Page 61 of Beguiling the Baron

Chapter 40

So, this is happiness.

Pleasantly sated, Hal curled his body around the woman he loved, enjoying the gentle rhythm of her breathing. He couldn’t wipe the grin off his face.

Tia shifted slightly. “About the question you asked me earlier.”

He loved the way her voice reverberated through him. “Yes?” Suddenly alert, his heartbeat sped up. He actually forgot to inhale.

“Well, the answer is yes, Mr. Henry Pelham, Lord Ansford. I will marry you.”

Joy ignited a blaze of light in his heart, banishing the darkness. He held her tightly, hoping she would sense the love in him—as well as the insatiable need—and to his delight, she turned in his embrace and pressed kisses on his brow, his mouth, and his eyelids.

He drew his lips slowly across hers, his breathing soft, scarce daring to believe he’d won her. “You’ve saved my soul, Tia. You’ve made a man of me once more, and I intend to make you proud of your creation.”

“I’m already proud of you, Hal. I love you, truly, despite your faults. Maybe even because of them.”

He let her tease him, too ecstatic to complain. Leaning upon his elbow, he gazed down at her. “I don’t deserve it of course, but I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy.”

“Even to the extent of changing your mind about Polly?”

He considered this for a moment. “In the interests of maintaining the peace, I concede Polly doesn’t have to be sent away. So long as you don’t spoil her too much. When she reaches her eleventh birthday, she can choose what school she wants to attend. I promise not to press her to go to Miss Gates’s.”

“Hal, you don’t know how thrilled that makes me.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Not that I wasn’t happy already after . . . after what you did to me.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Indeed? I’m delighted to have discovered such latent passion in you.”

She looked down the length of his body, and he sprang to life again at her sensuous appraisal. “And I am delighted to have discovered such patent passion in you.”

“Ah yes, the eternal optimism of the male genitalia. My little man assumes we can’t be satisfied with a single encounter and is now ready for the next.”

“So why keep him waiting?”

“Temptress. I’m surprised at you, Tia. I can see you really putting me to work.”

Grinning like a cat that had got at the cream, she stroked a hand across his chest before snagging it in the chain he wore around his neck.

The key to the folly. He could tell from her expression its secret stood like a gulf between them, reminding him there was a lot yet to be shared, and a great deal he needed her to comprehend.

“Hal, the folly—”

He wrapped his fingers around hers. “I know, my love. There must be no secrets between us now. Tomorrow you shall see the project on which I’ve been working. I hope, I pray, it will make no difference to what we have. For what we’ve found is precious, Tia, so rare, some people never find it in their entire lives.”

She frowned. “You’re frightening me. Is there something in there to make me stop loving you?”

“I sincerely hope not. I don’t know what I’d do if you changed your mind.” He didn’t even want to consider the possibility. Not now. Not ever.

“When shall we go? At first light?”

“You don’t trust me not to rush in there before you come, and hide anything that might be offensive to you?” He was only half-joking.

“I should trust you, shouldn’t I? If I didn’t, I should never have given you the means to ruin my reputation.”

“You are equally as capable of ruining me. Don’t abandon your creation now, or I’ll become a fearsome beast like Frankenstein’s monster, and you’ll have to bear the guilt for the rest of your life.”

Tia gazed up at the silken canopy above his bed and let out a sigh. “Can’t you explain now what’s in there? Does it have something to do with your late wife?”

“It has everything to do with her. She used to enjoy the tower and the wonderful views it gave. Before Polly was born, we often went up there for a picnic on the roof, though the jackdaws usually had more of our food than we did.”

The memory was fading, as if a veil had been drawn across. It saddened him.

“Are you still in love with her?”

Only in the remotest corner of his heart. It was complicated, though. In time, Tia would understand. “How can I be, when I have you? There’s no comparison between the real, living thing, and a ghost. Don’t ever doubt the strength of my affection, Tia. I’m a man of strong convictions.”

“If I’m to take her place, you must promise if anything bad happens to me, you won’t carry the burden of guilt and grief for so many years.”

He gazed into her ardent, beautiful face, and gathered her to him, pressing her close to his heart. Perhaps now would be a good moment to unleash the spirit that had been haunting him. If he told Tia the whole, sordid story of the latter part of his marriage, he would be cleansed, relieved. At least that way, she would know what risks she took in agreeing to marry him.

“Tia, I have something to tell you that must go no further than this room.”

She nodded her head solemnly.

Taking a deep breath, he nestled his head on her breast. And told her everything.