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He gave a harsh cry and pounded into her for several moments, ripping another wild release from Felicity before, with a groan, he spent deep inside her. They stayed like that against the door for several moments, catching their breaths. When he lifted his face from the crook of her neck, a very sated, lopsided smile curved his mouth. “Felicity Harrington?”
“Hmm,” she murmured rather drowsily.
Phineas kissed her tenderly, barely brushing his lips over hers. “Marry me.”
The shock of hearing those words almost pushed her into a faint. “What?”
“You heard me,” he said with soft amusement. “Marry me.”
“I…I…what?” An incredulous laugh pulsed from her. “I cannot believe you want to marry, my lord.”
His eyes sobered. “I do. I want my nanna to see me married.”
She sucked in a harsh breath as a terrible foreboding feeling clawed at her. “Oh Phineas, I cannot—”
“Save me from marrying a stranger only to make my nanna happy.”
She trembled against him. “I cannot!”
He stiffened, and something undefinable flashed in his eyes. “I know you want me, as much as I want you, Felicity, and I suspect you also need me as much as I need you. Allow me to marry a woman I know I am falling in love with, a woman who might soon reveal she carries my child.” A rueful smile twisted his mouth. “I allowed my desperate passion to make me reckless.”
Her heart simply stopped beating, and she stared at him in silent astonishment. He wants her, and he is inneedof her. But he is only willing to marry her now to appease his grandmother. Though, with the feelings they share, could either of them have walked away at the end of their ruse? He chose her because he was falling in love with her. The feelings swirling inside her chest were sweet and fierce and hungry. “Phineas?”
“Yes, Miss Harrington?” he asked with tender amusement.
“I’ll marry you.”
He kissed her, deeply and sweetly, yet inside, her heart did not rejoice that everything she had ever wanted was now within her grasp. Felicity felt uncertain, but she allowed herself to be taken down deep into swirling sensations and assured herself it was he who had asked her to marry him.
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
Phineas was concerned that his grandmother had kept to her bed since the picnic. It had been two full days, and she showed no signs of getting out and about.Thathe had never witnessed before, and a caged restlessness ate at him.
He had visited her chamber this morning, and she had seemed very listless. “Please, Phineas, arrange for the church in London immediately. I do not think I can hold on for the banns to be read, and I so want to see you married to your Jane.”
Her voice trailed off, and she seemed to choke a little, and he poured her a glass of the lemon barley water that the doctor considered health giving for invalids. Phineas found it overly sweet but had drunk gallons of the stuff as a young boy when recovering from childhood illnesses and the scrapes he had got into from mischief and disobedience to more sensible voices.
Phineas did not think his grandmother should risk traveling to London even for his wedding, so he should set about arranging for the marriage at all speed. The problem of Felicity’s first name was a matter of a minor complication that he would simply resolve by calling her Felicity. The thought brought him a measure of amusement when he imagined his family’s reaction.
He asked Carson to send a groom for the local curate. The parish church had been held in plurality for the last sixteen years. His father having given a friend three churches so that he was officially vicar of three livings. Two of the churches were in a small town some twenty miles from his estate, so the vicar rarely visited the parish closest to the estate and had installed a curate to take over the ministry in the village.
The curate, one William Greenways, now took the services in the village and then usually came for Sunday lunch and took another service in the estate’s chapel, which allowed the family and staff to attend together without interfering too much with the running of the house. Sundays were on a skeleton staff as all his staff was allowed one Sunday in two off to visit with their families. And he had made sure that each member of staff was supplied with a basket of food for their families by the cook when they left the house for their day off. Another missive was sent to his man of affairs to procure a special license immediately on his behalf.
“Are you really marrying Jane this week?” his mother asked, entering the library in a swirl of green gown and lavender perfume.
“Yes. However, her name is Felicity.”
His mother’s eyes widened and awareness dawned. “Are you to tell your grandmother?”
“No. When we exchange vows, she will hear it. She will be so overjoyed she won’t even wonder why Jane is no longer Jane,” he said drily.
His mother hesitated. “Phin, are you only marrying because your grandmother asked you to?”
There was a shadow of concern in her eyes that made him pause. “I admire Felicity,” he said. “Perhaps I would have waited a few more years, but I feel no great pains to marry her now. Rest assured, all is well.”
His mother smiled, but she still seemed uncertain.
“We cannot marry in London because of nanna’s ill health. It will be simpler to marry in the chapel.”
