He pulled his hat down over his ears. The cold was like an insipid guest who would not leave. The bliss of a hot bath filled his head. Damn having to wait for his carriage and clean clothes.
Hot bath? What a grand idea. Blade remembered the Hearthstone estate, being near to Harrogate, had a series of hot thermal springs set amongst rocky overhangs, near the south side of the house. The family had turned the natural stoney-outcrop into three bathing pools. He’d sunk his weary body into the hot springs many a time with Harriet’s brothers, Philip Rondell, Viscount Trello, and Lord Thomas Rondell. He pulled Ghost to a halt and listened. He rose in his stirrups and strained his ears. No carriage could be heard. He’d have time.
It took only a quarter of an hour for Ghost to reach the springs. He walked his stallion for a moment to cool him down.
He tethered his horse among the warmed rocks of the overhang, draping his greatcoat over the horse to keep Ghost warm. He stripped down to only his shirt so he could put it on once he got out of the pool in the cold and dry himself. Getting dressed appropriately would be a challenge. At least having been a regular visitor to the estate over the years, he knew how to slip in through the servants’ entrance from the stables and he also knew his way to his room. Since childhood, he’d always slept in the bedchamber next to Trello, Harriet’s eldest brother.
He slipped around the corner of the first group of rocks and stopped dead. He could hear gentle splashing and a woman humming. Flattening himself against the rocks, he crawled to the top and peered over. A smile broke his lips and he almost whistled.
Lady Harriet was bathing in all her glory in the biggest of the group of hot pools. How like the headstrong young woman to swim unaccompanied. To his masculine delight, she was as naked as the day she was born. Wicked girl. And he admired her for it. No insipid miss. Harriet was a match for any man.
A perfect match for him.
She would give him fine sons and they would get along swimmingly.
From his heightened position, his eyes loved the delights shown clearly through the water when the wafts of steam blew away every few seconds. She looked like a mermaid, and if he hadn’t already fallen under her spell, he’d fall again. Her beautiful ebony tresses were piled atop her head, emphasizing her long graceful neck. He envied the water because it got to caress her creamy-white unblemished skin.
Soon she would be his. He couldn’t wait.
He should be a gentleman and leave. Let her keep her modesty—but she was too much of a temptation. Besides, she would soon be his, anyway. Lord Hearthstone had agreed to the match. He was sure Harriet would agree too, after all, she was a sensible woman. He’d known her for years, and he was a duke. Women threw themselves at him. Besides, he could tell when a woman was attracted to him, and Harriet was.
His body shivered. The stone beneath him could have been an iceberg. He’d freeze if he didn’t move soon.
“Alexander John Bishop Montague, if you hide there much longer you’ll become iced to the rock.”
Yes, she was quite the woman. Let’s see how bold she was when he stepped out in nothing but a shirt.
Chapter Two
Harriet had been ticking off all her tasks in her head as she bathed in the heated water. The decorations for the trees were collected, rooms allocated and aired, the food all organized, and she had presents for everyone for Christmas day. Everyone except Blade. She knew what present he wanted, but she still had no idea if she could give herself to him. Not after he’d purposely ignored her all season. She would be no one’s afterthought.
How like him to show up just when her head was full of him. Her heart flipped in her chest the moment Blade’s head popped over the rocky ledge above. Here was the man she suspected would become her husband. He was so handsome it hurt to look at him. Sometimes she thanked God that her brother was his best friend, or she’d not be in line to be considered—and there was the rub.
Why did the Duke of Bladestow want to marry her?
Blade had always been her older brother’s annoying best friend. The boy who thought he knew it all and who teased her mercilessly about her hoyden ways, as he called them.
He stepped around the rock and she stifled a gasp. He was definitely no longer a boy. The light linen shirt hid nothing. Her eyes left the beauty of his face and traveled over the sculptured body of an Adonis to stop at the dark patch. The linen regrettably hid the secrets at his groin. She bit her lip.
He spoke in a low voice. “I thought I must be dreaming, a mermaid. How shocked I was to discover it was in fact Lady Harriet—in the flesh.”
She smiled seductively as she sunk deeper under the water so only her face was showing. “You don’t seem shocked. You appear to be rather pleased.”
Could his smile get any wider? He walked forward until he stood at the edge of the opposite side of her pool.
She hadn’t purposely come for a soak in the thermal spring thinking he’d stop by. She had considered he’d reach Hearthstone by tonight, and she’d simply wanted some solitude and peace to think. Trello, her elder brother, had indicated he thought a match with Blade, the Duke of Bladestow, prudent. She assumed her father, as the Earl of Hearthstone, did too.
What she had to decide was, did she?
He was, of course, gorgeous beyond mere words, but beauty could hide many a sin. She’d known him all her life, given he was often at their home, so she knew deep at heart he was a good man. But she also knew the rumors surrounding him. He spent a lot of time on the continent, doing what, nobody knew. And, according to Blade’s sister, he’d had his heart broken by some foreign beauty, and had sworn never to marry for love.
Was that why he’d built a solid reputation as a rake of the first water? Was that why he was known to keep a mistress, or maybe even two?
She didn’t think she’d like to share her husband with other women. As she drank him in, a stabbing pain in her chest showed that she wouldn’t wish to share him—ever. If he would not be hers and hers alone, her life would be a misery.
She cursed how her body responded to him. Already hot from the heat of the water, her face felt like it was on fire.
“Do you mind if I join you?”
She should say no. There were two other pools he could get warm in. But when did she ever do anything she was supposed to?
“I can hardly stop you.”
To her immense pleasure he tore his shirt over his head, flung it back upon the rock behind him and slipped into the water.
Now her face was flaming and she hated how, like every woman in England, she was not immune to his physical attributes. True, the Duke of Bladestow was one of the most strikingly handsome men she had ever met. And she’d met a few of her brother’s friends and more at her come out this season. None that caught her interest and she blamed this man.
The combination of Blade’s black hair and blue eyes, set in the lean, chiseled facial features of perfect symmetry, saw many a woman lose her sense and heart to him. At the moment, most disturbing was the knowing intensity in those eyes. They practically screamed ‘I’m here for you’ and it aroused a wild yearning in her blood, making her feel as if she couldn’t get her breath.
But marriage was forever and forever was a long time.
She wished she understood why he wanted to offer for her. To make a fine match? He could have had any of this season’s eligible debutantes. He’d courted no-one during the season, including her. Yet here he was, supposedly desperate for her hand.