Page 38 of The Scarred Duchess Deal
“This does not mean anything! I shall add my doctor fees to your debts, Windrop!” Johnny cried as they started to leave. “You hear me, coward?! I will take more next time!”
“If you value your life,” Leo warned the man, “you will consider those debts settled here and now. If you come near my family again you will not walk away from it.”
Theodore nodded in complete agreement. “I have been itching for a good fight since the war.”
Johnny crawled away toward his men who seemed very reluctant to help him in any way. It was unsurprising that men like that would turn on one another.
“Come on, Darling, let us get you home.”
* * *
“I still feel cold,” Tessa said as she wrapped her arms around herself. “I know that I am not; the fire is charming and I have only just finished a hot bath but I still feel cold… like the fear is still clinging to me.”
Leo nodded and pulled her into his arms. He lowered them both onto the foot of the bed and rubbed his hands up and down her arms comfortingly as she sat in his lap. “It is perfectly understandable. There is still so much to be said. Aurelius and Theodore have been returned to their homes. Mortimer is sleeping soundly in the guest room down the hall. I have servants posted at every entrance and exit of this house just in case anything is amiss. You are as well protected here in my arms as you could ever be. I swear it to you.”
Tessa rested her head against Leo’s shoulder and nodded sadly. “I know… and yet it will not leave me.”
“You have endured a very harrowing night. I cannot imagine how you must have felt. But if you should like to speak about it, I am here.”
Tessa nodded. “Thank you. Perhaps I will, in time. I feared that they had Mortimer too. Seeing him with you all was such a relief. We will have plenty to discuss in the morning.” Tessa shivered.
“It will be hard to allow you out of my sight after tonight.” Leo chuckled humorlessly. He was only half joking. “I thought that I had lost you, that you might never return home to me. It made me realize how absolutely foolish I was to deny you anything at all. Tonight made me understand just how precious our time together is… that it can be taken away at any moment.”
The tenderness in his voice tugged at Tessa’s heart. “I feared that I might never see you again… that our last words spoken were those in irritation. Even though it was only a small squabble about me leaving on my own, I could not stand it.”
“I promise from this moment forward I shall do everything in my power to grant your each and every wish – no matter how small. I want you to have everything you have ever wished for. I think that a part of me was afraid to allow myself to be happy for fear that it could be taken from me. Now I know it can be taken anyway. I do not know what I would have done with myself had we not been able to locate you or… or if–” Leo swallowed against the lump of emotion threatening to clog his throat.
Tessa lifted a finger to his lips. “Shh, I am unharmed. I am here. I shall never leave again.”
“I mean it, Tessa, my love, whatever you wish. Children, dozens of fine dresses or books… new houses… name it and it shall be yours,” Leo promised.
Tessa giggled. “You mean it?”
Leo dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Every word.”
Tessa smiled wider. “I shall have to think up some very silly things to want then, just for the pleasure of making you carry out my wishes.” She shuddered involuntarily once more.
“Still cold?” Leo asked.
“Mmhm,” she answered.
“Perhaps you would allow me to try to warm you up in another way?” Leo’s voice dropped as his gaze darkened.
“Oh?” Tessa breathed.
Leo nodded once more. He caressed her hips and lifted her just enough so that she was sitting astride him rather than next to him. His hands moved down to her rear and grasped the soft skin there. “Warmer?”
Desire started as kindling inside her and quickly stoked up to a fire. She nodded and closed her eyes to relish the sensation of his strong hands massaging her skin. She held onto him, one hand on his shoulder and the other cupping the back of his neck as his hands explored her, taking thorough stock of each muscle in her back and the way her waist curved. He slowly eased the tension from the strain of the night on her body.
His lips found her neck as his hands slid to her breasts. Nimble fingers undid the strings of her dressing down as his heated kisses traveled down the side of her neck toward her cleavage.
“How about now?” he asked in that low, rumbly voice she adored.
“Mmhm, yes.” She sighed, savoring the sensations. The heat coursed through her. She tingled with anticipation as it danced like a river’s current under her skin.
He pulled her dressing gown free to reveal the bare skin beneath it. Such a contrast from the injured side of her body under one palm to the smooth skin under the other. Never before had he seen someone who so closely resembled walking art before. He was in utter awe of her, as he always was. Ought to have told her from the beginning – so he tried to make up for it now by worshiping her with his lips and tongue.
Their touches were soft and reverent as Tessa allowed herself to be bold. Her fingers walked his shirt up his back slowly until the fabric was bunched over her hands. She flattened her palms over the muscles of his back until she pulled the shirt off of him. Her breath caught in her chest as her skin met his. She had worried that she would be nervous the first time, but she was unafraid. She felt safe and wanted in his arms. Her fingers buried themselves in his hair softly as he kissed down her chest, paying attention to each nipple before turning lower. When he could go no further, he circled his arms around her and flipped them.
