The Earl with the Secret Past

by Janice Preston

  ‘And we are no nearer to finding out who might wish me dead.’

  Kitty shuddered. ‘It is a horrid feeling. It may not, of course, be about the money. It might be the lure of the title. I heard Tolly was hanging out for Lady Sarah Bamford—a duke’s daughter might lower herself to wed an earl, but I doubt either she or her father would countenance an offer from plain Mr Trewin.’

  Adam laughed. ‘You have a lurid imagination there, Kitty. You believe Tolly might commit murder for love? You should write novels!’

  She stared at him blankly for a moment. ‘Now there is a thought. I take it you disapprove of such mindless drivel?’

  ‘I neither approve nor disapprove. I have never read one and I have no wish to waste my time on such an activity. Do I take it ye are an avid reader of novels?’

  ‘I am. I particularly enjoy the work of the late Miss Austen—she has a sharp wit and holds a mirror up to society with all its faults and contradictions. Her books are amusing, but also interesting in their insight into human behaviour.’

  ‘Well, I have no objection to others indulging in such a pastime if they wish to waste their time. It is not for me, however.’

  ‘And you can state that without ever having read a novel?’ Kitty shook her head, leaving Adam feeling he had somehow disappointed her. ‘Anyway...to return to the matter in hand, I do not say Tolly would kill for the sake of love, but I would urge you to keep an open mind. People do kill for love...there was a case recently where a man poisoned his wife in order that he might be free to marry his mistress. I agree to the feeling that Mr Grenville Trewin is the more likely culprit, but that is illogical. My instinct is simply because I like your cousin and I really do not know your uncle very well. However, being less likeable does not make a man guilty.’

  ‘Ye’re right. I’ll keep an open mind. I hope Robert might discover something in his search of the woods.’

  Kitty started up from her chair. ‘Robert is searching the woods? Adam...why did you not stop him?’

  Adam surged to his feet and caught Kitty’s arm as she headed for the door. ‘I didna know until after he had gone. But ye need have no fear. He has taken men with him. He will be in no danger.’

  ‘Oh! Of course. How silly of me. I did not think... I dare say I am still more rattled than I thought.’

  ‘Ye’re trembling.’ Adam wrapped his arms around Kitty. ‘There’s nothing to be afraid of. I promise.’

  She leaned into him and he tightened his embrace as he breathed in her scent...the scent he now recognised as Kitty. This Kitty, not the girl he had loved, but the woman she was now. He tipped up her chin and lost himself in their kiss as her arms encircled his waist and she hugged him close.

  The sound of the door opening sent Adam’s heart leaping into his throat as he and Kitty sprang apart. His face burned as he turned to face Robert, who sauntered into the room, his expression innocent of even a hint of suspicion. Adam’s pounding heart slowed as his breathing eased—he needed all the friends he could get at the moment and he had no wish for his feelings for Kitty to drive a wedge between himself and Robert.

  ‘Robert! You are back!’ Kitty’s voice was too high-pitched and even though Robert appeared not to have seen their embrace, Kitty still managed to look and sound panicky as she launched into speech. ‘I... Lord Kelridge and I were discussing what happened. I was so afraid you might be shot at too. I...we...’

  Her words petered out. She looked helplessly at Adam and he sent her a look of reassurance.

  ‘Did you see anyone, Rob?’

  ‘No one. And you, Stepmama, should be in bed.’ Robert eyed the table and the two half-drunk glasses. He quirked a brow at Adam. ‘So...not content with failing to ensure my stepmother gets the rest she needs, you have encouraged her to partake of spirits.’

  He strode back across the library, opened the door and stuck his head around it. Adam heard him request another glass and he took advantage of Robert’s distraction to catch Kitty’s eye.

  ‘He did not see us.’

  ‘I know. But I still find it hard to believe he didn’t notice anything amiss,’ Kitty whispered. ‘I could not help but panic... Edgar was his father and—’

  Kitty fell silent as Robert returned.

  ‘As I was saying,’ he said, ‘we saw no one, but we did find fresh hoofprints entering and leaving the wood from the road.’

  He dragged a third chair to join the other two and then gestured for Kitty to sit. Once she was settled the two men both sat. Vincent brought in a third glass and Robert poured himself a generous measure of brandy and topped up Adam’s glass. When Kitty wordlessly held out her own glass for a refill, he obliged with only a slight flick of one brow in Adam’s direction. But Adam could settle for that. Better he blame Adam for leading Kitty astray with brandy than he should suspect what Adam really wanted to do with his stepmother.

  ‘Did ye glean anything from those prints?’

  ‘Nothing. I am afraid we are no closer to knowing who was responsible than we were before.’

  Adam told Robert briefly what he and Kitty had been discussing.

  ‘Tolly? Well... I should not like to think...but if that was an attempt to kill you, Adam, it makes sense it must be by someone who stands to benefit. And that can only lead to either your Uncle Grenville, or to Tolly.’

  ‘Do ye doubt it was an attempt on my life, Rob?’

  ‘No, but...’ Robert frowned. ‘Why wait until now? If it was your uncle or your cousin, they had ample opportunity while you were at Kelridge Place.’

  ‘Could they think they’re less likely to fall under suspicion if Adam is attacked away from Kelridge?’

  ‘They could. But the timing makes no sense. Why now? Why not wait several months when it would be less obvious?’

  ‘Or, for that matter—if it was Tolly, why didn’t he try something in London?’ Robert rubbed his jaw. ‘That would make far more sense and it would surely have been easier to dismiss as a random attack by thieves, or an accident even. A spill off Westminster Bridge into the Thames has claimed many poor souls over the years. And I still cannot believe Tolly is capable of cold-blooded murder despite your theory he might be driven to drastic measures in the cause of love, Stepmama. I always said your imagination is too vivid for words.’

  ‘Which leaves my uncle as the main suspect. Or a complete stranger, for reasons unknown. Or...it was, after all, an accident.’

  Chapter Sixteen

  Kitty arose early the following morning after a restless night. The sky held the promise of a summer’s day, azure blue dotted with fluffy clouds, and her heart...her foolish heart...swelled with joy at the promise of time to spend with Adam. She steadied herself on the windowsill as she leaned towards the glass, gazing mindlessly at the garden below and the parkland beyond. What should she do? She knew Adam. At least, she knew the young man he had been. And the fire that now kindled openly in his blue eyes whenever he looked her way suggested he felt as passionately about her as he had back then. They’d not had a moment alone together yesterday after Robert returned from his search and, if she was honest, her main feeling had been one of relief. It had given her the whole of the night to think about what she wanted. About how she would react when Adam kissed her again, as he inevitably would.

  Her skin prickled as a shiver chased over her. She wanted his kiss. Even more after yesterday. That kiss had been an entrée and had only whetted her appetite for more. More kisses. More caresses. More...everything.

  But how much everything did she mean? That was the question that had her tossing and turning throughout the night. Her only certainty was that, whatever everything meant, it must be purely physical.

  The door opened behind her and Effie entered, carrying a gently steaming pitcher.

  ‘You’re awake early, milady.’ She crossed to the washstand and poured the water into the basin. ‘Which gown shal
l I lay out for you?’

  ‘Oh, any of them will—no. Actually, I shall wear my blue muslin.’

  ‘Very well.’

  ‘Effie, are the gentlemen up and about yet?’

  ‘Yes’m.’ The maid’s voice was muffled as she rummaged in the clothes press. ‘I saw Lord Kelridge going downstairs just now and His Lordship has been up for hours.’ She straightened, the blue sprigged muslin draped across her arms. She shook the gown out and held it up, examining it with a critical eye. ‘I don’t think this needs pressing, milady, but maybe I should, just in case.’ She turned for the door.

  ‘Effie...no. The gown is barely creased and what there is will soon drop out.’

  * * *

  By the time she had washed and dressed and was alone again, Kitty was no nearer a decision on that all-important question. She would not...could not...risk opening her heart to the pain she had suffered before, yet she did not wish to deny the cravings of her own body. Cravings she had never before experienced...or, at least, not with such intensity. Before, in her marriage, there had been the odd fleeting hint of greater pleasure in the marital act. Nothing more than a glimpse of something more exotic, more intoxicating, that quickly evaporated, like the fast-fading memory of a dream upon waking. Now, her curiosity had been piqued.

  Could she satisfy that curiosity without risking her heart? Men did it all the time—satisfied the lusts of their bodies without their emotions being involved.

  But this is Adam. Your emotions are already involved, whether you like it or not.

  She acknowledged the truth of it. So, the question became...was her curiosity, and that deep-down hum of need, strong enough for her to take the risk of heartache if she followed her desires? At least, this time, she knew there would be no fairy-tale ending. Not when Adam would need an heir. This time, she would not expect a pot of anything at the end of the rainbow.

  She went downstairs and into the parlour where breakfast was laid out on the sideboard.

  ‘Good morning. How is your arm today?’

  Adam paused in the act of raising his coffee cup. The table before him was bare of crockery or food, suggesting he had finished eating. As Kitty helped herself to a boiled egg and a slice of toast, he returned her greeting, adding, ‘It is still sore to the touch but, otherwise, much better, thank you. I trust you slept well?’

  ‘Very well, thank you. And you?’

  ‘Well enough. Well—if I’m honest, I was restless.’

  Kitty sat opposite him. ‘I am not surprised. Being shot would have that effect.’

  He captured her gaze, and that same fire in his eyes—banked low for now—quickened her pulse and fractured her breathing. Heavens! Did she have any choice but to explore this further? If he could heat her blood with one look, what more might he do with a kiss? A touch? The memory of the day before—those feelings—shivered through her.

  ‘Coffee, milady?’

  She jumped at Vincent’s quiet murmur close behind her. The coffee pot appeared next to her. He filled her cup and his arm withdrew. The interruption had allowed her to bring her emotions back under control. She scraped butter on to her toast and bit into it. Behind her, she heard Vincent leave the room.

  ‘It was not being shot that disturbed my sleep.’ Adam’s comment was no less forceful for being so quiet. ‘It was you, Kitty. You were on my mind.’ His eyes burned into her. ‘I—’ He broke off as Robert’s voice rang out from outside the room. ‘We need to talk, Kitty. Come to the library later, after Rob goes out. Please?’

  Kitty nodded her head as Robert—full of cheer and early morning energy—breezed into the room.

  * * *

  It was almost eleven before Robert left the house, intending to visit his bank. Kitty—her nerves winding ever tighter at the thought of a tête-à-tête with Adam—suggested she might accompany Robert and pay a visit to her dressmaker, but Robert fobbed her off, saying he intended to be in and out of the bank in a flash and there was far too much demanding his attention back here at the Hall for him to have time to waste while Kitty shopped. Kitty recoiled at his brusqueness, so unlike Robert.

  ‘My apologies, Stepmama. I had no right to snap at you. This business with Adam is bothering me...he told me this morning he intends to ride out this afternoon. I cannot stop him, I know, but I cannot help but worry there may be another attempt on him. I need to be back in time to accompany him.’

  ‘But...you will then put yourself at risk, Rob. You must not.’

  And neither must Adam.

  He gave her a brief hug. ‘Don’t you worry about me! Besides, why are you not hard at work writing? I thought you would relish the opportunity to spend more time on it while Charis is away.’

  ‘I am not in the mood for it today.’ She was far too distracted to even try to lose herself in her story. Her heroine must wait patiently until Kitty was in the right frame of mind to rescue her from that cliff face she clung to, praying that hero Jason would find her before the evil Lord Sidney—desperate to stop her revealing his plan to kill young Arthur—spotted her hiding place and hurled her into the foaming seas far below.

  Robert smiled down at her. ‘That is understandable. We are all of us unsettled. Give me a few days, until we have a clearer idea of what happened, and then I will gladly escort you to town to visit your modiste and to shop to your heart’s content.’

  Kitty thanked him, knowing she would not accept his offer. She had no wish to shop...she had, like a coward, impulsively seized upon the idea as an excuse to delay the forthcoming talk with Adam. She was still no more certain of what she would say or do.

  She approached the library with dragging feet.

  But when Adam looked up and saw her...when he jumped up and rounded the desk...when he strode towards her...all indecision fled. She stepped into his arms. They folded around her and she leaned into his strength, breathing in his spicy maleness, her head against his chest. The steady thump-thump-thump of his heart reassured her; the heat of his body relaxed her. It felt like coming home.

  Kitty thrust her hands between them and pushed against his chest, only the fabric of his shirt separating her palms and his skin. As yesterday, he had discarded his jacket and was dressed in shirt sleeves and unbuttoned waistcoat. When his embrace loosened, she stepped away. She folded her arms.

  ‘Robert tells me you intend to ride out this afternoon. Are you mad?’

  She hadn’t meant her first words to be so confrontational, but she couldn’t bear to see him put himself into danger.

  Adam quirked a brow. He crossed to the place where he had been working, then turned to face her, hitching one hip up to perch on the desk, and folded his own arms.

  ‘I will not skulk indoors shivering in my shoes.’

  Of course he would not.

  ‘He...they...might try again.’

  ‘Then that will give me the opportunity to discover who he is. Or who they are.’ His lips quirked in a smile. ‘Kitty... I will not be alone. Robert and two grooms will be with me. And I will be on my guard. Yesterday, neither of us had any notion that someone might mean mischief. I don’t know about you, but I was giving none of my attention to our surroundings.’

  His smiled faded. His gaze heated. His voice deepened. ‘I was far too interested in my companion.’

  Awareness coiled deep in her belly and her pulse leapt.

  ‘You wanted to talk?’ The question emerged as a squeak.

  ‘I did.’ He stood. ‘I do.’

  He beckoned and Kitty moved towards him. All at once it no longer mattered that she still had no plan about what to say or what to do. This, she realised, was about instinct. It was about feelings. It was about spontaneity. It was about doing what was right for her in this moment. She had lived her life looking forward, not back. But this need not be about the future. That would happen come what may. This was about now.

 
She paused an arm’s length from him. ‘What did you want to say?’

  Alive to every nuance in his expression, she saw his eyes narrow infinitesimally before creasing in a smile.

  ‘I want to say...words are overrated.’ He took her hands, his thumbs circling her palms as he held her gaze. Her breath grew short. ‘Actions. Now they have more...value.’

  He moved then, walking backwards, still holding her hands, thumbs still caressing. She followed. Not coerced. Not pulled in his wake. She followed willingly as he backed around the painted screen that shielded the reading corner from the rest of the room. He released her hands and she raised them to his shoulders as waves of longing heated her blood and sweet anticipation coursed through her.

  Strong fingers flexed at her waist as his mouth swooped on hers, crushing her lips in a fiery kiss. She pressed close, her hands tangling in his hair, her fingers curving around the solid shape of his skull. That distant thrum of need strengthened, growing ever more insistent as her insides melted and her body moulded to his.

  He tore his lips from hers. ‘Kitty.’

  His groan lingered in the air as he trailed hot kisses across her jaw and down her throat. Her head fell back, her eyes drifting shut as everything faded away. Everything but Adam and the feelings conjured up by the magic of his lips on her skin and the caress of his hands as they swept her body, stroking, fondling. She savoured the sheer joy of all that latent power, harnessed and controlled, as Adam skimmed her skin with the finest and tenderest of touches. His fingers released the buttons fastening the bodice of her gown and he opened it, spreading it wide to allow him to release both of her breasts from her corset. He kneaded them, his thumbs rubbing her nipples before he dipped his head and tasted her, sucking one hardened bud deep into his mouth, flicking it with his tongue as his fingers played with the other.

  Need climbed within her and she thrust her fingers through his hair as pressure built inside...a craving for more. And more. How had she never felt this before?