Diana sighed and relaxed into the protection of his arms, and chest, and… him.
Tucked against this gentle aristocrat in the most luxurious carriage she’d ever ridden in, Diana Jones, illegitimate daughter of the late Baron Chaswick, was right where she belonged.
And if not for Zeke nuzzling his lips just behind her ear, she might have been tempted to close her eyes and allow the gentle swaying of the well-sprung vehicle to lull her to sleep.
“Tell me your dreams.” Zeke’s breath feathered the skin along her jaw. “I don’t want you to sacrifice any of them when you marry me. If you want to dance, we will find a way for you to dance. If you want to swim, or travel, or…” He waved a searching hand in the waning darkness of the interior. “Learn to make whiskey from Lady Westerley. I’ll move heaven and earth to open doors for you.”
She laughed at the idea of making whiskey but brought his hand to her lips and held it there. “I was coming home. You are my dream, Zeke. I was coming home.”
Zeke tilted his head around so he could see her face. “But… Mr. Whitley hired you.”
“He did!” She smiled. The fact that the theatre owner considered her talented enough to hire had been very satisfying. It had been even more rewarding that she hadn’t made an idiot of herself dancing on stage with a line of professional dancers. “But I realized something, Zeke.” She turned sideways, and Zeke lifted her feet, draping her across his lap.
“What did you realize, little one?” But he wasn’t looking at her like she was a little one.
“That I’d given up awfully easily. That I had accused you of living for the Greystone ghosts and making all your choices for the Greystone lordlings to come, but I was doing the same thing. I was allowing a prejudice my mother taught us to prevent me from seeing anything good in society. There will always be a few bad eggs, but some of those members can be rather wonderful.”
“And who do you find to be wonderful?” The corner of his mouth lifted. She knew he was trying not to smile. What else was she going to learn about him?
Diana twisted and wound her arms around his neck.
“There is my brother, Bethany, Lady Tabetha, and Mr. Spencer, of course. Lord and Lady Westerley, oh, and Lady Posy and Miss Faraday, Lady Adrianna, Miss Augustine, the Mossant sisters, Lord Major Cockfield, and …” She narrowed her eyes and tapped her finger at her chin as though searching her mind for others.
Zeke’s hand drifted up the front of her gown, settling just below her breast.
“Is that all?” His voice was part growl. But then he tugged her bodice down.
“Ummm…” Diana loved the feel of his hands on her—all of her.
“Shall I jog your memory?” His touch stoked her rising hunger.
Diana’s head fell back. “I might need a reminder or two.” This aspect of compatibility was one that Diana would enthusiastically explore further. Her body had known that she needed him long before her mind had.
He rubbed his palm in a circle. “Like this?” His chest rumbled against her.
“Ummm…”
He squeezed and then stroked. “Any other names come to mind?”
Diana gasped and then smiled. “Ezekiel Winston Leonard Faraday the fourth, my lord Marquess of Greystone, you, my love are by far the greatest theTonhas to offer.” She clutched the back of his head. “But oh, please, just don’t stop, Zeke.”
“Don’t stop loving you?”
“Never stop loving me.” She smiled.
“But you haven’t finished answering my question.” He sounded perfectly composed, and she would have believed he was, but for his hooded gaze and the pulse racing at the base of his throat.
“Diana smoothed her fingers through his hair. “What question was that?”
“Your dreams?” he reminded her, one hand searching under her skirts.
She was wide awake now. “To swim in a lake with you. Oh!”
“What else?” He growled into her neck.
“Um…” Her dreams. What were her dreams? “To… um… see my mother and sisters happy. And Chase and Bethany, of course.”
“And?”
