by Nan Ryan
His handsome face a study in concern, he said in a voice rough with emotion, “Sweetheart, I’m honored that it was me you turned to in your time of trouble.”
She tried to smile at him, but failed. She moved her hand from his face, slid her fingertips along the satin lapel of his evening jacket and let her hand come to rest on his chest. At once she became acutely aware of Armand’s hard, lean body pressed so intimately close to hers. She wondered if he was as aware. She lowered her gaze to his mouth. His sensual lips were slightly parted over perfect white teeth and the tip of his tongue came out and nervously licked his full bottom lip.
She shivered involuntarily.
“Cold, sweetheart?” he inquired, tightening his arms slightly around her.
She shook her head. She swallowed hard. She could feel his heavy heartbeat beneath her spread fingers. Saw the throbbing vein in his tanned throat. They stared at each other as a new, raw kind of tension rose between them and swiftly escalated.
Finally, Madeleine murmured, “Armand, oh, Armand.”
That was all it took.
His dark face began to slowly lower toward hers. Purposely, he gave her ample time to stop him if she so desired. She didn’t. She sighed when his smooth, warm lips touched hers softly, seekingly. Her response was totally receptive. Still, Armand held back, kissing her so tenderly for a few moments that she relaxed completely and felt as if she were floating in a sweet dream. Incredible warmth spread through her entire body and she sighed once more.
Armand continued to kiss her softly, gently. His mouth moved slowly on hers. He took her bottom lip between his teeth and caressed it with his tongue. She swayed against him. He swiftly deepened the kiss, his tongue going into her mouth to explore and examine and excite. Madeleine’s arms slipped around his neck and she eagerly clasped handfuls of the silky raven hair at the back of his head.
With his tall, solid body, Armand pressed her up against the walnut bar, insinuating his knee between hers. A little gurgle of excitement escaped her and Madeleine instantly pressed against his trousered leg, anxiously seeking the partial relief the stony hardness of his muscular thigh provided.
Madeleine finally tore her burning lips from his to take a breath. She shivered when Armand immediately bent his dark head and kissed the bare curve of her neck and shoulder, his lips gently sucking and spreading heat over the sensitive flesh.
Their simmering passions swiftly erupted and they kissed and touched and clung to each other until, very quickly, the barrier of their clothing became too burdensome. Each began to tear at the other’s garments in a frenzy of growing desire. They were half dressed, half undressed, when Armand swept Madeleine up into his arms and carried her into the bedroom.
There the only light was the flickering flames in the black marble fireplace directly across from the turned-down bed. In the sensual firelight they finished disrobing and when both were blessedly naked, they again stepped into each other’s arms and kissed hotly, hungrily.
Madeleine was overwhelmed by the heat and hardness of Armand’s bare beautiful body pressing so insistently against her own. He was so incredibly strong and masculine and she felt very weak and vulnerable against such potent virile power. But she was not afraid of his throbbing strength, she was thrilled by it.
As for Armand, he experienced again that electrifying shock that had swept through him the first time they had come together naked. His already aroused body got a fresh jolt of excitement as he held her sweet softness against him. His body’s response was immediate and automatic. Blood rushed to his groin, causing it to expand painfully, and then pounded upward to spread a suffocating heat all through his body.
Madeleine felt herself being lifted from the floor and then gently lowered to the bed. She put up no resistance. Armand placed her in the very center of the big, square bed and she sighed with erotic pleasure as she settled herself comfortably against the black satin sheets and pillows. She sighed again when Armand joined her on the bed, bending to press a long, openmouthed kiss to her responsive lips.
When their lips separated, Armand’s mouth slipped down over her chin to her throat. He pressed a kiss to its delicate hollow and then began to leisurely kiss his way down her bare straining body. Madeleine was dazzled by the touch of his lips and tongue on her tingling flesh. When his mouth settled on her left nipple, she raised a hand, started to lay it atop his dark head. She didn’t. Instead she drew a deep, ragged breath, raised both arms above her head, folded them, and arched her back, glorying in the tug of his lips, the teasing of his tongue, the sweet sensation of his teeth raking over her stinging nipples.
When his handsome face moved down from her breasts and over her ribs to her waist, Madeleine idly wondered where his mouth’s tantalizing exploration would end.
She quivered helplessly when his tongue delved into her navel, and then she held her breath as his hot, open lips moved aggressively on down her flat, contracting belly. She gasped when he nuzzled his nose and mouth into the red-gold curls of her groin. She shuddered as his hot breath stirred the curls.
With his tongue, Armand parted those fiery crisp coils and Madeleine’s eyes grew round with a mixture of alarm and arousal. Wanting him to stop, wanting him to never stop, she whimpered when Armand bent his head and kissed her tenderly in that most feminine, secret spot. She felt all the air leave her body in an explosion of shock and excitement. She couldn’t believe the incredible pleasure she experienced when his tongue began to slowly circle that pulsing button of flesh where all her raging desire was centered.
Feasting on her, loving her this way, Armand became so aroused he knew he couldn’t wait much longer to be inside her. With gentle lips he kissed and sucked, with stroking tongue he licked and lashed, and all the while he was carefully gauging the intensity of her excitement. It was building rapidly. Her legs kept parting wider without his urging. Her pelvis was lifting off the bed, seeking the hot wetness of his loving mouth. Her arms had come down from over her head and her fingers were gripping the black satin sheets beside her raised hips.
Armand gave the pulsing feminine flesh one last kiss, then swiftly rose up over Madeleine. Both were so hot and hungry for each other, he slid into her with no difficulty for him, no pain for her. Immediately they began to move together, as if his lean, brown body and her slender pale one had been fashioned by nature to fit perfectly together.
The hot kisses of burning, questing lips. The deep thrusting of rock-hard flesh into slick yielding softness. The eager hands caressing bare yearning skin. The sleek feel of the black satin bedsheets against sensitized naked flesh.
All conspired to hurl the joined couple to a swift and intense climax. Helpless in the throes of simultaneous orgasm, they clung to each other in their shattering ecstasy, each calling the other’s name.
The lovers lay facing each other in the big, soft bed. More than an hour had passed since Madeleine had arrived at The Beaufort. Most of that hour had been spent in bed, making love, the two of them so insatiable they couldn’t get enough of each other.
Now the top sheet rested somewhere around their hips and beneath it, their legs were still entwined. Bathed in golden firelight, languid from the loving, they lay unmoving, unspeaking, gazing into each other’s eyes, each wondering just how much the other cared.
If at all.
Madeleine sighed and lazily raised up onto an elbow. She said, “You must be wondering what I’m doing here.”
“You’re welcome here for any reason, any time, sweetheart,” was his gallant reply.
She pushed her tangled red-gold hair behind an ear and said, “I want to tell you all that has happened, Armand.”
He nodded, fell over onto his back and folded his arms beneath his head. Madeleine turned onto her stomach beside him and rested her weight on her elbows.
Then she began to talk. “I am not going to marry Lord Enfield,” she announced emphatically. Armand immediately felt his heartbeat quicken, but he remained silent.
S
he continued, “Desmond cares nothing for me, he was after Uncle Colfax’s money all along. I was blind to his intentions. I believed that he was an honorable man and that he was quite wealthy, but…”
Talking rapidly now, she told Armand everything she knew, about the missing will and her suspicions that Desmond was the one who had taken it. She told him of her visit to Lord Enfield’s home that evening and that she’d found stacks of bills and duns as well as love notes from his mistress.
Madeleine talked and talked and when finally she had told him everything she knew, she sat up in the bed and frowned down at Armand. It did not escape her notice that he had demonstrated no astonishment at any of her shocking revelations.
She asked, “You are not surprised by all this, are you?”
Laying a hand on her silky thigh and patting her affectionately, Armand reluctantly admitted that he had feared, all along, that the devious Lord Enfield had been up to something.
“You knew?” She was shocked and incensed. “You knew about this and never said anything? Why? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Armand drew her down into his embrace, tucking her head beneath his chin, and said, “Would you have believed me? I think not.”
“No,” she admitted with a deep sigh, “I wouldn’t have believed you.”
“I tried,” said Armand, “on more than one occasion to alert your uncle to Lord Enfield’s true nature. I knew Chilton had Colfax fooled and it worried me greatly.”
“But if Uncle Colfax didn’t know, how did you?”
“I have more contacts than your uncle had. And of a different ilk. When you’re in the gambling business, you cross paths with all kinds of characters. While most who come to the club are respected gentlemen and ladies seeking a bit of harmless diversion, others are from the seamy side of society. They usually drink too much, talk too much. I learned, long ago, what few are aware of about Lord Enfield. What your uncle certainly never knew. That Chilton made a killing in black ivory. Illegal slave trade.”
“Desmond bought slaves?” Madeleine, horrified, raised her head.
“Bought them cheap and sold them high.”
“So he made a great deal of money out of others’ misery.”
“A fortune,” said Armand. “A sizable fortune which he later lost in reckless market speculation. Chilton has, for years, lived far above his means and has therefore piled up exorbitant debts. The man is probably desperate for cash.”
“That’s the only reason he wanted me.”
Armand stroked her lustrous hair, aflame in the firelight. “I’m sure that’s not the only reason, Maddie. But it certainly didn’t hurt that you’re the heiress to your uncle’s vast fortune.”
For a time, Madeleine said nothing more, just lay quietly in Armand’s arms, digesting all she had learned since her uncle’s shocking death.
When she finally spoke, she asked, “Armand, do you suppose…could Desmond have had Uncle Colfax…murdered?”
“I wish I could assure you that the answer to that is a firm no,” he said, his voice soft, low. “But I can’t. Now that I know he’s the only living executor named in the provisional will and that the other will is missing…” He sighed heavily. Then he added, “If Chilton did have your uncle killed, he’ll be found out.”
“You think so?”
“I do. Had he had the guts to do it himself, he might be safe. But when more than one person knows of a crime, somebody, sooner or later, is bound to talk.”
Sickened by the thought Desmond might actually be responsible for her dear uncle’s death, Madeleine said, “My God, I’ve been such a blind fool. How could I have…?”
“Sweetheart, you’re not the only one Lord Enfield has fooled,” Armand assured her. “Few in New Orleans are aware of his sins. He’s a devious, but very clever man. He has the trust and respect of this entire city.”
“The evil bastard,” she said, shuddering at the thought that she had almost married him.
“He’s that and more,” Armand agreed, “and I want you to swear to me that he didn’t touch you, didn’t harm you when you encountered him in his home this evening.”
“No, he didn’t get the chance. I told you, I bit him and was able to get away.”
“You might not be as lucky the next time, so…”
“Next time?”
“Maddie, you don’t really suppose that this is the end of it, do you? It may well be for you, but not for him, so you must be extremely careful. Never go out of the house unless Big Montro is with you. For that matter, never be in the house alone, make sure that Montro is there at all times.”
“I will,” she said, “I promise and…oh, Armand, what time is it?”
Armand looked across the room to the onyx clock resting on the mantel. “Mmm, about twenty ‘til ten.”
“Will you take me home? Montro is due at Desmond’s town house to collect me at ten sharp. He’ll be worried if he doesn’t find me there.”
Armand rolled up into a sitting position, clasped her upper arms and gave her a quick, sound kiss. “You know I will,” he replied and started to get up off the bed.
“One more thing,” she said, catching his arm. “I must find Uncle Colfax’s missing will before the first of June. I need your help.”
“You have it, chérie.”
Thirty-Five
When Madeleine and Armand arrived at the Royal Street town house, they found the usually calm Avalina wringing her hands and pacing the floor. They quickly learned the reason. An angry Lord Enfield had shown up shortly after nine, demanded to see his fiancée.
Baffled, Big Montro had told the flush-faced nobleman that Lady Madeleine was not home. “It was our understanding that she was dining with you this evening,” Montro replied sharply. “I left her at your home shortly before eight and told her I’d return to collect her at ten sharp.”
His eyes flashing with anger and frustration, Lord Enfield had shouted at the big, brawny bodyguard, “Am I speaking a foreign language? I said I wish to speak with Lady Madeleine and that is exactly what I intend to do!”
He had irritably brushed past Montro and started for the stairs. Montro had reached out and caught Desmond’s arm, stopping him.
“She is not home, sir.” Montro’s voice had been low, calm. “If you wish to wait here, I will go out and see if I can find her.”
Desmond had snatched his arm free of Montro’s grip. “If you two know where she is and are concealing her whereabouts from me, I’ll see to it that you both…”
“I have no idea where Lady Madeleine might be,” said Montro. “Nor does Avalina.”
Flustered, Desmond had said, “Very well. I’ll return to my home, perhaps she’s come to her senses and is looking for me.”
“Come to her senses?” questioned Avalina. “Has something happened between…?”
Lord Enfield had given her a scathing look and said hotly, “Servants are never to question their betters! You’re to mind your own business and keep quiet, do you understand me?”
Desmond had cast one last glance up the stairs, turned and stormed to the front door. “If Madeleine comes here, notify me immediately. I urgently need to speak with her tonight!”
Now, as Madeleine and Armand sat listening to Avalina tell what had happened, Big Montro arrived back at the town house. He came in the front door, heard the voices and stepped into the drawing room.
“They’re here and she’s safe!” Avalina told him excitedly.
The gentle giant grinned and nodded. He spoke to Madeleine and Armand, then politely excused himself.
“No wait, Montro.” Madeleine stopped him. “Please, won’t you come in and sit down. There’s something I need to tell you and Avalina and I might as well do it now.”
The big man took a chair near Avalina. As soon as he was seated, Madeleine began her explanation. “I’ll get right to the point,” she said, totally composed, her voice firm. “I have broken my engagement to Desmond Chilton and I—”
“You’re n
ot going to marry Lord Enfield?” Avalina interrupted, her dark eyes as big as saucers.
“No. No, I am not. Thankfully, I found out in time that Desmond Chilton is not the fine man I thought him to be. I have learned some things this evening that make me suspect Desmond could be responsible for taking Uncle Colfax’s will. Unfortunately, the provisional will was never destroyed as it should have been, therefore with the absence of the final will, the provisional will be considered the only one.”
“Lord Enfield will control everything!” stated Avalina.
“Exactly. And, since I have broken our engagement, I stand to lose everything Uncle Colfax worked so hard to acquire. Unless, that is, I can find the other will.” She glanced at Armand and continued, “Mr. de Chevalier has generously agreed to help me search for the will or any copy of it that might exist.” She drew a deep breath and added, “The courts have given me until June 1. If we can’t find the will by then…” She stopped speaking, shrugged slender shoulders.
Armand spoke for the first time. “I’m hopeful a copy of the will exists and that we will locate it quickly. However, right now, I believe there is an even more pressing problem for us all.”
Madeleine turned her head and gave him a questioning look. He explained, “Lord Enfield will be coming back here no later than tomorrow, perhaps even tonight, to try to change your mind about breaking the engagement.”
“Why? He stole the will, he no longer needs to marry me,” she reasoned.
“He’ll be worried that a copy exists,” said Armand. He looked at Big Montro. “You know what to do, Montro.”
Nodding, the bodyguard stated, “Avalina and I will both move into the main house.” He looked directly at Madeleine. “If you, Lady Madeleine, wish to go out at any time, I will go with you. That is, unless, of course, you are in the company of Armand. You are to never be alone, not here at home or anyplace else.”
Frowning now, Madeleine said, “You don’t actually think Desmond could be dangerous? That he would try to harm me?” She looked from Montro to Armand.
“You’ve learned what kind of man he is,” Armand gently reminded her. “By breaking the engagement, you are interfering with his well-laid plans. Who knows what he might do? I don’t trust him.”