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"Perhaps I should go check then," Suzette said, getting to her feet as the banging increased in speed.
Daniel glanced at her sharply, but something in her expression made him relax and shrug. "If you like."
Suzette grimaced. She'd rather hoped he'd try to prevent it and give her the opportunity to kiss him. She was sure that was all it would take before this prim attitude of his crumbled. She didn't understand the need for it anyway, they would marry soon. Besides, she would like their wedding night to be a pleasant memory in her mind, not the pain-wracked and blood-soaked event she'd read about. But for that to happen she had to ensure they got her maidenhead out of the way before they reached Gretna Green.
Of course, the parlor was no place for that, but Suzette had rather hoped to convince him to slip away from the room he shared with Langley and join her in hers that night to tend the matter. She'd only hoped to gain a kiss or two from him first to bolster her courage so she could make the suggestion. It appeared, however, Daniel was not going to indulge her. She would have to just blurt it out to him, Suzette realized, and almost did right then, but recalled that the door was still open. She quickly moved to close it and then returned to sit beside him, rolling her eyes when he immediately stiffened and shifted to put more space between them.
"Really, my lord, there is no need to act the frightened virgin. I am not going to attack you," she said with exasperation.
"Act the what?" he asked with amazement and then scowled. "I--"
"I should like our wedding night to be a pleasant one," Suzette interrupted before he could get too angry.
Daniel blinked, and then smiled faintly. "Well, so would I, and I promise I will do all I can to ensure it is pleasant for you."
"Good, then come to my room tonight and--"
"No," Daniel interrupted firmly.
"Please," Suzette begged. "I don't want my memory of our wedding night to be that of streams of blood and enough pain to make me faint."
"Streams of blood?" he asked with dismay. "Who told you there would be streams of blood and so much pain you would faint?"
"I read," she reminded him dryly. This time it didn't silence him, however.
"Yes, well I think it's high time you explain just what it is you are reading that you talk about maypoles and the breaching," he said grimly.
Suzette shifted with irritation. "I do not recall the name of the book. It was Lisa's."
"Sweet little Lisa?" Daniel asked with horror, and then muttered, "I definitely have to talk to Richard about the girl."
"Someone gave it to her," Suzette said with exasperation. "Actually, it was one of several books she got from someone passing through the village, but I have only read the one and it was about a young country girl who comes to London and through tragic circumstances is sort of tricked into becoming a prostitute. She tells all about her life during that time before she is reunited with her love, who was also her first lover." She frowned. "The first time for her was a wounding and she actually fainted and when she woke she was so sore she could not walk. Her name is--"
"Fanny," Daniel snapped.
"Oh, you've read it too," Suzette said with surprise.
"No, I haven't, I just recognize the description from someone else who did read it," he assured her firmly. "It is a banned book. How the devil did Lisa get her hands on it?"
"I told you, someone gave it to her," she said impatiently.
"Who?"
Suzette frowned. She had known it was a banned book, but that had just made her more curious to read it. Lisa had refused to say who gave it to her, probably because it was banned and she hadn't wished the person to get into trouble. Suzette suspected she knew who it was, but for the same reason was reluctant to reveal her suspicions to Daniel, so merely said, "She would not tell me."
When Daniel narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, she scowled and said, "Stop looking at me like that, you are not my father."
"Too right, I'm not," he said at once.
"Then stop acting like you are and get back on topic, my lord. Will you or will you not visit my room tonight so we can get this blood and pain business out of the way so I am healed ere we get to Gretna Green?"
Daniel frowned and then took her hand and said softly, "I assure you, Suzette, it is not going to be like that. There might be a hint of blood, but certainly not streams, and I am sure there will be little pain."
Now her eyes narrowed. "Have you deflowered a virgin before, then?"
"Good Lord, no!" he said at once with an abhorrence that was more than convincing. It also made Suzette roll her eyes.
"Then you don't know, do you?" she asked dryly.
While Daniel frowned at the truth of that, Suzette crawled onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She didn't even try to kiss him, but merely laid her head next to his and whispered, "Please, Daniel. I don't wish every anniversary to be a reminder of a painful first experience when I know it could be one of pure pleasure if we just remove the barrier to it beforehand."
Sighing, he slid his arms around her. "It is so hard to think clearly with you close like this," he murmured, ducking his head to inhale deeply by her neck.
"Then don't think," Suzette whispered, and when he straightened, turned her head and caught his earlobe with her teeth before sucking it between her lips.
Daniel let his breath out on a hiss and turned sharply, catching her mouth with his own. Suzette smiled and responded to the demanding kiss he gave her, and then shifted to straddle his thighs on the settee. When her skirts hampered her, Daniel helped by pulling them up and out of the way. Suzette felt cool air touch her naked bottom, and then Daniel continued to hold the skirt up with one hand, but dropped the other to clasp and squeeze one round cheek. He then broke their kiss, used his hand at her bottom to urge her to rise up a bit and then closed his mouth over one nipple through her gown as soon as it rose into range.
Suzette groaned and clasped his head, then bit her lip as the hand on her bottom dipped between her legs, but stiffened as she heard a throat being cleared behind her.
Dani
el released her breast and dropped her skirts at once. He then leaned to the side to look toward the door as Richard said, "Well, it appears I arrived just in time."
Suzette groaned and dropped to sit in Daniel's lap so that she could press her flushed face into his neck. She heard him sigh and felt him pat her back soothingly, but then he stood up, taking her with him, to set on her feet. Suzette felt him brush a kiss to her forehead and move away, but stayed where she was. She didn't embarrass easily, but really, Richard had just got an eyeful of her bare bottom and she would just rather not have to face him at the moment, so she remained where she was with her back to the door until she heard the parlor door close and the murmur of their voices moving away. The moment she heard the front door close, however, Suzette dropped onto the settee and buried her face in it, both embarrassed and frustrated.
"Well . . . that went well too," Daniel commented as they stepped out of the tailor's some hours later and started up the walk in the direction of the Radnor carriage. It was the second stop they'd made, and both had been very successful. He and Richard had only planned to make arrangements for the blackmail funds when they'd left the townhouse earlier and had managed the task with little trouble. However, Daniel had taken note of Richard's discomfort in his brother's clothes as they'd arranged the transaction, and upon leaving had suggested a quick stop at the tailor's before returning home. It hadn't taken much persuasion to convince Richard. The man had returned to England with little in the way of clothing befitting an earl and had been forced to choose from George's wardrobe. George had always had terrible taste, preferring bright colors more fitting on a peacock.
Fortunately, the tailor had been quick and efficient about his work, the task ending as successfully as the trip to the bank had gone. Noting the satisfaction on Richard's face, Daniel smiled and added an optimistic, "Perhaps we shall be lucky and arrive back at the townhouse to find that everyone has had such a successful day and the identities of the blackmailer and poisoner have been discovered so that we need only round them up."
"We should be so lucky," Richard said wryly.
"Was it not you who said just as we entered the tailor's that we were both lucky men?" Daniel reminded him with amusement. They had been discussing the women at the time.
