The Playful Wanton

by Farmer, Merry

  Something clicked in Eliza’s mind and she stared up at him. “You are here to investigate him, aren’t you?”

  Some of the tension drained from Adolphus’s expression and body, though he continued to hold her. “He is guilty of trampling a man to death with his horse after a night of drunkenness at a pub in London. He left the scene, but I have brought a witness with me to identify him and bring him to justice.”

  A shiver of hatred for Henry passed through Eliza’s heart. Trampling man and leaving the scene was exactly the sort of thing Henry would do.

  She was about to comment to that effect when Adolphus tightened his hands on her upper arms and said, “Marry me.”

  Eliza’s jaw dropped. She gaped at him, unable to so much as catch her breath for a moment, let alone speak. After too long a silence, she finally managed, “No. You heard what I am.”

  “You are a delicate woman in need of protection,” he said.

  She was speechless all over again. No one had ever called her delicate in her life—not before Henry and certainly not after.

  “I will protect you from the likes of Ward,” Adolphus went on. “I will shield you from whatever villainous rumors he has spread about you. I will—”

  “There you are.”

  They were interrupted as Rufus rushed into the room. He barely batted an eye at the proximity between Eliza and Adolphus, or at the intensity that made the air in the room crackle. He ignored all of it, marching straight up to Adolphus.

  “Ward just tried to flee the house,” he announced.

  “He did?” Adolphus let go of Eliza and faced Rufus.

  “Caro stopped him,” Rufus went on. “She’s talking up supper and getting him seated at the table as we speak. But we need to act fast.”

  “Where is Ivy?” Adolphus asked, marching past Rufus toward the door.

  “Who is Ivy?” Eliza started after them.

  “The barmaid from the pub,” Adolphus explained. “The witness.”

  He didn’t say more, but neither did he tell Eliza off when she followed him and Rufus down the hall and around a corner to an entrance to the servants’ stairs. They hurried downstairs, passing various footmen and maids, who flattened themselves against the walls to make way for them, bowing and curtsying as they passed.

  At last, they made it to a hallway off the kitchen that led past the scullery and a pantry to a remote, protected room.

  Rufus stepped ahead of them and knocked on the door. “Hello? Miss Ivy?”

  He was met with silence. Adolphus gestured for him to step aside, then took his place, knocking again. “Miss Ivy, Ward is here. If you would kindly identify him, this can all be over and you may go home.”

  He too was met by silence. Eliza bit her lip, increasingly excited by the moment. At last, Adolphus reached for the door handle, pulling the door open.

  The room on the other side was empty. A narrow bed and simple wardrobe were all that met them.

  “Where is she?” Rufus asked.

  “Miss Ivy?” a middle-aged woman, the cook, asked from the hall behind them. When all three of them turned toward her, she shrugged and said, “She’s gone.”

  Chapter 6

  It was because the house party had already wreaked havoc on his emotions, robbing him of the ability to keep himself in check. That was why Adolphus turned to the cook with every fiber of his being bristling with anger and alarm and bellowed, “She’s what?”

  The poor cook stumbled back with a terrified groan, clutching a hand to her heart, losing all color, and stammering instead of giving an answer.

  “Steady on, man,” Rufus told him in a patient voice.

  Eliza rested a hand on his arm. That was, perhaps, the only thing that truly steadied him. Shame over the strength of his reaction rushed in as his anger diminished, but it wasn’t enough to silence his fury entirely. After everything Eliza had confessed to him, he was more determined to bring Ward to justice forever. He was determined to smash the man’s balls open with a cricket bat. But he needed Ivy to identify the bastard in order to give him the excuse.

  “Where has she gone?” he asked in a quieter, though still demanding, voice, marching up the hall and back into the kitchen.

  Rufus’s staff must have heard his reaction. They were only pretending to do their work as they peeked at him, craning their necks to get a better look as he strode through the kitchen and into the downstairs hallway. He was somewhat satisfied when Moss, Rufus’s butler, strode down the hall toward him with a look of concern that matched the situation.

  “She was reported missing three hours ago,” Moss said in a grave voice. “We have been searching high and low for her ever since.”

  “Why was I not informed?” Adolphus demanded.

  Moss flushed and cleared his throat. “You were otherwise engaged, sir.”

  A completely incongruous feeling of sheepishness cut through Adolphus’s rage. He’d been enjoying himself with Eliza and cleaning up in the aftermath while his key witness slipped out of everyone’s grasp. Chances were, she’d seen Ward arrive and had bolted. He damned his own hide for losing focus and damned Ivy for losing her nerve and failing to trust that he and Rufus would protect her.

  “Right,” he said, taking charge of the situation. “We must find her. The sooner the better.”

  “Yes, sir.” Moss nodded. “I have as many footmen as can be spared searching as we speak. Supper needs to be served—”

  “I don’t care about supper,” Adolphus snapped. “Miss Ivy is our first priority.”

  “The rest of my guests may disagree with you, mate,” Rufus said uncomfortably.

  “He’s right,” Eliza added.

  Adolphus puffed out a breath, running a hand through his hair. He had to admit that he wasn’t in London, with a devoted cadre of Runners at his beck and call. He was at a salacious house party, full of hungry guests who would want their soup on time.

  “The more we make it seem as though everything is sailing on as smoothly as usual, the more likely Henry is to stay put and let his guard down,” Eliza continued in a quiet voice.

  Adolphus studied her. He hated hearing her use the bastard’s given name. Hard as she was being on herself, it was obvious to him that Ward had abused her in the worst way possible. Not only did he want to see the devil slapped behind bars or transported to Australia, he wanted to wipe away the memories of his crime from Eliza’s heart, to show her that not all men saw her as a whore because she had once been taken advantage of. Dammit, he wanted to marry her.

  “Carry on with supper,” he said at last, blowing out a breath and letting his shoulders drop. “If you can spare any staff at all to aid in the search, I would be grateful.”

  “I’ll see what I can do, sir,” Moss said. He bowed, then rushed off on his errand.

  “I can question some of the female guests,” Eliza said. “Miss Ivy might have felt safer going to them for help. Women tend to notice each other far more than men notice us. Someone may have made note of her running off to what she would consider a safe spot.”

  “And I’ll head out to the stables to see if Tom Hastings has seen her,” Rufus said.

  Adolphus frowned at him in confusion.

  “Tom helped her get settled that first day,” Rufus explained with a shrug. “I’ve heard they continued to talk.”

  Adolphus wasn’t sure if he welcomed that revelation or whether he wanted to roll his eyes over it. The last thing they needed was more romantic entanglements.

  All the same, he nodded. “We need to move. The sooner we find Miss Ivy, the sooner she can identify Ward from the London incident and the sooner that worm can be brought to justice.”

  He glanced to Eliza. Her face had gone pink. She nodded to him as though she understood just how desperate he was to punish the man. If he could have taken the fear out of her eyes and her heart, he would have moved mountains to do so. She was his to care for and protect, whether she knew it yet or not.

  They broke apart, each of
them going their different ways. Adolphus hated leaving Eliza’s side, but she was right about women noticing other women where men didn’t, and it was far more likely a woman would share information with her if he, a man, were not present.

  That left him to wander the house, looking into every room he could find, on his own. His years as a Runner had taught him that no room was ever truly empty and that even a peaceful house was brimming with activity in the corners where no one was looking. He found far more than anyone would have expected in his wandering.

  “So the deal is done, then?” he heard Lord Marlowe ask as he drew near to a small parlor in the west wing.

  “As done as could be,” Mr. Pigge, the sour old merchant who had prattled on endlessly about the commercial empire he planned to establish in America, answered. “I don’t care which of your daughters you give me, though. They’re each as tasty as the next.”

  “That they are,” Lord Marlowe chuckled. “Sometimes I despair that they are my own flesh and blood. It would be a treat to consider them as something else.”

  “I know men who do it,” Mr. Pigge said in a voice that was far too casual. “And why not? What young miss is going to admit to relations with her father.”

  Lord Marlowe’s answering hum of consideration turned Adolphus’s blood cold. The only thing that stopped him from barging into the room and throttling the blackguard was his sigh as he continued with, “Let it be Lettuce, then. She’s the eldest and prettiest. Alice is already more or less promised to Count Camoni, and my friend Cunningham has his sights set on Imogen. Lettuce will suit you well in America.”

  “I only need her to spread her legs and give me a son or two,” Mr. Pigge said. “And I will thoroughly enjoy the process.”

  The two men chuckled. Adolphus sneered in disgust and pushed on. As much as he wanted to teach the two men a lesson in decency, legally, he couldn’t interfere in any marriage brokering a Lord would do for his daughters.

  The far reaches of the house were quieter than usual as party guests assembled for supper. It gave Adolphus all the latitude he needed to check private parlors, to look into bedrooms upstairs, and to rifle through Ward’s things. The bastard had yet to unpack, but he hadn’t brought much to begin with. The room Ward had been given was decorated in shades of pink and red, giving Adolphus the sense that it hadn’t been intended for guest occupancy, but rather for the sort of mischief he and Eliza had gotten up to in the servants’ hall. That left him wondering how many bedrooms had been set up throughout the house for exactly that kind of behavior.

  His final check of the room before leaving brought him to an ornate cabinet in one corner. It was made of cherry wood and inlaid with hearts and flowers and other ornate nonsense. When he tried to open it, though, he discovered it was locked. The keyhole was surrounded by more hearts and frippery. It seemed ridiculous for such a piece to exist in the first place. He couldn’t imagine what mysteries the cabinet contained.

  Miss Ivy wasn’t hiding in any of the guest bedrooms. Adolphus decided that much after a relatively short search. He continued down to the east wing of the house, looking into more parlors and what looked like a billiard’s room.

  The billiard’s room wasn’t empty. The moment he stepped inside, a young couple by the window jumped apart. Adolphus recognized Lady Imogen Marlowe and Lord Thaddeus Herrington, Rufus’s younger brother, in an instant. He’d had his hand on her waist and her hand had been tucked under the hem of his coat, but they reeled back from each other so fast that Adolphus had no doubt the two were engaged in some sort of mischief. Thaddeus’s face burned as red as his hair, and Lady Imogen turned away in embarrassment.

  “I beg your pardon,” Adolphus said, bowing, then quickly leaving the room. He grinned to himself as he went. If Lord Marlowe thought he was going to be able to palm his youngest daughter off on an old goat like Lord Cunningham, he had better think again.

  More than an hour later, without so much as a hint of Miss Ivy in the entire breadth of the house, Adolphus gave up. He waylaid the nearest servant he could find and asked them to have a light supper sent up to his room. He couldn’t bear to sit down at a table with over fifty people, making small talk while his case spun wildly out of control. All he wanted to do was retire for the evening and concentrate on how he was going to convince Eliza to marry him. Her reticence baffled him. He might not have been a titled gentleman, but he had money enough. He could provide her with a comfortable life, a safe life. He would fill her nights with pleasure and her womb with babies. He would—

  “I didn’t think you would ever come back here,” Eliza herself said, rising from one of the chairs by the fireplace in his bedroom as soon as he opened the door.

  Adolphus rushed inside and shut the door, wary of anyone seeing her in his bedroom. Particularly since she appeared to be wearing nothing but the robe she’d taken from the wardrobe in the upstairs room.

  “Eliza. What are you doing here?” he asked, crossing the room to her.

  “Waiting for you,” she answered, rising and meeting him by slipping her arms over his shoulders.

  The only natural response was to close his arms around her waist and pull her close. The moment their bodies met, even though there were layers of clothes between them, desire coursed through him. His cock started to go rigid and his heart sped up. He attempted to force himself to stay focused.

  “Did you locate Miss Ivy or any information pertaining to her?” he asked.

  “No,” she sighed. The subtle way her body sagged in his arms accelerated his process of arousal. “None of the female guests I spoke to have seen her. None of them even knew who she was.”

  Adolphus’s disappointment was clouded by heat as she threaded her fingers through his hair. “Why are you not at supper with the other guests?” he asked, his voice rough.

  She answered his question with a grin that made him want to tug loose her robe and ravish her. “I would rather be here with you,” she said, lifting to her toes. Her lips were a breath away from his when she rocked back to her feet and said, “Caro wanted me to tell you that she’s convinced Henry to stay the night at least. She says you will have to act fast to find Miss Ivy, because she cannot guarantee his continued presence in Shropshire.”

  If anything could have doused his increasing arousal, that was it. He let go of Eliza, pacing toward the fireplace and scrubbing his hands across his face. “I will not give up this case, not after coming so far. If I have to wrestle Ward into a trunk and transport him back to London on the back of a camel so that others can identify him, I will.”

  “Camels in England?” Eliza grinned, following him to the fireplace. “That is a sight I would like to see.” She reached him, and her hands went straight to the buttons of his coat. “Now, let’s make you a bit more comfortable.”

  “Eliza,” he started, clearing his throat. That was as far as his thoughts extended, though. Her deft fingers making quick work of the buttons of his coat and waistcoat made it nearly impossible for him to think. He wanted to vow to her that he would bring Ward to justice, not just for the sake of the man he’d killed outside the pub, but for her and any other woman he’d importuned in the same way. He wanted to expound on all the ways that she was beautiful and worthy. What he ended up blurting was, “Marry me.”

  Her hands paused in their work and she glanced slowly up at him. “Why?” she asked, cunning in her eyes.

  He blinked. “Because I can keep you safe. I can give you a comfortable home and children. You will never have to deal with the likes of Ward again.”

  She answered by glancing down in disappointment. “No. Not for those reasons.”

  After the intensity of the day he’d had, her answer felt like a cannon exploding in his mind. “What is wrong with my reasons?” he demanded. “They are perfectly reasonable reasons.”

  He rolled his eyes at himself inwardly. He was beginning to sound like the impertinent, dissatisfied boy he’d been when his father had insisted he was not cut out to become a
Runner and should instead settle for a clerical job, like his brothers.

  Eliza’s answer was cut off before she could do more than open her mouth as a quiet knock sounded at the door. Adolphus let out an impatient breath and strode to answer it.

  “Your supper, sir.” An exhausted footman presented him with a tray containing a plate of meat, cheese, and bread, and a pot of tea.

  Adolphus took it from him with a curt nod. The footman glanced to his undone buttons, past his shoulder to Eliza, then grinned. He nodded, then stepped away from the door as if he knew full well he was intruding.

  Adolphus sighed as he shut the door with his foot, then carried the tray to the table in the corner. “You’re welcome to any of this,” he told Eliza over his shoulder.

  She surprised him by flying back into his arms, nearly tackling him as she did. “The only thing I want to feast on is you,” she said, pushing his coat from his shoulders.

  “You’re not hungry?” he asked, questioning which he himself wanted to eat more—the food or her pussy.

  “I’m hungry for you,” she said, peeling off his waistcoat.

  A thousand thoughts zipped through Adolphus’s mind at once. He should behave honorably toward her. He wanted to fuck her in every way possible. Venting his lust on her might only exacerbate her poor opinion of herself. He could change that opinion by showing her how desirable she truly was. They should eat supper before the tea grew cold.

  He latched on to his second-to-last thought, stepping away from the table and pulling her into his arms. One tug was all it took to open the front of her robe. As he expected, she was naked underneath. He spread his hand across her bare back, lowering it to cup her backside, and slanted his mouth over hers.

  The sounds of pleasure she made as he kissed her, pouring his whole heart and soul into the mating of their mouths, had his cock as hard as marble in an instant. Was he a devil for delighting in how open and sensual she was? Did it make him as horrid as the men who had taken advantage of her sensuality in the past?