The unfulfilled impulse that had prompted him to take her to Lord’s Seat lookout weeks before had prodded him to bring her here-for the same reason.
“All you can see,” he said, “as far as you can see, all the lands beneath your gaze are mine. All that lies beneath our feet-that, too, is mine. My heritage, under my rule, under my absolute authority. The people are mine, too-mine to protect, to watch over-their welfare my responsibility, all part of the same whole.” He drew breath, then went on, “What you see before you is the greater part of what my life will be. What it will encompass. And you’re already an integral part of it. The day I took you to Lord’s Seat, this is what I wanted to show you-all that I want to share with you.”
He glanced at her profile. “I want to share all of my life with you, not just the customary parts. Not just the social and familial arenas, but all this, too.” Tightening his arms, laying his jaw against her hair, he found the words he’d been searching for. “I want you by my side in everything, not just my duchess, but my helpmate, my partner, my guide. I will welcome you gladly into whatever spheres of my life you wish to grace.
“If you consent to be my wife, I will willingly give to you not just my affection, not just my protection, but the right to stand beside me in everything I do. As my duchess, you will not be an adjunct, but an integral part of all that, together, we will be.”
Minerva couldn’t keep the smile from her face. He was who he was, manipulative to his toes; he’d eloquently laid before her what he knew to be the most potent inducement he could offer-but he was sincere. Totally, unquestionably, speaking from his heart.
If she’d needed further convincing that she could have faith and go forward, that she should accept his suit and become his duchess, he’d just supplied it; all he’d said was predicated on, based on, built upon an “affection” he believed was sound, solid, as unshakable as the foundations of his keep.
She already knew the counter to that emotion lived, strong and vital, in her. To have such a fate, such a challenge, such a destiny offered her so freely…that was more than she’d ever dared dream.
Turning in his arms, she looked into his face, met his dark eyes. They were as unreadable as ever, but his lips twisted wryly.
“I know I shouldn’t push-shouldn’t press.” He held her gaze. “I know you still need time to assimilate all I’ve said, all that’s happened between us, but I wanted you to know how much you mean to me, so your deliberations will be…fully informed.”
She smiled at his phrasing; despite his undoubted intelligence, he hadn’t yet realized that love didn’t need that much thought.
He smiled back. “And now I’m going to give you all the time you want to decide. I won’t say more, not until you tell me I should.”
Lowering his head, he brushed her lips lightly in an undemanding caress.
It wasn’t something he meant to do, but there was enough in his tone to remind her that, from a man like him, granting her time was a gift.
Her declaration hovered in the forefront of her mind, yet his unstated boon-unneeded though it might be-deserved some acknowledgment; as their lips parted, she rose on her toes, pressed her lips to his, parted them-invited. They were alone, private; no one could see.
Lifting her arms, she wound them about his neck, pressed herself to him. His hands fastened about her waist, held her for an instant, then he laughed softly, angled his head, and took the kiss deeper.
Took her deeper, into the familiar richness of their mutual desire.
For long moments, they savored-each other, the warmth of the exchange, the inherent comfort.
Then the fire took hold.
Neither had summoned it; the flames were suddenly simply there, greedily licking all around them, tempting, luring…
Both hesitated, sensing, seeking the other’s direction…
Both surrendered. Grasped. Seized.
His hands, spread, moved over her back, his touch posses sive and sure. She sank her hands into his hair, held him to the suddenly rapacious kiss, and flagrantly demanded more.
Kneading her breasts, kissing her with slow, relentless promise, he backed her against the ungiving stone of his battlements.
Mutual need fired their blood, had her reaching for his waistband, had him raising her skirts.
Mutual passion had them gasping, hungry and greedy as he lifted her, braced her against the stone, sank into her, then thrust deep.
Mutual pleasure caught them; panting, chests heaving, they froze, forehead to forehead, breaths mingling, heated gazes touching, and drank in the exquisite sensation of their joining. Let it sink to their respective bones.
Then he closed his eyes and groaned, she moaned, and each sought the others’ lips.
And let mutual surrender have them, take them.
A click was all the warning they had.
“Oh, my God!”
The shrill exclamation fell like a bucket of icy water over them.
It was followed by a chorus of gasps, and more muted expressions of shock.
Head up, spine rigid, Royce thought faster than he ever had in his life.
Women, ladies, an untold number, stood clustered in the doorway five yards behind his back.
Someone had brought them up here, but who had wasn’t his first concern.
Locked in his arms, supported by his hand beneath her bottom and braced by his body sunk deeply in hers, Minerva was rigid. Hands fisted in his lapels, she’d ducked her head to his chest.
He felt like he’d been clouted with a battle mace.
His shoulders were broad; the women behind him couldn’t see her, at least not her face or body. They would be able to see her topknot, telltale wheat-gold, over his shoulder, and even more damningly her stocking-clad legs clasped about his hips.
There was not a hope in hell of disguising their occupation.
A kiss would have been bad enough, but this…
There was only one course of action open to him.
Easing Minerva from him, he withdrew from her; given his size, that necessitated a maneuver that even viewed from behind was impossible to mistake. Her knees slid from his hips, he lowered her until her feet touched the ground. Her skirts tumbled straight of their own accord.
“Don’t move,” he murmured, quickly doing up the placket of his breeches. “Don’t say a word.”
She looked at him through wide, utterly stunned eyes.
Uncaring of the crowd, he bent his head and kissed her, a swift, reassuring kiss, then he straightened and turned to face their fate.
His expression aloof and cold, his gaze pure ice, he regarded the knot of ladies, round-eyed, hands at their breasts, their expressions as stunned as Minerva’s…except for Susannah’s. She stood at the rear, peering past the others.
Refocusing on those in the front of the group-a cluster of his sisters’ London friends-he drew breath, then said the words he had to say. “Ladies. Miss Chesterton has just done me the honor of agreeing to be my wife.”
“Well! It’s Miss Chesterton! Whoever would have thought!” Caroline Courtney, all agog, broke the news as he circled the billiard table. With the other men present, most Royce’s cousins, he halted and listened as Caroline blurted out the juicy details of how Royce and his chatelaine had been caught in flagrante delicto on the battlements.
“There was absolutely no doubt about it,” she assured them. “We all saw.”
He frowned. “Was she who Royce intended to marry all along?”
Caroline shrugged. “Who can say? Regardless, she’s the one he’ll have to marry now.”