Belle sat down on her bed. The little maid had helped her into her nightrail and now she was alone in her bedchamber.
The day had passed in a haze. She could recall little of the ceremony that had joined her to Justin for the remainder of their lives. Not even the swift, cool, kiss he had brushed across her mouth had felt real. As soon as the ceremony had ended, Giles had appeared at his side and after listening to Giles’s terse words, Justin had sent her home with Marguerite and Brandt while he and Giles went off with Arthur.
She had seen little of Justin the rest of the day. Marguerite had insisted she must rest and so had sent her straight to her bedchamber. From Marguerite and a horrified Maria, she learned that Justin, after listening to Arthur’s story, had spent most of the day closeted together with Giles and Brandt. In the end, they had decided Lady Georgina was to be banished to a remote estate with a keeper.
Chloe came up a little later to report she had been quite stunned to see Justin and Arthur shaking hands in a most civil fashion. After delivering that piece of news, she looked rather lost and it wasn’t until Belle assured her that she could come and stay with her very soon, that Chloe finally began to seem more cheerful.
Altogether Belle was certain it had been a most memorable day but, due to Justin’s insistence that she stay in her room, she had missed most of it. He had even had a dinner tray sent up.
She scowled. He surely wasn’t planning to keep her prisoner in her room during the rest of her pregnancy. Or avoid her. She had probably experienced almost every emotion possible today, but the most overwhelming one at the moment was anger, mixed in with frustration. He could have at least inquired after her health.
She rose from the bed and stalked to the door. She thrust it open and gasped. Justin stood on the other side. He looked equally startled to find her there.
He frowned. ‘I would like to speak to you.’
‘And I would like to speak to you.’ She held the door open. ‘Come in.’
He came into the room and she shut the door behind him. He turned and looked at her. ‘Should you not be in bed?’
‘No, I should not. I have been in bed or in that chair the entire day and I am quite tired of it. I am not ill, I am increasing!’
He stared at her. ‘Which means you are to rest and do whatever Mr Thomas deems necessary to protect your health.’
‘So that means I am to stay in my room until my confinement?’
‘Of course not. Sit down.’
‘I do not want to sit down.’ His detached manner was infuriating her. ‘Do you not care what I want at all? My only worth to you may be that I am carrying your child but that does not mean I intend to be treated like a…a brood mare!’ She was undoubtedly making no sense.
He suddenly frowned. ‘You think I care only about the child?’
‘Yes! You have made that quite clear. You have done nothing but set surgeons on me at every turn. I suppose I cannot blame you but it…it still hurts.’ There, she for all purposes admitted she cared for him.
He was stalking towards her and she found herself backed up against the dresser. He stopped in front of her. ‘So, you think the only reason I married you is because of the child and that I am setting physicians on you because of the child?’
‘Yes,’ she whispered.
‘Do you recall I asked you to marry me before? Even when I thought a child was impossible?’
‘Yes, but I have betrayed you again.’
His eyes blazed into hers. ‘You never betrayed me at all. Not at Greystone. Nor did you when you ran to Dover. Among the many things my aunt told me today was her threats to claim Ralston as the child’s father. She lied as well when she said I was betrothed to Lady Clarissa. You did not have much of a choice.’
Her mouth was dry. She stared at him. He braced his hands on either side of her. ‘I care about the child, but I still want you whether there is a child or not. Can you not tell? Every time I see you or I am near you I want to pull you into my arms and take you. Which is why I want to avoid you. I told you I’ve no intention of forcing myself on you.’
‘Justin.’ She stared into his dark face. He had not said he loved her, but at least he desired her. ‘You would not be forcing yourself on me. I…I want you, too.’
The fire that blazed in his eyes at her shy admission nearly consumed her. He groaned and pulled her against him, his mouth crushing hers in a kiss that seared her to her very being. She met his kiss with a passion that matched his until he finally lifted his head.
‘I should not be doing this,’ he whispered. ‘The babe.’
‘Mr Carver said there should be no problems with the normal relations between man and wife, do you not recall? Mr Thomas also said the same thing, although in a more indirect manner.’ She pressed against him and cupped his face. ‘I want to be with you tonight.’
He stiffened, the expression on his face that of a man about to be pole-axed. ‘Belle. How can I resist you?’ He almost groaned the words.
‘Why do you want to?’ She was filled with a heady sense of power. She took his hand. ‘Come to bed with me.’
He followed her. She sat on the edge of the bed and tugged on his hand. Still looking bemused, he sat next to her. ‘Now what?’ he asked softly.
She draped her arms around his neck and slowly pushed him back on the bed. She half lay on him and looked down into his face. ‘This, your Grace.’ She lowered her head to his. He was still for a moment beneath her kiss and then his arms came around her and she was lost in him.
Justin slowly opened his eyes. The soft warmth of the womanly body next to him told him last night had not been a dream. He turned on his side and draped his arm over her, his hand protectively resting on the soft curve of her bare stomach. His loins hardened. Already, he could feel a hard roundness that had not been there before and the thought of the child inside filled him with a fierce, primitive protectiveness towards both mother and child.
He buried his head in her hair, and thought he could never get enough of her scent. Or of her. Even thinking of last night nearly sent him out of his mind with desire. Never had he thought his reserved, cool Belle could so thoroughly and satisfactorily seduce him.
He knew now, that no matter what else she felt, she at least desired him. Something he intended to take full advantage of. He would court his wife and make her fall as irrevocably in love with him as he was with her.
But first he had something he must do. He slowly removed his arms from her and slipped from the bed. He found his breeches and shirt and put them on and then quietly left the room.
Belle awoke. For once the all-too-familiar nausea was not present. Instead, her body felt deliciously warm and sensuous, her skin bare under the sheets. She moved and realised Justin was no longer with her although the bedclothes still held his warmth. She was reluctant to open her eyes for fear it had all been a dream. He had made love to her with such exquisite tenderness that she had nearly wept.
She heard someone enter and she forced her eyes open. Her pulse quickened when she saw it was Justin. She sat up and then clutched the sheet to her chest. Her cheeks heated when she saw the flare of desire in his eyes.
So, at least he did not plan to avoid her. She would be as seductive as possible if it would keep him at her side. Perhaps she should drop the sheet. But there was something in his face that stopped her. ‘What is it?’ she asked, suddenly feeling apprehensive.
‘I had something I wanted to discuss with you last night. Before you distracted me.’
‘You certainly seemed very willing to be distracted!’
His lips curved in a rather wicked smile. ‘I was. You may distract me any time you want.’
At least he wasn’t planning to completely shut her out. He sobered. ‘But I have something to give you. A wedding gift of sorts.’
She saw he held several papers in his hand. He held them out to her. She took them, her eyes on his face. ‘It is a contract,’ he said. ‘A contract that stipulates the terms of our marriage. I know your marriage to Milborne was hell. He treated you in the vilest manner possible and I do not blame you for fearing the same thing will happen again. That you will be nothing more than a piece of property to be disposed of as I wish. So, I am giving you as much control of your destiny as possible. All property you bring to the marriage will be yours. You will have control of a sum that is your own. I will not question how you choose to spend it. You may choose to live where you want, although when our child is born I would, of course, wish to spend as much time as possible with him or her.’ He moved towards her. ‘Read it and if you agree with the terms then we will each sign it. There are two copies.’
She nodded, a dozen emotions tumbling over themselves. She quickly perused it and saw the terms were exactly as he said. The amount he proposed passing into her control nearly made her gasp. She finally looked up. ‘When did you draw this up?’
He shrugged. ‘While you were at Falconcliff. When I asked you to marry me then.’
‘I see.’ Tears were welling up in her eyes.
‘So, do you agree with the terms?’ Only the slight twitch in his jaw revealed his tension. ‘No.’
His face shuttered. ‘Why not?’
‘Because I do not need a contract. I love you,’ she blurted out.
He looked as if she had just hit him. His jaw dropped. ‘You what?’
‘I love you.’ She had told him, just as Marguerite had said to do. And had seduced him as well, although not quite in that order.
He strode towards the bed. The next thing she knew he was sitting next to her and hovering over her with such a fierce look she nearly shrank back. ‘I am sorry. I…I did not mean to tell you that.’
‘You did not mean to tell me that because you do not love me, or because you did not want me to know?’ he demanded.
‘Because I did not want you to know,’ she whispered.
‘And why not?’
‘Because I did not want to give you a disgust of me. I would imagine it would be uncomfortable to have someone love you when you do not love them in return.’
‘And what makes you think I do not love you in return?’
She stared at him, hope starting to rise. ‘Do you?’
He gave a strangled laugh. ‘I have loved you since the moment I first saw you on Milborne’s arm. And yesterday, when I discovered what my aunt had tried to do, I realised how deeply and thoroughly in love with you I am.’
‘Then why did you not come to me yesterday?’
‘Because, my love, I suffered from the same misapprehension as you. I did not think you would welcome a declaration of love from me when you obviously did not return my sentiment. However, last night gave me hope that I might persuade you otherwise.’ His gaze fell to her lips and his eyes darkened for a moment. ‘But there is the contract before we move on to other business.’
Her heart was pounding and it took all her willpower to keep from wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him to her. ‘Not unless we change the terms. I do not need such a large sum of money and I want it to stipulate I am to live wherever you live. Although I would prefer it would be at Falconcliff. And I would like it to say we are not to sleep apart.’
The smile that curved his mouth was wicked. He bent towards her and drew her into his arms. ‘I would be more than happy to change the terms to your satisfaction.’ And then he pulled her into his arms.