Twice Tempted (29 page)

And then, she clamped around him and she stiffened, whimpering, pulling, pushing, milking his cock of every last dreg of control, and before he could gather the sense to pull out, he exploded into her, pumping his seed into her womb, his own body seizing and galvanized, until he collapsed, damp and exhausted, into her arms, his face against her breast, his heart battering his ribs, his strength gone. Until panting and damp, the two of them simply lay there in the shadows, replete, stricken. Until slowly, inevitably, his sense came back and he lifted on his elbows.

“You were a virgin,” he accused.

She blinked up at him. “I know.”

She looked so languorous and sated, her lips swollen and her hair tumbled about her on the pillow. His cock stirred and his heart picked up speed.

“But how could you be after working in the brothel?”

For a moment she didn’t answer, just stared at him. He thought he saw hurt deep in that lake blue. He thought he saw withdrawal. Wriggling out from beneath him, she climbed off the bed and grabbed her chemise. “You mean, how could I remain a virgin if I’m also a whore?”

He leaped off the bed and grabbed her by the arms. “You are
not
a whore.”

She peered up at him, that scrap of linen caught between them, her body alabaster in the dimness. “I know,” she finally said, her voice small. “I just wasn’t certain you did.”

“I could tell from the first kiss, Fee. Whatever you had been forced to do, it wasn’t in your nature. But what did you do there?”

Her smile was rueful. For a moment she resisted, her body as tense as her mouth. Then, gently, she pulled away from him. “The accounts. Betty the Badger was terrible at numbers. One of my friends in the vaults told me. So I offered my services. Twice a week.” She shrugged. “She paid me well. Would it have made a difference if I
had
done more than the books?”

He couldn’t lie to her. “Yes,” he said. “Because I would have mourned the innocence lost back in those years. I spent an awful few days thinking that you had been forced into the trade at such a young age.”

“I wasn’t completely ignorant of it,” she said, looking away. “It was rather hard to miss. And people saw me.”

“The men on Calton Hill?”

Finally she seemed truly amused. “John Playfair? Good heavens, no. He would have died if he’d known. He taught Mae and me astronomy. They set up their telescopes on Calton Hill.”

Alex frowned. “It didn’t seem odd to them that two twelve-year-olds wandered around the city late at night?”

She shrugged. “I paid one of the assistants at the shop where we worked to act as our big brother. The gentlemen thought we were always chaperoned.”

Alex pulled her back into his arms and gently and thoroughly kissed her. “I’m so sorry,” he said, dropping quick kisses across her cheeks and eyelids, trying hard not to betray the depth of his relief. “I should never have jumped to the obvious conclusions. Especially with you.”

She lifted up and returned his kiss, her breasts rubbing deliciously against his chest. “So nothing has changed?”

He chuckled and slipped a hand down her back. “Oh, something has changed. It’s changed in a big way.”

Grinning she wriggled against him. “Yes. I can tell. Shouldn’t we take care of that?”

“Eventually,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck. “But first, I think you deserve a bit more attention.”

He felt her knees weaken. “Any more attention and I will turn into a puddle.”

He lifted her in his arms and returned her to bed. “Good. That was just what I was hoping.”

“Me, too,” she agreed, lifting her arms to welcome him. “Everything else is too complicated right now.”

She had no idea, Alex thought. Because after what happened tonight, they would have to marry.

But that was not something he needed to address immediately. Certainly not before addressing Fiona’s other needs. Or his.

*  *  *

Mae woke her, of course. After the second time. No, make that the third. She was back in her bed and the sun well up, when Mae tapped on the door. Her eyes snapping open at the sound, Fiona quickly lifted the covers to check her attire.

Night rail. Good. She had remembered. She almost giggled out loud. After the night she had spent, she was a bit surprised. Faith, she was surprised she had any modesty left at all. If the first time she had made love had been cataclysmic, the second…
and
third…had been languid. Sensual. Unforgettable. Her breasts still ached. Her skin was tingling and glowing and impatient for his touch. And her memory finally,
finally
, had something to offset the rest, something joyful, wondrous, and enthralling. The rasp of his beard against her throat. The soft curl of hair across his chest and that wonderful, enticing, naughty little line of hair that began at his navel and proceeded south. The line that begged exploration, discovery, satisfaction.

Her fingers still remembered his shape. Her mouth held his taste of brandy and coffee long after he’d left. And her body, that body that had been nothing but a tool, carried the imprint of his touch. The deliciously raw soreness that told of repeated invasion.

She had known, all those years ago. She had seen this consummation in that kiss, and she had suffered guilt for it. The guilt was gone, leaving only joy behind. Relief. Resurrection.

“Fee,” Mae whispered urgently, knocking again.

Fiona sat up and smiled at every ache and twinge that reminded her of the night before. “Come in, Mae.”

Her sister was frowning as she strode in, obviously long since dressed. Without invitation, she climbed up and sat on Fiona’s bed, still frowning.

“What’s wrong, sweetings?” Fiona asked, taking her hand.

Mairead didn’t answer right away, which really caught Fiona’s attention. Usually by the time Mairead asked for help, she had an entire script in her head. This morning, Fiona had the patience to wait.

“Something is wrong, Fee.”

“What, love?”

“Well, Chuffy and I…we…”

Fiona’s smile spread, even as her heart turned over. “Oh, Mae, I think I know where this is going. I don’t suppose you remember the talk we had when you began your menses.”

Mae’s head came up and she scowled. “I remember everything everyone has ever said.”

Of course she did. “I am not quite sure if you understand that particular conversation. I mean about the relations between men and women.”

Suddenly Mae was grinning, and she looked like an imp. “You mean about sex? Of course I remember it. Who could forget? I simply thought I would never need it.”

Fiona’s breath caught. “And you do?”

“Well, yes, soon, I imagine. But that isn’t what this is about. Chuffy and I were working, and I had to get up to the convenience, and I saw Alex outside. Just beyond the garden. And something is wrong. That man is wrong.”

Suddenly Fiona was paying attention. “Man? What man? Wrong how?”

But Mae could manage no more than a shrug. Mae was terrible at reading people. She took everything at face value. But some vestige of self-preservation alerted her when there was danger. It had gone a long way to keep her alive over the years, especially when Fiona couldn’t be there. Even when Fiona
could
.

“Are they still there?”

Mae nodded. “You can hear them from the garden, I think. So you’re not seen.”

“Stay here, sweetings. Promise?” She only waited for Mae’s nod before hopping down and throwing on her clothing. “I’ll be right back. I promise.”

She hated that her heart was already racing, and that her palms were damp. She had just had the most wonderful night of her life. Why should she immediately assume that whatever waited for her would destroy it?

There was no one in the garden when she stepped outside. No one within view anywhere. Very carefully, she paced along the tall hedges that marked its boundaries. She was halfway along the back border when she heard them. Alex was whispering. He sounded urgent, as if there was some great secret. “I don’t understand. What more could you want?”

“I understand you have the note,” another voice answered. “What does it say?”

“To hand the girls over. I’ve obviously led you to them. You know where they are. That should be enough. They’re innocent in all this.”

“That’s not what I was told. Doesn’t matter. Not your place to argue. Your place is to hand them over or the truth about your father’s treasonous activities comes to light and he’s ruined.”

Fiona froze. Her heart stumbled and righted itself. Her stomach, long since the habitat for her most terrible premonitions, squeezed and squeezed.
No, Alex. Please, no.

She waited for Alex to say that the man couldn’t have them. That he would protect them with his life, no matter what.

But he said nothing.

Nothing.

Closing her eyes, she drew a breath. Well, at least she thought she knew what that darkness was that had been dogging Alex. She understood too the dilemma he found himself in, and she hurt so badly for him. How could an honorable man choose between the father he loved and the women he’d sworn to protect? The only thing she could do was to take his choice away.

She wasted only a moment mourning. She didn’t think anything could have hurt as much as Ian’s loss. Oddly, it did. And then, just as she had always done, she turned to what must be done. Her mind already sorting through things like ready cash and where she had stashed the gall of Aleppo, she turned to go back inside.

Chapter 18

A
lex’s body thrummed with frustration. His brain reeled with questions, ideas, plans. And he stood perfectly still, facing off with the man who had come to ruin him.

One of Finney’s men, a hulking, balding brute named Ben. Alex couldn’t believe it. The man had been patrolling the grounds for two days now, and suddenly out of nowhere, he pulled Alex aside and delivered the ultimatum.

“You’ll understand, sir, I have nothing but respect for yourself and yours,” the man said, as if he didn’t have a pepper pot shoved into his belt. “But the gentleman what told me to bring the message has me dad watched. Threatened to burn down his store.”

“Do you know who the man is?”

The guard’s smile was rueful. “Now, sir, you know I won’t tell you. Not when me dad’s at risk. You know how much your own dad means to you.”

Alex struggled to contain his fury. He had to, or all was lost. “This is ridiculous. What threat could two women be to them?”

The man shrugged. “Don’ know, do I? Said they’d stolen somethin’ from them they want back.”

“What?” Although he had a terrible feeling he knew. “If we know, I can get it back myself.”

The man shrugged again. “Said they’d tell the girls themselves.”

Alex’s gut twisted harder. “What did the man look like who talked to you?”

Ben gave him a gap-toothed smile. “You don’t think I’m that dumb, do ya?”

No, sadly, he didn’t. “Exactly how do they expect me to…
deliver
the women?”

“There will be a carriage available from tonight. Up to you how you get ’em in.”

“And you don’t know anything more about this man?”

“Didn’t ask. Not my business.”

“It will be if you’re hanged for treason. How would your dad like that?”

The man shrugged his oversized shoulders. “Least he’ll be alive, won’t he?”

Alex had actually been hoping for this moment, when he would draw out the blackmailer. But he’d thought to meet one of the Lions. Not another blackmail victim.

It didn’t matter. He would figure something out.

“Tomorrow,” he said. “Tell them to be ready tomorrow.”

And without another word, he walked back into the house. He had to tell Chuffy; there was nothing else for it. He had to make sure his father learned nothing of what was transpiring. Dr. O’Roarke could see to that. After he talked to Chuffy, he would figure what to tell the women. If anything.

For a second as he stepped into the shadowy hallway by the library, he stopped to rub at his eyes. He’d known all along that this was where this would lead. Fiona or his father. The woman he loved or the father who was the whole world to so many people. To him. The man who lay upstairs too weak to even feed himself, who had damn near killed himself to serve his government.

Well, Alex wasn’t going to finish the job with this revelation.

But Fiona. Courageous, loving, brilliant Fiona. Beloved Fiona, with her uncompromising honesty, her sly wit and agile mind. Fiona, with whom he was falling in love and whom he only wanted to protect. He felt as if the choice were ripping him apart.

He was headed for the stairs when the door to the breakfast room slammed open and Chuffy burst out like cannon fire.

“Hold there, man,” Alex cautioned, catching him before he caromed into him. “What’s the rush?”

Chuffy’s glasses were sliding off the top of his head and his neckcloth was yanked nearly off. “I have something.”

Alex’s heart stumbled again. “What?”

Chuffy held out one of the ubiquitous papers, with its coded message. “The paper in that locket you found. Not the Lions’ code. Not the government code. Much simpler. Too simple.”

“What about it?”

Chuffy gave the paper a wave. “Says everything is in the safe at Hawes House. Everything. Just that. Then, by God, a location. What do you think ‘everything’ is?”

For the longest moment, Alex just stared at his friend, struggling to catch up. Everything.
Everything.
Alex grabbed the paper and read it. “You’re sure? Hawes House?”

The information Weams had that could bring everybody down.
Everything.
Did that mean information on the Lions, or the blackmail material they had been using? Was it his lever to protect those he loved?

“We need to tell Drake,” Chuffy said.

Alex grabbed his arm. “Not yet.”

First he had to get to that safe. He had to make sure nothing was left that could indict Sir Joseph. He had to get rid of that carriage.

“Why?” Chuffy asked

Alex took a breath. “Because I’d rather as few people as possible knew where we are until we get more answers. I sent a message to Drake that we’re safe and secure. Until I know more of the threat from the Lions and the marquess, I’d rather not put the women in any more danger.”