Lord Harry by Catherine Coulter

“Yes,” she said, feeling vague and a bit dizzy and perfectly wonderful. “But I know that your sex must come inside me for you to have pleasure. Do you like that as much as I just did?”

He grinned down at her. “You can’t begin to realize what it will be like between us. Not just me being inside you, but there’s so much more. We will marry in two weeks. No, in a week, all right? I can’t wait longer, Hetty. Actually I don’t think you can either. If I’m to protect my reputation, no more than a week. All right?”

“Oh yes,” she said and sighed. “I thought that the entire sex business was really rather foolish. Men drooling over females and females just letting them do it since they were paid to let them. But that was wonderful. Why would you want to pay me? I’ll pay you.”

“Ah, your unusual education rears its head again. We’re special, Hetty. Very special. Will you trust me on that?”

“I suppose I must since you saved Sir Harry and rubbed Filey’s nose in it.”

He smoothed down her skirts. “How do you feel?”

“I feel full of energy,” she said, sitting up on his lap. “My side doesn’t even hurt now. Is that odd? I want to dance. I even want to tease you about something. I want to laugh and kiss your ear. This is all very new to me, Jason.”

“To me as well, Henrietta. Now, sweetheart, we must get back to business. It kills me, but we must. No, don’t touch me. Oh damn.” He picked her up and set her on her feet. Then he led her to a chair, sat her down, and took three steps away from her. Still he could feel her soft flesh on his fingers, breathe in the sweet scent of her. Oh God, he couldn’t wait any longer than a week. He drew a deep breath. He had to gain control of himself.

He said finally, “I have something of a more serious nature to tell you. While I was chatting with Filey, I accused him of knowing what happened to Damien. He swore that he knew nothing, indeed, he was quite bewildered, and I believe him. But there was something he said, Hetty, something that meant nothing to him, so he blurted it out in an attempt to appease me. He said that Damien had talked about ‘political ambitions’ one evening when he was foxed. Filey evidently taunted him about Elizabeth making a very poor wife for a politician.”

Hetty frowned, then shook her head. “Jack said something about Damien’s feelings on the growing poverty in the industrial cities. He said Damien likened the people’s lives to bondage and slavery, and that it could but grow worse. But Jack said nothing about Damien wishing to take an active role in political life. I’m afraid that I really don’t see the importance of Filey’s statement, Jason.”

“Hetty, don’t you see? Only someone highly connected in the ministry could have had Damien sent so quickly and permanently from England. Only someone very powerful in the government could have put him at the lead of that cavalry charge.”

Hetty nodded slowly, her mind working furiously. “Yes, perhaps someone who didn’t agree with his politics. Perhaps even a group of men who feared he might succeed and displace them.”

She pulled up short, rubbing her palm against her forehead. “Ah, that’s ridiculous. I just pulled that out of a hat, like a rabbit. It’s all speculation. I can’t credit such a motive.”

“There are some men, powerful men, whose very lives are consumed by their political beliefs. Don’t forget our English history, Hetty, it’s filled with powerful men struggling to govern the country as they wished. It’s a bloody history.”

Hetty rose, her hands pressed against her temples. “Even so, Jason, it is 1816, and the vicious struggles for power are over. There’s no more Cromwell, no more bonnie Prince Charles. And even if it could be true today, who could have done such a thing? Who could have even known what Damien believed and feared him for it?”

“I did.”

Chapter Thirty-three

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *