“You said eight ladies,” Pru spoke abruptly. “Five have been cleared, one is now dead, I know I am not guilty, so surely that must mean it is the eighth lady who is guilty. Who, in all probability, is responsible for Cilla’s and Worthington’s deaths and Jocey being shot?” She narrowed her gaze on him.
Yet another conclusion Titus should have known the intelligent Pru would make.
“Who is she?”
And demand to know the answer to.
He released her to step back. “I am not at liberty—”
“You will tell me.” Pru reached out to grasp his sleeve-covered arm. “You will tell me now.”
Titus stared down at her. The color had come back into Pru’s cheeks, her eyes glittered with angry determination, and her stubborn little chin was raised in challenge.
She had never looked more beautiful to him.
Well, apart from that spectacular view of her bared bottom cheeks earlier as she bent over the table. And the even lovelier sight of how red those cheeks had become after he had spanked them.
A totally inappropriate thought for him to be having at this moment. Pru had no interest in his desire, was demanding an answer to something of much more importance to her. “I cannot allow you to—”
“I might have allowed you to dominate me physically a short time ago, but in this, I will not be gainsaid.” Her chin rose. “You will tell me this woman’s name.”
A nerve twitched in Titus’s tightly clenched jaw. “She may be as innocent as you are.”
“Her name.”
He scowled. “Damn you for your stubbornness, Pru!”
Her smile was humorless. “Considering the contrariness of your own nature, no doubt it is one of the things you most admire about me.”
There was no point in denying it. Pru’s beauty and intelligence were two of the things Titus had first been drawn to, but her stubborn determination was a very close third. It made her character so different from her more amiable sister and added a certain whimsical charm.
Titus’s position as Viscount Romney, heir to his father, the Earl of Chelmsford, meant that, apart from the other Sinners, any decision he made was rarely if ever questioned. Least of all by a woman. Pru felt no such compunction and had been a constant challenge to him since they had deepened their acquaintance three months ago.
Nevertheless… “First I will have your promise that you will not go near nor confront this lady with any accusations.” After today, Titus knew Pru’s well-being had become of even more importance to him. Quite what that meant, he would decide later. At this moment, it was her continued safety he was most concerned with. “Well?”
She gave a dismissive snort. “I am not lying prostrate across that table with my skirts raised and my bottom bared now, Romney.”
More’s the pity. “That can easily be arranged,” he warned.
She gave him a mocking smile. “I would not advise you to try it, because no matter what you might think to the contrary, I did allow it, Titus.”
“And feel better for it?”
“I am no longer quite so removed from my environment as I was,” she conceded. “But the next time that it happens—if it happens,” she derided as he raised dark brows, “it will again be my decision to make and not your own.”
Was it wrong of Titus to feel heartened, even aroused, by that statement? Whether it was or not, there was no denying his cock was once again standing at attention inside his pantaloons in anticipation of the event.
“Her name, Titus.” Pru was determined she would know the whole truth now. She had every intention of ensuring she was involved in the capture of this traitor.
Romney breathed in deeply before exhaling just as strongly. “The eighth lady is the Duchess of Stonewell.”
Pru released him to stumble back a step. Only his hurried grasp of her wrist prevented her from falling.
Angelique Sinclair, the Duchess of Stonewell, was that eighth lady suspected and in all probability guilty of committing treason?
Pru did now know the beautiful, red-haired duchess particularly well, that lady being a few years older than her and married for several years to the arrogant and disdainful Duke of Stonewell. But Pru had always found Angelique Sinclair to be a vivacious and sociable lady whenever the two of them had chanced to meet socially.
And none of those things, the beauty, being married to a duke, or Angelique Sinclair’s vivacity of nature, precluded the other woman from also being a traitor to the Crown.
Pru also found it suspect that the lovely Angelique was the wife of the same gentleman whom Romney said was in charge of this investigation.
Pru shook off Romney’s grasp on her arm. “You will see that lady is arrested and questioned immediately.”
Titus had known this would be Pru’s response, as clearly as he knew he could not do as she asked.
Stonewell was one of his closest friends, and he had known Angelique too for the three years of their marriage. He was often invited to dine with the married couple, as were the other Sinners. To openly accuse Nik’s wife of treason would be to cause a serious rift in that friendship.
One that might never heal.
Just as not pursuing that lady’s guilt or innocence might result in an irretrievable rift between himself and Pru, something Titus also refused to allow to happen now that they were at least speaking to each other again.
“Not yet,” he dismissed.
“Why not?”
“I have it in mind to reopen the initial investigation,” he explained, “in which it was concluded that one of these eight ladies was guilty, before taking such a drastic step as openly accusing anyone.”
Pru’s brows lifted. “You believe there might have been a mistake?”
“I am saying it is a possibility,” he replied guardedly.
Titus believed any mistake that could have been made in that initial investigation might have been deliberate as a means of diverting the attention away from the real traitor. Until he was sure, either way, he intended to proceed with caution.
He intended to ensure Pru did the same.
By physically restraining her, if necessary.
Chapter 6
“For goodness’ sake, stop scowling. We are on our way out to dinner, not approaching the gallows!”
Titus, seated opposite Pru in his carriage, now shot her a belligerent glower from beneath his lowered brows, evidence he was completely unamused. They both knew that the gallows was exactly where the lady found guilty of treason would go.
Pru looked beautiful this evening in a deep purple mourning gown suitable for attending a private dinner party, with a matching cloak about her slender shoulders and the hood pulled up to cover her golden curls.
It was a beauty and elegance which did not improve Titus’s mood in the slightest, when where they were actually on their way to was dinner at the Duke of Stonewell’s London home.
Titus should never have allowed Pru to flirt and cajole him into accepting Stonewell’s invitation on behalf of both of them. But, as he had learned these past two days since he’d revealed all to Pru in regard to The Sinners’ investigations, he was totally unable to withstand either Pru’s demands or her cajoling.
She should have been accompanied by her maid this evening, of course, but had explained the omission by informing him that young lady now had an aversion to traveling anywhere by coach or carriage. Understandable, when the last occasion the maid had done so, the carriage had caught fire and she had almost been killed.
Being completely alone with the beautiful and tempting Pru was not the best way for Titus to start an evening that already promised to be fraught with tension.
Not only was he suspicious of Nik’s reasons for having extended the invitation to Pru as well as himself, but he did not trust the excited gleam now in Pru’s eyes either. “I am well aware of where we are going,” he snapped. “I only hope you will keep your promise to me to behave yourself.” That promise was the price she’d had to pay fo
r his accepting the dinner invitation on their behalf.
It was not the only reason Titus had decided to accept.
To his discomfort, he had been unable to stop thinking about Pru since he’d kissed and spanked her two days ago. Nor could he dispel the ache he felt to do both those things with her again. To spend a whole evening in Pru’s company, even at Stonewell’s home, was a temptation Titus had ultimately been unable to resist.
He eyed Pru warily now as she rose to cross the carriage and sit down on the upholstered bench seat beside him. “What are you doing?”
She turned fully to face him. “I thought to reassure you I shall not embarrass you this evening.”
He was not fooled for a moment by the earnestness of her expression. “You did not need to sit beside me to do that. Nor is that reassurance the same as promising to behave yourself.”
Pru was well aware of that, but how could she uphold such a promise? Moreover, one she believed to have been made under the duress of Titus refusing Stonewell’s dinner invitation if she did not make that promise. She would have promised him anything if it resulted in her being able to dine with the Duke and Duchess of Stonewell this evening.
She fluttered her lashes. “But I would embarrass you if I did not behave myself.”
“You will end up over my knee having your bottom spanked again if you continue flirting with me,” he warned.
Pru sat back on the seat with a flounce of her cloak. Obviously, Romney was not in the least fooled by her attempt at innocence. “And then you would have to explain to your friends why I am unable to sit down at the dinner table!”
He gave a grin of satisfaction. “I believe I might safely take a guess that several of those friends take delight in administering that same…brand of chastisement to their wives.”
“Then you are all barbarians!”
He nodded. “Unrepentantly so.”
“Bully.”
“Witch.”
Her lips thinned. “I believe I dislike you again after you treated me so abominably two days ago.”
“That is a pity.” Romney turned in his seat, the long length of his thigh now pressing against her own. “Because I like you, and your bare bottom, very much.”
Pru felt the bloom of color in her cheeks. “You are not a gentleman!”
He chuckled. “And you, thank God, are not a lady.”
She frowned her curiosity. “Do the other Sinners…really do to their wives what you did to me?”
“Will you think less of those ladies if I say yes?”
“Less…?” Pru’s brow cleared. “How well do you know my mother?”
Romney looked taken aback. “I assure you I have never—”
“Not in that way, silly.” Pru was openly laughing at him. “My mother would never be swayed from her love for my father by a handsome younger man.”
His brows rose. “You believe me handsome, then?”
“Tolerably so,” she drawled. “But the reason I asked about how well you know my mother,” she continued determinedly, “was because she has very…positive views on how a lady should or should not behave, in the bedchamber and out of it.”
“There is more than her telling you how to pleasure yourself?”
Pru’s cheeks grew warm. “She spoke with Cilla and me when we reached our sixteenth birthday. Explained…well, I am sure you know what she explained,” she dismissed impatiently. “We already knew about all that, of course. I had read several books on the subject—”
“You had?”
“My father has a whole top shelf of a bookcase on erotic literature he no doubt assumes we cannot reach or would not dare to read.”
“But you did both.” It was a dry statement, not a question.
“Of course I did. Anyway, some I read and some of them only had pictures. I, of course, passed all the information I found along to Cilla. She did not believe half of what I told her,” she added affectionately.
“I am sure you managed to convince her otherwise.”
Pru gave him a reproving glance. “Then, of course, my mother gave us her little talk about the marriage bed, and also explained how we might pleasure ourselves until we were married, something Cilla and I tried the moment we were back in our bedchambers. After we had both reached the pinnacle of that pleasure, Cilla had no choice but to give credence to the other things I had told her.”
“I fail to see…”
“That is because you have not allowed me to finish.” She tutted. “During her talk, my mother also told us that a woman must be a lady in public, always, but when in the bedchamber, there are…things a man and woman do together which are completely private to them and, if by mutual consent, are no one else’s business but their own.”
Romney shifted uncomfortably. “Such as?”
“Such as the gentleman spanking the lady.” She eyed him with amusement. “The use of ropes or silk handkerchiefs to subdue one partner or the other during lovemaking. That there is more than one place a gentleman might put his cock. Between a lady’s legs, of course, but also in her mouth, and then again—”
“I believe I now have the gist of the conversation,” the viscount interrupted hastily.
Pru eyed him curiously. “Am I embarrassing you?”
“Not in the least.” The clearing of his throat gave lie to that claim. “But I do find it incredible that your mother should have discussed such things with you and your sister.”
“Why?”
“Well. Because… A lady does not normally—”
“My mother is every inch a lady,” she defended. “She is also forward thinking in her belief a woman should have the same physical pleasure as a man. Would you not enjoy it if I were to take your cock into my mouth?”
“Of course. But—”
“Did you not enjoy spanking me?” She already knew of her own pleasure in the act…
“Very much.” Romney nodded. “I am sure you must have felt the evidence of my enjoyment pressing against your bottom.”
Pru felt a warming between her thighs at the memory of the way the thickened length of Titus’s cock had fitted snugly against the crease of her burning bottom cheeks.
“I see that you did.” Romney nodded.
“But that is the whole point of my mother talking to us in that frank manner. She believes that if a woman is willing to experiment and enjoy sexual acts with her lover or husband that the relationship will flourish rather than stultify into nothing more than politeness, duty, and ultimately, unhappiness.”
“It is one way of looking at things, I suppose.”
“Are your friends happy in their marriages?”
“I believe so, yes.”
“As are my parents.”
Romney closed his eyes briefly. “I am not sure I shall be able to look at either of them again without imagining— I do not wish to think about it further,” he dismissed firmly.
Pru nodded. “Apart from the pleasuring-myself part, I found some of the things my mother said and which I read about and saw in those books hard to believe too until I met you.”
“Now see here—”
“When you spanked me, and I was aroused by it, I finally realized what my mother had meant.”
He gave a pained wince. “I see.”
She looked at him beneath lowered lashes. “That being the case, if there are any other sexual acts you would like us to try—”
“Pru!” he reproved sternly.
She pouted slightly. “I have not touched myself again for the past two days and nights.”
His brows rose. “Because I asked you to wait until we were together again?”
“Yes.”
Romney breathed in deeply. “Does that mean you want me to give you that pleasure again now, before we arrive at Stonewell House?”
Pru had ached these past two days and nights to have Titus’s hands upon her again. But he seemed so shocked by the things she had already said to him, perhaps it would be for the best if—
&
nbsp; “Do not even think about lying to me, Pru,” Romney warned softly. “Not when I only have to do this.” One of his hands moved beneath the hem of her gown and unerringly up the length of her leg before deftly sliding his fingers inside the slit in her drawers to stroke her nether lips. “To feel how wet you are at the mere thought of feeling my hands on you again.”
“We cannot do that here,” she gasped in weak protest, her body already betraying her as her core heated and she felt the gush of fresh juices against Titus’s stroking fingers.
“According to your mother, we can,” he assured gruffly. “But I think perhaps we shall not.” He removed his hand from inside her drawers. “Perhaps the thought of what might occur during our carriage ride home later tonight will help you to remember your manners this evening.”
Pru glared her frustration at him. “That is blackmail.”
“Only if you wish for me to pleasure you again.” He quirked a dark brow. “Do you?”
Quite how Pru would have answered that question, with the truth or prevarication regarding her desire for Romney, she had no idea, as she was saved from replying when the carriage came to a halt outside Stonewell House.
Romney placed a hand on her arm before they alighted from the carriage. “You will remain by my side this evening.”
“And if I should need to go to the ladies’ retiring room?”
“Then I will accompany you there and wait outside so we can return together. You are not to be alone at any time during the evening,” he stated firmly.
“Is that for my sake or someone else’s?”
His mouth thinned. “Yours.”
Pru frowned. “Are you not taking my protection to a ridiculous level?” She had not seen any of the men Titus told her he had watching and following her, or the Duke of Stonewell’s, but she nevertheless knew they were there. “We will, after all, be in the home of one of your closest friends.”
“Where his wife, mother-in-law, and several of my friends and their wives will also be in attendance. The only one of The Sinners who will not be present this evening is Wessex and Lady Jocelyn. They retired to the country the day after the wedding.”
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