“But you will wait, despite your family’s need?”
“Yes,” Langley said. The plan of a speedy marriage to a suitable bride had been his mother's, a way of saving her own good name, but the reality Langley realised as he looked at Margot. He was the one being saved. He wanted to marry his Amazon for her sake as well as his. “I don’t give a damn about my family’s reputation.”
To this Margot swatted at his shoulder. “But that is why you came here in the first place.”
“I would have come here regardless of what my mother said. I resent her for the tardiness she caused me in keeping me from here as I arranged for her to leave Town.”
Margot’s eyebrow rose sceptically. “I had no idea.”
“No idea of what?”
“How deeply you feel.” She leant over him again as she studied his face. “I was scared, weeks ago, that only I could feel this need for you.”
“When did you realise?”
The firelight cast soft shadows around them, leaving the library in a snug contentment. It was odd to have made love here, and be basking in the afterglow, despite still being fully dressed.
“I think I was quite infatuated with you from the very first,” Margot said. Her voice was teasing as she added, “What woman could not be when confronted with those thighs and that face?” She nestled closer and then added, “But you were kind, which I did not expect.”
“For selfish reasons,” Langley admitted as he enfolded her to his chest.
“You were?”
“I wanted to bed you.”
“But I looked like a mad thing.”
“It didn’t matter.”
“You are supposed to say I looked beautiful.” There was a laughed note of outrage, and while Langley saw all her loveliness now, he could not resist teasing her some more.
“You looked like a wild, untameable harridan. Running through my perfectly pleasant orgy waving a poker. I must say it was certainly different from anything I’d ever seen before.”
“Odd, perhaps?” A smirk was playing around Margot’s mouth as she considered the image he conjured up.
“Indeed.” Langley kissed Margot’s nose, all these small pieces of affection he now could demonstrate in a manner he had never imagined possible for him previously, but now he found strangely appealing. “You were charming, nonetheless. I do remember that quite clearly. Or at least I was charmed.” He loathed the idea that any of the randy buggers who had been in his salon might recall Miss Keating and hold out hope she would give any of them the slightest inkling of attention. If any of those bastards tried such a thing, Langley would take great delight in beating them senseless.
“Different from any of your other parties?” Margot asked.
“Yes,” Langley said. He pondered how to tell her that there had been no other such events for weeks, nor did he wish there to be another. He was not remotely interested in such a thing, or any other woman. His entire being was simply attuned to her. Turning on his side, he gazed at her face, memorising the tilt of her eyelashes, the shape of her nose, the way her mouth curved as she watched him. “You must know I don’t want, or rather I won’t be holding any more of those parties?”
“Or attending any of your friends’… events? Surely as a notable rake of theton, a man with such a libertine reputation as yours would have to make the occasional guest appearance at that kind of thing?”
“I find myself entirely uninterested in maintaining such a perception of my name. I watched my mother bleat on about everything Pip and I should sacrifice for her benefit, and I could not any longer. For years that attitude has hurt me, but I saw what it did to poor Pip, and I knew what would happen to me if I allowed myself to pursue the insubstantial over what was real.” His hands encircled her face, keeping Margot pinned beneath him. “We will be real, true, loving, all the things I ran from forfar too long. Why would I give a damn what anyone else thinks of me for that? Let them think what they will.”
Freeing herself, Margot rolled over and then climbed atop him again, kissing his face before slowly leaning backwards. “Very well, I will marry you. As soon as we are able to.” She laughed. “Despite the fact that you have no ring.”
“I thought you would prefer to have your pick of the jeweller’s wares. And,” he added as they started to get to their feet, “I did not wish to spend more time away from you than I had to.”
“What an excuse.” Margot, now upright, straightened her mourning dress, although her hair was far messier than it had been when he’d entered, and he was rather pleased to see her face was flushed from their activities.
“So, we will wait for your parents and siblings to join us here in London for the wedding?” A small look of worry creased Margot’s face. Suddenly she was beset with concern. Instinctively, Langley reached for her, taking her hands in his own. He liked playing the protector with her, he realised. Those emotions of his were strong and possessive. They beat through him as they never had before. “What is wrong, my love?” He hoped it was in his power to solve whatever crisis she saw before her.
“My sister, she went to Cornwall to collect my… That is, I thought it safer for her to be out of London. Given there was a murderer on the loose. She was supposed to locate the new duke… to find him, to tell him of Ashmore’s death and his inherited title. I have been writing to the estate for weeks, and neither of them have replied. Mr. Holt says he cannot reach them either. You must think me a selfish creature to have dismissed such thoughts from my mind in favour of…”
“Between searching for your family’s missing diamonds, keeping a dangerous secret of your own inheritance, a roguemurderer, and I suppose I should add battling against one of London’s worst rakes, how in all this am I supposed to think you’re in the wrong?” Langley took her hand, holding on tight, and then enfolded her in his arms. “I can see why you thought Elsie being away from Town was sensible. So, no, I do not think you selfish.”
“Then what should I do?”
