LITMIR.BIZ

      Chapter 4

      Greenwood House was silent at the midnight hour when India heard the rattle of pebbles at her window. Slipping from the bed she shared with Fortune, she hurried across the chilly floor, and, swinging the casement open, peered out. Seeing Adrian Leigh standing in the moonlight, she called softly to him, “I will come down.” Then, pulling the window shut, she caught up her cape and headed toward the bedroom door. Fortune murmured softly and turned in the bed, stopping her sister for a moment to make certain that her sibling was not awakening. Satisfied she slept, India eased herself through the door, and, pulling her cloak about her, ran quickly down the staircase, through the hallway, and into the library. Pushing open one of the large windows, she summoned her swain to her.

      “Adrian! Here!” She beckoned to the shadowy figure.

      The viscount climbed through the open window, drawing it shut behind him. Then, pulling India into his arms, he kissed her.

      Startled, and breathless, she gently extracted herself from his embrace, laughing nervously. “Adrian! For shame! I have not asked you here for the purpose of dalliance.” She was flushed, and her heart was beating rather more quickly than before. He was so bold, she thought.

      “No, sweeting? I am disappointed,” he teased her. “Then, pray, m’lady, why have you summoned me?” He took up her hand and kissed the fingers on it.

      “Ohh, Adrian, I do not know what to do,” she cried softly, and did not protest when he pulled her back into his arms and began to stroke her dark hair.

      “What is it poppet?” he encouraged her. “Tell me, and I will endeavor to make it better.” He kissed the top of her head. She was so trusting and sweet and rich. He knew she was his for the taking.

      “We will be returning home next week. Papa says since I will not choose a suitable man to marry, then he and Mama must pick a match for me. But I don’t want to marry some stranger! Oh, what are we to do, Adrian? They are going to separate us forever,” India sobbed softly. “If they take me home to Glenkirk, I will never see you again! Oh, I know it is bold of me to say it, but I couldn’t bear it if we were parted from one another! I will die. I know I will.”

      “I cannot let you do that,” he said as softly, thinking that his soon-to-be father-in-law had just provided him with the very opportunity he required to steal Lady India Lindley away from her overly protective family. When his mother had suggested it, he hadn’t thought it would be this easy.

      “But Adrian!” She gazed up into his face, and he thought she was really quite beautiful. “What can we do?”

      “Your father has left us with no choice, my darling,” he told her in a calm and most sensible voice. “We must run away and get married before they can take you back to Scotland, India.”

      Now she looked up at him, and found herself very torn. He was so handsome with his long, straight nose, and his silky blond hair. His sapphire-blue eyes seemed to look at her with such love and devotion. “Ohhh, Adrian! I do not know. It seems so impetuous a thing to do.”

      “Ah, India! Do you not love me?” he asked her in a hurt tone.

      “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

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