Barely a Bride (Free Fellows League 1)

“Nevertheless,” Alyssa teased. “My mother taught me better than to be careless about the whereabouts of my jewelry.”

Griffin frowned. “I expect she did. By the way, the bird’s egg is in the safe, should you need to show it off to your mother.”

“And have her hound me about wearing it everywhere I go for the rest of my life so she can boast about it to the ton? Not bloody likely!”

He laughed. “I’m going to miss you, Alyssa.”

“I’m going to miss you, too.”

Griffin blinked. “I never thought I would say that,” he admitted. “I never believed it possible.”

“Me, either.”

“Aren’t we a fine pair?” He smiled crookedly.

“Yes,” she answered softly, rolling over to push him to his back so that she could straddle him. “I believe we are.”

Griffin buried his fingers in her hair and pulled her face down to his. “And to think your father gave you to me for the loan of a horse…”

Alyssa wiggled her bottom against his erection. “Not just any horse,” she reminded him, “but a prized breeding stallion.”

“Your father did seem to be quite happy with the arrangement.” He looked up at her. “Seemed pretty happy to be rid of his youngest gel.” Griffin man

aged a perfect imitation of Lord Tressingham’s voice.

“No more happy than I,” she said. “Of course, I’m a bit surprised he knew who I was. As my sisters and I are neither horses nor hounds, he tends to get us confused.”

“Not at all,” Griff corrected, “Your father knew exactly who you were.” He waggled his eyebrows at her and imitated her father once again. “Alyssa, don’t you know? Filly. Light brown mane, streaked with blond. Nice big eyes. Blue, if I’m not mistaken. Good ground manners. Hasn’t been broken to ride. But that’s only natural as she lacks an adequate handler.”

“Imagine that,” she pretended to marvel, taking him in hand to guide him where they both wanted him to be. “Papa found an adequate handler who could break me to ride in only three nights.”

Griffin groaned. “And he still imagines he got the best part of the deal.”

“Well,” Alyssa drawled as she moved up and down on him. “You did throw in a breeding for Carrollton’s Fancy Mistress to your father’s famous King George’s Prince of a Fellow. For Papa, that is a better deal. All you got was a breeding to me.”

* * *

He rolled out of bed and began to dress at dawn.

Alyssa wanted to dress and go downstairs to see him off, but Griff would have none of it.

“No,” he whispered, staring at her, committing everything to memory. “Stay there. Just as you are. I want to remember you like that. Lying in bed with your hair spread out across the pillows, with your skin still flushed with lovemaking, your lips swollen from my kisses, your eyes dark with passion as if you’re waiting for me…”

“I will be waiting for you,” she promised, watching as he pulled on his boots. Always.

Griff turned away, unable to bear the look in her eyes. “There is something I need to tell you…”

Alyssa strained to hear his words, strained to keep from sitting up, and from running to him. Tell me you love me. Please.

He cleared his throat. “Abernathy Manor is yours,” he said.

“What?” His words came as a shock. They weren’t at all what she expected. Abernathy Manor was his ancestral home. He couldn’t give it away, even to his wife.

“Short of selling it to anyone but my father, it’s yours to do with as you please.” He turned around to face her. “You deserve a home of your own.”

“But Griffin, what about your parents…”

“I discussed it with my father before I left London, and he agreed.” Griff met her worried gaze. “And I intend to stop in and say good-bye to them before I sail for the Peninsula. But don’t worry. I’m an only child and heir, Alyssa. My father is a very wealthy man, and I am wealthy in my own right. One day, everything my father has will come to me. Or to my heir. If the manor was our family’s only holding, I couldn’t deed it to you. But Abernathy Manor is just one of several family homes, and I’m giving it to you.”