There was no need to be nervous, Bella kept telling herself. No one would think to look for her in Lord Thurlstone’s coach as she, Greg and the earl traveled together toward the docks. But she was nervous anyway. If they’d left before dawn, she would probably feel a bit safer, but it had taken Lord Thurlstone some time to get his merchant ship and its crew prepared to sail. And so much could have happened in those many hours.

Was it possible His Grace’s men had already caught up to Greg’s empty coach and were searching London? What if they’d figured out where she was? What if they were following them even now and stopped them before they could board the Magnanime? Or what if the duke just happened to have men searching the docks at this moment and they stumbled upon them by happenstance? Greg still had his pistol. She knew that. But if he had reason to use it, they’d all be done for.

Greg squeezed her fingers and a staggered sigh escaped her. She glanced up at him to find his green eyes focused quite intently on her. “I won’t let anything happen to you. Trust me.”

She did trust him. She’d never have jumped from the ledge at Chatham House if she didn’t. But it was so late in the day now, the duke had to be searching for her.

Greg turned his attention to his friend. “I will never be able to repay you for this, for any of it, Simon.”

Thurlstone shrugged. “We’ll call it even after you covered for me during those Pagan rituals.”

Pagan rituals? What in the world? Bella glanced between the two men.

Greg shook his head. “He makes it sound worse than it was,” he told her. “Just youthful foolishness when we were fifteen.”

Lord Thurlstone agreed with a nod. “They would’ve tossed me out of Eton if Avery hadn’t come to my aid. My father would not have been amused.”

Apparently, Greg was good at that. Coming to people’s aid. Bella cast him a smile, not certain how she had been so fortunate to find him or for him to find her, rather; but the day he’d entered her life had been the luckiest of days.

“If you find you like sailing after you return from Edinburgh,” the earl began, changing the subject, “I believe Heaton and I will be looking for a new partner soon.”

Greg frowned slightly. “I thought you had two American partners.”

“A great many things have transpired this week, one of them being Captain Pierce apparently killed Lord Staveley before he then got himself killed in Derbyshire.” Thurlstone blew out a breath. “John Heaton sent me word last night. This will be a delightful public scandal to deal with in the coming weeks.” He shook his head. “I signed onto this venture hoping for a bit of adventure. Murdered viscounts and deranged sea captains were not what I bargained for.” He blew out another beleaguered breath. “But once all of this dust settles, we’ll probably need a third partner if you’re interested.”

“I’m fairly happy at Rufford Hall, Simon.”

“Of course, of course.” His friend agreed with a nod. “But that was before you found the lovely Lady Arabella. She might want to spend some of her time in London, my friend.”

And be branded a bastard all over Town? Not a chance. Greg might not care about her parentage, but she did. Besides, Greg did love his home in Nottinghamshire and she did love him. “I will be happy wherever Greg is.”

At hearing those words, the earl flashed her a brilliant smile. “Utterly charming. You don’t have a sister, do you?”

She did have a sister. “Actually, I do.” But the sudden mention of Prissa twisted Bella’s heart anew. Would she ever be able to see Prissa again? Or would the duke keep Bella’s little sister from her? She wasn’t worried for Prissa’s safety. His Grace adored her sister. Nothing untoward would happen to her, but…if Bella wasn’t allowed to see her sister ever again, it would break her heart.

“But the lady in question is young,” Greg said, shaking his head. “And much too innocent for the libertine you’ve become.”

“You’ve reformed.” Thurlstone laughed at that. “So there’s probably hope for me, don’t you think?”

Greg agreed with an incline of his head. “But then you went into trade, so I think all hope might be lost.”

Then the earl laughed again as the east docks came into view.

Bella gulped as her jittery nerves swamped her once again and thunder rolled overhead. Goodness, it was going to rain?

* * *

Greg glanced out of the carriage window at more than a dozen ships of various sizes upon the Thames. Simon’s barque was somewhere in the mix. Busy dockworkers rushed up and down the shore, going about their duties as crewmen seemed to linger about. A moment later, lightning arced across the sky, and Bella flinched.

“We’d best hurry,” Simon said as his servant opened his coach door for them.

His friend stepped from the carriage and Greg followed suit, then he offered his hand to Bella. She was trembling slightly, which made his heart twist just a bit. Her nerves had seemed more on edge as the day had worn on, but once they were aboard the Magnanime Greg was certain she’d be returned to her usual self, at least he hoped she would. She had been through quite the ordeal.

Greg took Bella’s left side as Simon took her right, then the three of them set off toward the shipping yard. They caught a few eyes as they made their way toward the gangplank; but as large droplets of rain began to fall, the dockworkers seemed more concerned with finding cover than with the three of them.

As they rushed from the gangplank onto the barque’s deck, Simon called, “Get below deck,” in order to be heard over the thunder.

Greg spotted the steps that went below and quickly guided Bella toward the entrance. Simon was right behind them.

His friend stopped on the wooden ladder, blocking Greg and Bella from the rain. Then he gestured toward the back of the small passageway. “The captain’s cabin is at the very end. That’s for you.”

The captain’s cabin? He’d asked Simon for a favor, but certainly it didn’t require the ship’s captain giving up his lodgings. “I hate to put the man out.”

But Simon simply shrugged. “When I told him you were joining Heaton and me as a partner, he insisted you should have the nicest quarters as you would have some say in his salary in the years to come.”

That was why Simon had suggested Greg might want to join him in this shipping company. He shook his head. “We can talk more about that when Bella and I return.”

“Looking forward to it.” Then Simon flashed a smile at Bella. “Until we meet again, Lady Avery.”

She wasn’t Lady Avery yet, but none of Simon’s crew knew that and neither did they know they were abetting the pair in their scandalous elopement.

“Lord Thurlstone,” Bella said, relief brimming from her for the first time in hours. “Thank you so much for everything.”

“My pleasure.” Simon nodded. Then he turned his attention back to Greg. “Safe journeys, my friend, and do enjoy your time aboard the Magnanime.”

As Simon turned around to head back up the steps, rainwater began to spill in through the hole, so Greg urged Bella down the dry passageway that dead-ended at a large wooden door.

She glanced over her shoulder at him as though making certain it was all right to enter.

Greg shrugged. “I supposed it’s ours for this journey.”

If she was nervous about sharing ship’s quarters with him, Greg couldn’t tell it. But after the last day of having his suit rejected and being knocked unconscious by her enormous cousin, he wasn’t about to let a little thing like them not being husband and wife yet keep her separated from him. Not after he’d nearly lost her. Propriety be damned. They were eloping anyway.

Bella turned the handle and stepped into the nicely apportioned cabin. There was a large window along the back wall and two smaller portholes on each opposite side of the cabin, all of which let in a bit of the overcast grey light into the space.

Greg knew the moment Bella spotted his surprise because she spun around and threw her arms around his neck.

“Oh, Greg!”

And he held her against him, reveling in the feel of her in his arms and never wanting to let her go. “I wanted to make sure you weren’t bored at sea.” He kissed the very top of her wet head.

For the first time that day, she laughed as she tipped her slender neck upward to see him better; and the sound of her happiness reverberated through his soul. “I am never bored with you. In fact, you make everything in my life better.”

Something he would aspire to the rest of their years together. “You don’t mind sharing the cabin with me, do you?”

If she did, Greg thought he’d never survive it all the way to Edinburgh.

“Of course not, and everyone onboard believes we’re husband and wife.” Her silvery eyes stared directly into his as she shook her head. “Besides, I don’t want to ever be apart from you. Not one day ever.”

On that, they were in perfect agreement. Greg dipped his head down and brushed his lips against hers. Dear God, frissons of need washed over him. Greg’s cock stiffened and he pulled her closer to him, wanting to feel every part of her pressed against him as he deepened their kiss.

Bella’s arms settled around his neck and the softest little groans escaped her, driving Greg half out of his mind. His cock twitched in anticipation.

Without breaking their kiss, he guided her backward, further into the cabin and then kicked the door closed behind them. Bella’s eyes opened at the sound, and she swallowed a bit nervously.

She was the most beautiful sight in the world, with half of her hair dangling down from their mad dash in the rain. She looked almost as though she’d already been bedded and that thought made Greg groan himself.

With a sigh, Greg rested his forehead and against hers. “I do want you, Bella,” he admitted. “But if you want me to wait for Edinburgh before I claim you…” he’d somehow manage. He wasn’t sure how, but he would.

Bella pushed up on her toes and pressed her lips against his, and every other single thought fled Greg’s mind. Dear God, she was an angel, the most perfect angel in his arms. And he wanted to bask in the heaven of her right now and for a lifetime.

Out of the corner of his eye, Greg noticed a large wooden bed that seemed to be creviced between two walls in the captain’s quarters, not too far away. Still kissing her, he guided Bella in that direction as he worked the fastenings on the back of her dress. Just as they reached the side of the bed, Greg lifted his head and gazed down at her once more. In just a few days she’d be his wife. They should stop, they should wait. He should finally do things the right way after a lifetime of having done them the wrong way.

But then Bella tugged at his cravat and slid one of his jacket buttons through its hole, all while gazing up at him with those twinkling silver eyes of hers and driving him wild.

Somehow, Greg found the strength to reach for her hands to still them. “Are you sure, my dear? We’ll be married soon. I don’t—” he shook his head “—that is I thought I’d changed.” From a reckless youth to a very sensible baron. Though how many sensible barons hopped ships to elope in Scotland?

“You should never change. You’re the most wonderful man in the world just as you are,” she gushed.

Oh, Greg was far from that.

His expression must have said as much because she tugged her hands from his grasp. “I am ruined, Greg,” she said softly. “I’ve fled my home in the dead of night, of which I spent the entirety with you and two notorious rakes, even if they did come to our aid. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that my entire person would now be wholly unacceptable if anyone in society knew the truth about me.”

“Aylesford claimed you,” he said. “That’s all that should matter.”

“That isn’t true.” She shook her head and her dark hair brushed against her shoulders. “And especially not if His Grace decides to spread the tale far and wide. There’ll be whispers in every corner of every parlor in Mayfair.”

“He wouldn’t—”

“He might.” She heaved a sigh. “I’ve known him longer than you. But none of that matters one bit, Greg. Not anymore. We are eloping and I’ve thought about that afternoon we spent in Cordie’s parlor every day since you asked me to marry you. No one has ever touched me the way you did that day and—”

“I shouldn’t have—”

“And no one has ever loved me like you do. Even now.” She touched a hand to her heart. “I can’t believe you had a canvas and paints waiting for me. No one has ever done anything like that for me. I love you.” She tipped her head back slightly to better look him in the eyes. “I love you with all my heart, Gregory Avery, and I want you to touch me again, like you did that day. And I want—”

Greg claimed her mouth with his because he wanted the exact same thing and he wanted even more than that. He had, if he was honest with himself, wanted her from the very first moment he’d seen her. He finished with his buttons and dropped his jacket to the floor before starting on his waistcoat.

He lifted his head briefly and smiled down at his raven-haired temptress, clasping her dress to her chest to keep it from pooling at her feet. “Let your dress fall, Bella, and climb into bed.”

And she did, just that. Her chemise, which was slightly damp from the rain, clung to her curves and outlined her breasts, and Greg’s cock stiffened even more.

Bella slid to the middle of the bed and Greg couldn’t help but smile as he reached for one of her feet. “In the future, my dear, there’s no need to wear half-boots to bed.”

He quickly unlaced the first and then the second before discarding both over the side of the bed. Then he did, finally, pull his shirt over his head and was rather pleased when he heard her slight intake of breath at seeing his skin. He was, after all, just as mesmerized by her. It was good to know she found him as breathtaking as he found her.

Greg dropped onto the edge of the bed and tugged his Hessians from his feet before crawling across the bed until he hovered just over Bella. “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” he asked as he brushed his fingers across her cheek and tucked a lock of her dark hair behind her ear. “It’s almost painful to be in the same room with you.”

“Painful?” She frowned.

“Mmm.” Greg let his fingers lightly trail from her neck to her collarbone before he finally cupped one of her perfect breasts in his hand. “I’m always wanting to do this.”

Bella sucked in a breath at his touch and Greg flicked his thumb across her peaked nipple.

“Oh, Greg.” Her pretty eyes widened.

“And this.” Greg dipped his head down and captured her other nipple, though the silk of her chemise, with his mouth.

Bella’s back arched and Greg smoothed his hand down her ribs and across her belly, tugging her chemise upward in the process. And then he tugged the ribbon on her drawers. Dear God, he wanted her like he’d never wanted anything else in his life.

He slid his hand into her drawers and parted her folds with his fingers. Then he pushed one finger into her heat, and he nearly came undone himself. Greg held her gaze and reveled in the dark passion in her eyes. Her pretty lips opened as he pressed further inside her and then retreated, over and over until she was writhing on the bed before him. He’d never seen anything so intoxicating in his life.

Bella clinched around his finger and grasped a handful of the bedclothes as a groan seemed wrenched from her.

She was so wet, so tight and his cock strained painfully in his trousers. Damn it all. He still had his trousers on. The last thing he wanted to do was pull completely from her warmth, but…

Greg pushed up to his knees and worked on the fastenings of his trousers. “Take your drawers off, Bella,” he said, barely recognizing his own voice from the huskiness.

* * *

Goodness! Bella had never felt so alive in her life. Every part of her nearly hummed, and her most private of places pulsed with need and ached for Greg’s touch once more. Nothing had ever felt so deliciously wonderful as she did right then. Wickedly, sinfully wonderful.

She took a steadying breath as she lifted her bottom from the bed and slid her drawers down her legs. Greg watched her intently as he pushed his trousers down his thighs and…

And Bella gulped. Goodness. What was he going to do with that?

“It might hurt a bit,” he said. “But only the first time.”

Yes, she’d heard that before. But there was nothing for it. Was he really going to fit? That was a much bigger concern.

Greg, however, did not seem concerned. He knelt between her legs and opened her wide for his view. And then he swept his fingers through her springy curls and brushed his thumb against her most sensitive point.

“Greg!” Bella sucked in a breath as the most delicious set of ripples washed over her.

The intensity of his green gaze held her enraptured and then…

He pressed the tip of him at her entrance and she sucked in a breath again. Oh, that did feel wonderful. And so did that, when he pressed himself in a bit further.

And then…

Oh, that stung, and Bella couldn’t help but wince from the sharpness of the pain.

Greg stilled his progress, his expression one of true concern. “I’m so sorry.”

But the sting of it had subsided and Bella shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”

“You’re perfect.” He leaned down and kissed her, and when she opened for him, he thrust deeper inside her.

Oh! Bella arched her back at the most amazing sensation of him filling her completely.

“Yes, my love,” he whispered against her lips before kissing her again.

And then… Goodness, did the bed just move?

Greg glanced toward a porthole on the wall above them and he grinned. “I’d like to think I’m responsible for shaking your world, but it seems we are moving. The ship that is.”

The ship was moving? It must have stopped raining. It must have…

Greg threaded his fingers with Bella’s, halting every other thought in her mind as he began to move within her, just like he’d done with his finger; but this was even more wonderful, even more thrilling. Their hands clasped together, their gazes locked, Bella had never felt more at one with anyone in her life. And she never wanted it to end.

He moved inside her, stroking her in and out, in and out, the rhythm making her core pulse as she reached for that precipice that was so very close. If he’d just…

And then he did, and she fell completely over the edge as wave after wave of passion washed over her. “Oh, Greg,” she breathed out, tightening her hold on his hands.

He thrust inside her, more insistent than he had been before and then he too fell over that edge with her.

“Dear God, Bella.” Greg dropped on to the bed beside her and drew her against him, her back to his front, and he curled his arm around her middle, holding her tight. He pressed a kiss to her hair. “You are magnificent.” His voice rumbled over her along with the most joyous contentment.

She snuggled even closer to him, but Greg grasped her hip with his hand.

“Careful, my love,” he said. “Keep that up and I’ll never be able to let you leave this bed until we get to Scotland.”

Bella couldn’t help but smile at that threat. She turned in his arms, letting her fingers brush against the smattering of dark hair on his chest. “That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”

Greg pressed his lips to hers and Bella sighed. His hand slid down her back and then he gently squeezed her bottom. “If I thought I could entertain you like this all the way to Edinburgh, I wouldn’t have had Simon get you those paints.”

Bella giggled softly as she pushed up on her elbows to look down on him. His green eyes held such affection and her heart swelled just looking at him. Goodness, there was no man in the world more handsome than Greg Avery, not with the way he looked at her, not with the way he made her feel. And he would be hers forever.

“No, no, no.” She shook her head and the tips of her hair brushed against her breasts making her feel wicked and wanton all at once. “You can’t take back those paints. They were the sweetest gesture and…” She had gone her whole life trying to hide her painting whenever possible, but she’d never have to do that with Greg. She could be exactly who she was with no reason to hide. He accepted her and loved her and... “I love you, Greg.”

“And I love you.” He lifted his hand to her cheek and softly caressed her. “I don’t deserve you, but I will cherish you every day of my life.”

Bella frowned at him. If one of them didn’t deserve the other, she was the one who didn’t deserve him. After all, she didn’t know of a single man in London who wouldn’t care about the circumstances of her birth. “You are the most wonderful man in the world.”

“I’m hardly that.” His soft smile faded away. “You deserve the truth, my dear. It isn’t right for me to know all of your secrets but to keep you in the dark about mine.”

Oh, goodness. Bella’s belly twisted at hearing those words. Things had just been so perfect. What sort of secrets did he have? They couldn’t be worse than hers, could they?

“You don’t have to look quite so terrified.” Greg shook his head. “Nothing that will affect our future, it’s just…”

“It’s just what?” she asked softly.

“I have made a number of foolish choices in my life, choices that have pained me and changed the man I was.”

Choices that changed who he was? Who had he been?

“And I’ve spent the last several years trying to be someone else. Someone who is sensible and steady and—”

“You are sensible and steady,” she said.

“My love, we are right now aboard a borrowed merchant ship on our way to elope in Scotland. I’m not sure how many people would call that sensible or steady.” He scoffed slightly. “So perhaps no matter how I’ve tried to be different, I’m exactly who I always was.”

“I love who you are.”

“It’s a good thing—” he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear “—because we are in this together from here on out.” Greg shook his head. “But the way you look at me as though I’m a noble knight errant, it simply isn’t true. And it isn’t fair to let you believe it is.”

“What could you possibly have done that is so awful, Greg?”

He heaved a sigh. “I told you I loved a woman before.”

He had told her that, and he’d told Bella he didn’t want to talk about the woman. And now, after having made love to him, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to think about him ever having loved anyone else. But Bella nodded, as he had told her and he expected an answer. “She died,” she echoed one of the few things Greg had said about the mysterious woman.

He nodded slowly, his gaze steady on her. “She and our daughter both died in childbirth.”

“She was your wife.” Goodness! He was married before. How did Bella not know that?

“She was someone else’s wife,” he admitted, his brow furrowing a bit.

Someone else’s wife? Oh, good heavens. Had the child lived, Greg would have sired a bastard, just like Bella was. She swallowed, a bit stunned by that revelation. Was that why the circumstances of her birth didn’t seem to bother him?

“Marina,” he continued. “Clayworth’s wife, in fact. His first one.”

Goodness! She’d overhead Cordie and Phoebe Avery discussing Clayworth’s first wife, hadn’t she? An unhappy union from the sound of it.

“Everyone in my family knows the truth of it, and I’d hate for you to find out through someone else. Better for you to hear it from me.”

“Clayworth?” she breathed out, still slightly stunned. And then the earl had married Greg’s sister? “It’s no wonder the two of you don’t care for each other.”

“We never have.” He shook his head again. “We always seem to be on the opposite side of any given situation. You could tell that? I thought we hid it fairly well most of the time.”

“The day we went to the museum. You both seemed a little strained.”

A self-deprecating smile settled on his lips. “We both do love my sister and would do nearly anything for her. Even suffer each other’s company from time to time.”

That earlier conversation in Cordie’s sitting room came rushing back to Bella. “You said you’d learned the woman you loved wasn’t who you thought she was.”

“Marina was older than me by a few years. The dearest friend of my sister Eleanor. I’d known her most of my life and thought myself in love with her nearly all of that time, but she’d never given me a second look. And why would she? I was her friend’s little brother. But when she found herself in an unfortunate marriage to Clayworth, she ended up visiting Ellie often as a means of escape, and—” he heaved a sigh “—and then she started visiting Rufford Hall for me.” He shrugged against the pillows and it seemed his mind was far away, on an earlier time, perhaps. “I thought she was the most beautiful and brilliant woman in the world and when she told me she had a plan to extricate herself from her marriage, I suppose I thought she meant to beg Clayworth to petition for a divorce. That would have been scandalous enough, but…”

“But?” Bella asked.

“That wasn’t her plan at all. Apparently, she’d devised a plot that would have ended with Clayworth’s death. But she died herself before she was able to carry out her plan to fruition.”

“She meant to kill him.”

“She meant to have him hanged as a traitor.” Greg heaved another sigh. “And while I don’t particularly care for the man, Clayworth was never a traitor.”

Bella’s hand fluttered to her heart. “Good heavens,” she breathed out.

“Evil and duplicitous.” Greg shook his head. “And I never saw it. All those years with her, and I never saw her true nature. If she’d tired of me at some point, I’ve often wondered, if she would have devised a plan to discard of me in a similar fashion.”

“And that’s why you don’t trust your own judgment,” Bella said, remembering the rest of his words that day in his sister’s sitting room. How awful to think that the person you love could do something so awful while you never suspected them capable of such a thing. Goodness. Was he telling her all of this because he didn’t trust his love for Bella? Did he think she might do something just as awful as Marina had done? Bella’s heart twisted at the thought. “Greg, I would never—”

He sat up, cupping her face with both of his hands. “You are the exact opposite of her in every way.” And the intensity of his stare made his words seem so sincere. “When you learned the truth about yourself, you could have said nothing to me. You could have run off with me and either hoped I’d never find out the truth or that once I did it would be too late for me to reverse things.” He shook his head once more. “But you didn’t do that, Bella. You told me the truth nearly as soon as you learned it. I may not trust my judgment in all things, but I have complete faith in you.”

She released a breath she didn’t know she was holding and she threw her arms around his neck. “I love you, Greg,” she whispered against his skin. “And you are my noble knight errant. I don’t care who you were before me or what you’ve done in the past. You have saved me at every turn and that is all I care about.”

He held her close, and Bella reveled that their breathing was so synchronized, almost as though they were one. “I will love and protect you all of my days,” he whispered back.

And Bella had no doubt that he would.

Then Greg pulled back slightly and said, “We probably should dress, Lady Avery, and make our introductions to Captain Bellamy as the ship is moving.”

“Yes,” she giggled. “Especially since he thinks you’ll soon be a partner in this company.”

A sheepish grin spread across Greg’s face. “Actually, the Magnanime has grown on me. Perhaps I’ll consider joining Simon after all.”

“And go into trade?” Bella blinked at him.

Greg laughed. “Too scandalous even for us?”

But she shook her head. “I find I adore the Magnanime myself, and I would support any endeavor you wanted to pursue.”

“You truly are the most perfect girl in the world.”

“Well, I truly have the most perfect lord.”