Anthony pulled Lissa close. “We should celebrate our success.”
Just as she recognized his intentions, his mouth came down on hers in another kiss, but this one was far more passionate than the last, and she couldn’t resist wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing herself into him despite the presence of others walking past.
When she was breathless, he broke away. “I’d best get you inside. You’ll freeze out here.” Anthony’s arms loosened from around her.
“I don’t feel cold. All I feel is warmth.” She gazed into his eyes, seeing and feeling the love he professed. “Maybe we could make use of this coach and relieve ourselves of some of these clothes?”
Anthony’s nostrils flared, sending heat flooding her body. Then he lifted her in his arms and deposited her inside the coach. “Coachman, bring us to Ravenridge. And when we get there, bring us back.”
She laughed at his orders and scrambled onto the seat as he jumped in to join her.
“My wife’s wishes always come first.”
She eyed him slyly. “Iwishthat all my clothes would come off.”
He laughed. “What an odd coincidence, as I was just wishing the same thing.”
As he pulled her back up against him to undo her buttons, she sighed. “I do believe we are perfectly matched. If I’d known that disarming the baron would have led to such happiness, I would have done so years ago.”
His lips found her neck, and he murmured against her skin, “But you didn’t know I was a baron.”
She cocked her head. “True, and you didn’t see me as a woman.”
He pulled away her dress to cup her breasts. “But I do now and am I ever pleased to do so. I have no defense against you.”
At the feel of his fingers upon her, she arched into his hands, the shock of desire burning her up. “I’m the one defenseless.”
He slipped his fingers deeper into her dress and pulled out a dagger. “Liar.”
She laughed until his mouth came down on her bared breast and the dagger dropped to the coach floor. As the excitement of his touch filled her body and her heart, her last lucid thought flitted through her head:Mon amour,ma vie. My love, my life.
Epilogue
Hawthorne Park
December 1817
“Does your brotheralways require payment for favors?”
Lissa’s question interrupted Anthony’s thoughts on what to tell his brother and what not to tell him as they awaited Darius’s entrance into the library.
He was quite happy to return his attention to her. “Yes, he does. But to be fair, we have always bartered in this way. My father encouraged it as a way to sharpen our intelligence, though sometimes it cultivated rather devious thoughts.”
“Oh, now that sounds like a promising story.” She sat in one of the two wingback chairs before the desk, looking every bit the baroness, from her swept-up hair beneath her cap to the green travel dress and pelisse she wore—not that he could tell her that, as she wasn’t comfortable with her new title yet.
He moved closer and sat on the arm of the other chair. “Stories, as in many. The four of us often tried to outdo each other. One time when Darius asked a favor of—”
“I do hope I’m not hearing my name taken in vain.”
At his brother’s voice, Anthony rose and turned toward the door. “Not at all. Just sharing childhood memories.”
Darius grimaced. “I’ve tried very hard to forget most of those. As I was the oldest, Father more often than not put the blame on me.”
“Well, we all did look up to you so much.”
Darius snorted as he strode by and clapped Anthony on the shoulder. “No use trying to speak to my ego to lessen your payment. I have a real need, and I believe you are the perfect person to accomplish the fulfillment of it.”
He strode to where Lissa sat. “It is a pleasure to see you again, mademoiselle.”
