“Race, why do you look so somber? Have I made you unhappy?”
He smiled, picked up her hand, and kissed every finger as he caressed her face with his gaze. “No, of course not. I was just doing some deep thinking.”
“Deep thinking? That sounds ominous. Should I ask why, or assume that what I don’t know can’t hurt me?”
He smiled and brushed her long hair over her shoulder to her back. “I was thinking about you and Gibby.”
“Oh?” she questioned.
“You are both strong-willed, capable people, yet you are both putting yourselves in danger, and I’ve not been very good at helping either of you.”
She gave him a playful smile. “It seems to me that I remember letting you help me with quite a few things tonight.”
He reached over and caressed the full swell of her breast. “I’m not talking about what we shared in this bed. I’m talking about things like your going to see Smith at his antiques shop, talking with Winston at parties, and trying to sneak into Spyglass’s bedchamber.”
“I have never tried to hide from you that I wanted the pearls and that I don’t intend to stop looking for them.”
His hand drew a line from the base of her throat, down between her breasts, to the hollow of her stomach. “I’m thinking that it is time we stopped working alone and started working together. We should pool our meager resources of evidence about who might have the pearls and see if we can find out who has them and how to get them back.”
Her eyebrows lifted in mock horror. “Now I know why you wanted to get back in my bed. You want information from me. You want to know what I’ve discovered from the suspects so you can find the necklace first.”
His hand slid to the back of her neck as he rose and kissed her soundly on the lips. “That is not the reason I came to your bed, and I’m fully prepared to prove that to you once again.”
She smiled, letting her fingertips trip across his collarbone. “I would take you up on that if not for the fact that it is dawn and it’s time for you to go.”
“I am serious about this, Susannah. You will be safer working with me, and we’ll be more successful working together than alone.”
She sank her teeth into her bottom lip and studied his proposition for a moment, and then said, “Now that you no longer believe I have the pearls, I would very much like your help in finding them.”
“Good.”
“We can plan a time to get together later and share our information, but for now, you need to leave. Everyone in the house will be awake soon.”
He nodded while his hand caressed her shoulder and upper arm. “But first, do you mind if I ask you something about what happened twelve years ago?”
She gave him an understanding smile. “No. I have nothing to hide and nothing to fear about that time in my life.”
“If you could have changed what happened after you were caught in the garden with Lord Martin, how would you have changed it?”
Her eyebrows drew together. “If you are asking me if I wish I’d married Lord Martin, I don’t. In fact, after I saw him again, I’m very happy I didn’t marry him.”
“No, that’s not exactly what I’m asking. You told me you begged your father not to make you marry the duke. But what did you want to do?”
Susannah shrugged. “Race, I was eighteen. I’m not sure what I wanted.”
“But if instead of making you marry him, if your parents had gone to you and said, ‘Lord Martin will not marry you. What is the best thing we can do for you?’ What do you think you would have said to them?”
Susannah turned serious and thought for a few moments. No one had ever asked her what she would have liked to have happened. Every decision had been made for her without her consultation or argument.
“I probably would have asked them if we could live in another place where no one knew me, so I could start over with a whole new life without the feeling of condemning eyes watching me. Why do you ask this of me?”
“I was thinking about Prattle’s sister and wondering what she must be feeling about what her brother announced to everyone in the park, about the fight, and about her reputation among her friends now.”
“She is probably wishing her brother had handled the matter privately.”
“That’s what I was thinking. I’m certain Gibby is innocent of her charges. He is too much of a gentleman and always has been. All his life, his honor has meant more to him than his life. This whole thing could have been handled quietly if only Prattle hadn’t made his accusations public that day.”
“You think he did that for a reason?”
