if hes wicked (11 page)

her hair had tumbled forward, freed of the binding she had tied it back with. Even as a voice in his head told him that he should step back, that he should not touch her even in passing, Julian reached forward and gently pushed that lock of hair behind her ear. And a very pretty ear it was, too, he thought.

Forcing himself to look up from her lush mouth, he met her gaze and felt himself become lost in the rich depths of her inky blue eyes. Julian began

to lower his mouth to hers, ignoring the loud warnings in his mind. For too long he had wondered what she would taste like and he could no longer resist

the temptation she presented. The way her eyes widened told him that she knew what he was about to do but she made no move to stop him. He was

both disappointed and exhilarated by that.

Chloe knew Julian was about to kiss her. She also knew she ought to push him away, to sternly remind him that he was a married man and then

walk away as fast as she could. Instead she leaned toward him, hungry for the touch of his mouth. She had never been kissed and she knew she wanted

him to be the first even if, once the kiss ended, the reality of their situation made them both retreat.

The moment his lips touched hers, Chloe knew she was in trouble. As he brushed his mouth over hers, he slid the fingers of one hand into her hair

and she shivered from the strength of the desire that roared to life within her. It was wicked to kiss a married man, but she was going to do it. Cautiously, afraid the slightest move on her part might make him come to his senses and pul away, she placed her hands upon his chest. He released a soft moan

and increased the press of his lips against hers. And then, quite suddenly, the kiss was no longer a simple, brief taste, just a naughty satisfying of

curiosity.

Her senses reeled as he nipped her bottom lip and, when she gasped from the heat that roused, he slipped his tongue into her mouth. Chloe was

startled by the invasion for barely a heartbeat before the stroking seduction of his tongue robbed her of the last of her tepid resistance. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave herself over to the heady delight of his kiss. She did not think that anything had ever felt as good or tasted as sweet.

When Julian abruptly pul ed away, she heard herself make a soft, inarticulate sound of protest. She opened her eyes to look at him and found him

staring at her in horror. A stab of pain nearly made her gasp but then she noticed that he looked a little flushed and he was breathing as hard as she was.

It was not distaste that had made him stop but good sense. Chloe inwardly sighed, disappointed that he had found the good sense she had so readily

cast aside.

“S’blood, but you are so damnably innocent,” he muttered as he grabbed her by the hand and dragged her to the door.

Chloe suddenly found herself out in the hal , the door to Julian’s bedchamber shut behind her. She shook her head as she struggled to regain her

wits. When she ran her tongue over her lips, she could stil taste him and felt something clench low in her bel y. He was right to stop what they had been

doing, but she wished he had not regained his senses so easily.

Absently fixing her hair, she started down the stairs. That kiss had accomplished more than making her heart race and her wits leak out of her

ears. It had made a decision for her. After two and twenty years of having no interest in a man, she was now deeply interested, and she would see where

that might lead her no matter what the consequences.

She was so lost in her thoughts about how she might make Julian cast aside his scruples that she almost walked into Wynn, who stood at the

bottom of the stairs. “Were you looking for me?” she asked him.

“You have a visitor.”

The man spoke in such a tone of doom that Chloe felt a shiver of alarm. Everything about Wynn implied that some enemy had breached the wal s

of Leo’s home. What troubled her was that the only enemies she could think of were Arthur Kenwood and Lady Beatrice. There was no reason for either

of them to come to Leo’s residence, however. She was sure that Leo would have warned her if he had had even the smal est suspicion that the

murderous pair had discovered his meddling in their affairs.

“Who?” she asked, pleased that she did not sound as uneasy as she felt.

“Lady Evelyn Kenwood, the dowager countess of Colinsmoor.”

“Oh my God,” she whispered in shock. “Does Lord Kenwood know?” Even as she asked the question, she knew the answer. Julian would not have

been playing with Anthony and then kissing her if he had known his mother was in the house.

“Nay. The countess only just arrived. I put her in the blue salon.”

“Lord Wherlocke?”

“Gone out, miss. T’ain’t sure when he wil be back.”

Chloe looked toward the smal room where disaster now lurked in the form of Julian’s mother. She did not think the woman suspected that Julian

was stil alive and hiding upstairs, but Chloe could think of no other reason why the woman would be waiting in Leo’s blue salon. Yet, if the woman did

know the truth, Chloe doubted she would be sitting quietly in the parlor.

“I best go see what she wants. Did you offer her a drink? Something to eat?”

Wynn nodded. “Gertie took in some tea and cakes. I was going to get his lordship down here when I saw you.” He shrugged his wide shoulders. “I

know the man is supposed to be dead, but I thought he might have some idea of what I should do.”

“Do not tel him. I think Leo wants to continue the ruse a while longer. This could be something completely benign, a request for help with some

charity or the like. Just stay here and I wil go and see if I can find out anything.”

Chloe approached the door of the room where the dowager countess waited, trying to untie the knot of unease tightening in her bel y. Since she

did not know why the woman was here, she could not even plan what to say to her. Closing her eyes, she tried to see what she was about to face, what the

outcome of this confrontation might be, but there was nothing. It was clear that her gift was going to leave her to stumble around on her own. It was doing that with alarming frequency since Julian had been brought into the house.

She stepped into the room and tried to return the smile the elegant woman on the settee gave her. Al she could think of for a moment was that

now she knew where Julian got his incredible green eyes. That and the fact that she had just been kissing the son this poor woman thought dead. Shaking

free of her wild thoughts, Chloe curtsied to the woman.

“M’lady,” she said. “I am Chloe Wherlocke, Lord Wherlocke’s cousin. I am afraid he is out and may not return for some while. Mayhap I can be of

help?”

“Mayhap you can,” Lady Evelyn said. “Please, join me. I have but a few questions concerning my son Nigel.”

“I fear I have never met the man, m’lady,” Chloe said as she sat down, pushing down the fear that something had happened to Julian’s brother.

“I wondered, but my questions concern the person who has become his aide-de-camp. Do you know him? Bened Vaughn?”

“Ah, aye, I do. He is a cousin of ours. I am not sure what you wish me to tel you about him, though. He is a good soldier.”

“So Nigel has told me in the few letters we have received from him. Nigel also implied that, when he sold out, he wished to bring the man back with

him. Now that Nigel is to become the earl”—for a moment Lady Evelyn’s voice wavered and grief twisted her features—“he wil be returning to England

soon and bringing the man with him.”

Chloe clutched her hands tightly together. She desperately wanted to comfort the woman, wanted to ease the terrible grief she had just glimpsed

in Lady Evelyn’s face. Worse, she wanted to tel her the truth immediately. In al of their planning, she had never real y considered what Julian’s mother

would suffer. It was not wrong to keep al of their attention fixed firmly upon keeping Julian and Anthony alive, but that did not ease Chloe’s sudden guilt over the pain that plan had caused this woman.

“Bened is a good man, m’lady,” she said quietly. “I know him, although I confess that I do not know him that wel , as I was but a child when he joined

the army. However, about al I can think of that may be considered a fault in the man is that he is very somber.”

Lady Evelyn smiled. “That is probably a very good thing, for Nigel can be very high-spirited and, I fear, a little reckless.”

“Wel , no one would ever accuse Bened of being reckless.”

Before Chloe could say anything else, Wynn peered into the room and signaled that he needed to speak to her. Assuring Lady Evelyn that she

would return in a few moments, Chloe hurried out of the room. The look of worry on Wynn’s broad face caused Chloe’s stomach to drop into her slippers.

She should have known that such a pleasant, successful morning at the shops would carry a price. It was turning into a very high one, however.

“What is wrong now?” she asked the man.

“We cannot find the wee lad.”

“Dilys?”

“She thought the boy was settled down in his bed, but he slipped away right fast. She has been looking everywhere.”

Chloe bit back a curse. “He has to be round here somewhere. He was in with his father only moments ago.”

“The boy is quick.”

And it might have been a lot longer than she realized, for there was no denying that kissing Julian had scattered her wits. “Stil , how far could he

have gone? I wil look upstairs and the rest of you can search down here and in the garden.”

Knowing that she could not leave Lady Evelyn alone for long, Chloe raced up the stairs. Even as she searched the rooms, she cursed herself for

ever having played hide-and-seek with the child. She knew that was what Anthony was doing right now, and there were far too many ways for a child to

slip from room to room in Leo’s passage-ridden house. When she found him, she would do her best to make him understand that such games could not

be played unless everyone was told first.

It did not take long for Chloe to grow concerned. She had no sense that Anthony was in any real danger, but she had to acknowledge that her gift

had been far too quiet of late. Anthony had not even slipped back into his father’s room. She did her best not to reveal her growing worry to Julian as she searched his room, but she could tel by the look on his face that he had not been fooled by her glib explanations. It had been even harder to get him to

stay put and not join in the search, but that could not be al owed. The guest she had threatened him with would probably recognize him even if al she

heard was his voice, although she could not tel him that.

A brief conference with the others who were searching for Anthony revealed that there was only one room that had not yet been searched—the

one holding the dowager countess of Colinsmoor. Although she told herself not to be concerned, Chloe had a sinking feeling in her heart. There were

ways the boy could have slipped by everyone and gotten into the blue salon. She started toward the room, al the while praying that al she would be doing

in a moment was claiming a smal household crisis and sending Lady Evelyn on her way.

Julian frowned at the door as it closed behind Chloe. When she had first returned to his room, he had feared she wanted to talk about the kiss,

and that was the last thing he wanted to do. He was stil reeling over how that kiss had nearly knocked him back on his heels. For a woman who clearly

had little or no experience in the art of kissing, Chloe Wherlocke packed al the punch of the headiest, richest brandy. She tasted better, too.

It had been the greatest of fol ies to kiss her. Julian mental y flayed himself for being so weak as to give in to the temptation. He and Chloe were

often forced into unchaperoned proximity due to the situation they were in, one caused by his enemies. It was wrong to take advantage of that, wrong in so

many ways he did not even bother to count them. He had to find some way to resist the al ure of the woman. Reminding himself that he was a married man

was not working and he suspected it was because, in his heart, he had long considered his marriage over. The law thought otherwise, as did society.

There had to be a way to kil his attraction to her, but it was hard to think of one when the taste of her was stil on his lips—her sweet, far too tempting taste.

He started to pace as he tried to think why she should be searching for Anthony, shaking al thought of Chloe and kisses from his mind. The boy

had obviously gone missing, and that worried him. Yet Anthony had been with him not very long ago, so he could not think that the boy had gone very far.

Under normal circumstances, he would just shrug it aside as a naughty little boy playing a game, but he and his son had some very deadly enemies. His

offer to help look had been rejected because there was a guest downstairs who might recognize him.

Cursing the fact that he could not go and help search, Julian poured himself a tankard of wine and drank deeply. He would give them an hour to

find Anthony. If, after that hour, no one had found the child, then this game of hiding from the sight of everyone would be over. He would not huddle in this room keeping himself safe while his son was in danger. Keeping a close eye on the clock on the mantel, he continued to pace and prayed that the next

news he heard was that a naughty Anthony was being dutiful y punished for scaring everyone.

Evelyn dabbed at her watery eyes with a lacy handkerchief. Simply mentioning her lost son in passing had nearly been enough to shatter al her

control and bring her to her knees. She suspected it would be a long time before the pain of Julian’s loss would lessen to anything close to bearable, even if his body was found so that she could give him a proper burial.