Free The Lamplighter's Love by Delphine Dryden Page A

to
keep her as a mistress while he married up in an attempt to
ingratiate himself with the beau monde . A respectable member
of the Lampworkers, with every prospect of mastery within the next
year, and he thought she would agree to that? It was absurd.”
    “His plan might have worked better if he
hadn’t already pledged to marry Jocelyn. Not secretly either. Her
parents were in favor of the match. Of course, they’re ready to
charge him with breach of promise now. So by the time I enlightened
Master Smith about Amberherst’s threats to you, and pointed out how
badly the scandal would reflect not only on the two of us but on
the guild itself, he had already had enough. He contacted
Amberherst’s father. And I suspect Amberherst will find, when he
leaves his shift this evening, that he is no longer a candidate for
adoption by the future Duke.”
    Mary tried to take it all in. All the
emotion, the uncertainty of the past few days, and the changes she
knew had been wrought in her. It was too much, all of it. For now,
it was enough just to breathe, and hold Nicholas’ hand, and allow
herself a tiny, hopeful inkling of relief.
    “Smith has also been negotiating with
Manchester to send a lamplighter they’ve been training there. He’s
quite good, apparently. But you should know that I wouldn’t leave
until old Cyrus promised the position would be yours if you wanted
it. The true position, I mean. Just as it was. I think he’s seen
the potential dangers of trying to groom a Lamplighter to mingle
with the ton on his off hours.”
    She thought about it, the job she had
trained to do, had been selected for years ago, before she even
knew what the lamplighters did. It had seemed the pinnacle of
achievement, her obvious ambition in life. The thing she had been
meant to do.
    But now? Now, it seemed like ten long years
without Nicholas. She wouldn’t have minded the isolation, the
hours, the responsibility. She might, in fact, even miss her time
in the Chair, sitting Godlike and watching, controlling, as all of
London rolled by in an endless equation.
    She wouldn’t miss it nearly as much as she
would miss Nicholas if she took the job, however. It was a
difference of magnitudes.
    “I don’t want it anymore.”
    He sighed and clasped her hand a little
tighter in his. Then he brought it up to his lips to press a kiss
to the back of each finger. And to her palm. And to her wrist,
which made her shiver with pleasure.
    She felt something cool on her finger, and
dragged her eyes away from Nicholas’ face to her hand. A slender
band of gold gleamed on one finger, supporting a sapphire ringed
with tiny, glittering diamonds.
    “Do you want me, Mary? Or should I have
asked before I gave you the ring, to be sure?”
    “I’ve never wanted anything more,” she said
softly. “I would want you even without the ring. But I’ll keep it
if it’s all the same to you.”
    They chuckled, leaning together to let their
joy dissolve into kisses. Teasing at first, playful and glancing.
And then deeper, as Nicholas angled her head just so, to take her
mouth with his tongue.
    “I want to take you to Gretna Green as soon
as the guild releases us,” he murmured when they parted for
air.
    “In case there’s a child?”
    “No,” he assured her, “because for once I’d
like to make love to you without having to go back to work directly
afterward. I’d like to keep you up all night and make love to you
over and over.”
    Mary whimpered as Nicholas scraped his teeth
over the delicate skin beneath her ear. It set that entire side
tingling, and she could have cried all over again at the
frustration of knowing it could only be a tease for now.
    Nicholas, however, clearly had other plans.
He shifted her, pulling her around and shoving up her skirts until
she was straddling his lap. She could feel his arousal, his cock
pressing for release against his trousers. His hands were already
busy elsewhere, shoving her cloak and jacket off her