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He immediately regretted confiding in her so much. All he had done was increase her anxiety. “I won’t allow anyone to hurt you, Ursula,” he declared possessively. “You are far too precious to me.”
“You cannot be by my side all day. Only this morning you said you had some business to conduct that would render it impossible to return to Yorkshire anytime soon. You can hardly be squiring me around London while conducting your business,” she protested. Frustration made
her voice harsher than she intended but she couldn’t take the words back.
To her surprise, he remained calm and impassive as he studied her thoughtfully. “I will ensure that the business I came to London to complete is finalised before Christmas, and shall return to my estate a happy man. Meantime, I have more than enough time to escort you wherever you want to go.”
“Everywhere?” she whispered when he drew her back down and rolled over so she was beneath him. She gasped at the delicious feel of his weight pressing her deeper into the bed and sighed in anticipation when his hand began to slide slowly down her thigh.
“Everywhere,” he murmured and began to place random kisses down her neck, across her shoulder, and back up to her lips. “Whenever you want; wherever you want,” he assured her in a voice that was husky with desire.
“That will draw the interest of the gossips,” she whispered.
“Let them gossip,” he replied. He continued to kiss her for several moments before he lifted his head to look down at her. “I don’t care what people say. Let them run rife with the news that we are together.”
Ursula thought about the man back in Yorkshire, whose offer her father had accepted, and knew that by loving the man in her arms, she had in fact taken her future in her own hands.
There was nothing about it she could regret. Not now that she had Trenton in her life.
CHAPTER TEN
“I hate smog. It is the only thing in London that I really don’t like,” she whispered later that night when Trenton had reluctantly allowed her to leave the bed and was walking her home.
“It is a little different to the rolling hills of Yorkshire, that’s for certain. It takes a little getting used to.”
“It’s horrible not being able to see where you are going,” she sighed, peering at a small street sign on the iron fence beside her. “I have no idea how you know where we are going.”
Trenton laughed. “I know where you live, darling. I am sure I could find you blindfolded.”
She smiled up at him with a soft sigh, and settled closer to his side when he wrapped an arm around her waist. They shared a smile as she snuggled deeper into the voluminous folds of the cloak he had wrapped her in before they had left the warmth of his house.
“I should have arranged for the carriage,” he mused wryly. When they had left the house, a short romantic walk in the smog had seemed like a good idea. Now that he was out in it though, he suspected they should have waited for the carriage. “Do you want to go back and fetch it?”
“No, it’s not too far to walk. If you are sure you can find your way home on your own, then I would prefer to carry on,” she replied.
Whatever else she was about to stay was halted by the sound of footsteps echoing around them. Unfortunately, the gas lamps did little to penetrate the gloom, and merely added an eerie haze to the darkness that encompassed them. It bathed everything in a yellowish glow that was a little disorientating. In addition to that, the smog seemed to mute most of the noise so that whenever sound reached them, it was difficult to distinguish where it came from and how close it was.
Trenton studied the shadows warily, but could see very little of anything. He sighed and wished they were still tucked up in bed. The last thing he wanted for either of them was to be out and about on a night like this, especially after what they had just shared. If it wasn’t for the fact that Adelaide was undoubtedly at home, and waiting for Ursula, then he would have insisted Ursula remain in bed with him until dawn.
He was a little unnerved at how much of a physical wrench it was to have to walk her home, knowing that he was going to have to return to his house without her. She belonged at his mansion across the square. The place felt lived in with her presence inside it.
“The contrast is stark,” he murmured aloud without thinking.
“Pardon?”
“Nearly there,” he corrected when he spied the next street sigh.
Ursula gasped and jumped when a tall, dark shadow suddenly appeared out of the haze. A dapper gentleman in a top hat nodded to them as he passed, but was swallowed up by the smog just as quickly as he had arrived, barely giving Trenton the time to respond.
“Are you alright?” He asked when he felt her shiver.
“It is a little unnerving,” she replied with a frown. “Are you sure you are going to be all right getting home again?”
“I will be fine,” Trenton assured her. He hated being parted from her for long and began to think of a reason to call by to see her tomorrow. “Will you allow me to escort you to a picnic tomorrow?”
“That would be wonderful,” she replied, delighted that he wanted to see her so soon.
“I will collect you in the curricle around eleven o’clock. I thought that a nice quite drive in the country might be in order, just so you don’t get too used to city life,” he teased wryly and shared a smile with her.
