Yes, he was entirely in her hands. If she chose to walk away once he’d told her the whole, he would have to accept her decision. However badly it hurt.
He told her about his meeting with Frederick. “That meant that my brother was a subject of naïvety. He is not a traitor. He did not understand that the government would send me after him, that his choice to join the conspirators would put all of us in danger. I contact him through the statue shop in the Piazza Navona.”
Her expression hardened. “That’s what you were doing in that shop! So when I made a fuss, you wanted a distraction, didn’t you? So you asked me to marry you? That’s all I am to you?”
“No, no. I meant to ask you to marry me, Delphi. So why not then? I want you as much as I ever did, and that is the pure truth.”
She nodded, and the warmth returned to her lovely eyes. “You still have ground to make up.”
She let her hand remain in his. He took that as a sign.
“I know, I know. And I will.” He looked away, looked back. “There is another reason I wanted to claim you quickly.”
“What? Why?”
“To keep you safe. That attack on Trensom yesterday? That was the conspirators. They know he knows, has been appointed by London to find their ringleader. I thought at first the attack was meant for me, and I was afraid Frederick was discovered, but no. They wanted Trensom out of the way. That house he’s taken, that mansion, is difficult to protect. He has to protect his wife and his daughters as well as you. While the conspirators think Frederick is a Jacobite, I am safer than Trensom. I care deeply for you, Delphi. I want to ensure your protection for myself. I need it.”
The sun shone outside, the clock ticked on the mantel, and everything seemed normal.
Time to get to the root of the matter, the reason why Frederick had been recruited, and why the government had pounced on their vulnerability.
He sighed, and leaned back, rubbing his temple with his free hand. But he did not let go of her with the other. He kept a firm grip on her, anchoring her to him. “The government discovered a conspiracy against the Crown. Against the king specifically.”
She sat up straighter. “What kind of conspiracy?”
“The worst. Assassination. They plan to murder the king and his family.”
The clock chimed three. The distant sound of people chattering outside on the Spanish Steps filtered through to them as he explained the conspiracy and why, until they discovered the ringleader, they needed to remain vigilant.
“I’m dreaming, aren’t I?” she said partway through, but listened to him.
Now she knew everything. The choice was hers to make. Would she throw her lot in with him, or would she allow Trensom to take her back?
“Trensom received a communication from the government, telling him what I’ve just told you. I suspect that communication was intercepted, which is why the conspirators chose to attack him yesterday. They knew he knew.”
Lifting her hand, he kissed it.
“What do we do now?”
His warm smile made her pause.
She pulled her hand out of his. “I mean what are your plans?”
He sighed. “Will you let me kiss you if I tell you?”
She raised a brow. He shot her a grin. “I had to ask. You look so kissable.”
So now she knew. A harebrained scheme to assassinate the royal family had kept him chasing his brother across Europe, and fear that he wouldn’t be able to keep her out of it made him turn his back on her.
He wasn’t turning his back now.
The irony of the situation did not escape her. “The government asked you to return to your father’s treason in order to prove your own loyalty.”
“You are a woman in a million,” he said fervently. “You have no idea how good it is to discuss this problem with someone who understands all the ramifications. Only Trensom has a better understanding.”
A dry smile lifted the corners of his mouth. Delphi was glad to see it. This serious man had ripped away his frivolous mask, much as he had during that night in Greenwich when they had talked long into the night.
He squeezed her hand. The contact undid her. The affairs of kings seemed far away all of a sudden, and the awareness that they were alone swept in on her.
“But what of us? What did you do, back there in the square?” She licked her lips.
His gaze followed her instinctive action hungrily. “I claimed you.”
She disliked him referring to her on those terms. “I’m not an object. You can’t do that.”
“I did. I have.” His hand remained on hers, but she did not attempt to move it. “I could say that I stopped you doing something you didn’t understand. I could say that after the attack on Trensom, I became aware that you would be as safe with me—safer—than with him. All that would be true, but even more true is that I cannot bear the thought of losing you. I want you, Delphi. I always have. Now I want more—to keep you safe, to be mine.”
He drew her to her feet, kept his gaze on hers and turned his hand so he held hers securely. They were close, as close as her wide skirts allowed. “I need you, Delphi.” He huffed a light self-deprecating laugh. “So much.”
Before she could speak, he kissed her.
And then she lost all her senses except one. Desire swept over her in a great wave. She moaned into his mouth and, heedless of her finery, crushed her body against his. Layers of fabric prevented her from the intimacy she instinctively yearned for. In Greenwich, they had been wearing their night clothes, and while they were modestly voluminous, the soft fabrics had given her a better sense of his body. She recalled it now in vivid detail, his powerful shoulders, the strong body.
And yes, she reciprocated his sentiments. She wanted him, too, and she was tired of denying it.
Her brave future dissolved, replaced by another. One that included Adam.
He threaded his fingers through the curls of her elaborate hairstyle, drawing her closer, deepening the kiss. What else mattered more than this? Her body blossomed for him.
“Delphi.” Her name on his lips sent shivers down her spine. He kissed her again.
Delphi responded, sliding her hands under his coat, the warmth of his body heating her to a fever of desire. “Adam,” she said when he broke the kiss to dot smaller, featherlight kisses on her cheeks, her nose, and her throat.
“No more!” Just short of dragging out her fichu, he pulled back, straightened, although he didn’t release her. The smile returned, this time fond and intimate. “I want us married, Delphi. Just as soon as we can arrange it.”
“Yes.” She could have exacted her revenge. “I intended to make you pay for abandoning me in London. I meant to make you fall helplessly in love with me, and then I would leave you in the dust, abandon you as you did me.” Her plan seemed ridiculous now.
“Too late now. We’re bound, Delphi.”
“Poor Lord Joshua!”
“Him?” He gave a wry smile. “Another Stuart.”
“But no relative, I believe.”
His shoulders moved in a light shrug. “I daresay. You can’t move in Scotland for Stuarts, and not all of them belong to the royal family. My rival.”
“Yes.” When she thought of Lord Joshua’s gentle courtship and the little attentions he paid to her, his knack of attending the same events she did, she smiled. He’d never evoked the kind of passion she felt when Adam did no more than touch her hand.
Adam tightened his hold on her. A bell clanged below.
He caught her hands again, lifted them to his mouth one after the other. He bestowed kisses on the backs in a gesture that was more intimate than it was courtly. “That will be our guest. Or rather, guests,” he added as he heard murmured voices from below.
Sure enough, steps sounded from outside. Matilda and her duke came in after a brief knock. Matilda’s face was drawn and taut. Delphi was sorry to see it.
“What on earth are you doing?” she cried as she saw Delphi. “Good God, are you
determined to destroy what reputation you have left?”
When Delphi would have pulled away, Adam kept her hands in his. “Delphi has done me the honor of accepting my hand in marriage. She will not be ruined.”
“Guff!” Matilda said. “You maneuvered her into it.” She turned to her husband. “We can still get out of this situation, can’t we?”
Trensom kept his attention on the two people in front of him. “Do you want to get out of it?”
Delphi buried her face against Adam’s waistcoat to hide her blushes. “No.”
“Then we had best bestir ourselves.” Trensom spoke briskly. “You must marry as soon as possible. Tomorrow, if we can do it. Or the day after at the latest.”
That brought Delphi’s head up. “How?” She’d assumed it would take weeks, or even longer.
“I will find a Protestant clergyman to marry you, and I can obtain a special license. I’m a government official, and I will use that to get everything we need.”
“I thought we’d have to go home…” Delphi tailed off. Of course they would not. Plenty of people married abroad. She’d never thought of it, that was all.
“She’s not leaving this house,” Adam asserted. “I’ll leave if I have to, but she is safest here.”
Trensom bristled. “We can take care of Delphi until this business is over. And with us, she’ll be out of the eye of the storm.”
“After the attack on you in the street,” Adam said, “I no longer believe that. I have told Delphi everything I know.” He moved to the window, and moved the heavy draperies aside.
Behind the velvet lay a set of bars which would fold over like shutters. None but a small child could have slid through them. “What on earth…?” Matilda said.
Adam scanned their responses. “This house has many protections. The main door is easily barricaded, and so is the more private one down below. Only two sets of keys exist. I have one set, and Heath the other.”
Keeping Delphi safe. “Locking me in?”
He smiled, and the warmth made her blush. “Locking us both in. I’ve kept servants to a minimum, and only Heath knows all my business here. And now Trensom and the duchess.” He sent Delphi an apologetic smile, and she couldn’t help but return it.
He had her, and she didn’t know if she felt happy or sad, blissful or angry. But she did know that if she didn’t assert herself, Adam would have no problem rolling over her opinions. He wouldn’t even know he was doing it.
“I won’t be your jewel in a setting,” she warned him.
“That isn’t what I want at all.”
He met her gaze as if they were the only people in the room, and for an instant, that was true. Nobody else mattered.
Her decision followed as naturally as breathing. She might have given him an answer to his proposal but, at this moment, she gave him her trust. And that meant so much more. “I’ll stay here with you.”
The sound of the world outside, carriage wheels and faint chatter, carried through to them. He came back to her and took her hand.
“But you won’t shut me in?” More than anything, that notion filled Delphi with fear. Although she couldn’t remember both their parents, her mother having died giving birth to the triplets, she had seen her brother’s response to crowds. That fear had come from their father, and his virtual imprisonment of them after their mother died. He’d gone half-mad.
Gerald hated crowds; Delphi had the opposite reaction. She hated being shut in on her own. Feeling trapped, as if the world went on without her and didn’t care.
And Adam knew that. She’d confessed it to him at Greenwich when he’d caught her—literally—in one of her tiresome panics. She’d spoken too quickly. Adam’s attention went directly to her. “No, I won’t do that.”
She believed him.
Trensom rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ll make the arrangements for the marriage at once.”
Chapter Thirteen
He had Delphi. That victory overwhelmed Adam. Once she’d agreed to stay, his gut untwisted, the relief powerful.
She would not leave him again. Nor would he leave her.
Since he’d spent time recently thinking about her when he should have been concentrating on Frederick and his troubles, he had the details ready. “I’ll draw up a document in lieu of a more formal marriage settlement. I’ll leave everything I can to Delphi in the event of my death. That includes any portion she is entitled to. That should ensure her future. We may sign and witness it, and do a proper settlement later.”
Trensom nodded. “That sounds appropriate, since you insist on marrying so precipitately.”
“But you won’t die,” Delphi said. “I won’t allow it.”
Matilda applauded as the two men turned to look at Delphi. “I should think so, too.”
“I don’t need a contract,” she said.
“Nevertheless, you’re getting one.” Adam exchanged a meaningful glance with Trensom.
Delphi had the expression of a woman who’d just run into brick wall.
Adam walked across the room to her, taking both her hands. “I will set up a trust. Your money will be yours to do with whatever you will.”
“But may I go where I wish and do what I want to?”
Without hesitation, he knew the reply. “As long as I go with you.”
He meant it. If she wanted to go to Greece, he would accompany her. The suspicion curled into his mind that he might not be entirely in control here. But he couldn’t allow her to get away. Was she free-spirited, or so engrossed with her studies that she didn’t notice her effect on people like him?
The Dersingham triplets had entered society like a breath of fresh air. That was why Lady Elizabeth Askew and her ilk had taken against them. Not only personal grudges, but the way attention had swerved to the lively sisters of an earl who didn’t give a damn what society thought of them.
And now he’d fallen for the charms of the last sister available. After promising himself he would never become so entangled with a woman that he couldn’t escape, he seemed to be rushing in with open arms.
No help for him now. He’d played his hand and he was in.
Hastily, he released her hands and turned to his guests. “I have no choice. But if you wish, you should withdraw from the danger. Tell the government you want no part of it. After all, you have your daughters to protect.”
“We’ll continue,” Trensom said. He glanced at Delphi, and then back at Adam. “You have a plan.”
He smiled. “We do, indeed. Frederick is working from the inside, and I am ready to pull him out and keep him safe if he finds himself in danger. I contacted the statue seller today merely to ensure the connection between us, but I will be passing messages through him.” The plan included his yacht, moored at the coast. “If we cannot close this down before Parliament convenes in November, the danger increases. If we insist that the king and his family sequester themselves, they will be accused of cowardice. And they will lose face, which, as you know, will weaken our hands.”
Talk of war with the Austrians was increasing. If that happened, then his country would prefer to concentrate its resources, not be distracted by a wild conspiracy that could create chaos and disrupt plans. Tactics the Stuarts were good at. The whole plot came at the worst possible time. “The king is fragile, and his grandson is an impressionable youth,” Delphi added.
“Yes, that is a problem. The Princess of Wales is wholly engrossed with Bute.”
“Another Stuart.” Trensom sounded more resigned than anything else.
“But not of the royal house.”
Trensom shrugged.
“Not all Scotsmen are traitors.” Sometimes, Adam had to remind people that he was Scottish. Like his fellow aristocrats, he did not use the accent of the working people, or even the gentry. He sounded like everyone else of his sort, but he remained a Scotsman. He’d seen how his countrymen had suffered after the Stuarts had abandoned his country. And for that, he would never forgive them.
“Yes, of course.” Trensom moved away. “We will leave you now. But send word to me if you need anything, or you want to speak to me privately.”
Matilda hesitated. “You are staying?” she asked Delphi. “Are you sure?”
Delphi nodded.
“I’ll make arrangements for the license,” Trensom said. “Tomorrow or the day after. Before the Beauchamp ball.”
Delphi refused to think about the future, or what had happened. It had, so that was that. Her future was sealed, one way or the other.
While Adam was seeing their visitors out, she crossed to the window overlooking the Spanish Steps. She stared out at life below, careful to stand to the side so that no one would see her. She recognized a few people she knew, watched them gossip.
Lifting her head, she gazed at the glories of the city. Everywhere here, the glories of ancient Rome remained, jostling with more modern structures. Further away, on the other side of the city, lay the Vatican, the domain of the pope. Delphi had little interest there, except to observe the influence of the ancients on the modern structures. Even the piazza they had visited today, with its Bernini masterpieces, held no more than a passing interest for her. People rhapsodized over them.
A city of plots and schemes. Perhaps it was appropriate that this one came to a head here.
The door opened quietly, but Delphi didn’t turn around. She knew who it was. Tension entered with him, wrapping around her. What did she do now? What did she say, what would he expect her to do?
The warm pressure of his hands rested on her shoulders. “You’re nervous.” He rubbed gently.
“Yes.” No point denying it. “I’d never even been in a room alone with a man I’m not related to before I met you.”
“You will be related to me after tomorrow. Or the day after,” he murmured after a pause. “No longer than that.”
“You can’t be nervous!” How could that be? Surely he’d had—mistresses.
“I’ve never been married before.” He continued to rub and, slowly, her muscles warmed and eased. “I never thought it would happen like this. But hear this, Delphi. I found something with you that night in Greenwich that I wanted to explore. I wanted you for myself. When I left, I thought I had lost you. How could you remain single for so long?”
A Whisper of Treason Page 15