by Lucy Monroe
He didn’t know what to say to such a declaration. There were no words for the tight feeling in his chest or the desire that was so much more than physical, spiraling through him. So he said nothing and instead he used his body to show her the effect her words had on him.
***
Irisa sleepily watched Lucas prepare for bed. He’d insisted on carrying her inside once they reached home and helping her undress. She now lay, snuggled comfortably in their bed. They hadn’t slept apart in the entire fourteen months of their marriage, not since their discussion on the subject on their wedding night.
As her husband peeled away the layers of his gentlemanly veneer to reveal his sculpted body, the tiredness that had overwhelmed her faded away like the morning mist. "You are an exceptionally fine example of masculinity, my lord."
She teased him with the use of his title, knowing it would spark more ardor than anger after the months of their marriage.
Lucas’s eyes reflected the storm clouds of passion as he walked naked across their bedchamber. "And you my lovely wife are an exceptional judge of character."
She smiled. Finally. He was going to admit she was right. "I told you she wasn’t capable of something so foul."
He slid into bed beside her, pulling her into the circle of his arms. He rubbed his chin against the top of her head in a gesture of affection. "A generous victor refrains from saying I told you so."
"Perhaps if the victor hadn’t argued herself blue in the face, that might be true. But I feel a certain justness in saying the words."
His hand slipped down to curl around her thickened waist. "I would like to point out that nothing we discovered today encouraged me to change my mind about her."
"I wondered about that at dinner."
She hadn’t said anything because Calantha was already upset enough, but she had wondered at her husband’s complete about-face. They’d gone to bed the night before arguing about it. His stubborn refusal to admit Calantha’s innocence had so infuriated Irisa, she had yelled at Lucas. To no avail. He had simply repeated his intention to wait and see for the hundredth time. He hadn’t let her go to sleep angry either. He’d insisted on kissing her and as usual the kissing had led to something more.
She’d woken up in a better mood, but just as convinced of her new friend’s innocence. Her mood had gone south that morning when everyone questioned Calantha so closely about the candy color. She’d wanted to shout that any fool could see the former duchess wasn’t cruel.
She snuggled into his side, allowing her hand to drift over his chest and play with a small male nipple. "Why did you change your mind?" she asked, wondering if her arguments had finally gotten through to him.
He sighed with pleasure. "Several things Calantha said this morning and her attitude."
Her fingertip stilled in its circling of his hardening nipple. "What do you mean?"
"If you go back to what were just doing, I’ll tell you."
She obeyed. As if she wouldn’t have already, when she thought of it.
"She said she’d have to be muddle-headed to use her own servants to deliver the candy and I realized she was right. She’d been here at the manor several times helping you with preparations for the wedding breakfast. She could easily have left the candy in the nursery for Hannah without anyone seeing her, but even simpler she could have harmed Hannah too easily when she was alone with her. She is too knowledgeable about herbs to have resorted to such an obvious poison as one that caused vomiting before death."
Irisa frowned. Her husband’s arguments made sense, but she wished he were motivated by more humane considerations, like the fact that Calantha loved Hannah.
"But the biggest deciding factor for me was the way she wanted to protect Hannah, even if we still suspected her. I remembered all the times I’d seen the two together and frankly, can’t believe that Calantha could fake that kind of affection. She cares too deeply for Hannah to ever hurt her. She was positively frantic that day Hannah was lost. The perfect angel showed up to search riding her horse in a morning gown and showing a good bit of leg. It just all finally fit together."
Irisa’s frown faded. Her husband did understand after all. She rewarded him for his perception by skimming her hand down his flat belly to let her fingers tangle in the hair above his manhood.
He made a deep sound of male desire. "Now you tell me why you were so sure from the very beginning. You never doubted her at all, even when the evidence looked irrefutable."
Irisa thought about it for a moment. "I’m not sure. Maybe it’s the way she’s changed since meeting Jared. She’s opened up somehow and I realized she really was lonely before. I’d suspected it, but after seeing her with Jared and Hannah, I was sure of it. She’d made comments before that made me think she regretted not having children and when she met Hannah, it all became so obvious. She was desperate to give love and receive it. I don’t know if she realizes yet that she loves Jared, or that he loves her, but she’s willing to give and receive love with Hannah."
Lucas’s warm palm cupped her breast and gently abraded her nipple. Even the light touch elicited an overwhelming response from her. Her breasts had become very tender and sensitive during her confinement. "Do that again."
He did and she arched into his hand. "Are those your only reasons for your unbending faith in Calantha?"
She had to force herself to think. "Well, no. Even if she didn’t love Hannah, I don’t think she’d be capable of hurting her. She’s too kind. Look at what she did for Thomas and Timothy. Thomas is really older than a butler should be, but she won’t let him go because of his granddaughter and her children. Timothy is a little young to have full responsibility for a stable, even one as small as Calantha’s. However, after the rough treatment he received at Clairborne Park, she insisted on hiring him. I told Jared once that I think she cares and she does. Deeply. Maybe too deeply. She’s very vulnerable."
"Speaking of vulnerable." Lucas took her hand and placed it right on his hard male flesh.
She grinned and kissed his neck while squeezing the velvet hardness gently.
"Do you really think she loves Jared?" Lucas asked, his voice rasping.
"Yes. You should have seen her getting ready for her wedding. She positively glowed. I hoped my brother would one day meet a lady who saw beyond his scars and size to the wonderful man underneath and I truly believe Calantha does."
Then she was lost in the wonder of her own love as Lucas pulled her under him and carefully pushed his thick manhood inside her welcoming heat.
A long time later, just as she was going to sleep, Lucas whispered, "I hope he finds a way to convince her of his love after doubting her like he did."
So did Irisa because she wanted both her brother and her friend to be happy. She wanted them to find the joy she’d found with Lucas, the pure bliss of knowing you are loved and free to love unconditionally.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"This is ridiculous. Calling on Henry will serve no purpose but to make you a powerful enemy." Calantha tried to control the frustration she felt at Jared’s stubborn refusal to listen to her arguments.
He’d woken her early that morning to make love. Then he’d insisted they get out of bed, bathe and dress. He wanted her to spend the day at Ashton Manor with Hannah while he called on Henry and questioned him in regard to the plot against the child. She wasn’t going to do it.
Jared turned glittering eyes on her. "Dam— I mean, blood— Oh, the hell with it. Listen to me, Cali. I’m going on my gut instinct and it’s telling me the Clairbornes are involved in some way."
A few short weeks ago, his tone of voice and scowling disposition would have sent her running from the room.
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "The same instincts that told you I was guilty at first?"
Jared grabbed her and pulled her until their faces were only inches from each other. Instead of wanting to retreat, she wanted to scream at him. She settled for scowling.
H
e returned her look with a fierce one of his own. "My instincts told me you were innocent, but I let the circumstances and your own admission that you resented Hannah convince me to go against them. I’m not going to make that mistake again."
She put his declaration away in her heart to take out and examine later. Right now, she had to convince the man she loved not to take such a foolish risk.
"Then give me one good reason why a duke of the realm would care enough about his dead brother’s indiscretions to risk his own reputation and try to hurt a child," she demanded.
"I don’t know and that’s why I’m going to talk to him. I want information."
"Then obtain it in some other fashion. Jared, you don’t have a subtle bone in your body and you’re going to end up provoking Henry to nothing short of a duel." With Jared’s lack of tact and Henry’s monumental pride in the same room, something disastrous was bound to happen.
Jared’s smile told her he wasn’t at all alarmed by the prospect and suspicion blossomed in her. "That’s what you’re hoping, isn’t it? You want him to challenge you!"
Jared leaned down the few inches that separated them and kissed her softly before lifting his head so their gazes met. "I won’t lie to you, Cali. Meeting your former brother-in-law over a brace of pistols at dawn is an inviting prospect."
She stared at him in appalled silence for several seconds, trying desperately to think of a rational argument to counter his male aggression. He truly thought risking his life in a duel was the solution to their problem.
In a desperate attempt to stop her husband from going, she used the only argument she could think of. "If you confront Henry about what has happened with Hannah, you’ll give him a weapon to hurt me."
"What the hel— What do you mean?"
"Do you think I want the rest of the ton to know that I stand accused of hiring a kidnapper and attempting to kill my daughter?" she asked, infusing her voice with more accusation than she felt. What she felt was desperate.
The Clairbornes were a powerful family and she bitterly regretted that her connection to them had now put Jared at risk, and perhaps even Hannah.
Jared looked as if she’d slapped him again. His face wore that same stoic expression, while his eyes reflected hurt that had nothing to do with physical pain.
"You don’t trust me to protect your name in this?" His voice was laced with both outrage and hurt. "You are my wife. Do you think I would expose you to the censure of the ton?"
Calantha wanted to reach out and comfort him, while at the same time part of her was glad that he was tasting the pain of distrust. He had dismissed his distrust of her as of no consequence.
That aside, she had to make him see that his present course of action was not the right one. "How can you help but tell Henry?"
"I’m not going to tell Clairborne anything. I’m going to ask him questions," he growled.
She could sense that Jared’s frustration now matched her own, but there was still no give in him. "Can you guarantee that by bringing the matter to his attention, my supposed part in the ugly events won’t come to light?"
"Cali, if he’s behind the whole thing, he already knows."
"What if you are wrong? What if he isn’t?"
"I’m not wrong. The Clairbornes are involved."
Mute with frustration, she turned her head away from him and tried to think of another argument to refute his overwhelming male arrogance. She hadn’t thought of anything that would sway him by the time Jenny brought Hannah through the connecting door to her room.
"Good morning, Mama and Papa. I’m hungry."
Jared released Calantha and turned to smile at their daughter. "Then it’s a good thing Cook has prepared breakfast for us, isn’t it?"
Hannah nodded, tugging her hand from Jenny’s so she could skip across the room and throw herself at Jared’s knees. She hugged his legs and then turned to Calantha, who had knelt to the floor so she could receive a real hug. Hannah threw her arms around Calantha’s neck, squeezing tightly. More and more of the little girl's natural exuberance was coming to the fore.
Calantha kissed the baby soft cheek. "Did you sleep well, sweeting?"
"Uh-huh."
Calantha rose to her feet after another quick hug. "Jared, why don’t you take Hannah down to breakfast? I’ll join you shortly, when I’m finished getting ready." She counted on her husband’s ignorance of things feminine to prevent him from noticing that she had already completed her toilette.
"All right, but hurry. I’m not leaving until you’ve eaten a proper meal. You barely touched your dinner last night. I don’t like this tendency you’ve shown lately to miss meals."
"How do you know it isn’t a long-ingrained habit?" she asked, irritated by his assumption he knew her so well.
"If it is, you can blood— You will break it." He swept Hannah up in his arms and turned toward the door. "Be downstairs in five minutes, or else."
She didn’t ask or else what. She’d already pushed his temper far enough that morning.
As soon as he’d left with Hannah, she turned to Jenny. "Help me change into my habit. I’ve decided to ride over to Ashton Manor this morning."
She made it down to the dining room in just a little after Jared’s five allotted minutes. He didn’t grumble because she ate a full breakfast, keeping up a lively banter with Hannah all the while. Who would have known that a four-year-old child could have so many questions?
***
They arrived at the manor just as the Ashtons and the Drakes were finishing their breakfast. The butler led her, Jared and Hannah into the breakfast room.
Irisa looked up from her meal and smiled.
Thea did too and said, "Good morning. The children have been waiting for Hannah’s arrival since breakfast began."
She nodded at the nursemaid and the girl stood.
"Is it all right with you if they go to the nursery? David has a new specimen he found just this morning for his bug collection that he wants to show Hannah."
Jared let Hannah down. "Stay in the nursery," he instructed the nursemaid.
She bobbed her head, her expression nervous. "Yes, milord. I wouldn’t think of taking them out of the nursery, milord."
After that breathless promise, she turned to lead the children from the room.
Thea laid her fork neatly on the side of her plate. "She’s positively terrified of you since the attempted kidnapping."
"Good," Jared said, "Maybe that will make her more cautious."
Irisa stood and walked over to Calantha. "It looks as if we will be spending the day together again."
Jared was busy nodding his agreement while Calantha shook her head, once, but firmly. "No."
He turned his head to glare at her. "You aren’t staying at Rose Cottage alone. It’s too bloody dangerous."
If she had doubted Drake’s words the previous evening that he’d stayed behind the day before to offer protection, she couldn’t any longer. Jared’s eyes were filled with not only male arrogance and anger, but also undeniable concern that bordered on fear.
She patted his arm in reassurance. "I have no intention of staying at Rose Cottage alone."
"Dam— That’s right."
"I’m going to go with you to call on Henry." It was the only thing she could think of to do. Maybe with her along, Jared would be more circumspect.
"No." Jared gave her a don’t you dare argue with me look.
She ignored it. "Yes."
She deliberately turned away from him to face Irisa. "You don’t mind watching Hannah for us today, do you?"
Irisa shook her head, a frown of concern puckering her brow. "Of course not, but are you sure you want to go with Jared? I don’t think his interview with the duke is going to be pleasant."
"That’s precisely why I am going. Perhaps if I am there, I can prevent the idiocy of a duel."
Irisa’s eyes widened and she turned to stare at her brother. "You plan to challenge the duke?" Her tone left no doubt how little sh
e thought of that plan.
Jared said, "No."
Calantha gave him a sideways glance full of disapproval before turning back to his sister. "He won’t have to. With his lack of tact, he’ll have Henry challenging him within ten minutes of his arrival at Clairborne Park."
"Ravenswood isn’t responsible for the duke’s short temper," Drake announced as he stood up from the table as well.
Calantha turned her gaze to him. "How convenient. I suppose that like Jared, you believe his meeting Henry over a brace of pistols at dawn is the solution to this awful mess."
Drake shrugged and helped his wife to her feet. "Well, it’s one solution."
"It’s a caper-witted one and I can’t believe you condone it," Thea accused as she followed Drake to the door of the breakfast room.
He turned to her. "Your brother just wants to protect his family."
"You think he should risk a bullet to do so?" Calantha asked, not even trying to hide the outrage she felt.
Thea’s glare made it plain she agreed with her.
"I’m not risking a bullet. I’m just going to talk to the bas— man," Jared denied.
"And I will be going with you to do so," Calantha said.
"No," Jared replied, his earlier temper returning.
"I don’t think you should accompany your husband today," Ashton inserted as he led the rest of them to the hall.
Calantha gripped her riding crop tightly. "Why not?"
"Because you are clearly one of the villain’s targets and if the duke is responsible, your presence could make this confrontation even more volatile."
Calantha hated that Ashton was right, but that didn’t mean she was going to let Jared go off on his own and end up in some terrible situation, like a challenge. "If the duke was going to try to hurt me physically, he would have done so on the two occasions he visited me alone at Rose Cottage." As she said the words, she remembered that he had tried, but she’d defended herself.