“Judith,” Bennett bit out. “Can you not hold your peace for one damned minute?”
She held up a hand, utterly unrepentant. “Let me finish. What troubled me was your sadness, for it seemed that your mystery woman did not feel the same way. I want you to know the happiness of loving someone and being loved in return, like Papa and Mama. Like me and Preston. Not crushed under the boulder of unrequited love and then marrying someone you don’t even like, from a blasted list those three old windbags wrote.”
“I won’t be doing that.”
“Well then,” said Judith, her face brightening. “As you were.”
“Why thank you.”
Bennett turned and reached for Delilah’s hand to interlace their fingers. “Yes,” he said quietly. “I love you. Your intelligence, your business acumen, your openness, all wrapped up in a very attractive bow of sunshine smile and luscious curves.”
She darted a look at Judith and Preston, her lips twitching. “If you are going to be all romantic and wicked, we should probably retire upstairs.”
“I think not,” said Preston, leaning forward on his chair. “I’m invested now and need to know the end of the story. Tunbury has declared himself, now the only thing left is how you feel, Mrs. Forbes. Then we’ll trot away and see you another night. I greatly enjoyed the latest lecture on leather dildos by the way, most enlightening.”
“Beg pardon?” said Bennett in surprise. “You’re members here?”
“Quite. Judy and I particularly like the—”
“Hush up, Preston,” said his wife. “Mrs. Forbes, you were saying?”
Bennett glanced ruefully at Delilah. Thank God he’d already apologized for his family and their tendency to just talk.
She took a visibly deep breath. Here it was. The verdict.
Would it be his heaven or hell?
Ben loved her.
After everything, this fact brought her inner chaos to a soothing halt. Now she could breathe again, knowing she’d found a man who didn’t require her to be quieter or thinner, more ladylike or less business-minded. A man who supported her unreservedly, actually listened, and pleasured her until she screamed with the sheer bliss of it.
Delilah bit her lip to halt the biggest, most wayward grin in the history of the world, and squeezed Bennett’s hand. “How I feel. Hmmm. There I was, attending a hospital fundraising meeting in a Curzon Street drawing room with Naomi—you remember your favorite confectioner Mrs. Wickham—eating pastries and listening to gossip when I heard a thoroughly disagreeable story.”
“Oh?” he murmured, his silver gaze intent.
“Two women were discussing how a young lady might land a big fish like yourself; I believe it involved a torn gown, turned ankle, or hair dishevelment in a secluded alcove. You weren’t Ben, just a title with a bank account. Naomi said I hissed like a boiling kettle.”
He grinned. “Now that would have been a sight. A duel at the afternoon tea table.”
“Pastries are no laughing matter, Your Grace. But I wanted to fly at them with fang and claw because no way would that young lady understand or care for you like I did. Fortunately I was escorted from the premises before lives were lost. Only then did I know for sure, that what we had wasn’t just amusement or extraordinary lust, but something far more. I’ve nearly blurted those three special words several times.”
Ben’s face lit up. “I wanted you to say it then. Will you say it now?”
“I love you,” she said, reaching up to cup his cheek.
A growl rumbled in his chest, that endearing little sound he made when words were hard to come by, and she tilted her head in anticipation of a scorching hot yet incredibly tender kiss.
Then he paused. “My family.”
“Yes, we’re still here,” said Lady Judith cheerfully.
“Jolly good show,” said Lord Preston.
“My God,” said Ben, gazing heavenward. “Why are you still here? Could you not have just crept out the door like normal people?”
Delilah giggled. “Feel free to send them on their way.”
“Your premises, sweetheart.”
Indeed they were. Well, for the next few weeks at least. And now she would have the new challenge, the new life she’d been seeking, if what Ben had said in the bathtub was his true desire.
She leaned around him and smiled at the two aristocrats seated on her gaming hell chairs. Lady Judith held hands with Lord Preston, and kept dabbing her eyes with a lace handkerchief. “I mean this with all due care and respect, but—”
“You wish us gone,” said Lord Preston, nodding. “At once.”
“If not sooner,” said Lady Judith with a beaming smile as she rose to her feet. “I hope you’ll forgive our intrusion. We were anxious enough for Bennett when we last saw him, firmly in the role of brooding tortured hero, but then came that blasted scandal sheet. I decided it was high time to unleash poison on someone.”
“Judith,” said Ben impatiently.
“What? I’m thoroughly relieved that all Mother and I have to fret over is coordinating our gowns for an impending special occasion. There will be a special occasion, yes? I think—”
“Out,” said Bennett.
“Now,” added Delilah.
“We’re going,” said Preston, as he lovingly hauled his wife toward the door.
“Welcome to the family!” called Judith over his shoulder.
When she and Ben were alone in the gaming hell, they exchanged a wordless, laughing glance, but this space seemed too large and impersonal for the further intimate conversation they needed to have. So Delilah curled her hand around his arm and gestured to the fireplace in the entrance hall. It was a most memorable place: where they had first set eyes on each other.
“So,” Delilah said lightly when they stood in front of the roaring blaze. “A special occasion, hmmm?”
Ben sighed. “I should have apologized several times in advance, not just once. Judith does not wait for an opportune time, she just speaks. I can only ask your forgiveness if she made you feel uncomfortable or pressured, for that is the last thing I want.”
“What is the first thing?”
“Your happiness.”
Delilah went up on her toes and kissed a trail along his prickly, unshaven jaw until she reached his mouth. Then she brushed his lips with hers, tempting him to take control. He did so in glorious fashion, one hand around her waist and the other caressing the back of her neck, kissing her until her toes curled.
“That was the first thing I wanted,” she said breathlessly. “To be in your arms, which is my favorite place now. The second thing is your happiness. But I’m not sure how a scandal will make you happy. And if you do wish to make me your duchess it will create merry hell, even if I no longer owned the Temple.”
Bennett frowned. “I would never ask you to choose. We can be a thoroughly modern couple; the stiff rumps can eat their hats. I won’t tolerate hypocrisy in any shape or form; least of all those who would happily attend the club yet not receive you in their drawing room.”
“The choice is already made.”
“What?”
“I actually sold the business the day we met; the new owner moves in on January first. I’ve loved my time here, but I yearn for a new life now. I want to be more than the Mistress of Sin, and I know they are trifling things, but to sleep rather than work at night; to have my own home with a garden rather than a few rooms; to travel and see the country, because I’m almost ashamed to admit I’ve never been outside London.”