Page 101 of His Scandal
Chapter 26
After a pleasant reunion meal, where Alex stared at her so much she had trouble remembering how to eat, Emmeline accepted his offer to escort her home. Lady Thornton approached her, and to Emmeline’s amazement, kissed both of her cheeks and whispered, “Courage, dear one.”
Soon Emmeline and Alex were alone in the coach, leaving the Thornton estate for the busy streets of London. She said nothing, but just allowed Alex to sit at her side in silence, listening to the soft patter of rain on the roof. She had no plan—she could hardly blurt out her love for him, knowing that he would reject any such sentiment.
“I still don’t know why you came,” he finally said. “You said you never wanted to see me again.”
“I changed my mind.” 334
“I can’t change what I did, or explain it in better terms.”
“I don’t expect you to.”
“Then whatdoyou want of me?”
Your love, she thought desperately, knowing it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. But all she said was, “Maybe I came because I thought you might need me.”
He smiled. “According to you, I needed you for only one thing.”
“I’m reconsidering that.”
He stretched his long legs out in the casual, uncaring sprawl he was so good at. “Why?”
“I had thought that you might need some support while your brother was missing.” Hesitantly, she laid her hand on top of his. “It must have brought up all the worries you felt when he was gone so long helping the government.”
He pulled away. “Worries? What worries did I have, Emmeline? I had all my brother’s wealth and all his power. Maybe I didn’t even want him to return.”
“You don’t truly mean that.”
“Don’t I? Don’t you think there were moments when I was only him, not myself? I looked in a mirror and saw him. I looked at his friends, and to them I was him.” He paused. “Maybe some part of me didn’t want to give that up.”
His sudden despair made her ache for him.
Without looking at her, he said hoarsely, “I’mafraid there was some part of me that didn’t want Spencer to return. Maybe I only needed to rescue him today out of guilt, or some old loyalty that became meaningless long ago. When he was gone so long, I never even looked into where he was!”
“You couldn’t, not without risking his life.”
“You don’t know that—Idon’t know that. Maybe Iwantedhim to be dead.”
Emmeline rose up on her knees on the bench and leaned against his chest, framing his face in her hands. “Don’t do this to yourself. You may have envied your brother, but you wouldn’t wish him dead. Iknowyou.”
“Youdon’tknow me, Em.”
She kissed him hard on the mouth, putting all her love there in hopes that he’d recognize it for what it was. “I want to know everything about you, good and bad. I want you to let me in.”
She kissed him again, softly, gently, and moaned when his hand cupped her head.
“Em—”
“No, don’t talk.” She reached behind him and unrolled the curtain, then did the same on the other side, muting the light in the coach. When she came back to him he was watching her, the despair receding from his face and passion taking its place. She didn’t want him thinking, only feeling, and maybe that was really the way to communicate her love to him.
Staring into his eyes, she spread his doubletwide and let her hands run down his chest, her thumbs brushing over his nipples as he’d done to her. He shuddered and whispered her name.
Oh, this was heady, this sensation of knowing she could affect him the way he’d affected her. She pushed him lower onto the bench, then straddled him, pushing her skirts to the sides. Pulling him toward her chest, she removed his doublet, then remained still as he spread kisses down her neck and against her gown. He quickly unbuttoned her bodice even as she unbuttoned his shirt. He held her upright and she sat directly on his lap, with only his loose breeches separating them. Instinctively she wanted to rub against the hard ridge of him there.
He suddenly froze, his dark, wicked eyes staring at her breasts covered only by her thin smock. “No corset?”
She shook her head. “When I received your mother’s letter, I had no time to dress properly.”
