Page 32

Chapter Fourteen

Emily woke to an empty bed. Both Kester and Deo were absent, gone out for Kester’s morning anointing of the flower beds, no doubt. She stretched and rubbed her thighs together, sticky with the residue of last night’s activities.

She sighed and sat up, flinging back the bedclothes just as the door opened and Kester burst through to jump up and greet her, followed by Deo. His face was flushed from exertion which made his freckles stand out, and his eyes blazed a deep blue this morning. His hair was tousled as if he had forgotten to comb it.

“Kes, down!” he said as Kester tried to lick her face.

She ruffled his ears and said, “I don’t mind! Was your walk invigorating? You look quite refreshed.”

“It was.” He gave her an odd look. Speculative? Shy? “I am in a buoyant mood this morning,” he admitted. He approached the bed and sat beside her, putting an arm round her waist. He kissed the top of her head as she leaned into him, and he said softly, “I think that might have something to do with my wife.”

“Oh, Deo,” she said on a sigh and slid a hand inside his jacket and rubbed it over his great chest. The man would be magnificent without his clothes on. She couldn’t wait to see him naked. Does that make me a wanton wife? She stifled a giggle at the notion.

“Would you like to come back to bed?” she said shyly, peeking up at him.

He made a gruff noise in his throat. “That would be inadvisable. We have a lot to do today.”

“Oh,” she said, trying to stifle her disappointment.

“Don’t look so woebegone, wife. I will make it up to you tonight,” he said with equal gruffness.

She smiled and flung her arms round his neck. “You will?”

He flushed and nodded as she kissed his cheek. His hand clenched hard on her thigh, and he gave her a quick kiss on the lips before rising abruptly. The kiss was disappointingly brief. He reached the door and said, “I asked Jenny to bring you water for bathing. She will be up shortly.”

“Thank you,” she said. With mixed feelings, she watched him disappear into the sitting room and close the door. On the one hand he was acknowledging that she had made him feel good. On the other he didn’t share her desire to climb back beneath the sheets and continue her education into all things lewd. Am I a bad wife to want more this morning?

*

Far from not sharing her desire to climb back into the sheets, Deo was fighting his own desire tooth and nail. He wanted it too damned much, which meant he had to fight it. Giving into a sudden debauched desire for marital congress was a recipe for disaster. Last night was a revelation to him, and he needed time to accustom himself, to contemplate his next move, how far he should go with Emily. There was no question of consummating the marriage yet—he needed to know their status. Once he knew that . . . He swallowed, a flush of heat washing through his body.

His groin felt hot and heavy, and he couldn’t wait until tonight.

Over breakfast, they discussed the plans for the day with the Ashfords. Surprisingly, Kenrick and Bidenden were present, although neither participated in the conversation. They were planning a fishing trip by all accounts and thus were up earlier than usual. Of the duke and duchess there was no sign. Apparently, their child had been colicky and, unlike other wealthy parents, neither was prepared to surrender the heir to the dukedom to the care of the nursemaids. The two of them had been up with him most of the night.

“Oh, poor little fellow. I hope he is better this morning,” said Emily.

Annis nodded. “I believe so. Babies often suffer with colic; it can make them fretful.”

They arrived at the dig site after breakfast, and Emily and Deo surveyed the mess in consternation. What has happened here overnight? It was just herself and Deo this morning, everyone else having other things to occupy them.

“Deo, who could have done this?” asked Emily, peering into the hole. “Oh, they have uncovered the stones of the barrow, look!” She pointed into the hole, and Deo came to her side to see.

The morning sunlight showed a chink between the stones, as if one had been moved and pushed back into place but not properly aligned.

“Whoever they are, it looks like they gave up before they dug any further. Perhaps they were disturbed in the act?” Deo knelt and, grasping the stone that had been moved, lifted it out of the hole entirely and set it aside, revealing a black hole from which wafted the smell of dank air.

“My God, Em!” he said, staring at the dark hole. “It’s a hollow chamber!”

She dropped to her knees beside him to peer into the hole. “It must be a burial chamber, don’t you think? Oh Deo, this is so rare! Most barrows are earth filled, but this one looks as if it was once a stone-built cairn that has been covered over!” Emily clutched his arm in excitement.

“It definitely seems like we have a burial then.” He smiled at her excitement. “A rare find indeed.” He paused, staring down into the hole thoughtfully. “Bring me the lamp, Em, let’s see if we can make out anything inside it from here.”

She brought him the shuttered lamp, and he raised the glass shutters so that it could shed maximum light and lowered it into the hole. It threw shadows on the stone walls of a chamber.

“Em, you’re smaller than me, lean in and tell me what you can see,” he said, wrapping one arm around her waist to hold her while he extended his other arm holding the lamp into the hole as far as he could.

She leaned forward and poked her head fully into the hole. Gazing around, she could see the sides of what she guessed must be a rectangular chamber because the lamp light failed to illuminate the ends. “It’s a chamber that runs east-west,” she said, “with stone walls and roof and an earthen floor. I can’t see either end of it so it must be several feel longer than it is wide. I’d estimate the width at roughly six feet?” she added, settling back on her haunches as she withdrew her head from the hole. “Deo, this is magnificent. What a discovery!”