The Trouble With Seduction (17 page)

Leaning in, his voice turned sultry. “And yet… you don’t wish for me to see them.”

She gazed down at his finger sliding along the seam of the folded papers, dangerously close to her breast.

“Now why is that, my lady?” He’d that charming gleam in his eye again, as if they were playing a game.

Her breast started to prickle. If he examined the drawings much more he’d soon recognize the plans for the Buzzy Bee. She needed to distract him. Out of desperation, she rose up on her toes and quickly brushed a caress across his mouth.

Maybe it was her unaccustomed impulsiveness or that she’d done something that amazed even her, but as their mouths met, she felt a jolt.

***

The charge of energy so thrilled Damen he lost all care for the plans. He’d sworn not to take advantage of Sarah. But yesterday, the delicate balance of their
alliance
changed. He’d felt it during their kiss in the doorway when her proper façade fell away. For a brief time, she’d shown the same hunger that had been building inside him.

He raised his hand to trail his fingers down her cheek. One touch couldn’t hurt, could it?

She was so beautiful, inside and out, beyond anything he’d ever thought possible.

Her full lashes fluttered closed then open to pierce his soul with keen cerulean desire. The heat of it hit his blood like oil thrown on a smoldering fire. Trust shone in her eyes as well.

A stab of conscience prodded him. He may be a total fraud, but he would not hurt her. He sincerely cared for her and wanted to help her prove she didn’t murder Strathford. An overwhelming protectiveness had taken root – almost primal in its intensity.

He lowered his head to brush a caress along her temple. Her scent of peaches and lavender worked on him like an opiate, making him dizzy.

She leaned in to him and her breathing increased, matching his own.

Electricity danced across his skin where they met.

How he loved the feel of her against him, so vibrant, warm and soft.

He slid his hand to circle her small waist. As he gently pressed her closer, she moved against him, stirring his cock into a delicious ache.

Surely she must know what she was doing to him.

Slowly, he let his lips drift over her cheekbones to linger a breath away from her mouth.

Would she close the distance?

Once their lips touched, he feared the fever in his blood would take over.

The anticipation was almost more than he could bear. He held his breath, praying she’d make the first move, shed the gray widow’s cocoon she’d enclosed herself in and unchain the sensuous seductress he knew dwelt inside.

Footsteps again shuffled down the outside hallway.

It took a moment for the seductive haze to clear before Damen realized he needed to follow her to the door and hide behind it.

A quiet knock and then Megpeas said through the door, “My lady, your brother and Lord Lumsley are in the breakfast parlor. Will you be joining them?”

Sarah grimaced. “Tell them to go ahead and start. I may eat later.”

His slow footsteps receded down the marble hall.

Damen stepped out from behind the door. The cloud of desire dissolved with the mention of her visitors. “Have they taken up permanent residence in your home?”

“Not officially,” Sarah sighed. “And I’m tiring of their spur-of-the-moment visits.”

Now daylight, with her staff, and Niles and Lumsley lurking about, they risked discovery. “I should go. You can let me out the way I came in. I’ll pull my cap low. In my workman’s clothes, no one will be the wiser.”

After Sarah escorted him to the secret tunnel’s door, she apologized. “I’m sorry we didn’t have more time.” Traces of disappointment and aggravation filled her voice. “Might you return this evening? Perhaps for dinner at eight? We could resume our search… after.”

CHAPTER 15

Niles set down the newspaper, picked up his hot cup of coffee and took a good long look at his oldest friend gobbling down yet another plate of Sarah’s excellent breakfast.

Crumbs dangled from Lumsley’s bushy mustache and dotted the tablecloth around her fine Sèvres china. With a crumpet in one hand and a jam tart in the other, he stuffed both into his mouth. His eyes rolled back in his head as he chewed and moaned, “Mmmm.” Plate empty, he pushed out of his chair and returned to the sideboard.

Niles had lost track of how many dishes he’d filled. Four? Five? No wonder he was growing portly. He retrieved his paper and held it up as a screen. The sight was making him ill.

They’d once had a jolly good time together. He’d frittered away his fortune like tomorrow would never come.

And then tomorrow finally arrived – in the form of Niles’s man of business.

On that chilly afternoon, he’d learned his plentiful inheritance had dwindled to barely a vicar’s living, enough to support him, but only if he held to a tight allowance. Lumsley helped him back on his feet, but Niles didn’t have his friend’s gift for organization or his eye for risky but profitable investments.

“I say, old boy,” Lumsley said stuffily, as he bit into a scone heaped with a fistful of clotted cream, “are you off your feed? You haven’t even tried the poached eel. Finest I’ve ever tasted. Your sis does an outstanding breakfast.”

“Another reason you should be happy to marry her,” Niles said acidly.

“Now, now don’t get tetchy. I was only joking when I said I’d hoped for a virgin on my wedding night. Everyone knows an experienced woman is more fun between the sheets than a cowering green girl. But don’t let me interrupt your sulk. When you’re done, you can tell me what’s really bothering you?”

“If I tell you again, will you listen this time?”

Lumsley took another bite of his scone and moaned.

Niles waited until he’d swallowed to make sure he had his stubborn friend’s full attention. “You must discuss your intentions with Sarah. Every day you delay puts my sweet sis more in jeopardy. Something has her highly distracted. She will not discuss it with me, but I can tell whatever it is has her more than a little disturbed. Now is your opportunity to offer help and get closer to her.”

“My God, man, her home is torn apart. I would say that’s plenty to keep any woman preoccupied. If you were a good brother—”

“Don’t start. You know my hands are tied.”

“And what about the police inspector? You said he seemed fairly well convinced Sarah set up Strathford’s death.”

“He’s a half-wit, throwing accusations around.” Irritated, Niles shook out his paper. “Sarah is the kindest of women. Not a violent bone in her body. Her solicitor will put him in his place. Besides, we all know I’d only make a hash of things. When are you going to get down to business?”

Frustration boiled in Niles’s gullet. Strathford never liked him, quite enjoyed spouting sayings like ‘a fool and his money are soon parted.’ When Lumsley was mentioned, he’d launch into ‘when you wallow with pigs all you get is dirty’.

Strathford had gone to a lot of trouble to put his fortune into a complicated trust.

No one had been more surprised than he to discover, after Strathford’s death, that it all went to Sarah. He couldn’t touch a penny. Neither could Edward’s nephew, for that matter. Which was probably Strathford’s major intent.

By the way things were going, Sarah obviously didn’t know what she was doing. Even if Niles were capable of helping her, he had no say over her income. God only knew how much she’d already paid those idiots to destroy her mansion.

Lumsley could put things to rights, and he knew he’d pined after Sarah for years. It was time his friend declared himself.

“I’ve already offered to help with her renovation,” Lumsley sniffed between bites of bacon. “You heard her answer… ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’. Wasn’t that it? With women like your sister, you have to take it slow, let them come to you. Otherwise, you risk frightening them away. But I can tell she’s in my pocket, totally infatuated. How could she not be?” He chortled in his characteristic, fusty baritone. “Women love me. Why just the other night—”

Niles waved his hand as if chasing away an insect. “You pay those women to do for you. You’re their meal ticket. They would lick your boot if you paid them.”

“And other places as well, my fine friend.” Lumsley slurped his tea and waggled his brows. “Stop worrying. It’s only a matter of time before she comes begging for… well…” He pointed both thumbs to his belt and grinned.

“I’m her brother, remember?” he groaned. “You know I don’t want to hear about any of that.” His friend liked to joke about his prowess, but Niles knew it was only a jest.

“Well, what the bugger do you think is going to happen after we’re married?”

Niles scraped a hand over his face. “What I’m trying to say is… behind her somewhat eccentric, often whimsical moods and sometimes jarring remarks is an intelligent, perceptive woman. I tell you, something is afoot, and I’m worried. She’s changing before my eyes.”

“It’s Ravenhill,” Lumsley said flatly, biting into another crumpet and muttering between chews. “Time to put your foot down. He’s a menace… planting continental ideas into that sweet English woman’s head. Rest assured, men like him soon tire of their flirtations and break hearts. I doubt she’s anything more than Tuesday’s odd treat to him. I hate for her feelings to be hurt, but in the long run it will work in my favor. I’ll step in with a big shoulder to cry on, and she’ll insist we marry so
I
won’t get away as well.”

“Ravenhill?” A blurry image of a bruised, injured face drifted into Niles’s mind. “Balderdash! He’s a fast one, moves with a dangerous crowd. You’ve seen what they did to him? Not the solid, upstanding kind of fellow Sarah would have. Why, a rhinoceros and hedgehog would have more in common.”

Lumsley hiccupped and snuffled. “Rhinoceros, yes, yes I see it.” He pointed a jam-smeared finger at his cheek. “Lumps all over his face. And a cute, prickly hedgehog burrowing into the underbrush. Too apropos, too apropos—”

“Am I interrupting anything?” Sarah strode into the breakfast room, grabbed a spoon at the sideboard, and started shoveling eggs onto her plate.

Both Niles and Lumsley jumped to their feet.

“Good morning, Sis.”

“Good morning, my lady. I was telling Niles what a fine table you set.”

“Thank you. One of the benefits of marrying my first husband was retaining his superb cook. Since you’ve been thoroughly sampling her recipes, I hope you aren’t planning to steal her.”

“No, no, only the pleasure of your company, my dear,” Lumsley grinned. “Come. Sit by me.”

“If you’re not after my cook, then have you decided to follow my every move?”

Niles raised his brows as he looked across the table at his friend. Lumsley and I hope to make ourselves available to help you any way we can.”

She narrowed her eyes on him. “Thank you for your concern, but I’m fine.” Her attention sharpened on something behind him.

He turned to follow her gaze out the window at what used to be a flourishing garden, now laid to waste under mounds of brick and stacks of lumber. What had caught her interest?

“Papa obsessed over how Aunt Eliza supposedly blackened the family name and hounded her mercilessly after Oswald died. I am becoming more than a little tired of the relentless scrutiny.” Still gazing distractedly outside, she marched to the other end of the table. She set her plate down with a thunk, affixed a thin-lipped smile to her face, and allowed the footman to help her take her seat.

Niles sighed. “Father had his reasons.”

“He kept me virtually a prisoner until he married me off at sixteen. Then he couldn’t wait until he’d seen me married again after Hardington died. Edward was barely cold in the grave when he started in again. He acted like I was one of his cattle. Cold, indifferent – my thoughts and desires didn’t count.”

“It was because of Mum and Eliza and, well, vicious gossip. He harbored a lot of hurt.”

“Her accident came as a shock to us all.”

“Her death was only part of it. You grew into the very image of Mum… and she’d gone to London to visit Eliza…”

“It wasn’t Eliza’s fault the carriage rolled onto her.”

“No, it wasn’t. But father blamed her for Mum’s recklessness. She was still very beautiful and made the rounds with Eliza to certain London parties. They should have been more discreet. She told father she was going to visit Eliza. When the accident happened, she was, in fact, in the company of a handsome rake.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Where did you hear that?”

“Father told me not long before he died. He was worried about you.”

“Who was the rake?”

“He didn’t say.”

Sarah’s eyes brightened, filling with moisture. She said nothing for a few moments while she held Niles’s gaze. He hadn’t wanted to tell her. But perhaps it might help her forgive their father and realize Niles was only trying to help.

Heedless of the tense atmosphere, Lumsley slurped his coffee and grinned. “I say, have you and Miss Collins decided where you’d like to go for an evening of entertainment?”

Sarah blinked as if coming back from a distant memory and turned to his friend. “If you’re still available to escort us, we’ve settled on Astley’s.”

“Capital!” His broad smile stretched across his face showing his big front teeth. He gave Niles a knowing wink. “Name the date.”

“Tomorrow evening. Oh, and Mr Ravenhill will be escorting us as well.”

***

The morning’s aborted search and Sarah’s request for him to return for dinner had Damen on pins and needles. More precisely, the last word of her invitation…
after
… had his juices nearly boiling in anticipation. Excitement came with a burst of energy.

So many questions still remained regarding Cory’s attack. What had he been doing and was there any significance to him being left for dead behind Sarah’s mission? Perhaps if he could answer those questions, the solution to others would fall into place.

Still in his workman’s clothes, Damen took an omnibus to a street abutting the alley where his brother had been found. He entered a chandler’s shop to the ring of an overhead bell.

The small room, not much bigger than a large closet, smelled of beeswax and a medley of soap fragrances. Damen stepped in and gazed at the candles on display behind the counter.