“Darling.” Mark crossed back to his wife and hugged her again. “What do you want me to do?”
“Just hold me, and let’s try to have a nice Christmas Eve.”
“I can do that.” He glanced at Regina. “Don’t worry, Regina. We will find whoever this lunatic is. You’re safe.”
“Thank you, Mark. I know I am. I trust you and Daffin completely. Though I cannot help but wish, given the circumstances, that Uncle Edward will rescind his dinner invitation to a certain earl.”
“What do you mean?” Mark asked.
“Oh, we have another unwelcome bit of news,” Nicole said with a sigh. “Lord Dryden is coming to Christmas dinner tomorrow… to court Regina.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“Do you think the culprit stayed in the stables? He didn’t sneak into the house, did he?” Grimaldi asked Daffin over a glass of brandy in the duke’s study.
“I doubt it,” Daffin replied. “I can’t imagine he would have been that bold or been able to do so without being seen. Whoever he is, he’s toying with us now. He wanted us to know he’s here.”
“But why? What would he have to gain from tipping his hand?” Grimaldi took a swig of brandy.
“That is a good question.”
After bringing Grim up to speed, the two men agreed to put aside the investigation for the night and the next day for Nicole’s sake, but neither man intended to let down his guard. The footmen were told not to let Regina out of their sight. They stood guard at her bedchamber door even as Grimaldi and Daffin were talking.
As night fell, the tension eased a little for everyone butDaffin. He watched the homey scene in the green salon from his perch at the doorway, his shoulder resting against the frame. The duke sat in his wheeled chair near the fireplace. Lady Harriet had just finished serving everyone mulled wine out of a punch bowl. She took a seat on the velvet sofa near the duke. Regina was perched at her side. Nicole and Mark sat across from them on the settee.
Daffin glanced down at his boots. This time next year, there would be a baby here. The family was growing. They were talking and laughing and singing. A perfect Christmas Eve scene. The way Christmas Eve should be. Regina had asked him once if he wanted children. He’d never allowed himself to contemplate it. He didn’t know how a happy family worked.
He glanced at her and the breath caught in his throat. The firelight played against her hair, making it look like blue silk. Her eyes danced and her uninhibited laughter struck a note of joy in his heart. Their kiss under the mistletoe had made him realize how dangerous it was to get close to her. Even a little bit. If he kissed her again, he might not be able to stop. Being so near her, breathing in her applelike scent, even the touch of her soft lips against his, had made him realize he didn’t want just a little bit of her. He wanted more. And that was a fruitless, foolish desire. Even if she thought she wanted him, what she didn’t know about him would send her away from him forever.
When the family began passing around the gifts they’d purchased for each other, Daffin knew it was time to leave. He moved back into the shadows and slipped away from the door. They wouldn’t notice he was gone. He didn’t have any gifts for any of them, and of course they wouldn’t have any for him. He didn’t belong here.
He turned and stalked off, in search of the library and the brandy he knew rested on a sideboard within. The cavernous room was cold and dark. A fire burned low in an enormous fireplace. An utter contrast to the warmth and love in the green salon. Daffin lit a brace of candles and made his way to the sideboard. He’d just finished pouring himself a glass of brandy when the door opened behind him.
“There you are,” came Regina’s bright voice.
He turned to watch her as she crossed the floor to meet him. She wore a ruby gown with a bright white bow around the bodice and a matching one in her dark hair. She carried a wrapped gift in one hand. It was a small box wrapped in silver paper with an emerald bow atop it. In her other hand was her glass of mulled wine.
“I didn’t want to interrupt your family holiday,” Daffin said inanely.
She stopped before him and the scent of apples hit his nostrils. His cock hardened. He glanced away. How inappropriate could he be? It was Christmas and he was on an assignment.
“You weren’t interrupting a thing,” she said, softly. “You should have joined us.”
“I don’t like Christmas,” he said.
“I know. But I do hope you’ll accept this… from me.” She held out the gift to him.
He swallowed. “That’s… for me?” He didn’t take it. He stared at it as if it were a coiled snake.
“Yes. It’s for you.” She gave him a smile that made his thoughts scatter. He wanted to kiss her again.
“I didn’t get you anything,” he replied, his throat unexpectedly dry.
Regina’s smile turned mischievous. “We can discuss your present for me after you open this.”
He arched a brow.
She didn’t wait for a reply. “Come on, then.” She tugged his hand, pulling him toward the leather sofa in the center of the room. She sat first and placed the present next to her, then patted the empty space beside her. “Sit.”
