Spending Christmas in Hell (Diamonds of London #8)

Chapter Thirteen

Covent Gardens

Ashlynn had never been so entertained before, neither had she felt such magic seep into her bones as she did during this evening.

When she and Timothy alighted from the carriage, she didn’t know what to expect, but she needn’t have worried. Amidst the crowds of people there, a jovial atmosphere immediately buoyed her spirits. There were delights and surprises around every corner, for there was a winter circus in progress.

Jugglers, acrobats, clowns, fire dancers, tight rope walkers, and every manner of assorted acts were all dressed in costumes of white or ice blue. Spangles sewn onto the fabric caught the lantern and fire light, and she caught her breath with each new shocking feat or sleight of hand magic.

As the evening wore on, a light snow fell adding even more romance to the outing. There were handcarts aplenty, and at one, Timothy stopped and bought her a small bouquet of hothouse flowers, wrapped in pretty tissue paper. Six blooms in total amidst sprigs of evergreens and pinecones, the red roses and white lilies gave off a lovely scent and she couldn’t stop brushing one of the rose petals against her cheek.

He was an attentive husband, plying her with sugared nuts from one of the vendors then sharing a savory beef and vegetable hand pie with her from another. They consumed lemonade and then a lovely rum punch, piping hot fried fish that reminded her of something her grandmother had made back in Ireland, roasted and charred root vegetables, as well as popped corn along with fire-roasted chestnuts. There were so many other interesting foods they sampled as they strolled past the hand carts while enjoying the night circus, she couldn’t remember them all. By the time they procured glasses of mulled cider, she announced she was full.

One of his dark eyebrows rose in surprise. “Truly? Or are you telling me that you’ve had enough food when you haven’t and are falling onto bad habits?”

A touch of heat went through her cheeks. “I am telling you this truthfully.” She took the last swallow of the cider and then uttered a low groan. “This feels like the most food I’ve ever eaten in one sitting, and it was marvelous.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” He finished his own cider then gave the empty glasses back to the cart vendor. When he turned to her, he offered his arm, crooked at the elbow. “Did you wish to return home or do you want to walk the pathways?”

“I’m not quite done with our time together.” As she slipped her hand into his arm, she sighed. “Thank you for this. I have enjoyed it all.” The warmth of him coupled with the shroud of midnight darkness wrapped her in a cozy cocoon of pleasant feelings that she hadn’t experienced before.

“You are quite welcome.” He put his lips to the shell of her ear. “The gown you chose for tonight is beautiful, but only second to how you look on your own.”

“I’m glad you noticed.” The sapphire taffeta had made her feel far prettier than she truly was, and she adored how the skirting rustled every time she moved. Silver embroidery lined the low bodice as well as the hem of the garment. Simple capped sleeves fluttered on her shoulders if she was inside, but tonight, she wore a new white velvet cape over the upper half of her body, and it was lined with white rabbit fur that kept her warm against the winter breeze. “The modiste has a real talent with design and color.”

“I’ll agree with that assessment, but she had natural beauty to work with.” With each word, his lips grazed her ear and sent shivers of need down her spine.

“You are in a mood tonight, I think.” Because of that, naughty thoughts danced through her mind as awareness tingled over her skin. “Perhaps we should seek out paths not lit for a while, hmm? I am fancying a bit of privacy.” After all, they’d been interrupted this afternoon. What would he have done had the butler not come by?

“If it pleases my lady,” he quipped softly, but his steps quickened as he guided her toward the shadow-laden paths that went deeper into the dark gardens.

The cheekiness he displayed tonight prompted giggles on her part, and for a moment she could forget their marriage was suffering from identity confusion. Unexpectedly in him she’d found a lovely friend and companion. Could she envision a future with him by her side as they worked to change London for the good? Yes, she could, and it was just a bit terrifying, for that sort of contentment and happiness could be yanked away at any moment.

Hadn’t that happened to her whole family? Though she had extended relatives back in Ireland, her immediate family had left this mortal coil. What if that happened to Timothy? Could she survive one more death?

Could her heart, because despite the denials to herself, she suspected love had tiptoed in and had engaged that organ.

“We are far from the lights and crowds,” he said as he swept her into his arms. “We can either dance in our own private ballroom or chase a bit of wickedness.”

Those words sent delicious shivers into her blood. Ashlynn slipped her hands up his chest, smoothed them over his shoulders covered by his greatcoat, then furrowed the fingers of one hand through the hair at his nape.

“That is a difficult choice, Dashfield.”

“Oh, indeed, so perhaps we should begin where we left off earlier this afternoon.” Seconds later, he claimed her lips in a kiss so tender she wanted to cry from the artistry from it.

Though the embrace began in an understated way, it quickly deepened as if someone had dropped a match to dry tender. Kisses went deeper and became more thorough; hands were seemingly everywhere at the same time. Before she knew it, he had the low bodice of the new gown yanked down, and the magic he invoked while teasing her breasts sent fire into her blood and warmed her from tip to tail.

“Every time you are with me, and we are like this…” She could barely think of words to say, for anything in her brain was shrouded in desire. “I want to do so many things… to you… with you.” Dear heavens, that sounded so silly.

Because she wished to give him the same pleasure he was giving her, Ashlynn slipped a hand down to the front of satin breeches. To her delight and awe, his hardened shaft pressed against the fabric, and gladly she traced its outline, then feeling more comfortable, she took him in hand as best she could, moving her curved fingers up and down his length.

“Let me bring you to release,” she whispered against his lips, merely to have something break the silence while the night closed around them. Not that she had experience in doing such a thing. The last time they were together physically, there had been no time for exploration from either of them. “Let me see you, touch you…” Would she be daring enough to do other things? In truth, she would only see him undone with her hand, for she didn’t want to kneel in order to pleasure him with her mouth. The mud and melting snow would ruin her new gown.

A sigh shuddered from him, and he didn’t answer her straightaway, so she continued to stroke him through the fabric of his evening breeches. How lovely it was to hold such power over him. Why was he so affected by her? And more deliciously, did she truly know enough to inflame him into desire? The thought they might be compatible in this way too left her with more questions than answers, but oh how she wanted the chance to figure them out for herself.

“Bloody hell, Linnie, you must leave off else I’ll explode.” Gently but firmly, he eased her fingers from his person. The feel of his fingers on hers was glorious, for neither of them had donned their gloves after eating.

She snorted. “Isn’t that the point of such an exercise?” Her breath clouded about her head, for it was rather chilly so far away from the crowds.

His eyes glittered in the darkness as he searched her gaze. “Come with me.” When he took her hand and pulled her off the path and deep into a wooded area, the darkness became that much more complete. It was rather odd, scurrying through unfamiliar territory with her breasts completely out of her gown, the nipples hardened both from arousal as well as the cold.

“Where are we going?” Even still, her heartbeat quickened from both excitement and apprehension.

“Somewhere private because you have teased me far too much this night.” A decided growl made itself known in his voice. Seconds later, he brought her beneath the winter-bare branches of a large oak tree. Some dried brown leaves still clung to some of the branches. “How scandalous do you wish to be, Ashlynn?” he whispered as he encouraged her back against the wide trunk. The intensity in his dark eyes left her gasping.

She entered into the spirit of the flirtation. “That depends on what you want you mean by scandal.”

“You.” He claimed her mouth with a searing kiss she wouldn’t forget any time soon. “I want you here and now, at my mercy, and I don’t wish to stop until I’m buried deep into your tantalizing body.”

Heat slammed into her form, but she couldn’t stop kissing him except to nod. “I would like that,” she said against his lips as she fumbled at the waist of his trousers in an effort to draw his shirttails from the garment. “I thought I’d shown you with my actions that I was game to chase scandal.” Finally, she accomplished her purpose, and when she shoved her hands beneath the shirt and pressed them to his skin, a sigh shuddered from her throat. He was warm, the sparse hair crisp as it rasped against her palms, and his abdomen slightly ridged that she couldn’t wait to explore him.

Of course, she couldn’t very well have him naked beneath her in this locale, but if her luck held, soon.

Dear heavens, what has this man done to me?

“I adore your tart mouth and your spirit.”

It wasn’t exactly a confession, but for the moment, it was enough. While she caressed his belly and delighted when his muscles went taut beneath her fingertips, Timothy trapped her between the oak tree and the hard wall of his body. He kissed her again with slow, languid ease that set her blood on fire and had desire humming through every nerve ending.

Needing so much more, Ashlynn surged onto her toes to better kiss him back, as she manipulated the buttons of his frontfalls. Tonight, she didn’t want foreplay or teasing; she merely wanted the raw, hard feel of him moving inside her. There would be plenty of time for erotic torture should they come together again.

Was that what she wanted? Then she shoved the thought away.

When his rampant length sprang from his satin breeches, she stroked her curved fingers down that hot, thick shaft until thought of him inside her drove her closer to the brink of madness. “Do this now, Dashfield. I can wait no longer.”

“Careful else I’ll go tip over tail for you.” Had he even realized what he’d said? It didn’t matter, for he wasted no time in shoving up handfuls of her skirting. “I rather think I might have awoken a siren when we coupled a few nights ago.”

It was thrilling to be likened to a siren. “If you have, I don’t mind. There is much I want to experience in this side of our relationship.” She hauled him closer with a hand in his cravat and as he trapped her between the tree and his solid body, Ashlynn lifted a leg and hooked it about his hip with her heel firmly at the small of his back. “Your kisses drive me to madness, your touch makes me want to do wicked things, and there is something about you that I have been craving since that night.”

She needed him out of her head to perhaps clear her thoughts.

Or order them.

“Then by all means, we shouldn’t delay. Especially since it’s fecking cold out here.” The clouding of his breath bore testament to that fact. When he reached between their bodies and fit the head of his member to her opening, his knuckles brushed the swelling bundle of nerves at her center. He chuckled when she moaned. “What I wouldn’t give to be at home so I could remove that gorgeous gown from your body and go exploring with my lips and tongue.”

“Oh!” Shivers chased up and down her spine at the thought. “Rogue.” Then there was no need to say anything else, for with a powerful flex of his hips, her husband penetrated her body. He didn’t stop until she was completely impaled and irrevocably filled with his thickness. “Oh, goodness.” The words were loosed from her throat as delicious sensations sailed over her skin.

“You feel so good.” One of his hands went beneath her thigh to hold her lifted leg steady while the other he rested on the tree trunk near her head. Over and over and over he moved inside her with deep, powerful thrusts that had her eyes rolling back in her head as she clung to his shoulders in an effort to remain upright.

“Oh, Timothy.” Ashlynn met his strokes the best she could, but then she simply gave up so she could enjoy what he was doing to her. The faster he pumped, the deeper he went. She dug her fingers into his shoulders as wild sensations swamped her. With each stroke, he pinned her harder to the tree, and the sensations of his thrusts coupled with the rough texture of the bark provided so much stimulation her body shook from it. Their breath clouded about their heads while the heat from their joining staved off the cold.

She threw her head back, almost gone, but when he delved a hand between them to bedevil that throbbing, swollen nubbin at her center, Ashlynn’s world unraveled. The added friction hurtled her close to the edge. Bliss glimmered just out of reach. Frustrated that her body wouldn’t surrender, she released him long enough to move a hand to a tightened nipple and rolled it like he’d done to her before. Pleasure streaked between her breasts into her core, and coupled with what he did to her, it sent her pinwheeling into a quick release.

“Yes!” At the last second, she forgot to modulate her tone, and if anyone was in the vicinity, they would know exactly what was happening.

Her husband didn’t seem to mind. As she rode the crest of that first wave, he continued to piston into her, working her body as if that were his only purpose on the earth. She’d barely come down from her flight when the pressure inside broke once more as his play at her pearl sent her over again.

“Ah!” She was helpless against the undulating onslaught that racked her body.

He took the sound into himself as he kissed her hard. Another thrust and a grunt had him following her into that wonderful void where sound and sight didn’t exist. There was only exquisite, heated pleasure that rolled over her until she barely had the strength to stand. Warmth seeped deep into her core as he ground his hips into hers.

“I think you might have addled my brain,” he whispered as his arms came around her and Ashlynn’s leg slipped from his waist. Timothy rested his forehead on hers. “After everything, I’m glad you are mine.”

That light affirmation of possession had flutters filling her lower belly. “As am I.” She clung to his shoulders, for her knees were quite wobbly. “A good decision for us both.”

“Indeed.” They leaned on each other’s strength for a few minutes more. Then he dug a handkerchief from an interior pocket and gave it to her. “In the event you wish to clean up before we return to the party to the more civilized areas of the gardens.”

“Ha.” How could she be expected to smile and interact with other people after this? She wanted nothing more than to curl up on a sofa with a flute of champagne and a book, preferably with him somewhere nearby. “That was different from the last time.”

“Passion got the better of us.” He winked as he set his clothing to rights and tucked himself behind his frontfalls.

As always, such things caught her by surprise, yet it was pleasing he’d found that with her. She smiled as she cleaned up as best she could, then after tucking the handkerchief into her reticule, Ashlynn yanked up her bodice and smoothed out her skirting. “Do I look all right?”

“You look as beautiful as you did when we stepped out of the house.” When he offered his arm, she slipped her hand into the crook of his arm. “I…” He cleared his throat. “Thank you for sharing this night with me.”

She nodded but remained silent as they regained the path and strolled back toward the crowds and lights. “Um.” Tugging on his arm, she suddenly craved the darkness and intimacy of having him all to herself, and she didn’t want the night to end. “Could we perhaps walk through the darkness for a bit? I don’t want to go back just yet.”

“All right.” He nodded. “Do you feel safe enough to do so?”

“With you? Yes.” As each day went by, as she spent more hours in his company, her trust in him grew. “Would you like to know why I would like to have a Bavarian-style evergreen tree in our drawing room?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t mind knowing everything about you.”

When she peered into his face, it was too dark to read the emotions in his eyes, but she hoped he was sincere. “When my mother first heard of the Bavarian custom, she was obsessed with it each Christmastide, but my father balked at it, said the candles would catch the tree on fire and then subsequently burn down the house. A few years before she died, my mother finally convinced him to let her have one.”

“Was it the debacle your father said it would be?”

“Of course not. Oh, Timothy, it was so beautiful on Christmas Eve. The tiny candles gleamed and reflected off the brass holders. Mama had strung berries and buttons and used ribbons to decorate the branches. Even Papa wanted to help, so he fashioned a star out of newspaper for the top.” She laughed with indulgence. “That was a perfect night.”

“When you were all happy.”

“Yes.” She nodded. Grief welled and her eyes filled with tears. “Perfectly happy.”

“I’m certain you’ll know that again, Linnie,” he said softly. “Life sometimes manages to surprise us when we let it.”

“If fate is kind.” But she’d had enough experience to know that wasn’t true.

After that Christmas Eve night, life had been difficult and sometimes horrible, and she couldn’t remember a time when she’d been so perfectly happy…

Until now, with her husband, on this winter’s night after passion had gotten the best of them and swept them away into the woods as if they didn’t have a care in the world.

What am I supposed to do now?