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A t the touch of Will’s lips to hers, Lucy made a needy sound and slid her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her.

She’d wanted to kiss him again so many times since their encounter in her family’s parlor, but no good opportunity had presented itself. She’d thought of the feel of Will in her arms, his mouth on hers, over and over again.

Now, she took advantage of this moment out of time and gave herself up to the feel of Will Gilford’s body pressed against hers.

When he opened his mouth over hers, Lucy didn’t hesitate but welcomed his tongue inside her mouth. The contact sent a jolt of heat through her, and she felt the connection as if there were an electric wire running from her mouth to her core.

The sound she made then seemed to bring Will to his senses, though the hand that cupped her breast contracted, as if protesting the fact it couldn’t keep going.

Her breath coming in gusts, Lucy dropped her forehead onto Will’s chest.

Kissing her softly on the top of her head, Will said, “I am sorry, darling, but there is something I need to speak to you about before that goes any further.”

Lucy let his words sink in for a moment before she heaved a sigh and adjusted herself into if not a more decorous position, then at least a more upright one.

The noise Will made when she shifted in his lap made Lucy frown. “Did I hurt you?”

But he shook his head and seemed determined to continue. Which, unfortunately, meant that he needed to place her on the seat opposite, much to Lucy’s disappointment.

When she looked up from where he’d set her, she saw that Will’s expression was deadly serious. And she feared suddenly that he was going to give her some dire news. Was Meg hurt? Had he learned something about her mother?

“There is something I wish to ask you,” Will said, taking her hand in his, stroking his thumb over the back of it.

At his words, Lucy felt her tummy flip. She’d heard enough friends describe the moment when their respective husbands had proposed to know what Will was about to say. She opened her mouth to tell him there was no need to go further, that of course she accepted. But before she could say anything, he held up a staying hand.

“I must tell you something first, however,” he said, looking as if he would rather run screaming from the carriage.

Nodding at him, hoping to give him some reassurance, Lucy gestured for him to continue.

Taking a deep breath, he continued. “Nearly two weeks ago, Woodward visited me in Paris and brought an urgent packet from my man of business.”

Lucy blinked. Why would he tell her something that didn’t pertain to her?

“Inside was the news that the man who acted as steward for the four country houses that comprise the Gilford estates since my father’s time had absconded with hundreds of thousands of pounds from the family coffers. And that theft, in combination with the exorbitant amounts of money my mother had spent since my father’s death, had left the estate coffers in a woeful state. In short, the Gilford estate was depleted, and I needed to do something to mend things.”

“Marry, you mean?” Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. She’d thought he was preparing to tell her something really dire. “I already know all of this, Will.”

He was clearly startled, but Lucy wasn’t sure if it was because of her pronouncement or her use of his given name.

“You do?” His voice was strained. “How could you possibly know?”

She wanted to pat him on the hand, as men had done to her so many times in her life when explaining something. But Will had never been that sort of man to her. And she wanted only to soothe his obvious nerves over the matter.

“I know because your sister is my dearest friend in the world,” she explained simply. “And we tell each other everything.”

Though as soon as she spoke the words, Lucy mentally amended them. She still hadn’t got the full story on Ben Woodward from Meg. And of course she hadn’t told Will’s sister about just how skilled he was at kissing.

But what she’d told him was true more or less.

He still looked confused, however. “I never told Meg about the state of the family finances. I didn’t want to make her worry. I was hoping to marry soon after returning to London so there would be no need to tell her.”

“Do you know nothing about women?” Lucy asked him with affectionate exasperation. “Meg learned of it from your mother, who wasted no time after you informed her of your changed circumstances and poured out her tale of woe to her maid. The maid in turn told Meg’s maid, who then told Meg.”

Will’s eyes were wide with disbelief. And for a few moments he was speechless.

“Will,” she told him patiently, “the only people in London who are more fond of gossip than the ladies of the ton are their servants. How did you not already know this?”

“I suppose it just never occurred to me that my mother would confide the news to her maid,” he said with a shake of his head. “I thought she’d be too ashamed. But of course she probably told the tale in some way that she turned out to be the injured party.”

That was true enough, so Lucy just nodded.

Shaking his head as if to clear it, he said, “Then I suppose you know what I intended to say next?”

“Not precisely,” Lucy said with a smile. “I know the gist, I believe, but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish to hear the words.”

But instead of looking relieved to know she was expecting his proposal, Will still looked troubled. “Lucy, I was hoping to find some way of repairing the Gilford fortunes before I had the temerity to ask you to marry me.”

“But there’s no need,” she said, feeling as if she was stating the obvious. “I have enough money for all of us. You need to marry an heiress. I am an heiress.”

Now it was his turn to sigh. Will looked at her with exasperation. “You must know that it isn’t easy on a man’s pride to be forced to rely on a bride for funds.”

But Lucy thought this was arrant nonsense and didn’t bother to hide it. “Marriages have been contracted in order to gain lands, fortunes, jewels, and any number of valuables since before England was even a nation. You can’t tell me that you, William, the sixth Viscount Gilford, are too high in the instep to accept my fortune when we marry?”

“When you put it like that,” he said, rubbing his nape in embarrassment, “you make me sound foolish.”

“Not foolish, darling,” she told him, once more flinging herself into his arms. “Merely a little thickheaded.”

“Then you’ll marry me?” he asked, his deep voice vibrating against her neck where he’d tucked his head.

“Of course I will,” she said, turning her head for what was meant to be a brief meeting of lips but turned into a long, languorous kiss that included not only lips, but teeth and tongues.

A brisk knock on the carriage door made them spring apart, though Lucy refused to move back to the seat on the other side of the carriage interior.

Her hand firmly gripped in Will’s, she called out for whoever it was to come in.

She’d hoped it would be Kate who looked in on them, but it was Eversham. Her cousin looked faintly amused as he noted her location as well as the couple’s linked hands.

The look he leveled on Will seemed to ask a question. Lucy wondered what the older man had said to Gilford when they spoke earlier.

“You may wish us happy, Eversham,” her fiancé—her fiancé!—said to the detective superintendent. “Lucy has accepted my proposal of marriage.”

Cousin Andrew might have expected the announcement, but that didn’t seem to dim his genuine pleasure in it. Lines bracketed his wide smile, and he climbed in to give Lucy a brief hug and to clasp Will’s hand in his.

“I could wish that the circumstances were different,” he said, and Lucy felt a pang of remorse that she’d forgotten that only a short time ago she’d seen a man murdered. “But that should not dim our joy in the match even so. Such events have a way of telling us in a few hours how suited a pair is to one another. Whereas there are years-long betrothals that could not predict another pair’s incompatibility.”

“Well said,” Lucy told her cousin with a grin. “These are the times when I remember your father was a vicar.”

The detective shrugged. “There are worse parental influences.”

Changing the subject, he glanced at Will and asked, “Have you brought your own carriage tonight?”

Suddenly thinking of Meg, Lucy’s eyes widened. “I forgot all about the others back in the Langhams’ box. Do you know if someone has spoken with them?”

“Katherine went to inform them what happened,” her cousin said. Then to Will he said, “I believe your sister and mother accepted an escort home from Adrian and Jane.”

Will nodded and turned to Lucy. “They brought you tonight, didn’t they?”

At her nod, he said to Eversham, “I did bring my own carriage tonight. I can take Lucy to Brook Street.”

It would generally be unacceptable for an unmarried young lady to ride alone in a closed carriage with a gentleman who was not a relative. Lucy waited for Eversham to raise some objection, but her cousin merely nodded.

Before they climbed out of the Evershams’ carriage, Will shrugged out of his outer coat and draped it over Lucy’s shoulders. She glanced down at her gown, which was covered with Sir Charles Fleetwood’s blood, and gave a shudder.

“You’ll be home soon,” Will told her softly. She thought he was going to kiss her again but he only gave her a look, then climbed out of the carriage.

Fortunately, Will’s coachman had managed to get close to the area where Fleetwood had been killed. This despite the crowd of gawkers and journalists who had gathered. Unfortunately, this meant that he and Lucy had to wend their way through the throng in order to get to the vehicle.

“Lord Gilford, is it true that you stopped the killer from attacking Miss Penhallow?”

“Miss Penhallow, did you see the face of the killer? Why were you meeting with Sir Charles? Was it to discuss his attack on Lord Cheswick? Why were you there at both crimes? Are you involved in the disappearance of your friend Miss Vera Blackwood? Miss Penhallow! Miss Penhallow!”

Lucy heard all their questions but answered none. She allowed Will, who had wrapped an arm around her, to hurry her past the shouting journalists and soon they were safe inside the Gilford carriage.

This time, they both climbed in on the same side and their arms went around one another without any awkwardness. And they rode like that the entire way to the Penhallow townhouse.