Part 29 (2/2)
But Elizabeth made no effort to stop her tears. For the first time in the many years since her husband died, she was letting a man hold her, soothe her...and it felt strangely right. ”You're trying to make a fool of me,” she said miserably. ”You certainly don't think I'm perfect.”
He brushed his knuckle over her wet cheek, catching a tear or two. ”Later I'll tell you exactly what I think, Lizzie. After your daughter is safely returned, you and I have a long discussion ahead of us.”
”Concerning what?”
”This, among other things.”
Before Elizabeth could react, Garrett bent and possessed her mouth with a devastating kiss. When he lifted his head, she was so astonished she could hardly speak.
”Y-you,” she stuttered, ”are the most insulting, sh-shameless man I've ever...to bring this up at such a time...”
”Yes, I know.” He reached in his coat for a handkerchief. ”Take this and blow your nose.”
She obeyed, staring at him with eyes as round as b.u.t.tons. ”You're disgraceful, Garrett,” she said, her voice m.u.f.fled through the square of linen. ”My daughter was right-you want reforming badly.”
”Only from you,” he said, and held her close. ”Don't worry,” he murmured, ”Eric will reach her in time.”
”Get away from the window,” Chance said as Lidian stared outside. ”There's nothing to see...and no one will help you.”
Lidian ignored him, leaning out the window of the enclosed carriage and gazing at the traffic behind them. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw a horse and rider approaching them at a headlong gallop, the distance closing rapidly between them. It had to be Eric, she thought, and cried out, waving her arm frantically to attract his attention. Suddenly she felt Chance's grip on her arm, yanking her back inside the hackney. Lidian tumbled to her seat and stared at him with satisfaction. ”You're wrong,” she said breathlessly. ”He's coming for me-and he'll make you pay.”
Realizing that he was going to be deprived of the opportunity to force himself on her, Chance pounded angrily on the roof to alert the driver. ”Don't stop the carriage for any reason,” he shouted.
But in less than a minute, there was the sound of shouting outside, and the thunder of the horses' hooves and carriage wheels began to slow. Lidian tried to look through the window once more, but Chance shoved her back to her seat. ”Don't move!” he snapped.
The hackney stopped and swayed, and soon the carriage door was wrenched open violently. Lidian scrambled to leave, launching herself at the man who reached inside for her. She gasped with relief as she felt Eric's hard grip at her waist, swinging her down to the road.
”Thank G.o.d,” she said tearfully, throwing her arms around him. He held her in a brief, crus.h.i.+ng grip, and released her, his gaze raking over her. ”I'm all right,” she said, smiling up at him. She lifted her hand to his face, trying to a.s.sure herself that he was real. It was Eric...but he wore an expression she had never seen before, so cold and murderous that she flinched. His green-gray eyes were as hard as ice as he watched Chance descend from the carriage.
Lidian's smile vanished, and she broke the silence in a faltering voice. ”He...wants to duel with you.”
Chance tried to summon a c.o.c.ky smile. ”I'd say there was sufficient provocation for that, wouldn't you, De Gray?”
”No duel,” Eric said softly. ”Although I'd take pleasure in slicing you to ribbons, I won't have her name ruined.”
”Then how shall this be settled-”
Before the sentence was finished, Eric reached Chance in one swift stride. His fists landed in a hard, pummeling rhythm while Chance howled in protest and tried to defend himself. The two of them locked in combat and fell to the side of the street, swearing and brawling. Eric slammed Chance's head to the ground and continued to hit him mercilessly, not pausing even when Chance began to lose consciousness.
Lidian rushed to him, urgently calling his name. ”Eric, please...you must stop!”
Eric paused, breathing heavily as he stared down at Chance's battered face. ”Don't ever come near her again,” he said thickly, ”or I'll finish what I started tonight.”
”Never,” Chance croaked, his eyes slitting open.
Eric wiped his blood-smeared fists on Chance's coat and stood up. Slowly Chance eased to a sitting position, groaning as he gingerly touched his face.
”I knew you'd come for me,” Lidian said with a wavering smile. Eric glanced at her with no expression and led her to the hackney. She obeyed his prompting to enter the carriage, and wondered why he looked so grim.
”I'm not returning to the boating party,” he said. ”You'll have to go back alone.”
”Wh-what?” Lidian was utterly confused. ”You...you seem angry with me. Eric, you don't think this is my fault, do you? You can't possibly believe that I went with him willingly!”
”I don't know what to believe,” he said coolly.
”I love you, not Chance!”
”Not long ago you would have given anything to be with him.”
”But everything's different now. I thought you understood.” She clambered out of the hackney as he strode toward the chestnut gelding he had ridden. ”Where are you going?”
”I don't know,” he said over his shoulder. ”At the moment I don't care.”
Hurt, afraid, anxious, Lidian tried to think of how to convince him to stay with her. He must be made to understand how much she loved him, wanted him, enough that she would never have gone anywhere willingly with Chance Spencer. ”You must listen to me-”
”I'm in no mood to talk now.”
She watched in disbelief as he took the gelding's reins in hand and swung easily onto the horse.
”Eric!” she called, but he didn't seem to hear. All at once she remembered the whistle around her neck. He had once promised to come to her whenever she used it. She fumbled with the small object and managed to bring it to her lips. Using all her strength, she blew until it produced a shrill, piercing blast.
Eric stopped at the sound. Slowly he turned his head, and their gazes locked. Lidian didn't dare breathe as he approached her. Eric stared at her with frustration, anger, and an odd flicker of amus.e.m.e.nt. ”What the h.e.l.l do you want?”
”To be alone with you.”
Tension built in the silence that followed. ”Later,” Eric finally said.
”Now,” she insisted softly.
He contemplated her for a moment. Finally he reached a hand down, and she grasped his taut wrist. His fingers closed around her arm, and he pulled her up to the saddle in front of him.
Lidian was filled with relief as she felt his arm close around her, holding her steady as he signaled the horse with the pressure of his thighs. They did not speak for the next few minutes, each of them lost in private thoughts and questions. At the end of the short journey, Eric reined in the horse in front of an elegant town house with an ivory Palladian-fronted facade.
”Is this yours?” Lidian asked.
He nodded, dismounting the gelding and helping her down. A servant appeared to take the horse while Eric escorted Lidian inside with a firm hand on her elbow. The interior of the house was cool and refres.h.i.+ng, the walls tinted cream and pale yellow, with French furniture and hangings of burgundy and gold. Lidian had a brief impression of an imperturbable butler and a pair of servants who politely went about their work and hid any trace of surprise that their master had brought an un-chaperoned girl there.
Eric took her to his private suite, a receiving room decorated in cream and slate blue, with a bedchamber visible through the doorway.
”Well?” He slanted her a questioning glance, arching one brow as he waited for her to speak. But his expectant, slightly mocking expression was wiped clean as Lidian removed her cloak and unfastened the top b.u.t.ton of her bodice. Nervousness made her fingers slightly clumsy, but she progressed to the second b.u.t.ton and then the next. She paused to see if he was watching her and discovered that she had gained his complete attention.
”Chance forced me to go with him,” she said, unfastening yet another b.u.t.ton. ”It happened so quickly that I had no opportunity to alert anyone. I had no choice in the matter.” The bodice of her gown began to sag from her white shoulders. Carefully she removed the blue ribbon from her neck, and dropped the whistle to the floor. ”Chance is a vain, cruel, shallow man, and I was a fool for ever thinking I loved him. You're the only one I want...the only man I trust and love and desire.” She eased her arms from the bodice, her upper body clad only in a thin chemise that revealed the shadow of her cleavage and the pointed tips of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Eric's gaze was riveted on her.
Noticing that he seemed to be having difficulty breathing, Lidian was encouraged enough to pull the pins from her hair. It fell in a black silken river over her shoulders, rippling down to her waist. ”I want to show you exactly how I feel about you,” she said. ”After today there will be no more doubts.”
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