“And now that you’re back in society?” Caleb prompted. “What are your plans?”
The conversation had just come full circle, and he still had no real answer. “Your jobs at the Lyon’s Den are safe if you still want them. I’ll see to that.” Then he pulled out a chair at the central table, sitting down as he looked at the one man who’d been at his side all his adult life. “You can be the new Titan at the Lyon’s Den if you like.” Being the man in charge of all the security at the den had been Lucas’s job, but Caleb was more than capable.
“I’d like that, except it seems to me you have something else in mind.”
Lucas shrugged. “I might.” He looked up at his friend. “Don’t know if it’ll make money yet, but I’d be happy to talk over some thoughts with you. If you felt like talking while we’re watching the house.”
Caleb looked about the kitchen. “I’m sick of sitting indoors. Let’s go walk the perimeter again.”
“I was just out there for an hour.”
“Two weeks as a peer, and you’re already complaining about a little walk.”
It was several miles of walking that he’d already done twice tonight while he was thinking about Diana. But he wasn’t going to let anyone suggest he’d gone soft, even in jest, so he pushed to his feet. “You wake Egeus and tell him we’re walking. He’s got watch of the house.”
Caleb nodded. “Yes, sir!”
“I’ll just be a moment,” he said, purposely hiding where he was going. It didn’t work. Caleb knew him too well.
“She’s sleeping, and about time. I’ve never seen a society woman work as hard as her. She’s doing a man’s job here. Ireland could use more like her.”
“She’s good at it.”
“Yes, sir, she is. Better than anyone else for generations, according to the people here.”
He nodded, waiting for the rest. With Caleb, there was always a little more. “What are you getting at?”
“That I can’t really blame her for wanting to keep hold of doing what she’s good at. I hear she’ll lose it if she marries. That true?”
Lucas blew out a breath. “Yes.” Then he looked straight back at his friend. “But do you think she’ll trade working like this for being a mother? She’s not one to have bastards, and she can’t keep this if she wants to have children of her own.”
Caleb acknowledged that with a grunt. “Seems to me a smart man would find a way that she can have both.”
“Seems to me,” Lucas countered, “that I’ve got plenty to think about what with managing jobs for my men, protecting the lady from her murderous stepson, and finding my way back into being Lord Chellam.”
“That does sound like a lot. Well, mayhap you can find someone who’d be willing to help you out with some of those tasks.”
“And maybe that someone ought to go wake Egeus so we can talk about it.”
“Yes, sir!” he said, saluting with a quick flick of his wrist.
Lucas watched him go, his thoughts turning toward the future with renewed hope. He might not have his lady love yet, but he had his comrades in arms, and for the moment, that would be enough. Or so he thought until he slipped quietly into Diana’s room to see that all was safe there. She was asleep, her breath steady as she lay curled on her side. He looked at her face, saw her body outlined by the moonlight, and wanted desperately to climb in beside her.
He didn’t, though he did touch her cheek. What would he give up to be with her? Everything. But would she do the same?
He didn’t think so, and that saddened him enough that he left her side to talk about his future with someone else.
Chapter Twenty-Four
London, three weeks later…
They stayed twomore weeks in Ireland. Long enough for him to see ever more clearly how good Diana was at management and how desperately her tenants needed her expert guidance. It was disheartening because he knew how much they would suffer under Geoffrey’s negligent care.
He never graced her bed, though she caught him looking at her often enough. She made it very clear that she would welcome his advances, but he had sworn not to dally with her, and so he kept away. But that didn’t stop him from becoming obsessed with her safety. There were no attacks, nothing untoward, and even the travel back to England was completely uneventful. Was that because he did everything he could think of to foil an attack? He had them travel under different names and pretend her maid and cook were her sisters. All three returning from a holiday in Ireland. Perhaps he was overreacting, but he counted the uneventful travel worth all his hard work.
And then the day they arrived back in London, he learned how useful his planning had been. An hour later, Lord Beddoe sent a request to see him. Not Diana, but Mr. Lucifer, along with the hope of discretion.
He agreed, of course, and met the man in the downstairs office that had once been Diana’s but was now his. It suited his work with the staff to be down here, and she had acceded to the wisdom of keeping her work abovestairs. Lord Beddoe, however, curled his lip as he sat in the tiny chair, but he was too agitated to refuse.
