knew having a chaperone would be important in sparing what was left of her reputation. It meant she would be able to return to London next year and be accepted in Society.

There, she might meet a man who would become her husband and the father to her children. But that seemed so long from now. And she’d waited so long already, she didn’t want to wait anymore.

Reese had awakened feelings in her she wanted to explore. Things having his mother here had put an end to before Harlow was ready.

The older woman seemed intent on marrying them off so they would need to be careful. If she so much as caught them looking at each other with passion in their gaze, they would likely find themselves in front of a blacksmith. At least that’s the way Harlow had heard they did things in Scotland.

Perhaps it was best if they kept their distance from each other so not to get caught. Disinterest would help to convince the countess there was nothing between them.

Not that there was anything between them. Except, she found she very much wanted there to be. Once she’d decided on her plan, she hopped out of bed eager to set it in motion.

Opening her door, she looked to her left. Harlow wondered if the countess usually stayed at the opposite end of the hall from her son, or if Reese had done that for some other purpose. Maybe that slight hostility between them was more serious than she’d thought.

Harlow would figure that out later. All that mattered now was that the woman would be far enough away that she wouldn’t hear Harlow leaving her room and heading in the opposite direction.

Harlow winced and froze when her door squeaked upon opening wider. After a few seconds when nothing happened, she continued on her way.

Wiping her damp palms on her dressing gown, she padded silently down the hall to the room she knew belonged to the earl.

Listening at the door, she waited making sure she didn’t hear him speaking to his valet, and then she tapped lightly, the sound so much louder in her mind that it probably was. In fact, it must have been too quiet for it seemed he’d not even heard it.

She knocked again a little firmer and a few seconds later the door opened.

Reese stood before her in only his breeches with his braces hanging at his hips. His chest was bare and she noticed the slight bit of gold hair between flat, brown nipples.

She looked up into his brown eyes and her mouth fell open.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he looked past her into the hall. Surely, he must think the castle was ablaze. For what else would have brought her to his door in the middle of the night?

“Might I come in?” she asked, doing her best to sound sure.

He tilted his head as if trying to puzzle out her motives. She wished him luck in that for she hadn’t figured it out yet, and she had the advantage of hearing her own thoughts. Though her thoughts were quite a muddle at the moment so maybe that was no benefit.

“Your head?” he asked. “My mother said she would call for me if you needed a doctor.”

“My head is fine. In fact, I only stayed in my room because I didn’t know how I might sit in the room with you.”

He frowned, but eventually stood aside so she could enter. He then shut the door behind her.

“You’re angry with me. About what happened. I can’t tell you—”

“No. I’m not angry,” she said quickly, but she didn’t share anything else.

Now that she was there in his room she had no idea what to do next. She looked about with her hands linked causally behind her back as if it was no more than a visit to see the color of his walls and what trinkets lay out on his dressing table.

The answer: blue, and his table held only a watch fob and a comb.

She needed to think of something clever to say. Or perhaps, if clever was beyond her, she might try seduction.

The idea nearly brought a round of laughter to her lips for she’d never attempted such a thing before and had no clue as to how to progress.

She’d seen the women in the ballrooms, the way they’d fluttered their fans and looked down demurely. She had no fan, but perhaps she would try the looking down bit.

She cast her eyes down and noticed his feet were bare. In the dim light of the room she noticed the slightest of blond hair on his toes. Of course, she knew men had hair on their toes. She’d grown up with five examples. But her brothers, all dark-haired like her, were quite different.

Why did seeing his feet send a shock of warmth through her body to pool in her stomach?

It was an intimacy she could imagine no other woman had ever seen.

She was not so foolish to think she was the only one.

He was a worldly man. She’d seen evidence of it in the way he’d kissed her and the devilish grin he’d given her on occasion.

“Your toes…” God, why had she said that out loud? If there could be something further from seduction, mentioning a man’s toes must be it.

“Aye. I’ve ten of them.” He wiggled them. “Just like most people.” He waited a moment longer before asking. “Did you come here to make sure?”

“No, of course not.” But she was still looking at them as her face flushed hot. She couldn’t bring herself to look up at him now. She might have fled the room but she was not one for giving up on something she’d set her mind on doing.

“Would it be rude of me to ask why you have come to my room at such a late hour?”

“It wouldn’t be rude. It would be quite understandable in fact, though I don’t wish to share the answer.”

“I see, so it’s to be a game then? I’m to guess? What do I win if I get it right?”

She heard a smile in his voice and it helped in easing her embarrassment, but she still couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eye.

“Very well, I’ll assume I’m to name my prize if I guess correctly. Let’s see…”

He moved as if walking in a circle around her.

“You don’t seem to be frantic with fear so I’ll not guess that the castle is aflame. Nor will I guess the roof has collapsed as you don’t seem to be covered in plaster. Your dressing gown is not wet, so there’s been no flood. I do believe I can rule out any grand disaster.”

She risked a glance up at him to see he was looking up at the ceiling while tapping his chin. She smiled or would have if she didn’t press her lips firmly together to keep it from escaping.

“I don’t think it could be a spider for you grew up with five brothers so you are probably less afraid of the furry beasts than I am.”

This was true enough. While she didn’t like them she’d managed not to scream when in their presence for it would only have meant they’d have been used against her.

“There are a fair number of books in your room so if the issue was that you couldn’t sleep you could have entertained yourself for months with the materials available. You’re too old to need soothing from a nightmare. And you’re clearly awake, so you’re not sleep walking.”

He’d come to stand directly in front of her again. She knew because his toes were inches away from her own bare toes that were peeking out from under her night rail.

“I can only surmise you’ve come to seduce me.”

Her head snapped up and she looked into his eyes for the first time since she’d entered the room. He was smiling but as his gaze appeared to flick over her face his smile faded.

“Oh dear, I’d said it as a jest, but… surely that can’t be it.” He shook his head. “We agreed not to pursue what happened earlier. We can’t… I won’t…”

She’d been so brave in her room, when she’d decided this was something she’d wanted to do.

She hadn’t even considered that he might reject her.

She’d always been told men would go to great lengths to take a woman to their bed, she’d thought Reese would jump at the opportunity. What a fool she’d been.

And worse she couldn’t force her legs to carry her away from this humiliation. Instead, as she stood there looking at him, tears began to well in her eyes. This was even worse than running away. Dear Lord, her chin had started to tremble too.

Run! She implored herself but she was stuck there as if frozen except she’d never felt her skin so hot. Not even the time she’d spend too much time swimming in the sun and had turned the shade of a beet.

“Harlow?” he whispered and she saw his throat move when he swallowed. “Tell me why you are here. And why you were smiling and now you’re crying. What have I done?”

She wiped the tears away brusquely and shook her head.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking,” she managed to say. “Of course, you would not want… That is, you likely prefer women who know their way…” When she gestured toward the bed, she wished the castle was on fire for flames might serve to cool her scorched flesh.

This afternoon had only been a brief misstep for him, while to her it had been everything she’d never known she wanted.

“Harlow,” he whispered her name and she looked away from his pity.

“I should go, yes? Yes, of course, I should go. I shouldn’t have come in the first place. How silly you must think me, just showing up in your room and staring at your feet.” Christ, Harlow, stop mentioning the man’s toes. “I will leave you alone.”

Her legs moved clumsily like she were made of iron and had rusted stiff.

But at least she was moving. One step followed by another.

Her vision had gone sparkly around the edges like the surface of a pond in the sunlight.

Was she going to swoon? Please let her stave it off until she was alone in the hall at least.

Her fingers reached out for the door, but she was intercepted by his hand, large and warm. He held hers to his bare chest which was somehow hotter than her hand.

“Wait. Please.”

She stood there looking at the place where the back of her hand rested against his skin, but he didn’t say anything for a drawn-out minute as her heart raced.

“Your toes,” he said.

She looked up at him to see if he was mocking her but his gaze seemed fixed on her feet. She wiggled them as he’d done.

“I’ve ten of them also,” she said.

As he raised his head to look at her, the earlier embarrassment faded, leaving her stomach to flip and twist around.

“Harlow, please tell me if you are not here to seduce me before I kiss you, for once I give in I may not be able to stop.”

“You said I couldn’t have more when I was heated from kissing. I needed to be of rational thought, and I am—or rather I was. I did come here to seduce you, but only realized when I arrived that I don’t know how it is done.”

“Are you certain? I promised to be a gentleman, and now I’m a breath away from betraying that vow.”

“It’s strange, but knowing I could have died on that ship, or perhaps faced something worse than death, it has changed the way I look at things. I don’t want to risk not having the chance to live. I know I’m safe, but I still want this. With you. I’m certa—”

Her words were cut off when his lips slammed down on hers.