Hannah took a deep breath and forced the scowl from her face. She knew he was telling the truth. “You should have told me.”
“You’re right, I should have.”
“And you should have told her right then and there that you loved me more than life.”
Christopher chuckled. “I should have. I will rectify that as soon as I can.” He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Will you forgive me?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Christopher smiled as he leaned down and kissed her cheek.
Hannah glared up at him in challenge, but was lost as soon as she saw his sincerity. “Yes, Knight. I forgive you. But only if you promise you’ll speak with her soon.”
“Absolutely.” He pulled her ring from his pinky finger and slid it onto her hand. “Now, no more taking this off, please.”
“On one condition.”
He cupped her cheek. “Anything.”
“I don’t want to see any other women popping up in your life.”
“I don’t think I can handle more than you.”
She smacked his chest and found herself lifted off her feet and kissed thoroughly.
Setting her down, he smiled. “I love you, Hannah Nelson. Never doubt it.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“I have to get back to work.” He lifted her chin. “Will you be all right until dinner?”
Hannah rolled her eyes. “I’ll make every effort not to pine for you.”
Christopher chuckled and led her downstairs, where Clayton waited with his coat and hat. “Ready?”
Christopher nodded. He gave Hannah a quick kiss and followed Clayton out the door.
Hannah found Emma sitting in the parlor, an open book on her lap. “You are not reading, Mrs. Madden, are you?”
Emma smirked and set the book aside. “I thought I might give it a go.” She lowered her voice to a whisper and patted the seat next to her. “It’s not like I have television to distract me.”
Hannah sat with a sigh and dropped her head to the back of the sofa.
“Everything okay?”
Hannah turned her head and nodded. “Yep. He’s going to talk to the harlot this week.”
Emma patted her knee. “And here I thought green was a good color for you.”
Hannah grimaced. “I’m disgusted with myself, Em. Jealousy was never my M.O.”
“Well, he’ll talk to Delilah and come home to you with everything resolved. In the meantime, why don’t you take a nap. You look tired.”
“I am, actually. What are you going to do?”
“I may do the same.”
Hannah rose to her feet. “Okay, wake me before dinner.”
* * *
Hannah didn’t wake again until an orange haze filtered through her windows. She rubbed still-tired eyes and pushed her hair away from her face as she sat up and took a moment to appreciate the colors streaming over her. Sliding off the bed, she made her way to the window and watched the sun set as a soft snowfall began.
A knock on her door brought Emma with a fresh pitcher of water. “You’re up.”
Hannah nodded. “Just now. What time is it?”
“Almost six.” Hannah set the pitcher on the bureau and handed her a washcloth. “Clayton and Chris are here.”
“They’re early.”
“They’ve only just arrived.” Emma moved back to the door. “Dinner in ten minutes.”
Hannah washed her face and tried her best to fix her hair, but she was desperate to see Christopher. In the end, she left her hair to fall down her back. She rushed down the stairs and into the parlor, her heart racing when Christopher stood and greeted her with a kiss.
Hannah wrapped her arm around his waist. “How was your day?”
“I managed to meet with Delilah.”
Her head whipped up. “Really?”
Christopher nodded, his expression unreadable.
“Tell me everything.”
“She was hurt, which I wasn’t expecting.”
“Oh, Knight, you just break hearts everywhere you go, don’t you?” He raised an eyebrow and Hannah smiled in sympathy. “Sorry... what happened?”
Christopher pulled her to the high-backed chair and sat across from her. “She looked excited to see me and showed me into their parlor. I told her that I had met you and proposed, and wanted her to hear it directly from me. She cried and ran out of the room.”
“Oh, no!”
“Her father came in looking quite angry, so of course I had to explain everything to him. It was a nightmare. I had no idea her feelings went that deep for me.”
She bit the inside of her cheek and tried not to laugh. “Sweetheart, you’re handsome, and I can only assume, well connected. Who wouldn’t fall in love with you? I mean, seriously, that’s why I’m here, after all.”
He cocked his head. “For my connections?”
“And, as I said before, your incredibly tight bum.”
Christopher chuckled. “At least it’s done, and we don’t have to think about her again.”
“Amen to that.” Hannah sank further into the chair with a sigh. “I’m really looking forward to finally being married to you.”
“As am I.” He settled an ankle over his knee. “I hate leaving you at night.”
“I’m not a big fan of it either.”
“I’ll try and find some time for us in the coming weeks. Does that sound acceptable?”
“Yes.” She grinned. “Alone, please.”
He nodded. “Alone.”
* * *
Two days before Christmas, Christopher invited Hannah over for a rare private dinner. They’d been pulled in so many different directions since the public announcement of their engagement and had only managed a few nights alone.
Clayton and Emma were visiting friends, so the plan was for them to drop her off on their way. He heard the doorknocker and rushed to open it.
“Hi.” She greeted him with the smile that could turn his insides to liquid.
They waved to Clayton and Emma, and then Christopher pulled her through the door and into his arms. “I have missed you, precious girl.” He gave her a lingering kiss.
She wove her arms around his neck and he relished the feeling of her tiny body folding into his. She was home. He moved his hands up her hips, then her ribs, and stopped just below her breasts. Hannah groaned. “You frustrate me to no end, Knight.”
“Why is that?” He stroked her cheek.
“Because you kiss me like that and I want more.”
Christopher chuckled. “Two weeks, sweetheart.”
She took a deep breath. “I know. Two long weeks.”
He kissed her again and then led her down the hall, bypassing the dining room.
“Why are we going to your office?”
As they reached the room, Hannah let out a low whistle. The only light in the room came from the fireplace and two taper candles sitting on a small table in the middle of the room.
Hannah covered her lips with a gasp. “Wow.”
“Do you like it?”
Turning to him, she pulled his head down for a kiss. “It’s exquisite.”
“We have the place to ourselves tonight. The housekeeper and the rest of the staff are spending Christmas with their families.”
“Does that mean I can take full advantage of you?”
Christopher chuckled. “One can only hope. Now, come and sit.”
“One thing first.” She slid her boots off and set them in the corner. “Much better.”
He led her to the table and once she was settled, he served her. His housekeeper had prepared a simple, but delectable meal of chicken and dumplings, and Hannah’s mouth watered at the smell. She waited for Christopher to pour them both wine and then they dug into the food. They spent the meal making last-minute plans for their upcoming wedding and enjoying each other’s company. Once dinner was over, Christopher pulled out a surprise.
Hannah let out a li
ttle squeal. “Is that cheesecake?”
“Of course,” Christopher said with a chuckle.
He took a fork, measured out a bite, and then slipped the portion into her mouth.
“Mmm, amazing.” Hannah wrapped her mouth around the sweetness. “It melts in your mouth. You need to try it.”
“I’d prefer to watch you enjoy it.”
She took him by the collar and pulled him forward. “Taste it.” She kissed him and smiled when he groaned and broke the kiss.
“Two weeks.”
Hannah chuckled, which made his arousal worse. He took a deep breath and tried to think of mundane things. They shared dessert and port, and then Hannah decided to explore. She sipped her port as she walked around Christopher’s office and snooped at his books. “You are extremely well-read, Knight.”
“Thank you.”
She looked over her shoulder at him with a grin. “Have you actually read all of these?”
“Most of them, yes.”
Suddenly, they heard a loud crash and Christopher jumped up, grabbing a pistol and putting his finger to his lips.
“Who do you think that is?” she whispered as she set down her wine and moved close to him.
“I don’t know. It sounded like it came from the parlor. The house is dark, so whoever it is more than likely assumes no one is home.”
“Give me a gun.” Hannah grasped his arm.
Christopher shook his head. “You’re not getting involved in this, it could be dangerous.”
“Knight, I can shoot. Just give me a gun. I’ll stay out of the way, I promise.”
He looked at her briefly and realized he should probably trust that she could take care of herself. He handed her the pistol he was holding and grabbed another one. “Stay behind me.”
Hannah nodded. He blew out the candles as she moved the dishes out of sight in case the intruders came into the room. He opened his office door, and they hugged the wall as they made their way to the parlor. Christopher stayed in the shadows and peered around the doorframe. Two men, dressed in black, stood in the middle of the room.
Christopher had no idea what they were looking for or why they would start in the parlor. He backed up and pushed Hannah into a small alcove in the hallway. She laid her head on his back as the men moved down the hall and into his office.
“I thought you said she’d be here,” he heard one of them say.
“I had it on good authority that she would be.”
Christopher recognized the voice of Thomas.
“It would appear you were misinformed.”
“Damn it.”
“So where are they, Thomas?”
“I don’t know,” Thomas said with a frustrated sigh. “They were supposed to be here. I overheard Chris complaining to Clayton that he and Hannah haven’t spent any time alone. He and Clayton were both invited to the dinner tonight, but Clayton suggested he bow out and spend it with Hannah. We can’t get close to her at Clayton’s... he’s got that damn bodyguard watching her and Mrs. Madden.”
“Perhaps you heard incorrectly.”
“No, I didn’t. I heard everything.” Thomas opened a door down the hall and pulled it closed again. “I thought at the very least, we could ambush Christopher... but you didn’t want that before.”
“And I don’t want it at the present time. I’m really more interested in getting to the girl. She must go back.”
Hannah stiffened behind Christopher, accepting his hand as it found hers in the dark.
“Or die,” Thomas added.
“That would be preferable. She’d be trouble in the future as well.”
Christopher stepped forward, but Hannah silently pulled him back.
“I’d like to be the one to kill her,” Thomas said. “Slowly.”
“You haven’t found her to do that, moron.”
“What does ‘moron’ mean?”
“Your incompetence drains me.”
“We should cut our losses,” Thomas said, and they moved out of the office and down the hall. Neither of them noticed Christopher and Hannah squeezed into their hiding place as they made their way back into the parlor.
CHRISTOPHER WAITED FOR the men to leave the way they came, and then he moved down the hallway and to the parlor, pulling Hannah with him. Hannah’s body shook. “I told you he was bad news.”
“Yes, you did.” He surveyed the room. He couldn’t ascertain any immediate damage. “Clayton and I have been keeping an eye on him.”
“And?” Hannah pressed.
“He seems to appear to be in places where he shouldn’t be but always has a logical reason for it. We haven’t been able to catch him in a lie. Yet.” Christopher took the gun from Hannah’s shaking hand and laid it down on the table.
The crash they’d heard earlier wasn’t a window breaking, as he originally thought. It was a bust of George Washington the men knocked over in the dark. Christopher found that they had entered through an unlocked window, which he now closed and secured.
“Well, now you have proof he’s up to no good. You and Clayton can nab him.”
“No, right now I want him to think he’s gotten away with this. He needs to feel confident, so he’ll try again. I would like to know who the other man was with him though. I didn’t recognize his voice, and his face was obscured.” Hannah nodded, her eyes filling with tears. “Sweetheart?” Hannah nodded again and Christopher pulled her into his arms. Her shaking became uncontrollable and she burst into tears. “Shh, sweetheart. It’s over.”
“I know,” she choked out.
Christopher handed her a handkerchief and led her back into his office. “You’re safe, sweetheart. No one is ever going to hurt you.”
She pushed at his arms. “I’m not worried about me!”
Christopher tipped her chin up. “You’re not?”
“No! My dream was of you getting shot, not me. Remember?”
Christopher chuckled. “I didn’t get shot.”
“Tonight.”
“No one’s going to get shot.”
“They had guns, Knight. Had they not been clumsy, they might have surprised us.”
Christopher stroked her cheek. “But they were clumsy, and now we have the advantage.”
“What will you do now?”
He kissed her temple. “I’m going to take you home and then we’ll deal with this in the morning.”
She grasped his shirt. “You can’t stay here tonight, Christopher! It’s too dangerous.”
“I’ll be fine, Hannah. They won’t return tonight.”
“You don’t know that!”
“Sweetheart, they didn’t find what they were looking for.” He squeezed her hand. “They’ll have given up for now.”
“Knight, you should really come back to Clayton and Emma’s.” She pulled him down the hall and back into the parlor. “I’ll help you clean up the glass and then maybe we should go straight there.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Hannah’s hands shook as she picked up a shard and set it on the table. “Knight. Don’t do this, okay? Don’t play the hero. Just come back with me. You heard them say that you’d be just as good a target. Please,” she begged.
He gently ran his fingers down her cheek. “You’re crying again.”
“No, I’m not.”
Christopher chuckled and kissed her quickly. “All right, sweetheart. I’ll grab a few things and come back with you.”
They cleaned up the mess, doused the fires, and then locked the house up and went out to the carriage house. Rather than harness one of the horses for a buggy, Christopher saddled his gelding and pulled Hannah up in front of him. She leaned back against his chest as he cradled her in his arms and they took off to the Maddens’.
It wasn’t particularly late, so they let themselves in and found Walter and Hattie in the kitchen having late night chocolate and looking very much in love. They had gotten secretly engaged while everyone was in Harrisburg for Thanksgiving and were planning a spring wed
ding.
“Hannah?” Hattie stood to hug Hannah. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, honey. Are you all right?”
Christopher filled Walter and Hattie in on the events of the evening and sat at the table while Hannah prepared tea.
“That little bastard. What’s he looking for?” Walter asked.
“I have no idea,” Christopher said. “Clayton and I are watching him carefully. However, I think we’re going to have to intensify the surveillance.”
Hannah brought Christopher a cup of tea and set in front of him. She stood behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders. Christopher reached up and pulled one of them to his mouth, kissing her palm.
* * *
Hannah heard the footsteps in the hallway outside the parlor just before midnight. Hattie had already excused herself and gone to bed, but Walter stayed up with Christopher and Hannah, just in case the men attempted to hit Clayton’s home as well.
Emma pushed the door open. “Hi, Chris. You’re still here?”
Clayton followed her inside.
“I’m going to do a check of your house, Chris. I’ll let you know what I find,” Walter said and excused himself.
“What happened?” Clayton said.
They filled them in and Clayton swore. “What do they want now?”
“Who?” Hannah asked.
“Long story,” Emma whispered.
“He said something about me having to go back.” Hannah let out a quiet snort. “Is that even a possibility?”
Emma glanced at Clayton and then at her hands.
“Emma.” Hannah narrowed her eyes. “What?”
“We can go back.”
Hannah shot off the sofa. “Excuse me?”
Christopher glared at Emma. “Hannah’s not going anywhere.”
“Wait, Knight.” Hannah held up her hand. “I want to hear exactly what she means.”
Emma sighed. “You can go back if you want to, but Chris would have to stay here, and you wouldn’t be able to return.”
Christopher rose to his feet and closed the distance between him and Hannah. “Do you want to go back?”
“I haven’t thought about it,” she admitted. “I didn’t know I could think about it.”
If it was possible, Christopher stood taller, his body rippling with forced control as he turned to face the fireplace. Hannah regretted her comment immediately, her internal filter once again failing her.
The Bride Spy (Civil War Brides Book 3) Page 18