Page 22 of The Viscount Needs a Wife (All for Love #2)

A nnis woke to the unaccustomed sensation of being cuddled by a large sleeping male.

Emrys had his arms round her, snugging her into his chest, and a thigh between her legs.

It was remarkably comfortable and comforting.

It was also quite late in the morning, judging from the amount of light coming through the window.

Which wasn’t what she had planned at all.

She had meant to wake early and abscond before he woke and stopped her.

But then last night hadn’t gone as she had expected, either.

Far from him taking her for his pleasure, he had pleasured her and forfeited his own.

This was not how she had imagined congress between a man and a woman would progress.

Everything she had been led to expect was that the primary purpose (apart from procreation) was to bring the man relief from his physical urges.

She had heard precious little about the pleasure to be obtained by the woman from the act.

Not that they had performed the act, as she understood it.

He’d made reference to it with his salacious comment about fingers, candlesticks, tongues, and cocks .

The word curled inside her, deliciously wicked.

And women desiring long hard objects..

. She bit her lip to silence the involuntary sound that wanted to escape.

She had made a lot of involuntary noises last night.

She flushed remembering how she had behaved.

He stirred, making a snuffling noise, and murmured something unintelligible. His arm tightened round her and pulled her closer against him, his thigh pressed deeper between her legs. He lifted his head blinking.

“Annis.” His voice was thick and deep this morning. “You feel delicious,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck and pressing kisses into her skin.

Was he even awake?

“Emrys?”

“Yes, love?”

Love? What did he mean by that?

“Shouldn’t we be getting up? I think it is quite late.”

He rolled onto his back and stretched. “I suppose so. I’d much rather stay in bed with you.”

She flushed. “Would you?”

He grinned wolfishly. When did my gentle paladin become a wolfish rogue? And when did I start thinking of him as mine?

He rolled toward her, pushing her back into the pillows. “I can’t wait to start teaching you things. I feel you are going to be a very apt pupil, my governess.”

“What—what things?”

He slid his hands over her body rubbing the fabric of her nightgown over her nipples and cupping her breasts, his head dipping to nuzzle at her neck. “You’re so delicious I don’t know how I’m going to keep my hands off you until I get a ring on your finger.”

“About that—” she began, and yelped when he grazed her neck with his teeth. “Did you not pay attention to anything I said to you last night?”

“I paid very close attention to everything you said last night,” he said, transferring his mouth to one breast and suckling a nipple.

She panted. “Then—then how can you contemplate letting me anywhere near your children?”

He let go of the nipple slowly and lifted his head. “Annis, my children have grown to care for you. You must know that.”

She nodded, trying to suppress the lump in her throat. “And I for them.”

“Nothing else matters,” he said simply. He sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “I will apply to the Bishop of Leicester for a license to wed and we will be married in Robert’s chapel.”

“You’re being very feudal, my lord.”

“Yes, I am, aren’t? It’s very unlike me, you know. Generally, I’m the most easygoing of chaps.”

“You cannot force me to marry you.” she said quietly.

“I know, and I would not want to.” He turned to face her.

“Do you not wish to marry me, Annis?” She bit her lip, and he went on rather doggedly.

“I’m no oil painting, I know. But am I such a bad bargain?

One slightly worn widower with terrible dress sense and three small children.

.. Well, perhaps there are better options. ”

She threw a pillow at him. “Don’t pretend to be pathetic. It doesn’t suit you!”

He grinned and pounced on her, pinning her to the bed. “Annis Pringle, once you’re Lady Ashford I am going to do terrible things to you,” he said, nuzzling and blurting his lips against her neck.

“What sort of terrible things?” she asked, trying not to laugh and failing.

“I’m going to destroy your feminine sensibilities with pleasure and obscenity,” he said, kissing her exposed bosom.

“You are going to discover that your husband is a filthy beast with lascivious appetites who will devour and ruin you.” He transferred his mouth to her breast again, sucking through the fabric.

“You, my lady, are not going to be able to walk when I have finished with you.” His hand crept up under her gown and cupped her between her legs.

He raised his head and stared straight into her eyes. “I want you, Annis, all of you. Tell me don’t want me even a little bit, and I’ll let you go.”

She swallowed. “I want you, Emrys,” she whispered.

A small smile of relief broke across his face, and he lowered his head to bury it in her bosom, murmuring softly, “Thank God.”

They reached The Castle just after five that afternoon, after a three-hour wait to see the Bishop of Leicester.

Emrys lifted Annis down off Inigo and passed her into the duchess’s hands.

He saw his horse taken care of and their baggage dispatched.

Having divested himself of his damp overcoat, he followed the duke to the library and collapsed in a chair near the fire.

If he was tired, he hated to think what Annis must feel like.

“Where did you find her?” asked the duke, passing him a generous tot of whisky.

“Just south of Swinford on the side of the road. The mail coach had become mired in mud. It was raining. She was soaked and out on her feet. We stayed the night at Swinford.” He paused to drink the whisky.

“I’ve obtained a license from the bishop.

I plan to marry her tomorrow in your chapel, if you’ve no objection? ”

“You’re set on this course?”

“I am.”

“Well, who am I to stand in the path of—well, I’m not sure what this is. Do you love her?”

“I want her,” Emrys admitted, flushing. “And the children need her. I’m not sure I’m capable of exactly loving another woman after Caro.

I don’t entirely trust my feelings at the moment.

But I think we could suit each other. And she needs my protection.

” He finished off the whisky and stood up.

“Also, there is something we need to check before it gets dark,” he said, heading for the door.

The duke swallowed his own whisky hastily and followed him. “Where are we going and why?”

“I’ll explain on the way,” said Emrys, leading him to the front entrance and donning his coat again, as it was still drizzling out.

He had debated all the way back on what to tell Robert and had decided that he needed to know part of the truth at least. The attack had taken place on his land, after all, and involved his employee.

If there was any danger to anyone in his household, he needed to know.

They struck out toward the ruins. “Annis has been persecuted for some time by a man. I don’t know his identity, but I mean to find out.

He wishes to take something from her that was left to her by her aunt, Miss Janet Pringle.

The lady is deceased—she died some years ago, I gather.

The reason Annis fled two days ago was because she met with this man here in the grounds, by the ruins.

She took steps to defend herself and she fears that she injured him, possibly fatally.

She is quite convinced we will find his body. ”

Robert huffed. “That is quite a tale. Why the devil didn’t she come to me with this?”

“She feared she would lose her post, Rob. She is alone in the world, has no one to rely upon, no one to support her if she were turned off without a reference, for example.”

“I would never do that! Good God, she is part of the family. She has been with us close on six years. The girls adore her.”

“I know, but I don’t think she is accustomed to trusting people. This man—” Emrys stopped to swallow the incandescent rage building under his ribs. “This man threatened her horribly. She was afraid. She has been living with this fear for several years. It has made her wary.”

“But what did she hope to gain by fleeing?”

“To be honest I don’t think she was thinking clearly. She panicked, fearing the worst.”

The ruins loomed up out of the gathering gloom, the gray cloud cover had obscured the sun and was making things abnormally dark for this time of year.

The drizzle was persisting, and everything was damp and unpleasant.

The ground, soaked now with two days of constant rain, was muddy, with standing pools of water among the grassy tussocks.

To Emrys’s relief, there was no immediate sign of a body. Though if there had been any blood or signs of a struggle initially, the wet would likely have obliterated that by now. It was still possible that the man may have staggered away to fall and die somewhere else.

“Let’s widen the search, make sure he is not hidden in the bushes farther afield.”

Robert nodded agreement, and they scoured the surrounding area for a good half an hour and found nothing.

Thoroughly soaked now and feeling the chill, they headed back to the house.

“He may have left the property and subsequently died of his injuries or even now be languishing somewhere. We have no way of knowing, but at least you are not implicated if the body hasn’t been found here.”

“That is true and, I admit, a big relief. I’d as soon not have the place crawling with Bow Street Runners.”

“Indeed.”

“And knowing all this, you still wish to marry her?”

“I wish to marry her all the more—she needs me. If the man comes after her again, he will have me to deal with. He’ll not find me so easy to intimidate. He may hesitate also to offer violence to a viscountess as opposed to a mere Miss Pringle, Governess.”

“Are you not concerned for the children’s safety?”

“I don’t believe there is any threat to them.

This man’s threats are specific to Annis and Annis alone.

It seems he wishes to obtain the item that her aunt left her.

I can take steps to secure the item and keep her safe.

As her husband I will have the law on my side should he attempt to attack her again.

An attack against a peeress will be seen very dimly by a magistrate.

I think such a deterrent would be enough to keep him at bay. ”

“And if he is dead?”

“Then he is no longer a threat. He appears to have been acting alone. In all honesty, I do not believe she killed him. She may very well have injured him, however. Sufficiently that he may rethink his course of action and stop his persecution going forward.”

“Hm. Well, keep me apprised of what you find. I will post some guards to patrol the grounds in future. I don’t like the idea of strangers wandering around with violent intent. The girls, Mother, or Sarah could be in danger, to say nothing of the children or any other guests we might invite.”

They had reached the house at this point, and Emrys divested himself of his coat once more and went upstairs to see his children and change for dinner.

Lizzie pounced on him as soon as he entered the nursery and demanded to know if he had rescued Miss Pringle.

“I did,” he said. “She is safe home once more.”

Charlie barreled at him for a hug, followed by Ewen. When hugs had been duly had all round, he sat down on the floor with them and said gravely. “I have some news that I hope you will like.”

“Yes?” asked Lizzie with bated breath.

“I am going to marry Miss Pringle tomorrow here in the chapel. What do you think of that?”

“I told you so!” said Lizzie with a broad grin.

“So, you approve?” he asked smiling with relief.

“Of course,” said Lizzie. “She makes you happy.”

Charlie hung back, however, a troubled look on her face. “Don’t you love Mama anymore?” she asked, chewing the knuckle of her thumb. It was a habit he noticed she had adopted since Caro’s death. Her question cut him to the heart, and he swallowed, blinking his eyes.

“I will always love Mama,” he said slowly.

And it was true. In spite of her betrayal, a part of him would always belong to Caro—his youth, his past. But his future, for good or ill, belonged to Annis.

“Do you like Miss Pringle?” he asked, worried that he’d overlooked Charlie in his plans.

She was always in Lizzie’s shadow. Lizzie was the outspoken one, but Charlie was sensitive and felt things she didn’t always express.

Charlie nodded. “Yes. She saved Ewen.”

“She did,” he agreed.

“Miss Pingle,” interjected Ewen at this juncture, crawling onto Emrys’s lap.

“Miss Pingle is nice. I love her.” he said pushing his head into Emrys’s chest. He put his arm round his son and squeezed, a warmth blooming in his chest. He put out his other arm to the girls, and they crowded in for a group hug.