Page 55 of How to Best a Marquess

Chapter Fifteen

Hugh ran his hand across Ellie’s smooth hip and then along her taut stomach. She was facing him, her soft breath caressing his neck. Strands of red hair streaked across the pillow and on his arm. Like a bright sunset, the color had bewitched him the first time he’d seen it. She shifted and slipped a leg between his. He’d dreamed of this moment, of slowly undressing her and taking her.

She’d surpassed all his expectations, and he was still reeling from their lovemaking. Her genuine concern over his injury had caused an unfamiliar swelling of his heart with tenderness and reverence. And when her hot gaze had traveled over his naked chest, her fascination had sparked an already insidious hunger inside him. He’d once believed Ellie Swift would be passionate in bed. He’d been right, but there had been so much more…

She was giving and generous and had eagerly slipped into his embrace to gift him with her innocence. She’d possessed his thoughts for more time than any other. The girl from his youth. The girl he’d let go to save.

Truth be told, he’d never gotten over her.

His fascination, it seemed, was increasing.

He was put in an impossible situation. Now that he had finally made love to her, his lust hadn’t been sated but had only heightened. Worse was his inexplicable need to keep her beside him, to make her blue eyes widen in wonder at his touch, and to experience her brilliant smile and tinkling laugher once again.

For a startling instant, he wondered if he was in love, but then dismissed the thought as fancy. He was too jaded, too cynical to believe in such emotion now. His feelings for her were lust commingled with admiration, and he was generally fond of her intelligence and spirit. It made perfect sense, he reasoned, that he was enthralled by her. What breathing man wouldn’t stiffen at the notion of the spirited Ellie Swift in his bed?

He’d taken her virginity. There might not have been words of commitment between them, but Hugh took his honor seriously.

It had been five long years. His father was dead. His miserable mother, the dowager, was rusticating in the country and no longer held influence over him. He had inherited the marquessate and all the lands and fortune that went with it. He’d also become his own man and had wisely invested in the London Stock Exchange and made his own fortune as he was serving his army commission. He was not beholden to anyone.

He was a man different from the one he’d been when he’d first met Ellie. And she had grown into a very different woman. A woman who had become even more bewitching.

He kissed the top of her head and stroked her shoulder. Her skin was so smooth, like fine porcelain.

No one he’d been with could compare with Ellie. He wanted a future with her, but the past stood in the way. Hope lifted his spirits. He could finally confess. After their shared intimacy, things had shifted between them, and she would understand. She would have to. Their rivalry over the Raven Club would be moot. She needn’t feel like she had to succeed or risk spinsterhood.

He stroked her arm up and down. “Ellie, there’s something I want to tell you. Something I’ve kept to myself for a long while.”

She lifted her head, her blue eyes bright.

“That day that you found me with Isabelle, Lady Fabry,” he said.

Her expression instantly turned wary. He didn’t want to make her uneasy, but the truth would free them both. “That day. I had no interest in her. She had been pursuing me. I only wanted you.”

Her body had stiffened against him. He didn’t like it.

“Then why did you kiss her?” she asked.

“My father and mother, they were adamantly against our union.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “Why?”

He let out a held-in breath. “The rumors about the earl, your brother.” He didn’t want to say it, but the truth was long overdue. “About him murdering his brother so that he could inherit the earldom.”

She sat up. “They aren’t true.”

In her surprise, she forgot to clasp the sheet and her breasts were revealed to his hungry gaze.

He forced himself to look away from the tempting vision and meet her eyes. He sat up to face her. “I know that. But my parents, the marquess and the marchioness, they feared scandal. It was also known that Ian owned the Raven Club.”

She realized she was exposed and raised the sheet to cover herself. “I thought you were different. That you knew the rumors had no merit but were the result of cruel and vicious gossips.”

“I knew then as I do now.”

“Then why?”

This was the difficult part to explain. He had just turned eighteen and hadn’t known his future. Hadn’t yet grown into the man he was today. He’d had no control over his life then, and he’d resented every second of it. “My parents were coldhearted and cared naught but for themselves. They promised to leave me penniless. I did not want to do that to you. You are an earl’s sister. You were born and raised in luxury. How could I be selfish and take you away?”

“Ian would have provided for us until then.”