One Night With You (The Derrings #3)(52)

She pressed the base of her palms to her burning eyes and willed the pain away, choking back a sob as she commanded herself to forget she had ever loved Seth. That she still did. The sob swelled higher in her throat, threatening to burst free as that realization washed over her. She had never stopped loving him. Even after all these years.

The journey back to Town was a miserable affair, even without the waves of tension, palpable as fog, swirling around them. She stared out the window, watching the rolling countryside, convinced she could never look Seth in the face again. Not without reliving the shame of his rejection, at any rate.

The swaying and rolling motion of the carriage heightened the sickness she had thought mild and endurable at the cottage. A queasy belly that cramped and twisted insistently soon pushed thoughts of Seth from her mind. After the first hour, she fell limp against the carriage wall, slipping in and out of misery-induced sleep.

"Are you well?" Seth asked at one point, his hand falling on her shoulder. She whimpered at his touch, as if it somehow compounded her misery.

"Fine," she mumbled without opening her eyes, concentrating on not retching all over the carriage floor. "Just tired."

At some point, her dozing must have turned into a full-fledged slumber because the next thing she knew she was being lifted from the carriage and carried up the steps of the St. Claire townhouse.

Her cheek rested weakly against Seth's hard chest, the thudding of his heart filling her ear as her head lolled with the pound of his footsteps. She lifted her head, determined to escape his comforting nearness, to neither need nor want it, but that still left the hard bands of muscle holding her securely, and the unyielding breadth of a very male chest against her. She gave up the fight, telling herself she took no pleasure in his holding her.

He deposited her upon a large tester in the room that she had occupied prior to taking their vows. Relieved to be free of the rollicking carriage, she curled on her side, closing her eyes as she sank into the down-filled mattress, so grateful she did not even protest when he removed her slippers and stockings.

Slipping her hand beneath her cheek, she released a shuddery sigh as warm fingers squeezed the blood back into her feet. "Mmm," she moaned, rolling onto her back, afraid to open her eyes and find him gone and the pleasant sensation a dream.

He rubbed deep, languorous circles over the arch of her feet. His fingers slid up, those marvelous thumbs moving over her calves in long, penetrating strokes until she felt boneless, a weakened mass of her former self.

Instinctively her knees parted and she groaned as he moved up even more, his fingers digging deep, sweeping strokes along her quivering thighs. Her hands stretched out to her sides, fisting the brocade counterpane as small noises of pleasure escaped her.

She opened her eyes, letting herself look at him at last.

Seth stood poised over her, hands digging into her thighs, a feverish look in his eyes that brought a rush of moisture between her thighs. Her body reacted, an aching throb tugging low in her belly, demanding and insistent. She bit her lip, wanting badly to assuage that ache—wanting him to pound it into submission as only he could.

"Jane!" a voice intruded.

Seth's hands dropped from her thighs as though burned and he took a hasty step back. Anna charged into the room, her broad faced creased and lined with worry. "I heard you were carried inside the house. Are you unwell?" The older woman looked Seth over accusingly. Jane rearranged her skirts, sitting up. "I'm fine. Only a little travel-weary."

"Hmm," Anna murmured, casting Seth a sidelong glance.

Blinking with the realization that Anna stood before her, Jane exclaimed, "Anna! What are you doing here?"

Anna nodded at Seth, folding her hands before her substantial figure. Jane's gaze jerked to Seth.

He gave only a curt nod.

Anna explained, "Before you left for your honeymoon, his lordship hired me." Jane stared hard at Seth. "You did that?"

He shrugged one shoulder. "It was a small matter."

Why would he do something so thoughtful, so generous… for her? And before they ever left Town. Before that wretched night when she had thrown herself at him and shamed herself.

"You do look peaked," Anna observed, her sturdy, callused palm brushing Jane's cheek. "Are you feeling poorly?"

"I'll leave you now," Seth announced. Looking to Anna, he advised, "Do see that she rests and eats."

"Yes, my lord." Anna sketched an awkward curtsey, watching as he strode from the room. As soon as the door clicked shut, Anna whirled about. "Out with it now. What has he done to you?"

"Nothing. I'm merely a bit under the weather," Jane confessed. "I'm sure it's no more than exhaustion from the journey."

"It's the babe," Anna pronounced, shaking her head with a dogged resolve. "Your mother was violently ill with both you and your sister—especially you."

Jane's hand flew to her belly. "Violently ill?" she echoed, praying it would not be so with her. She did not want Seth to think her weak and sickly. He already thought low of her. She would have that he not view the mother of his child as frail and unfit for the rigors of motherhood.

"Come, lie down. I shall send for a tray."

"No," Jane said, her voice falling hard. "I won't have him think I need special care." Anna observed her keenly, lowering herself to the bed beside Jane. The bed dipped from her added weight and Jane had to stop herself from rolling to the edge. "You seem to care a great deal about what he thinks of you."