Lady in Red, Eliza Knight [have you read this book TXT] 📗

head. “They haven’t. Not yet as far as I know. You were doing what you thought was right. Protecting your child. I’ll not hold that against you.”

“But I still hurt ye. I was still stubborn and foolish.”

“You didn’t know if I would accept you and your child.” Terrence seized a chance and gently caressed her arms to comfort her. “I would have. I will now.” He wanted desperately to take her into his arms and kiss away the years of pain. “If I’m not mistaken, you are still my wife, which makes Sarah my daughter.”

“Oh, Terrence.” Elizabeth sagged into him, her forehead resting on his shoulder, her warm breath on his neck. Her shoulders shook as she let her tears release.

Terrence held his breath and stroked her back tenderly, threading his fingers into her hair. They’d barely begun their lives together when she’d disappeared, and now he had a second chance.

“Elizabeth, my darling, I never want to see you hurt. You’ve been through so much already. I just want to lessen your pain. See the way your joy lights up the blue in your eyes. Let me try.”

“What will everyone say?” she said, a hiccup on the end. Tilting her head back, she peered at him, tears streaking her cheeks.

He wiped at the tear tracks. “I don’t give a fig what they say. As long as we’re happy, they can all go rot.”

“And Sarah?”

“A daughter to me, I swear it.” He grazed his fingers over her face, turning her chin up, so she looked at him. “Give me a chance to prove I can be the man you need.”

“Ye already proved that years ago.” Elizabeth leaned up, her lips a hair’s breadth from his. “’Tis why I ran. I sought out with revenge on my mind, and then I fell in love. I couldna go through with it. I was so confused. I was such a fool to run out on you, not to see the truth for what it was. Ye’re a good man, Lord Shaftesbury, and I have never stopped loving ye. I only hope ye can forgive me.”

“All is forgiven. I’ve never stopped loving you either, hoping to see you walk through the door.” Terrence ended his declaration with a kiss, pressing his lips to her warm, inviting mouth.

He’d missed the pleasure of her kiss, the tenderness, the raw desire and excitement of it. Desire thrilled through his veins. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her onto his lap so that he could devour her mouth all the more. Elizabeth answered his kiss with a fiery passion he remembered. The years of space and fear melted away, replaced with renewed energy and yearning.

“I’m so sorry,” she murmured again.

Terrence opened his eyes, locking his gaze on hers, somber. “No, I’m sorry. I should have delved deeper, looked harder.”

“I didna want to be found.” She kissed his chin. “I’ll never doubt ye again.”

Terrence pulled her closer. “I never gave up hope you’d return.”

“I’ll never leave again.” Elizabeth looked intently into his eyes. “I swear it.”

“I want to make love to you. It’s been so long.” He placed her hands to his beating heart.

“Oh, Terrence, so do I.”

He claimed her mouth once more, passion and heat rising between him. She trembled in his embrace.

“Are you certain?” he asked.

“I’ve never been more certain in my life.”

Terrence laid her back on the settee, and Elizabeth wrapped a leg around his hip, surrounding him with her warmth. Making love to her had been glorious, the best he’d ever had, and here she was again, his completely for forever. Deepening the kiss, he grazed his fingers along her rib cage, down over her hip and thigh.

“You’re more beautiful than I remember,” he murmured, kissing a path from her chin, along the column of her neck to the valley of her breasts.

Elizabeth skimmed her hands up and down his back, sending shivers dashing over his skin.

Blood roared through his ears in a desperate rush to reach his loins. He tried to go slow, stroking her center until she quivered and laving her soft breasts until her nipples puckered like ripe cherries.

“Please, Terrence, I can’t wait any longer.” Her desperate cry shoved him over the edge.

Terrence tore open his breeches, hiked up her skirts and pushed towards home. They both cried out at the joining of their bodies. Hands stroked, limbs tangled, mouths collided. They rode the waves of ecstasy in time with the beat of their racing hearts until both could no longer move and pleasure soaked them in sweat.

Sated for the moment, they lay in each other’s arms, hearts pounding, breath heaving. They were together again, the earl and his lady in red.

Epilogue

One month later…

Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief as the drawing-room doors were closed, leaving her in peace—the last of her morning guests had departed. It had been easy to fall into the routine of countess once more.

Terrence had seen that the society papers shared the news of her happy return after a long illness in the country. Nobody dared question the lie, at least to their faces, and the callers had been frequent ever since. Like her husband, she did not enjoy the many particular duties that came with the titled position. She’d much rather help him work on his speeches for the House of Lords than be serving tea. Thankfully, Mrs. Ball had been very good at teaching her the proper ways to pour out, and she had yet to make a gaffe—though she knew it was certainly expected from the ladies who did come by.

She didn’t count any of them as particular friends, but one—Lady Corrine, the Countess of Stafford.

“Mummy! Mummy!” Sarah pushed through the closed doors and leapt into Elizabeth’s arms. She was dressed in a light pink gown, her dark curls somehow tamed into a braid with a matching pink ribbon. She released her mother long enough to snatch a biscuit left over from tea. “My new governess is so nice. She let