A Bride For Windridge Hall Read online

  “That is a lovely thought…the compromising part, that is.”

  Emily pulled away. She was melting too easily into his embrace. She was afraid she would not be able to prevent him from making her into a wanton woman. Her breath was coming in fast gulps, and her hands shook, as she pushed against his strong shoulders. Roderick released her and gazed longingly at her face. Then his eyes traveled over her shapely body. She still was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He couldn’t understand how she had grabbed his heart the way she was doing and yet, he still could not trust his heart to her. He wondered if he could ever trust it to any woman, no matter how alluring she was?

  Roderick helped Emily to her feet.

  “I hope you will now allow me to call you by your given name,” he said, as she straightened her skirts, and looked about, feeling a little unraveled.

  “Yes…yes of course. Do call me Emily.”

  “Thank you, Emily. I will take you back now, but I will return at seven to collect you again.”

  He opened the door to the parlor, and almost knocked Della over as he did so. Roderick gave Della a stern look. Grabbing her arm, he took her aside, motioning Emily to continue on without him. She looked over her shoulder to catch the glaring look Della was giving her and wondered at the maid’s rudeness.

  “No more spying from you miss, if you intend to stay around here much longer!” he sneered at her.

  Della’s eyes widened at the look he gave her.

  “I don’t like your choice of a wife,” she seethed at him.

  “It is not up to you, Della, who I choose to marry. As you know, I have little choice in the matter and you have no choice in the matter what so ever! So just remember, you are the maid, and you had better keep your place if you know what is good for you.”

  Della felt her hold on Roderick was weakening. He couldn’t possibly want to marry that skinny girl, she told herself firmly. She turned on her heel, leaving him to catch up with Emily. He was beginning to wonder if it was a good idea to keep Della around? He would have to be careful, where she was concerned.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Emily sat and stared at herself in the small mirror, which hung over the well-used dressing table in her room at Fair-weather Boarding House. Her face was hot and flushed, and the spark in her green eyes was that of growing excitement. She picked up a brush from off the top of the table and began to stroke the strands of her deep red flowing hair, which she had inherited from her mother’s Irish blood. She kept telling herself that it was all so impossible. What she was contemplating was far from proper. Then she blushed when she remembered how she willingly accepted Lord Winlock’s kisses. She had a hard time thinking of him as Roderick because he was so far above her in society, and to think she refused his friendship all those years ago! Perhaps there was a reason her father had invited him and his cousin to her birthday back then. Had she been more friendly to him, perhaps today she would actually be his loving wife, instead of considering an impersonal marriage to him.

  His proposition seemed utterly out of the question. She should have given Lord Winlock a firm no, to his outrageous proposal and been done with him. Yet… She paused in her thinking. This was infuriating! In a moment of weakness she had compromised herself, and to make matters worse, two people had witnessed the fact! All she needed was her name in the gossip column of the local rag, and she wouldn’t even be able to find a decent position to support herself!

  If Lord Winlock was correct, that would be the first action his distasteful cousin would take, if she turned down Roderick’s offer. Of course, he would probably wait until the six months had elapsed, to sully both her his cousin’s name. He would get everything, leaving both of them with nothing! It was a shame that such a handsome man would lower himself to such tactics, she thought, wondering if Roderick was anything like his cousin?

  She looked over at Muffin, as though the little dog could settle all of this for her. Her faithful friend merely wagged his tail and smiled at her, with a tongue lolling out of his mouth. Emily had to admit marrying Lord Winlock would solve her financial problems. She wondered if there was the possibility of future close intimate encounters with him? The last one had the power to render her witless, and she wasn’t sure what had come over her. Only the bottom line was that he did not love her. He merely needed her to obtain his inheritance. On top of that, she suspected that he actually hated her, for the way she had treated him as a youth. It must have been a great blow to his ego, considering his station in life, and perhaps he was still planning some revenge to make her regret ever having treated him so. The sad truth was, she had regretted it the moment she had rebuffed him. She still could not understand how she had allowed Alfred to influence her to be so mean-hearted for no reason at all! That was her problem, she was too easily influenced by others, and now she was once again letting herself be influenced to do something that went against every fiber of her being.

  Emily had told Roderick Winlock that she had left her romantic notions in the school room. That had been an out and out lie. The actual truth was, the reason she was not safely married at the moment, was because she had been holding out for love. She had her fair share of offers over the years, all thinking her father was of substantial wealth, the same as she believed. And of course, her beauty attracted most men, regardless of the size of their purse. Regrettably, none of them sparked her interest. None of them touched her heart.

  Now, what was so ironic, was this strange man, whom she had snubbed on her birthday, then later met in a graveyard, had the power to spark her interest and touch her heart, in a way no other man had. The Irony being, he only wanted to marry her out of desperation. A marriage of convenience. She could have had a marriage of convenience a hundred times over, had she wanted that. It was not her vision of the way to spend the rest of her life, and now she may not have any other choice.

  Emily wondered how she could possibly share his bed, without falling in love with him? How humiliating to be used to produce an heir, and yet have no feelings involved with the act. She would end up loving him in vain, and be miserable, and then he would have his revenge!

  Clearly, he had been hurt in the past, yet he did not feel comfortable enough with her to discuss what made his previous marriage so disastrous, other than the death of his wife. From what she could understand, his wife had died shortly after their marriage. Could it be the reason he never married again was because he could not get over her death? He said the marriage had been forced, but perhaps he had ended up falling in love with his wife and then lost her in the end. That would have been heartrending.

  He insisted he would court her. Perhaps in that time, he would change his mind about a marriage of mere convenience. If he could only develop a more romantic feeling about her, it would give her hope. She wondered if it was possible? He certainly kissed her as though he was smitten by her. Her next thought was that he had used the kiss to try and persuade her, if not compromise her.

  Emily was well aware of a man’s need for a woman. Wasn’t that why so many men had mistresses? If they truly loved those women, they would marry them instead of just using their bodies. No, it was not love that made Roderick kiss her. It was his need to try and fill her head with romantic notions, or his want of a woman’s lips beneath his own.

  She thought of the beautiful maid and the way she looked so boldly at Roderick and herself. It lent to the belief the woman was more than just a housemaid to Lord Winlock. Emily could not depress the twinge of jealousy it brought, thinking of how that woman lived under the same roof as Lord Winlock and could be at his beck and call if he wished it.

  Emily turned her mind to her impending dinner with Lord Winlock. She would have to find something suitable to wear. She had packed all her elaborate dinner gowns away, thinking she would have little use for such frivolities in her new position. Now she faced the task of unpacking them and pressing the one of her choice. She always had maids to do those tasks for her. She was wondering if she could a
ttempt the chore without scorching the delicate material? She had already borrowed a flatiron from the landlady, and it was sitting, heating on the small coal stove in her room. She did not have an ironing board, but placing a folded sheet over the dressing table should work well enough, she decided.

  The task was more time-consuming than she had counted on. Emily discovered what she already knew. She was all thumbs at ironing. She was so afraid to put the iron to the material, that it practically cooled before she could brave the possibility of ruining one of her gowns.

  Emily finished doing her hair, another task that had been left up to her maid to accomplish. She was getting ready to slip into her gown when to her dismay she heard a tap on her door. Muffin started yapping at the door with great vigor. She could not leave Lord Winlock standing in the hall while she dressed, with her dog barking furiously at the door. She was starting to feel faint, as her mind became flustered. There were too many buttons to manage, and she knew how long it took to accomplish the job, even with a lady’s maid helping. After the second knock, she grabbed a wrapper and threw it around her body, over her many petticoats.

  Slowly she opened the door and poked only her head out to greet him.

  “I thought you had changed your mind,” Roderick said, as he pushed firmly on the door, causing Emily to back up. He quickly stepped inside the room, removing his hat. He knew he was overstepping his bounds and propriety, but he wasn’t going to allow Emily to back out of her agreement to meet him. Muffin sniffed at his feet, apparently remembering him from earlier that day, and went off to plop down on his cushion.

  “I…I am terribly sorry…” Emily began to stammer, feeling at her wit’s end, standing in front of him with a wrapper over her petticoats, while his eyes roved over her. A pleasant expression on his face.

  “You are not even dressed!” he suddenly said, noticing her state of attire. “You have changed your mind!” he stated a little forcefully, grabbing her upper arm, and gazing down into the depth of her emerald eyes. “I was afraid it would come to this,” he mumbled.

  She took in her breath.

  “Please Lord Winlock…”

  “Call me Roderick, and pray explain to me what has made you change your mind.”

  “It…it is not that…ah…Roderick,” she stammered some more.

  “Then, what keeps you from dressing for dinner, as we planned?”

  “I intended to be dressed when you arrived. I was just delayed…and…”

  Roderick smiled, putting his free hand on her other arm and looking down at her, then letting his eyes sweep over her slightly parted wrapper. It allowed him to see the upper part of her chemise, with delicate white lace rising and falling against her soft breast, as she began to breathe irregularly. He could not help himself, and lowered his head to place a kiss on her bare throat, and then another a little lower against the upper mound of her nicely developed breast. She had grown even more alluring from that young sixteen-year-old girl he had fancied himself so smitten with. He realized he was becoming smitten with her again, and tried to check his own breathing.

  “Are…are you planning to compromise me once again, Lord Winlock?” she asked as she drew in another unsure breath.

  “Roderick,” he instructed, as he placed another kiss above the other breast. “It is an enticing thought,” he murmured, giving her a wink.

  She visibly shook at his words.

  “Would you wish it, Emily?” he asked in a husky voice, as he raised his eyes to look into her face.

  Her eyes were closed and a look of uncertainty was forming, which puckered her brow.

  “Hmm, maybe some persuasion is in order,” he announced.

  Roderick’s hands came down from her arms and pushed under the wrapper, causing it to fall open. His fingers stretched around her waist and pulled her against him. The next moment, his mouth found Emily’s mouth that was slightly parted in what she planned to protest.

  His mouth savored the taste of her breath, as he pushed his body more firmly against the softness of her petticoats. He could not believe the effect she was having on him, and this wasn’t just mad desire. He felt it went deeper than that.

  Roderick was pleasantly pleased and surprised when he felt Emily’s mouth molding to the shape of his own. He envisioned his hand finding her soft alluring breast and spanning over it. He longed to let the ends of his fingers dip under the lace of her chemise, lowering it enough to gain the perked rosebud that stood out against the lace. Restraining himself took Herculean power. He heard her murmur beneath his kiss, and her breast rose with the expression.

  Their kiss deepened, and then he pulled away. He was, wanting too much than just kissing her, and that would become the complete compromise, which would force her into matrimony. It was not the way he wanted to persuade her.

  Emily gasped at the sudden surge of passion that plowed through her body, unexpectedly, and then ended up landing at the junction between her legs when she felt his warm mouth on hers. She did not know what was happening to her, only that she could not believe that a kiss could elicit such powerful feelings from inside of her. She felt as though she wanted closer contact against his strong, hard, body, but of course, the petticoats, thankfully, stood in her way, and kept her from making a fool of herself.

  When, he suddenly broke the kiss off, it confused her.

  “Roderick…” she breathed. She wanted to say something, but she wasn’t sure what it was?

  It had something to do with this new feeling surging up inside of her.

  She tried again.

  “Roderick…I am sure this is starting to become a compromise beyond redemption,” she warned him.

  “Yes,” he agreed almost reluctantly, wondering if continuing would be the only way to get her to agree to marry him?

  He dreaded her refusal to his proposal. If he compromised her much further, though, there would be no turning back.

  “Why did you stop kissing me?” she almost moaned.

  He looked longingly at her mouth, but only crushed her to him in a bewildering hug. She dug her fingers into his hair, and she pressed her head more firmly against his shoulder.

  “You….you cannot imagine what your kiss does to my senses. Pray have mercy on my inability to push you from me.”

  Roderick laughed softly against her ear, and moved his mouth to her lips again, pulling against them with his mouth, plundering her lips passionately. The return of her kiss had the same uncontrollable effect on him as well. He wished for more, while he dared not take it.

  Roderick continued to play her mouth, with unrelentingly kisses, as his own passions rose to the surface, longing to take her right there on the spot. He came to his senses when he realized that it would frighten her too much. And that was not the way he wanted all of this to play out.

  As it was, he was overstepping his bounds with her, and this would mean a marriage she could not get out of without destroying her own good name. The landlady knew he had gone to her room, and probably expected the worse of him, which did not surprise him, considering his reputation. The problem was, he did not want a mere mistress, or a sexual plaything. He wanted a respectable wife. This thought caused him to slowly pull away from her once again, and gather her wrapper closed.

  “Am…I…. suddenly distasteful?” she asked puzzled and rather disappointed that he had not continued to pull more wondrous feelings from her body.

  Roderick smiled.

  “I feel you do not want to be compromised into marriage, even though this is coming damn close. We need to keep a few surprises for our wedding night,” he whispered in her ear and winked.

  “I have not agreed to marry you,” Emily panted, as she tried to calm the beating of her heart, and slow her breathing.

  “Not in so many words, but your body says otherwise,” he chuckled. “Besides, this is starting to go beyond the compromise of you sprawled on my lap,” he warned.

  “Oh….so is it, you…you just know how to kiss women, and how to sed
uce them? Is this how you are going assure I marry you….” she pouted.

  “And you are falling into my arms so easily, my dear. I cannot help myself. You know how badly I need a wife, and if this is a sample of how our life together could be, I am quite certain that you will pleasantly fill the bill!”

  Why couldn’t he just say that he was falling in love with her, she pouted inside? All he wanted was a woman legally in his bed to give him an heir. He was merely tempting her with a future sample of the pleasure he could give her, regardless of his true lack of feeling for her.

  She began to simmer inside. How could she say yes, and keep her dignity, and how could she say no and find future happiness in her life, after feeling how right it felt to be in Roderick’s arms? Besides, there was the problem with his cousin who, for all she knew, was right outside the door at this moment eager to make even more claims about her improper behavior with Roderick.

  Roderick laughed down at her flustered expression, and took her small hand, pressing it to his lips.

  “You are quite the picture, I must admit, but you are so pretty about it, that I can think of nothing to say against you.”

  Emily lowered her eyes, and thought how easy it would be to fall in love with such a viral man, and realized that was what was happening. It angered her because all the time she knew well enough that he was only trying to win her over with whatever flattery he could bring to hand, and whatever touches that would render her helpless to his charms. Eventually, he may compromise her to the point of having to agree to marry him.

  “Well now, young lady. Since you have allowed me to this much access, perhaps it is time to cover your beautiful body with a gown so we can go to dinner. We don‘t want the landlady suspecting the truth of what we have been doing here up until now. We wouldn’t want any more rumors to add to Willard’s ploys, would we?”

  Emily blushed, and it pleased him to see the color rise to her cheeks, even though she had acted quite willing to feel his kisses. She seemed somewhat disappointed when he withdrew. He smiled happily to himself, realizing he had her just where he wanted her, and it would not take much for her to consent to become his wife. Even if she refused, there was always the chance he could compromise her completely. Then she would have no other choice but to marry him. He hoped he would not have to resort to such tactics, though. If he did, it might put too much of a strain on the marriage, and that was the last outcome he wanted, after the failure of his last marriage.