“You don’t know Mrs. Waverly very well, do you?”
“I was being sarcastic. You can’t believe I think she’d hire thugs to rob you.”
“That is not what I meant. You just happened to tell your plans to the one person who could spread the word throughout the village within the hour. By dawn the news was probably halfway to London. Who knows how far it traveled by noon?”
“Now you’re being ridiculous,” Derek said, “not that I doubt what you’re saying about Mrs. Waverly since I know how quickly stories can travel. But it wouldn’t make sense that someone heard of my plans and raced out here to rob you. Stonecrest Manor isn’t known for its expensive furnishings, and given the condition of your fields, no one would assume you had money hidden away. Besides, only the study was searched. The thief obviously expected to find whatever he was looking for here. The question is, what was he looking for?”
This wasn’t the way he’d intended to bring up her father’s maps, but it didn’t look as though he had a choice. Maybe he could bring it up in a roundabout way so she didn’t become suspicious.
“Yes, pray tell, what could he have been expecting to find?” She crossed her arms over her chest and stood waiting.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Why don’t you tell me? I am sure I should enjoy it so much more coming from your mouth.”
“I don’t know what you’re insinuating and quite frankly, I don’t want to play these games. If you have something to say, then, by God, say it.”
“All right, I will. Do you think the thief could have been looking for my father’s maps? The same maps I overheard you discussing with Lord Aster?”
Derek sighed. There was no use pretending he didn’t know what she was talking about now. He could, of course, feign innocence and say he’d been talking about some other maps, but he had a feeling that such a ploy would just get him deeper into trouble. He decided to tell her as much of the truth about the maps as he could without giving away his masquerade. If he wanted to take a look at them, it was the only way.
He nodded slowly. “Unless you know of something else the thief could be after.”
“Why? What do you know about Papa’s maps that I do not?”
Derek looked her squarely in the eye. Perhaps it was better that he share his concerns, especially since he wasn’t sure what was going on. She needed to be vigilant, vigilant about strangers, about her surroundings. Hell, she needed to be vigilant inside her own home.
“I don’t actually know anything about his maps. I’ve never seen them or heard anyone speak of them, but the circumstances of your father’s death, and Dorrington’s, plus the argument you say the two men had, make me suspicious.”
“Dorrington? The duke who visited Papa?” Lucy dropped to the sofa.
“Yes. I was telling Stephen of the duke’s visit to your father and that they seemed to be arguing over a map, and he said your father was killed just days after the Duke of Dorrington died in a carriage accident.”
“And?”
“And I think both men’s deaths are connected to the map they argued over.”
“Why? Why can’t the duke have been killed in a carriage accident and my father killed by a highwayman a few days later? Just because they had a conversation doesn’t mean their deaths are connected.”
“No, it doesn’t. But Dorrington’s accident was highly suspicious, and I find it odd that the highwayman who killed your father failed to take a very expensive piece of jewelry from his victim. I’m inclined to believe theft was not the motive in your father’s death.”
Lucy gasped. “But that would mean someone wanted to kill him, perhaps even planned it.”
“Exactly. If the killer wanted the map and didn’t get it from either man, then it makes sense he would come looking for it here.”
“Papa was killed two years ago. Why hasn’t the killer searched before this?”
Derek wished he had an intelligent reply to that question, but the truth was he had no idea. Why would someone wait until now to start looking for the map, if they’d done nothing for the past two years? Why w—
And then it hit him. It was because of him.
He was the catalyst.
With both the duke and Philip Barrick dead, the killer wasn’t worried about the map, but now that Derek might happen across it, the man was evidently scared. That could mean only one thing: the map didn’t lead to a treasure the killer hoped to discover, it was incriminating in some way, a loose end the killer didn’t want anyone to find. Derek didn’t know if the map was tied to the smugglers, but this new information made the possibility more likely. The most worrisome part was not knowing if the killer was concerned about Derek simply because he had moved into the manor, or if the killer was aware of the masquerade. But he couldn’t share those particular concerns with Lucy.
“I don’t know. I haven’t figured that out yet. Perhaps he did search before now and you just didn’t know. Look, I don’t think it’s safe for you to be at Stonecrest alone.”
“I’m not alone. I have my servants and, of course, you.”
Derek hesitated, though the time had come to tell her about his trip. “You don’t. Have me, that is. I’m leaving for an expedition any day now, and I could be gone as long as two months. I’m worried about your safety.”
Lucy felt her lower lip begin to tremble as she realized he was really leaving, even as she told herself it didn’t matter. In fact, surely his leaving was a good thing. She had her money and she’d be busy with her improvements to her property. She had never wanted a husband, anyway. She had only wanted her money. For Stonecrest. Still, to know he was leaving soon and would be gone for two months, if he ever came back at all…
She rose from the sofa and began straightening items on the desk. “I have my projects to attend to,” she said, trying to think no further than this moment, right now. “You can’t possibly expect me to set those aside now that I finally have the funds.”
“What if the person who took a shot at us is the same person who ransacked your study? He could be—is—dangerous.”
“But that was a hunter.”
“What if it wasn’t? We don’t know what we’re dealing with here, and until we do, it’s not safe for you to stay at Stonecrest alone. The thought of leaving you here scares me to death.”
His unexpected declaration robbed her of breath. Did he care that much about her?
“Then don’t go,” she blurted out. Now, why had she gone and said that?
She let Derek pull her into his arms.
“Lucy, I have to go; I have no choice. And before you condemn me, let me say it’s not a money-making trip. I can’t explain anything else to you right now, but I have to go. And I can’t allow you to stay here unprotected.”
She shrugged away from his embrace. “And I refuse to stay in Town while you’re gone. This is my home and I have things to attend to here. I won’t leave my responsibilities. I can’t believe you’d even ask it of me.”
Derek gave her a long look and then threw up his hands. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll hire someone to stay at Stonecrest and look out for you while I’m gone, and there will be no arguing on this point. Just think of it this way: you’ll have an extra pair of hands to help with your projects.”
“I’ll agree to that, but I don’t want him interfering with my decisions. He may follow me wherever he likes, but he will not tell me where I can go.”
“What about the maps? I need to study them.”
“I’ll bring them to you but I want them back. Tomorrow. They are my property, after all.”
She twisted a long curl around her finger as she stared at him. “Why did you give everyone the afternoon off?”
“I was planning to seduce you,” he replied bluntly. “I didn’t want to leave without consummating the marriage, and I didn’t want to start over again when I returned.”
She blushed, thinking how close he’d come to achieving his goal. Her body had burne
d for him when he touched her and even now, after being furious over his planned seduction and confused over everything that followed, she wished they could go back in time to the picnic, before she’d become alarmed that someone might see them.
What was wrong with her? She wasn’t sure he could be trusted, and yet she was thrilled by his touch, so thrilled she’d been ready for anything that might come next, and that just would not do.
“Lucy, about the consummation of our marriage…”
She backed away. “I’m not ready, and we have an agreement. Since you’ll be gone before the month is up, I’m afraid it will have to wait.”
With her emotions in such turmoil, consummating the marriage would be a mistake, and the best way to avoid that was to avoid him. Until he left for his voyage, she’d spend her time tending to her projects. When he came back, if he came back, she’d think about consummating their marriage then.
Chapter 22
Derek balanced himself on the log he’d rolled up to the stable wall, hoping to glimpse something through the small window. He wasn’t a peeping tom, but he had to know what was going on. Since the ransacking three days earlier, Lucy had spent nearly all her time in the stable, to the point that she no longer even showed up for meals. Not only that, but he’d caught her sneaking into the manor in the middle of the night, a drowsy yet exhilarated expression on her face. It was enough to make a trusting man wonder. It was more than enough to drive Derek berserk.
They’d argued and she refused to speak on the matter, citing their agreement that she could come and go as she pleased. He reminded her that those comings and goings couldn’t involve another man, and she had simply smiled.
Now it was all he could do to keep from charging in there and demanding to know what she was up to, but he didn’t want his jealous nature revealed to Lucy once again. Best to stay outside, at least for now. Unable to see anything, he would have to be content with listening, but so far there had been no conversation. Then he heard Lucy giggle.
“You are such a mischievous devil!” she exclaimed, laughter in her voice. “You try to pull this stunt every night, and every night I have to stop you. I can’t let you put that in here. You are much too big!”
Astonished at Lucy’s words, Derek almost fell off the log. Though it wasn’t easy, he forced himself to remain still when her voice sounded again.
“Oh, well,” she said in a love-softened voice, “I guess I can’t scold you for long, can I, darling, because I’m just so crazy about you. Here, sweetheart, I want you to take your time and savor this because I might not be able to sneak away to be with you for a while. My husband is furious over the time I spend with you. But don’t worry, he’ll soon be gone, and then I’m all yours.”
A rage swept through Derek. Why, the little conniving… all that pretense of innocence, saying she wasn’t ready, when all along she was involved in nightly romance with another man. At the thought of someone else making love to his wife, waves of jealousy, red hot and uncontrollable, washed over him. How dare she play him for a fool. And what the devil did she mean by “too big”? He would show her “too big” if it was the last thing he did.
He scowled, trying to imagine who her lover might be. What kind of man met a newly married woman out in the stable while her husband was inside the house? Obviously not a very talkative man, since he had hardly spoken at all, only snorting out a few words there at the end like some sort of heathen. Well, perhaps his young wife preferred brawn to brains. Brawn! He instantly thought of Colin, recalling the look Lucy had given the stable boy when she saw him after their picnic.
Boy, my eye.
They would both rue the day they’d deceived him. He jumped off the log, determined to barge in on the couple and claim what was his. Halfway to the stable door he stopped.
Lucy wasn’t his, was she? At least not yet. Not in the one way that mattered. And he wouldn’t humiliate himself in front of a stable boy by admitting that fact, especially when that stable boy was receiving more of Lucy’s favors than her husband was. There were other ways to deal with Lucy’s behavior, he told himself, and he had every right to do what he must.
Without another glance toward the stable, he stomped back to the house.
*****
Lucy climbed the stairs to her bedchamber, her steps slow and heavy, as she tried to sort out her feelings.
It should have been enough that she’d married him only to save Stonecrest and that she hadn’t wanted a true marriage with him, but it wasn’t.
It should have been enough that he was an American privateer and if the rumors of war were true, he’d be fighting her countrymen or at least running their blockades, but it wasn’t.
It should have been enough that he was hiding something from her, that she knew he had married her for some reason other than protecting her reputation, and that she had caught him hiding his interest in her father’s maps, but it wasn’t.
None of these things were enough to keep her from wanting him, and now, especially now that he was leaving on the morrow perhaps never to return, the desire she felt for him could not be quelled.
And it was her own fault.
Why, after avoiding him these past few days, had she insisted on dining with him, knowing how devastatingly handsome he would look? Why had she watched his every move, his every gesture, trying to commit each one to memory? Why did she insist on torturing herself this way?
He’d taunted her, taking every opportunity to brush his fingers against hers, staring at her with a heated look of longing she could barely force herself to look away. His eyes had caressed her, leaving her skin hot where his fingers had never touched, making her feel wanton as she remembered the intimate pleasure they had shared the night he claimed his prize for winning the race.
She paused at the top of the stairs, her hand clutching the banister, remembering how he looked when he’d joined her in the dining room. His skintight white breeches were like a second skin, displaying his masculine attributes to distraction, the silk of his shirt so thin that she could see the ripple of muscles as he lifted his glass to drink. His eyes had been on her throughout dinner, studying her, appraising her, desiring her.
And she had desired him.
By the end of dinner she’d decided to give in to her feelings, to consummate their marriage. What did it matter if he never came back? In fact, that would be safer, much safer. She would have one glorious night of pleasure with him, and then he would be gone forever and she would never have to regret or be ashamed of her behavior.
Then, as she waited for him to come to her at the end of dinner, to plead with her that they consummate their marriage on this last night, he’d arisen and excused himself instead, saying that regretfully, he had many tasks still to see to. Then he left. Left her sitting in her chair, unable to say a word, wishing she could run after him.
Her limbs were leaden as she turned the the handle on her bedchamber door. She was glad she’d given Bridget the evening off, even if her reason for doing so no longer existed, for endless chatter was not something she could bear to endure just now. She shut the door softly behind her, leaning back against it and closing her eyes, while she recalled the intensity of Derek’s stare when he first stepped into the dining room and saw her waiting for him. If only he weren’t leaving, if only she had been bolder, if only…
She undressed by the soft glow of candlelight, her mind still on the man who had turned her world upside down. Shrugging out of the bodice, she slipped her dress down over her hips and let it fall to the floor, remembering another night when she had removed another gown just so, and he had watched her, his eyes burning with desire.
She shook her head to dispel the vision in her mind, but it wouldn’t be banished, and she knew she faced another sleepless night. With a long sigh, she sat down to remove her stockings, remembering everything about the way he had looked the night he’d claimed his victory of the contest.
She remembered his strong, masculine body as he’d clo
sed the door and then lounged against it, the curve of his sensuous lips as he warned her not to resort to trickery to avoid paying up, the longing in his eyes as they devoured every inch of her body. If she could only ever ask for one look from one man her entire lifetime, it would be for that look from him. Scared as she had been, that look had made her feel desirable.
She let her final piece of clothing drop to the floor and stood looking at her reflection in the mirror, no longer ashamed of her body because he had wanted her so. She lifted a hand and brushed her fingertips across her breast, watching her nipple tighten, and she closed her eyes, wishing it were his hand that caressed her.
She knew she shouldn’t feel this way. He could be a murderer or a thief, but she didn’t care. He would surely abandon her, but she didn’t care. She wanted him with a fierceness she wouldn’t have believed possible, at least she wouldn’t have believed it before tonight.
Her memories only served to arouse her further, but she was past caring now. Her hand crept down over her belly to brush the soft curls below. Lustful feelings sprang from her like a released coil, and she snatched her hand back as though it had been burned.
“Oh, Derek,” she whispered, “what have you done to me?”
“Don’t stop on my account, Lucy.”
She jumped at the sound of Derek’s voice coming from the shadows.
“Please, do go on, sweetheart. I find you full of surprises.”
As her eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness, she saw him, his presence incongruous among the dainty writing table and the high-backed satin reading chair. Her face flamed with the realization that he had seen what she’d done.
“As I said, sweetheart, do go on. I certainly wouldn’t wish to interfere with your nightly routine, at least not this part of it.”
His voice was mocking, his glittering gaze icy. The look of desire on his face was sullied by disdain, perhaps even disgust. She was all the more ashamed of her lustful behavior because of his obvious contempt of it. “I’m quite finished, thank you,” she replied in a voice little more than a whisper. “I was just undressing for bed.”
Duke Of Deception (Wentworth Trilogy) Page 19