“Speaking of Murdoch, he sent me a letter containing some interesting news.”
“Oh?” She sauntered toward him.
“An informant of his located one of Wycliff’s boys – a lad who witnessed his murder.” Samantha paused briefly before resuming her progress. “Turns out our theory regarding Wrengate may be correct, for although the boy didn’t see the killer’s face, he described the man’s speech as cultured. Upper class.”
“Something you wish to investigate further?” She took Adrian’s hand, wove her fingers with his.
“Possibly. After we’ve solved Lady Eleanor’s murder.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “How was your tea?”
“Not quite strong enough for the conversation I had to engage in.” She glanced at the side table with longing and Adrian stepped toward it.
“What’s your preference? Brandy or port?”
“Brandy, I should think.”
An arched eyebrow conveyed the slightest concern. “That bad?”
She crossed to where he stood, her footfalls hushed by the Persian rug that covered the floor. “Harlowe has ordered me to resume my mission.”
Adrian handed her the glass he’d filled, the gentle brush of his fingers reminding her of the unity she found in the help he offered as long as she gave him her full allegiance. His palm settled against her cheek – a warm caress she so desperately wanted to savor.
Perhaps later, once she’d told him all she needed to say.
“We knew this would happen sooner or later.” He traced the edge of her jaw before letting his hand fall away. “Tell me what he said.”
So she gulped down a measure of brandy and did as Adrian asked. Not leaving out a single detail, she relayed her conversation with Harlowe in full. “I’ve bought some time by demanding he prove this order has the highest approval, but after that…”
“He’ll know you’re no longer obeying him if you fail to follow through.”
“Precisely.”
Adrian studied her face while she drank some more brandy, the heat from the spicy liquid soothing her nerves. “You’re torn because of your history with him. It’s completely understandable.”
“Is it?” She wasn’t so sure. “His willingness to sacrifice me should make this an easy decision.”
“I’m sure he considered your marrying me a temporary bit of displeasure for you to suffer. After all, the plan was to see me hang, which would have made you a widow and freed you from the bonds of marriage.”
It was hard for her to swallow past the sudden lump in her throat. “You are not going to hang if I have any say in the matter.”
He gave a small shrug as though whether he lived or died was of little significance. It was unbearable. “And let’s not forget Kendrick’s plan to make sure I met myend by some other means, right? Either way, Harlowe was sure you’d walk away from this ordeal with the chance to start over. No doubt with some sort of reward bestowed upon you by Prinny himself, to say nothing of the fortune you would acquire from me as my widow.”
“Stop it.” His blasé approach to this was beyond annoying. “I am not letting anything happen to you.”
“Because you care for me more than you want to admit?”
She refused to be the first one to say what was in her heart. Instead she told him, “If you’ll recall,Ipushed for marriage. Had it been up to Harlowe, I’d have worked my way into your bed, drugged you, and used that opportunity to discover as much as I could.”
“A flawed plan, considering all that could have gone wrong.” His dark eyes swept the length of her body with so much craving, she forgot time and place. She stepped toward him as though he were reeling her in. “That said, I can’t pretend I’m not grateful for the training you received in the art of seduction.”
Her arms slid around his neck, the mingling of their breath becoming much more as their mouths met. Tentatively at first, then with increased insistence as she surrendered to what he offered.
It went beyond physical need, this yearning for added closeness driving something of greater importance. She couldn’t explain it, nor would she try to. All she knew was that this man was not only in her heart but in her soul. He spoke to her fears and desires, sawthe ruthlessness she was capable of, and accepted it with as much grace as she accepted his.
Neither of them was perfect. Far from it. But maybe this was what pushed them together, the flaws they recognized in each other – the instinct to fight on behalf of the weak and to make sure justice prevailed.
The world in which they lived was a sinister place shrouded by darkness. They’d both seen the worst of what it could offer. Yet here in this moment, tucked away in their cozy library, light prevailed, the heat they produced as they fumbled to free each other from layers of clothing keeping all troubles at bay.
There would be time to face the world later.
