The Countess (22 page)

“That’s it,” he assured her.

“And why didn’t you tell me yourself before this?” Suzette asked.

“It wasn’t my secret to tell,” he said simply.

“Where have I heard that before?” she asked dryly, turning back to face forward again, apparently not appeased.

“So we have a murderer as well as a blackmailer,” Lisa murmured thoughtfully. “Or do we think they are the same person?”

Richard and Daniel exchanged glances.

“They don’t know,” Suzette said for them when neither man spoke.

“Well . . .” Lisa frowned. “Surely it wouldn’t be easy for someone to get poison inside the townhouse without being discovered?”

Richard almost piped up to say that they had got George out without discovery, but then realized that wasn’t true. Daniel had been caught in Suzette’s room by Suzette, and he would have been caught there too had he not thrust the body at the man and rushed out to lead the women downstairs. He hardly could have done that were he a stranger to the house. Had he been a stranger, they both would have been caught in Suzette’s room. Perhaps it wouldn’t have been easy for an outsider to get the poison in undiscovered.

“So it is probably someone in the townhouse who did it,” Christiana followed her reasoning.

“Someone could have paid one of the servants to do it,” Suzette suggested.

There was silence as everyone contemplated that. It seemed the most likely scenario, but no one was eager to embrace it. Members of the ton depended on the steadfast loyalty of their servants. Without it the number of scandals made public would probably treble. Of course, it happened on occasion that a servant wasn’t as loyal as one would hope, but it was never something anyone wished to consider.

“I shall have to question the servants when we arrive back in London,” Richard said with a sigh, acknowledging that a betrayal by one of the staff was most likely what had happened.

“That leaves the blackmailer . . . if it isn’t the same person who paid someone on staff to administer the poison,” Lisa said.

“It is someone who knew what George did last year and that he took Richard’s place,” Christiana said, her expression thoughtful. “There can’t be many who know that. I hardly think he would trust that information to many people.”

“No,” Richard agreed, and asked, “Who among his friends do you think he would have trusted with the information?”

Christiana snorted at the question. “You are asking me? I daresay you would know that better than I. I haven’t even an idea who his friends were. No one ever came to call, and he certainly didn’t deign to tell me where he was going or with whom when he went out.”

“Do you have any idea, Daniel?” Richard asked, glancing to his friend.

He shook his head. “I have been stuck at Woodrow since Uncle Henry died last year, trying to bring the estate back up to scratch. I only left because I received your letter from America. I didn’t even know you—or George pretending to be you—had married. I have no idea what he’s been up to this last year or with whom.”

“It shouldn’t be too difficult to find out,” Robert put in. “There’s nothing the ton loves more than a good gossip. A question here or there should tell us who George considered a trusted friend.”

“So we need to question the staff, as well as nose out any gossip we can about what George was up to this last year and with whom . . . and I need to make arrangements for the money.” Richard paused and glanced around the shadowed faces in the carriage. “Can anyone think of anything else we might do to solve matters?”

Silence was his answer as everyone looked at each other and then Daniel said, “I guess we shall have to start with that and hope we uncover some useful information.”

Richard nodded, and then glanced to Christiana as she suddenly shifted on his lap. He thought she was trying to get off him and grabbed her hips to hold her in place, but found himself staring at her derriere as she leaned down to collect something from under the seat. He quite enjoyed the view and was rather disappointed when she straightened, bringing a large basket with her.

“What’s that?” Robert asked curiously from beside him as she began to dig through its contents.

“We had Cook pack some food for the journey while we waited for the carriage to be readied,” Christiana answered.

“Food?” Richard asked hopefully, his attention immediately shifting to the basket as his stomach growled hungrily. He hadn’t eaten since the stop at Stevanage for lunch.

“Yes.” She turned to peer down her nose at him. “Did you three not think to have a basket prepared before sneaking off like thieves?”

She was still annoyed with him then, Richard acknowledged with a sigh as he shook his head. That being the case, he was sure the women would refuse to share with them as punishment.

He was proven wrong when Suzette suddenly leaned down and dragged out a second basket under the opposite bench seat as Christiana said, “Then ’tis fortunate we brought enough for everyone.”

A kiss on her forehead and Richard’s whispered, “Wake up, sleeping beauty. We are almost home,” are what woke Christiana. Blinking her eyes open, she peered about the dark interior of the carriage noting that Daniel was waking Suzette much the same way, while Robert had leaned forward to shake Lisa’s leg to wake her.

Forcing herself to straighten, she glanced out the window to see that while the sky was lightening, dawn was still a good distance off. They’d made good time, she realized, her gaze moving over the dark buildings lining the road they were traversing. She’s just recognized it as their street when the carriage stopped in front of the townhouse.

Robert was the first to alight. He then offered Lisa a hand to help her disembark.

After the long hours in the carriage, Christiana found her legs stiff and shaky under her when she moved to follow and was grateful for Robert’s hand when he held it out. Even with it, she stumbled a bit, and then gasped with surprise as Richard stepped down and quickly swept her up in his arms.

“I can walk, husband,” she whispered with embarrassment as he carried her up the path to the front door of the townhouse.

“But I like carrying you,” Richard whispered back, amusement in his voice.

Christiana peered at his face in the darkness to see that he was smiling, and then glanced over his shoulder as Suzette stumbled sleepily out of the carriage next. It made her feel better to know she wasn’t the only one unsteady on her feet after a day and night of travel.

“Can you get the door?” Richard asked, drawing her attention again.

Christiana glanced to the door in front of them and reached down to open it for him, giving it a push to send it swinging open. Richard immediately carried her across the threshold. He didn’t set her down then as she’d expected, but simply started up the stairs with her still in his arms.

“Should we not wait for everyone else?” she asked, glancing back toward the still open door.

“They will be fine,” Richard assured her. “We discussed it as you slept and rather than wake the servants to prepare another room, Daniel and Robert are going to share the guest room Grace made up for me the night before we left. We will all get a couple of hours’ sleep and then start into our investigations and plans for the day.”

“Oh,” Christiana murmured, hardly hearing the last part of what he’d said. She was contemplating that with Daniel and Robert sharing the guest room, Richard would be sharing her bed . . . which was perfectly appropriate now that they were married, of course, but Christiana found herself suddenly nervous at the prospect.

She would have to undress in front of him. Richard would disrobe in front of her too. And which side of the bed would he prefer? Should she let him undress and get in bed first so he could pick his side? But then he would be free to just lie there and watch as she disrobed, Christiana realized. Besides, why did he have more right to first choice of which side of the bed to sleep in? It was her bed, she reminded herself.

Christiana was still fretting over the matter when Richard said, “Can you get the door again, please?”

When she pushed the bedroom door open, he carried her in and straight to the bed. Richard set her down beside it and then immediately went back to close the door. Christiana shifted nervously, her hands fluttering to her gown and away as she realized she could not reach the fastenings at the back on her own. She glanced to Richard, considering how to ask for his help, but in the next moment the question slipped from her mind and her jaw dropped. He was coming toward her, removing and discarding his clothes along the way. The dark coat went first, the vest and cravat followed and he was dressed only in his trousers and hessians as he moved to sit on the bed. Christiana watched blankly as he removed his boots, then he straightened and his trousers joined them on the floor so that he stood before her completely nude.

She was busy staring at all that had been revealed when Richard suddenly caught her by the shoulders and turned her. Christiana felt his hands moving down her back as he undid the fastenings of her gown and murmured a thank-you as she felt the material gape to allow cool air to caress the skin of her back. She then sucked in a startled breath when his hands suddenly slid inside the material and glided around her sides to the front under it until he found and cupped her breasts. Richard used that hold to pull her back against his chest and Christiana let her breath out on a whoosh as he began nibbling at her neck while caressing her.

For one minute, Christiana was so startled at the suddenness of it all, including the desire that was sent rushing through her, that she simply stood there, unsure what to do. And then she realized that there was little she could do in this position. His arms inside her dress made it impossible for her to reach back and touch him, and his mouth was traveling up her neck, urging her head slightly to the side, but was out of her reach to kiss him.

“We’re married,” he whispered by her ear, before nipping at it lightly.

“Yes,” Christiana breathed as he sucked the lobe into his mouth.

“We haven’t consummated it yet though,” he added, startling her by swirling his tongue in her ear.

“I—No, I suppose we—ah!” She gasped with surprise as one hand suddenly left her breast to ride down over her stomach and then slide between her legs. The action forced the gown off one shoulder and down her arm to allow room for the maneuver. Christiana immediately slid her arm out to let the material drop away. She then tugged the material off her other shoulder and removed that arm from its sleeve as well, leaving the gown to pool at her waist. She was now as bare as he from the waist up, and found it oddly erotic to see his tanned hand cupping her one breast while his other disappeared under the material of her dress. And then he pressed the heel of his hand against her pelvic bone, urging her back more snugly against his growing hardness as his fingers glided over her most sensitive spot.

“I— Oh,” Christiana moaned, now grinding her bottom against him herself. She covered the hand at her breast with one of her own and then used the other to reach back over her shoulder for his head. Christiana managed to catch him by a handful of hair and tugged gently as she turned her head, desperate for him to kiss her. Richard responded at once, covering her mouth with his own as his hands continued to move over her.

It wasn’t enough and Christiana was sure it would drive her mad if she weren’t able to touch him as well, so managed to slip her arm beneath his and reached back between them to find the hardness pressing so insistently against her. Richard reacted as if she’d burned him, his body stiffening, fingers tightening almost painfully around her breast. Then he suddenly released her and turned her to face him so that he could tug her gown over her hips. The moment the material hit the floor he urged her back against the bed.

Christiana dropped to sit on the edge of it, one hand instinctively reaching out to grab the erection waving before her as he stepped up to the bed. Richard stilled at once and she glanced up to see that his jaw was clenched, his eyes squinted almost closed and his throat moving as he swallowed. She watched him and let her hand drift lightly over his erection, noting that his eyes immediately closed all the way and his head tipped back as he sucked in a long breath. Encouraged, Christiana leaned forward and down to run her tongue over the tip, trying to emulate what he did to her. She stilled briefly as he suddenly caught her head in his hands and said her name in a tight voice, but when he didn’t force her head away, she rasped her tongue over him again and then took him in her mouth so that her tongue could reached further down the shaft. That’s when he did force her head away, He also urged her to lie back on the bed.

“Was that wrong?” she asked uncertainly as she fell back.

“No,” he assured her sounding grim. “It was too right. Much more and I would be useless.”

“But you do it to me, and I want to—” Her protest ended on a gasp when he caught her beneath the knees, and pulled her bottom to the edge of the bed. She started to sit up again then, but fell back with another gasp as he suddenly spread her legs wide, stepped between them and drove himself into her. He paused briefly then and Christiana blinked her eyes open, aware only then that she’d closed them. She immediately wished she hadn’t. He stood, peering down at her and she was completely revealed in this position. Before she could cover her nakedness he lifted one of her legs to press against his chest and leaned against it as he reached with one hand to caress her breast. The other then moved between her legs, caressing her again as he began to move inside her and Christiana quickly forgot her self-consciousness and everything else as he pounded vigorously into her, his actions and caresses taking them both to the precipice and over.