Bedazzled

'Oh, yes, Adrian! I do love you!' Then she blushed furiously, for she had never said such a thing to him before.

'And I love you, my darling,' he quickly reassured her, knowing such a declaration from her lips required a similar devotion on his part.

'But I love my family, too,' she said, worrying her lower lip with her top teeth in her concern.

'You do not have to stop loving them, my darling, just because you love me,' he told her, 'but is it really just of them to keep us apart when we love each other? I know that my mother and my half-brother have brought shame upon the Leighs of Oxton Court, but I am my father's son first and foremost, India. We are an old and noble family. Is it fair of your father to hold me responsible for Deverall and Mama's bad behavior? I think the duke of Glenkirk a better man than that, my love. Still, he is a father protecting a beloved daughter, and I do understand how he feels even if I think him wrong. If we are married, then you and I settle the entire matter by controlling our own destiny. I know our actions will anger your parents at first, but when they see how happy we are, they will forgive us. I know it.'

'But where could we go, Adrian, that they would not follow?' India asked, snuggling against him. She felt so safe now.

'We must leave the country,' he ventured, waiting to see what India's reaction would be to that.

'Leave the country?' She was more than startled by his suggestion.

'There is no other option, India. Where can we hide in England, my love? Your family is large, and scattered all about the whole country. And we certainly cannot go north, can we?' He chuckled, and kissed her on the tip of her nose.

'We cannot go to France, either,' she informed him, joining in with his train of thought. 'We have family there.'

'We could go to Naples,' he suggested.

'Naples? Why Naples, Adrian?' His hand was caressing her back now, and it was really quite pleasant.

'My uncle, the Conde di Carlo, lives in Naples,' he said. 'We could go to him, and be married there. Then we could remain with my uncle until we had our first child. If we returned home with our son, your father could not annul our union, sweeting.'

'My father's mother lives in Naples,' India said. 'Lady Stewart-Hepburn. Papa's sister is the marchesa di San Ridolfi. What if we ran into them, Adrian? Then Papa would know where we were!'

'We will be wed privately, my love, and remain safely within the walls of my uncle's estate. Have you ever met these ladies, India?'

'My stepgrandmama, last summer in France, but not the marchesa,' she answered him. A wave of doubt washed over her. It seemed so rash an action to take, running away and marrying.

'Perhaps you do not love me enough, India, to dare such a bold course,' he subtly taunted her, seeing the indecision on her face.

'Ohh, but I do!' she cried.

'No, I think not,' he replied sorrowfully, goading her further.

'But I do, Adrian! I swear I do!' India insisted.

'Then say you will pledge yourself body and soul to me as my wife, sweetheart,' he said, his voice holding just a hint of pleading. 'Say you will marry me and be my wife and bear my children! Say it!' But before she might speak, he was kissing her passionately, his lips hot and hungry upon hers; the hand that had been caressing her back was now sliding beneath her cloak, moving to caress her bosom lightly.

India's head was spinning with delight. Her lips parted slightly beneath his, and she drew her perfumed breath into her own mouth. When his hand slipped into her nightgown bodice to cup a single breast, she gasped with surprise. No one had ever touched her breasts before! The warmth of his palm was intoxicating, and when his thumb and his forefinger gently pinched her thrusting nipple, she almost swooned, falling back against his arm with a soft moan of distinct pleasure. If this was love, it was wonderful!

Lifting his head from her, he begged, 'Say you will marry me, my darling. Can you not sense how I long for you? How much I love you, my precious India? Say it! Say it, or I will fling myself into the river this very night, for I cannot live without you!'

'Yes. Oh, yes,' she breathed.

Immediately he removed his hand, dipping his head to kiss the swell of her bosom over her gown. 'Your virtue is a precious jewel to me, my love,' he told her solemnly. 'I must cease our loveplay lest I lose control of my passions and shame us both. We have a lifetime before us in which we may pleasure each other, but not until we have married.'

'Oh, Adrian, I do love you!' she told him, wishing he were not quite so noble at this moment in time. She had liked his caress, and his kisses. Her entire body seemed more alive now than it had ever been, but the wet stickiness between her legs in that secret place was confusing. She didn't know what it was, and she certainly couldn't ask Mama now.

'Do you know exactly what day your family plans to depart for Scotland?' he asked her in practical tones. 'I must find a ship sailing for Naples. I suspect we do not have much time.'

'In three or four days' time at the most,' India replied. 'He has not given the order for our possessions to be packed up yet.'

'I will go to the docks in the morning and find us a vessel,' he told her. 'There will be someone sailing for the Mediterranean soon.'

'Go to the O'Malley-Small Trading Company docks,' India advised. 'I will not sail on any other ship but one of theirs. If we trust ourselves to strangers, we could end up murdered for our possessions and thrown overboard, Adrian. Sea travel can be dangerous, but the O'Malley-Small ships belong to my family, and we will be safe.'

'But will these people not recognize you, India?'

'Not if I board the ship in disguise, Adrian,' she told him, feeling quite clever. 'You shall be a son of the conde di Carlo, and I your elderly great-aunt, Lady Monypenny, newly widowed and childless, returning home to Naples, my girlhood home, after many years, in order to die. You have been sent by your father, my nephew, to escort me. This will allow us to purchase two cabins without arousing suspicion. I shall keep to my cabin during the voyage so my disguise may not be penetrated by anyone else on board. Am I not cunning, my sweet lord?' She grinned mischievously at him.

'Indeed,' he agreed, a bit surprised by her resourcefulness. Perhaps India's mind was a little too skillful at deception, he considered, but then he remembered how rich she was, and how beautiful, and how well she had responded to his roving hands. She was tamable. All women were tamable under the right circumstances, and he would not be a harsh master.

'You must go now,' she told him. 'Come tomorrow night, and use the same signal to call me. Our plans must be finalized by then.'

Giving India a quick kiss, the viscount opened the casement window and stepped through it into the night. 'Until tomorrow, my love,' he told her, and then he was gone into the darkness.

India sighed as she latched the window shut. He was so wonderful, her Adrian, and soon they would be man and wife. How sensitive he was! Not only did he sympathize with Papa, who was being totally unreasonable and difficult, but his carefulness and concern for her person and her innocence showed her that he was a man of excellent character. Her parents were wrong about Adrian. He was the perfect man for her. Leaving the library, she crept back up the staircase to her bedchamber, and slipped easily into bed next