Page 440 of From Rakes to Riches

“Home.” It was a whisper of promise, a prayer of thanks. He finally slid out of her, and she wanted to protest the return of such a solitary feeling.

He chuckled and sat her upright. “One of us has to be decently dressed. And since I’m the one who’ll be doing the carrying, it had better be me.”

“Carrying?” She slid from his lap, clutching the blanket tight around her shoulders, and watched him quickly fasten all his clothing. “I can put my gown on and walk.”

“We barely got it off you. I’m going to wrap you warmly in that blanket and carry you up to a hot bath.”

She didn’t protest after that, just tried to keep her pleased smile to herself.

“David, what about my gown? Everyone will know I…removed it in the carriage.”

“Leave it. We’ll send Anna for it in the morning. And who will know at this time of night?”

David carried her up the front steps. Smith the butler opened the door just as Victoria leaned from David’s arms to reach for it. She gave a gasp of surprise and pulled back inside the depths of the big blanket, feeling one of David’s arms securely behind her back, the other beneath her thighs. Only her stocking-clad ankles and her shoes peeped out the far side.

She thought they might make it through the entrance hall, but the light was on in the library, and her mother peered through the doorway, retreated, and then pushed the earl’s wheelchair before her. Both of their parents simply stared.

“She’s fine,” David said before Victoria could speak. “We got caught in the rain, and I don’t want her to catch a chill.”

His father let out a bark of laughter, and by the surprised look on David’s face, Victoria knew that laugh hadn’t been heard in this house in years.

“Set those damn nobles on their ears, I bet she did,” the earl said.

She tried to hide her smile at the pleasure in his voice. What could she say? Probably not the truth.

She elbowed David, who was looking far too amused at her expense.

“Send for Anna,” the earl said.

Victoria heard her mother chuckle. “I don’t believe they’ll need her.”

David looked over his shoulder. “Tell her Victoria needs a hot bath.”

In her bedroom, they found that Anna was already well prepared. The hip bath was surrounded by towels in front of thehearth, and the maid was arriving behind them with the first steaming buckets.

The footmen followed to fill the tub quickly, and Victoria groaned and sank as far into David’s arms as she could, leaving just her eyes to peer out of the blanket.

Anna lit candles about the room.

“Anna,” David said, “you can leave now. My wife is getting rather heavy.”

“Of course, milord,” the girl said, smiling. “Shall I come later to remove the bath?”

“No,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Very well, milord.”

When the door had shut, Victoria gave a cry of surprise as David set her on her feet and started stripping her of garments.

“I suggest, Lady Thurlow, that you take the quickest bath possible, because I will be watching you every minute.”

She didn’t think she had any more red left to blush, but she did. She stepped into the hip bath, sank into its heat, then stared with fascination as David began to remove his clothing. He stalked about the tub, watching her from every angle. She found herself using the soap in rather provocative ways she hadn’t ever imagined before.

He couldn’t seem to find the buttons of his shirt as she slowly washed her breasts.

He ripped a button from his trousers when she arched to reach her back.

He was finally naked and looming over her as she soaped between her legs.

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