Lord of Scoundrels - Loretta Chase [135]
When the storm broke at last and, trembling in the aftermath, she fell into his arms, he held her tight against the hammering heart she ruled…where the secret he'd hidden for so long pounded in his breast.
But he wanted no more such secrets. He could say the words now. So easy it was, when all that had been frozen and buried inside him had thawed and bubbled up, fresh as the Dartmoor streams in springtime.
With a shaky laugh, he brought her head up and lightly kissed her.
"Ti amo," he said. And so ridiculously simple it was that he said it again, in English this time. "I love you, Jess."
* * *
If love had not exploded into his life, her husband informed Jessica a short time later, he might have made a mistake he'd never forgive himself for.
The sun was inching up from the horizon when they returned to the master bedroom, but Dain wasn't ready to sleep until the evening's events were clarified, explained, and settled.
He lay on his back, gazing up at the canopy's golden dragons. "Being besotted myself," he was saying, "I was forced to see how easily any man— especially one of Vawtry's limited intelligence— could stumble into a quagmire."
In a few contemptuous sentences, he told her of his suspicions about Beaumont's role in the Paris farce, and how the spitefulness had continued. Jessica wasn't much surprised. She had always considered Beaumont a particularly unpleasant human being and wondered why his wife hadn't left him long since.
She was, however, both surprised and amused by her husband's approach to the problem. By the time Dain had finished describing his intriguing methods for dealing with both Vawtry and the repellent Beaumont, Jessica was laughing helplessly.
"Oh, Sebastian," she gasped. "You are too wicked. I should give anything to see the expression on Beaumont's face when he reads Vawtry's th-thank you n-note," she sputtered. Then she went off into whoops again.
"Only you would appreciate the humor of the situation," he said when she'd quieted.
"And the artistry of it," she said. "Vawtry, Charity— even that spiteful sod Beaumont— all dealt with, settled in a matter of minutes. And all without your needing to lift a finger."
"Except to count out bank notes," Dain said. "It's costing me, remember?"
"Vawtry will be grateful to you for the rest of his life," she said. "He will race to the ends of the earth to do your bidding. And Charity will be content, because she'll be set up comfortably with a man who adores her. That's all she wanted, you know. A life of idle luxury. That's why she had Dominick."
"I know. She thought I'd pay her five hundred a year."
"I asked her how she came to that addled conclusion," Jessica said. "She told me it was when all the grand folks came to your father's funeral. Some of the gentlemen had brought their birds of paradise along and deposited them at nearby inns. Along with other London gossip, Charity heard tales— exaggerated, no doubt— of settlements and annuities made for certain noblemen's illegitimate offspring. That, she told me, is why she didn't employ the usual precautions with you and Ainswood, and why, when she found herself enceinte, she took no corrective measures."
"In other words, another brainless trollop put the idea in her head."
"Charity thought all she had to do was have one child, and she'd never have to work again. Five hundred pounds was unheard-of wealth to her."
"Which explains why she settled so easily for your fifteen hundred." Dain still had his eyes fixed upon the dragons. "You knew this, yet you threatened to give her my icon."
"If I'd had to deal with her by myself, I could not risk her creating an ugly scene in front of Dominick," Jessica explained. "Like you, he is acutely sensitive and emotional. The damage she could do with a few words in a few minutes might take years to repair. But with you there, that risk dropped considerably. Still, I preferred she go away quietly. That is why I armed Phelps with