Page 109 of No One's Bride
“All I’m asking is that you mention certain topics amongst your circle of friends. All information you relay will be factual. Consider it akin to sharpening Cupid’s arrow.”
After a brief silence, the lady huffed. “Who is it this time? Don’t say Pilkington. The man is a consummate bore and dribbles into his soup.”
Daventry cleared his throat. “The Chance brothers.”
Good Lord!
Aaron Chance would be livid if he knew.
“Those rogues at Fortune’s Den? You go too far, Daventry, too far. What lady in her right mind would seek an alliance with those unprincipled brutes?”
“They’re rogues by circumstance, not birth.”
“Yes, their grandfather might have been an earl, but no amount of blue blood can change the fact they had Ignatius Delmont for a father.”
Sebastian peered around the hedge to see Daventry opening his arms wide. “Am I not proof every scoundrel can redeem himself?”
“Piffle! Your father was a scoundrel. You’ve always had morals.”
“I believe the same is true of the men at Fortune’s Den.”
Sensing the conversation was drawing to a close—and not wanting to be caught snooping—Sebastian drew Ailsa along the path and back to the main garden.
“What shall we do?” Ailsa said once they’d locked themselves inside the small orangery. “Should we mention it to Christian?”
Sebastian laughed. “If Daventry thinks he can get Aaron Chance to marry, good luck to him. The man would rather rot in hell than walk down the aisle.”
Ailsa took hold of his hands, pulling him away from the window and into the verdure. “Mr Daventry played a part in seeing our relationship blossom. Are ye nae worried we’ve been tricked by a master?”
“Tricked?” Sebastian laughed. They’d not been misled. He’d always had the greatest respect for her, and had simply stopped himself from feeling anything more profound. “All Daventry did was encourage us to spend time together. I love you. I knew the moment I touched you, my life would never be the same.”
She nibbled her bottom lip. “Are ye sure?”
This glimpse of vulnerability touched him deeply. She wouldn’t be saying such things had they not overheard Daventry’s conversation. “Love, I’ve never been more certain of anything.”
“Perhaps we never broke the spell. Ye lacked heart when repeating the ritual.”
“Yes, because it’s all nonsense. And on the slim chance I was wrong, I didn’t want to stop loving you. It had nothing to do with Daventry or his machinations.”
To prove his point, he captured her chin and kissed her.
She responded with the same feverish intensity, her tongue sliding desperately over his. Heat chased through his veins, pooling hot and heavy in his loins. The need to have her left him breathless.
“We’ll not spend our wedding night here,” he said, dragging his mouth from hers with a growl of reluctance.
“Then take me home to bed.” Her hand slid seductively down his waistcoat to stroke his throbbing erection. “We start the long journey to Scotland tomorrow, and I’m keen to know what’s on yer list.”
He hissed a breath. “It’s a very long list.”
“Tell me.”
He stilled her wandering fingers before he lost control and took her on the cold floor. “I have a gift for you first. I know you can barely keep your hands off me, but a man must make a romantic gesture on his wedding day.”
Excitement glistened in eyes that looked emerald-green in the darkness.
His gift would be perfect.
He reached into his coat pocket and handed her the square box. “I know you miss the Highlands and probably wish you’d married a Scotsman, but I wanted to give you something to remind you of home.”
