Page 32 of Beauty and the Rake (Endless Love #1)

H yde Park on a typical sunny summer afternoon was full of what members of the ton had either stayed behind in London or had returned, albeit temporarily. Couples walked together by themselves or with another couple. It was bustling with all who wanted to be seen.

Graham and Roxanne had taken the pram and Mary from her nanny who would walk a discreet distance behind them.

Graham set the pace and guided everyone down one of the busier walking paths.

This seemed to be where everyone was congregating.

The pair leisurely began their walk. They acknowledged people in passing but never stopped to talk.

It was too soon to speak to anyone. Roxanne wanted to get a feeling of how people were reacting to seeing the pair pushing a pram, and she wished for one of the ton to come and inspect.

It wasn’t but a few minutes before Roxanne came upon a small uprising in the form of two titled women who had no scruples.

Not wanting to not be the first, they scurried up to where she and Graham were stopped as Graham pointed out a hot air balloon being prepared for its short voyage over the park.

“Does the child belong to a friend?” the older of the two women inquired, peeking into the pram’s interior and immediately beginning to make silly noises to Mary.

“No, she’s ours,” she said. She didn’t dare look at Graham as it would ruin their whole plan.

“Yours? I had no idea or heard you were with child.”

“I kept it to myself until I couldn’t.”

“Do you plan on staying here?”

“Yes, either here or in Kent.”

“Well, if you need to talk somewhere, I’ll make myself available. It can’t be easy raising a babe by yourself.”

“I’m not alone. Hawksbury and I are married. I have a nanny, who does a marvelous job.”

The woman flushed at her error. “I apologize. I had no idea.”

“No need to apologize. You had no way of knowing.”

“I don’t mean to be insensitive.”

“Like you said, you had no idea.” She turned to Graham. “I think it might be a good idea to head back to the carriage. The skies seem to be darkening.”

They said their goodbyes and headed back in the direction of the carriages. She didn’t want Mary getting soaked. It certainly wouldn’t help anyone, for that matter.

“Be prepared for the calling cards and invitations to start coming in,” Graham said. “You’re going to be quite popular.”

“Which was not my intention, but this could prove to be interesting.”

She felt drops slowly falling from the darkening sky. Stopping for a moment, Roxanne placed a dry blanket over the pram opening. Maybe this would work until they could get to the carriages.

As soon as they placed Mary in the second carriage with her nanny and the pram secured, the pair rushed into their waiting carriage just as the sky opened up and rain started pouring.

Roxanne sat back against the squabs and giggled.

“What is so funny?” Graham asked.

“That we accomplished what we intended. Our surprise marriage and Mary will be the talk of the ton thanks to those two ladies.”

“We did that, though I’m a bit disappointed we weren’t able to take a longer walk.”

“You’ll get your chance again,” she said.

“We’re going to do this again?”

Roxanne nodded with a grin. “Yes.”

“I’m beginning to believe my wife likes to stir the gossip mill.”

“You know me too well, husband.”

He glanced outside the carriage and turned back to her. “Since we’re back at the house, I thought we could have a pot of tea brought up to our bed chamber and we can get out of these wet clothes while we wait.”

“That sounds splendid. You can go over any correspondence that has arrived.”

Graham had other plans. “Actually, I was thinking after the tea arrives and I’ve at least seen who’s written that we could be a little naughty.”

“Naughty? Like yesterday?”

He gave her a devilish grin without saying a word.

To her surprise, she caught a glimpse of the house as the carriage pulled down the short driveway and stopped in front of the steps. “We’re home.”

“I’ll order the tea and such and join you upstairs,” he said.

“Excellent,” she replied. “Do have some of the ginger biscuits sent up with the tea. I smelled them baking in the oven this morning and have wanted one ever since.”

He walked her across the reception hall to the stairs. “I’ll be behind you momentarily.”

Nodding, Roxanne held on to the railing as she walked up the stairs.

Standing in front of the door, she swung it open.

Kicking off her short boots, she went to the countess’s suite.

She was sure by the neatness of the room, her maid had more than likely come in once she and her husband left the suite.

There were also vases of fresh flowers throughout the two suites which hadn’t been there before.

It was a thoughtful gesture, trying to make the rooms a little more hers.

She returned to Graham’s suite as soon as she was out of her damp clothes and into something dry. He appeared as though he had just arrived. He had divested his suit jacket and thrown it over the back of a chair. There was a small stack of correspondence in his hands.

“Tea should be here momentarily,” he said.

Roxanne neared. “Anything interesting?” she asked as she neared a little closer to him.

“There’s a missive from your brother, but I haven’t read it yet.”

“I thought you weren’t working for at least three days. Whatever Arthur thinks is so important can wait.”

“It might be important.”

“If it is that important, he can physically come here.”

“True, but maybe he doesn’t want to interrupt our time,” Graham said.

“Arthur is considerate like that.”

Graham placed the letter down on the writing desk, walked away, and began removing his vest and shirt, tossing them to the floor. He picked up another shirt folded on a chair and put it on. He walked back to the writing desk where Roxanne still stood.

He picked up the letter and opened it carefully. He read the contents before re-reading the missive. “Well, this is interesting…”

“What’s that?”

“Arthur thinks we scared our ship seller off because both the ships we were talking to him about have suddenly left London. He goes on to say that offices are closed up and any of the dockworkers were as surprised as Arthur when he asked about the ships and their owner.”

“Is there anyone who might know?”

“Possibly, if he didn’t bribe them. We’ll get to the bottom of it,” Graham said.

“It’s a good thing your transactions never went any further.”

Graham walked over to a sideboard and poured two whiskeys. One for him and another for his bride. “We’re not going to give up. There’s an excellent chance he knows what happened to your parents.”

She accepted the glass and took a sip. “I would continue. He’s going to slip up again. Someone will come forward with information about where he is.”

“If he hasn’t left for the Continent. It’ll just take longer to locate him.”

A light knock on the door reminded them tea had been ordered. Graham went to the door and accepted a small trolley which even held sweets and tiny sandwiches for them to nibble on. He placed it near the desk and stood back to allow Roxanne access to fix things as they both wanted.

“Come and take what you want to eat. I’ll fix your tea.” She looked down at the tray while he picked up a plate and began to fill it.

He took his plate and found a place to sit where he could spread out. Food in front of him, tea to the right. Roxanne placed his cup down and walked back to retrieve her own. He had just taken a huge bite out of an egg sandwich as she sat down next to him. “You’re certainly hungry.”

“I am,” he replied. “I’ve got an idea. Would you like to hear an idea I came up with? And I promise you it has nothing to do with business.”

“Yes, do tell.”

“There’s a new production of Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ playing at the theater. We could go afterwards and have dinner. I thought it might be nice to get out for a few hours.”

“I would love to go. And as much as I’ve loved spending all this intimate time with you, I know we need to get back to reality.”

“We do. I thought we could go to Kent when I’ve got things taken care of here.”

She reached for a slice of seed cake. “Just let me know and I’ll get everything prepared.”

*

Graham found it impossible to sleep, even with having made love twice to his bride. Oh, he had fallen asleep for about half an hour, but sleep eluded him for the rest of the night. Looking over at his bride, he sighed and rolled onto his back. How could she sleep so deeply and calmly?

He flung his arm over his head, thoughts still dancing through his head.

Ever since he and Roxanne had spoken about Arthur’s missive of the missing two ships and the seller scarce as well, he had not been able to shake off a gut feeling about the man.

He was sure he’d seen the man somewhere else but could not place where.

Was there any truth to the news that the man somehow knew what happened to Roxanne and Arthur’s parents?

Perhaps Arthur’s decision to go through his father’s correspondence might shed light on this.

It didn’t sit right that he couldn’t figure out where he’d seen the man before.

He tried to recall all the places he’d been over the past month.

Nothing and no one stood out. Perhaps he saw him in passing and nothing more.

Shutting his eyes was of no consequence.

He couldn’t begin to sleep. Quietly, he got himself out of bed.

Waking his bride would not be good. She needed her sleep as he’d kept her awake until the early mornings since their wedding.

Naked as the day he was born, he found his way to the sitting area and poured himself a brandy.

Perhaps one would help slow down his thought process.

He sat down at his desk and picked up Arthur’s missive, rereading it for the umpteenth time.

He wanted to try and make logical sense of what was on the page.

The ships having left was the most troubling.

On the other hand, they may have simply been emptied of their cargos and sent elsewhere for maintenance work.

There were a good many shipyards in England and Ireland, and it was quite common to make sure a ship was seaworthy after a voyage.

He made a note of it to discuss with Arthur.

The office being locked up and appearing empty was disheartening.

It might have been a temporary office and had been relocated.

Something else to check out. He was making everything sound logical, and Arthur had seen warning signs.

He would make sure the two of them talked.

They weren’t detectives and wondered if they shouldn’t find one better than they already had.

As he took another sip of brandy, the mystery of where he’d seen Crenshaw came to him.

This had to be it. It was logical; he just hadn’t seen the connection.

The man was none other than Roxanne’s mysterious bookstore stalker.

He wore a beard and moustache at the time and had since shaved to disguise himself.

He had certainly been interested, what with all the questions Roxanne said he’d asked.

He’d been in plain sight all along, and if he or his family had anything to do with Arthur and Roxanne’s parents’ disappearance, he would find out.

Now that he had a name to go with the elusive man, he felt better.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been sitting here all night,” Roxanne said lowly. A sheet wrapped around her was the only thing she wore, and the sight stirred him.

“Okay, I won’t. Truth is, you’re right. I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep, so rather than toss and turn, I made the decision to come out here and see if I couldn’t figure some things.”

She was behind him, her hands on his bare shoulders. “Did you figure anything out?”

“As a matter of fact, I did. You remember the stranger at the bookstore?”

She nodded. “Yes. You know who he is?”

“I do. He’s Mr. Crenshaw. It took me this long to figure it out because he was sporting a beard.”

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely. I will need to speak to your brother about this.”

She ran a hand through his hair; her other remained on his shoulder. “So that’s your plans today?”

“A few hours. After I speak with Arthur, I’ll see about the theater for tonight. And you?”

“I’m going to let the staff know we’ll be going to Kent in two days, spend some time with Mary, and catch up on correspondence I’ve been neglecting.”

“Do you think Arthur would mind if we used your family’s box?”

“I don’t think he’d mind. He rarely uses it as he’s not particularly fond of plays.”

“Or opera,” Graham said.

She clapped him on the shoulders. “He’d rather converse with debutantes than have to sit and listen to an opera.”

“He’s a duke; he’s expected to attend affairs like that. He had best get used to it.”

“I agree but he’s also an eligible, unmarried duke, so unless he’s courting someone, no one would give a second thought to him not attending.”

A jolt of thunder caused them to both pause and then burst out in laughter. “You see what happens when you discuss your brother and marriage?” Graham said.

He stood and rose to his full height. Facing her, he pulled her next to him.

The sheet covering her fell to the floor.

Lowering his lips to hers, he nudged her mouth to open with his tongue.

The deeper the kiss, the more aroused he became.

Roxanne was having the same sort of feelings because she clung to him as though her life depended on it.

The storm raged on directly above them, the skies opening up.

Thank goodness they were safe and sound inside.

Gasping for breath as he broke the kiss, he gazed down at her. “It’s only around five. What if we continue this from that huge bed?”

“Who needs a bed? I’m sure you can show me what you like outside the comfort of a bed.”

“You have no idea what you’ve unleashed, madam.”

“Promises, promises.”