“Whatever for?”
“You’ve been practically begging me to do so for the last quarter of an hour,” he said, his mouth coming down to her ear.
She shivered.
“I h-have not.”
“Oh no? Then why all the longing looks?”
“Longing looks, my heel,” she repeated with humor. She shook her head. “I can assure you, I haven’t been looking your way since the entrance of the new arrivals. In case you didn’t notice, the entire room was rather taken with Alfred’s guests.”
He pulled back slightly, and she prepared to hear something about how exquisite the American appeared. But Gavin merely frowned.
“Were they? I hadn’t noticed.”
Unbridled glee went through her.
“She was rather pretty. They both are.”
“If you say so,” he said, kissing her again. “Now, let’s find some dark place so that I may do wicked things to you.”
Holly couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face. He was truly and wholly only aware of her, and her heart felt as though it might burst.
“I wish I could thank John for all he’s done,” she said softly as Gavin kissed down her neck.
Gavin and Holly had both read through John’s journals together and while there had been some very salacious writings about members of the ton, there were far more interesting things written as well. For one, John had detailed the precise amount he had paid as a monthly stipend to his sister every year since he had inherited the title from their father. He had tripled it the year Gavin had gone to live with Marnie, for a total sum that was so generous it nearly qualified as princely. With those funds at their disposal, they should have been entirely comfortable… but evidently Marnie hadn’t ever been able to keep it.
It seems she had a taste for gambling, and most of the money had been lost each month at the tables. She had barely managed to hold on to enough to keep them alive. While Gavin had been angry at the discovery, his grief had been even more profound when he read just how much John had wanted him. Apparently, John and Marnie had fought viciously over Gavin’s upbringing, but upon the threat of exposure, John had given up.
Furious, Gavin had wanted to confront Marnie, but Holly had dissuaded him from doing so, reminding him that his aunt—for all her faults—truly loved him.
Another interesting thread they had discovered in John’s journals had been his plot to bring Holly and Gavin together. Evidently he had tried several times to get the two to meet, but it had never worked out. When he learned that he was sick, he had devised a plan to marry them by proxy, self-assured that they would find happiness together.
And he had been right.
Gavin pulled back slightly to look at her.
“Me as well.”
Holly smiled.
“I love you,” she whispered against his mouth between kisses, and he moaned.
“Love, that’s just the thing to embolden me,” he said. “Come. Let me show you all the ways I love you.”
He turned, leading her down one of the empty hallways of Trembley’s London home, where no one would bother them for quite some time.
