Page 17 of Miss Thornfield’s Daring Bargain (The Troublemakers Trilogy #1)
H is marriage was going to be an interesting one, that was for certain. There was no way he could pretend that his wife was anything but a woman who would demand no less than what she had decided on. In some miraculous twist of fate, she had decided on him. Until the day he died, he would never forget the way she looked, charging into his house with a face like thunder. The image of her above him, dark, lustrous hair spilling over her naked body, and her eyes full of lust and impatience would stay with him the rest of his life.
Her appearance now was a variation on a theme. His fiery sweetheart lay curled up beside him, skin to skin, half covered by the blanket he always kept in his study in case he forgot to tend the fire. Her dear head was resting against his stomach, her arm was wrapped tightly around his waist. Those soft, perfectly sized breasts were pressed against his hip. He’d spent the last hour playing with her hair, easing every pin from the strands, allowing himself to enjoy every texture of her the way he’d wanted to for days. She sighed softly, her breath wafting over his stomach in a faint caress. It was enough to remind him that it had been four hours since he’d made love to her, which was an hour longer than he’d wanted.
He’d glanced at her shadowed face and decided against waking her just yet. She’d barely slept at all, and he was a gentleman despite his determination to roger his wife rigid on the floor of his study. He couldn’t get enough of her, or the way she made love to him like she was determined to pour herself into him, to bind herself to him body and soul. Her eyelids fluttered against his skin as her eyes opened, and she stretched her body along the length of his.
“Is it morning?” she grumbled.
“I’ll be frank, I have no idea.”
“Mmm, you make a lovely pillow.”
“Thank you, darling.”
“Did you sleep at all?”
“Are you nagging me already?”
“How long have you been awake?”
“Yes, I slept. And I’ve been awake an hour at most.” He had no idea of that either. He was watching her face. not the clock.
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
“I wanted to watch you sleep when I didn’t feel guilty for once.”
She pushed herself up to peer at him, and he watched her breasts pop free from their prison between their two bodies and hang free. He hadn’t touched those beauties in too long. Maybe he could convince her to take him for one more ride before they had to leave this room and return to the world.
“Guilty? When were you feeling guilty?”
“You have a habit of attaching yourself to people while you sleep, and I’ve been the person beside you most of that time.”
“But why guilty?”
“Because I wanted to be the one you attached yourself to. Because I wanted you.”
She looked at him in askance. “You had a funny way of showing it. I had to throw aside all my dignity and hunt you down.”
“I didn’t realize you knew where I lived.”
“Richard brought me.”
Of course, he had … That was another thing he’d have to speak to his dear friend about. “Ada.”
“Hmm?”
“Why did you think I was still engaged to Felicity Ashwood?”
“Well, Ellie—Miss Hawthorne—had seen her with your mother. They hadn’t heard anything about it being called off, there wasn’t any scandal about our elopement or bad blood between the families, so she thought we had already dissolved it.”
“Ah.”
“When I mentioned it to Richard, he didn’t say anything to refute it, and I knew he’d come to see you earlier so it confirmed it for me.”
Basil rolled his eyes. That little shit. “He knew I wasn’t engaged.”
“What?”
Basil gave her a wry look. “Your brother knew I wasn’t engaged. He sent you here to ambush me.” And it had worked. He didn’t like that he was so easy to read but he couldn’t argue with the results. He was a simple man in the end.
“Ambush you?”
“He wanted me to stay married to you, but I didn’t think it was a good idea. He tried debate and when that failed, he got you all fired up and sent you to my door.”
“What if you had turned me away?”
“I don’t have a reliable track record of saying ‘no’ to you.”
“You were doing well these past weeks. Why didn’t you want to stay with me?”
“I was worried about you, worried about what you would have to face as my wife. My family is…” he shook his head. “You know what they are like. When it comes to marriage, they were always the selling point, a connection to the nobility.”
“I just wanted you.”
“I know, but without them I’m not much.”
“I disagree. I don’t need you to protect me from them, I need you to love me.”
“You expect me to love you without trying to protect you from harm? Is that reasonable?”
“You were going to make us both miserable because you didn’t respect me enough to trust my judgement?”
“That… seems overly harsh.”
“The realization was difficult to accept as well,” she replied, pinning him down with her stare. How did she manage to be sweet and terrifying all at once?
“I respect you, Ada.”
“In some things yes, but not in that. I will not be put behind glass because you need to play master. I don’t need you in front of me, I need you at my side.”
“Understood.”
“Don’t do that again.” She tangled her fingers in his hair, holding his head in place as she pressed her forehead to his. “Promise me.”
“I promise. I won’t underestimate you again,” he said.
The door opened and Mr. Crouch entered with wood for the fire. Both he and Ada seemed to realize the situation at the same time because they both let out a shriek. Crouch spun around to face the door and Ada tried to burrow between Basil’s back and the armchair.
“I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t realize you were still in here.”
“No, it’s my fault, Crouch. Maybe return in half an hour if it’s not too much trouble?”
“Yes, sir,” he replied before flying out the door and shutting it with a resounding thud.
“Well, I guess that answers your question.”
Ada peeked up at him, her cheeks flushed bright red. “My question?”
“Good morning, Wife.” He winked at her, and she giggled before burying her burning face against his side.
“Oh. Good morning.”
*
Ada had decided that she quite enjoyed being married. She and Basil had moved to his bedroom after the inopportune interruption from the scullery maid, but once they were there, the lovemaking had continued. She didn’t know what it meant that she didn’t mind the seemingly insatiable appetite of her husband. He didn’t seem to ever fully tire or hunger for anything other than her, which suited her just fine so far. She’d already grown used to his soft mouth and the scrape of his beard against her as he woke her. She’d grown used to being kissed awake by a lusty man with sparkling blue eyes and a low, smooth voice.
Now she sat in his lap in the dining room wrapped in his house robe, eating a late breakfast from his plate. Her delightful husband was wearing his shirt and trousers from the night before, thoroughly disheveled and debauched. He was full of surprises. She expected breakfast to consist of cold items like cheese, ham, and bread. Never would she have imagined seeing him standing over the stove in his kitchen frying eggs and bacon.
“You know, Ada, I don’t typically share my food with anyone.”
“Well, I have a bit of paperwork that says you have to share everything with me.”
“Do you?”
“Mmm and seeing as how much I have surrendered to you from a legal and societal perspective, let alone the physical, I think the least you could do is share your eggs and bacon.”
“It’s the coffee I’m concerned about.”
She pulled a face and snapped her teeth at him, triggering a chuckle in response. The doorbell rang and Ada heard Crouch answer it.
“Who on earth could that be?” Ada asked, sitting up straight. She was covered but hardly appropriately dressed for visitors.
“I’m willing to venture a guess,” Basil said.
“Sir, I don’t believe that they are taking callers at the moment.”
Basil and Ada tensed in alarm.
“Nonsense, I’m family,” they heard Zhenyi say. “Do I smell breakfast?”
“Sir.”
Ada began to crawl off Basil’s lap but his grip tightened and he gave her a look. He wanted her to stay there? Wouldn’t it be embarrassing for Zhenyi to see her like this?
Zhenyi burst through the door before pausing at the sight before him.
“Thornfield,” Basil said.
Zhenyi blinked in shock for a moment before a sly smile spread across his face. “Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson.”
“Good morning, Gēgē.”
“Is that bacon?” he asked, stepping forward with an eager look.
“No, it isn’t,” Basil replied, grabbing the plate and sliding it away from him. “You two are like locusts. Go get your own food!”
“I suppose based on your current state of undress you two managed to sort out your differences?”
“Yes,” Basil replied, still eyeing him warily.
Zhenyi turned to Ada. “And you’ve managed to talk my good friend here out of the truly idiotic notion of having an annulment?”
“Yes,” Ada replied, giggling at the glare Basil was giving her brother.
“Excellent. I’ll just show myself out then,” he ducked out of the room, and just as Ada was about to relax, his head appeared again around the door. “I’ll guess I won’t be seeing you later on today Basil?”
“Get out!” Basil cried, grabbing a fork and throwing it in his direction, as he retreated with a laugh that they could hear until he left the premises.
*
Thornfield House
London
When Basil arrived the next day to help Richard with the business ledgers, he grew immediately suspicious at the lack of commentary from his old friend. The longer Richard made no mention of what he’d seen the previous day, the more Basil dreaded the moment that discretion ran out. He’d never met a man more naturally kind with such a profane sense of humor.
When Basil looked up from the ledger on the desk and saw Richard smirking at him, he knew his time had run out.
“I’m glad that you and Ada have managed to sort yourselves out,” Richard commented innocently.
“Due to your meddling,” Basil replied evenly. “Thanks for that by the way.”
“You are welcome.” Richard sipped his tea.
Basil waited a few moments before plunging in. There was no point in avoiding the conversation now. “You could have given me some warning before sending her over.”
“That is true.”
“And you could have told her that I wasn’t engaged instead of goading her into a temper.”
A small, smug smile made an appearance. “That is also true.”
“But I suppose the idea of me being trounced by your little sister was too appealing.”
“It truly was.”
Basil shook his head in rueful amusement. “Why are you like this?”
“Who knew how long you would have been stupid if I didn’t send her?” Richard replied flippantly before his face grew solemn. “She was so sad, Basil. I would have torn your hide myself if I didn’t know you were as miserable as she was. She kept waiting for you and dressing up for you and you never came. She broke into my office for your address so she could write you letters. She was stalking the footman for the post.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t need you sorry. You are my oldest, dearest friend and as that, I wish you the very best in your marriage. But she is my little sister.”
Basil wasn’t looking at his friend anymore. This was Ada’s elder brother, the head of their family, her “Gēgē”, as she called him. This man wasn’t concerned with anything but the little girl he’d comforted during thunderstorms and protected from bad dreams.
“She is my only family in this country, and I’ve loved her and watched over her since before she was born,” Richard continued. “She is dearer to me than the blood in my veins and if you ever put that look on her face again, I will kill you.”
“You’ll never get the chance. She’s stuck with me now.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Good friends are so hard to find, it would take me another fifteen years to replace you.” He winced and shuddered as if the thought itself was traumatic.
Basil looked away and shook his head, calling on every ounce of his self-control to stop himself from laughing. It would only encourage the man. There was truly no one more endearing or impudent than him. “As your friend, I suppose it would be unmannerly to inconvenience you in that way.”
“I knew you would understand. There’s another matter I want to discuss with you.”
Of course there was , Basil thought. “Go on.”
“I’m settling on Ada’s dowry, and there is one request I have of you.”
“Am I going to like this request?”
“Likely not, but listen anyway. Your properties, the one in the country and the one in town. I want to finish them.”
There was a prickling at the back of Basil’s neck, as if his body was preparing for a feeling he wasn’t sure of. Finish them? “What exactly do you mean, Richard?”
“I want you to let me fund their completion.”
Basil’s head was shaking even before he had finished speaking. “No, Richard. Of course, no. I don’t need you to do that.”
“I know that.”
His face was burning, his mouth was as dry as week-old bread. How could he think he would accept something like this? Was he looking down on him as if he was some pauper that needed to be brought up to scratch? “I’m not the richest man in the world, but I can finish my house on my own. I can take care of my wife and my family on my own.”
“Your wife is my baby sister.”
“I know who she is,” Basil snapped, rising to his feet. He didn’t know where he’d expected the conversation to turn but this wasn’t it. “You’re annoying me now. I’m going to go home and forget you said this.”
“Basil, please just listen. I knew that Ada would marry one day and make a family of her own and for her sake I was prepared. I had her dowry, the funds which you knew about but there were things as well. Things—” His voice cracked, and he paused looking away almost angrily. He closed his eyes and took a breath, his jaw clenching and flexing against some emotion.
Basil watched in horrified fascination, still annoyed and yet terrified of seeing tears in his friend’s eyes.
After a tense moment, Richard spoke again. “Things our mother wanted her only daughter to have. Silk brocades I made for her trousseau. Jade bracelets and hair pins from our mother. Ink sticks and brushes from home. I wanted to give them to her at her engagement party, on her wedding day. I wanted to give her a wedding where she would feel not only my love but theirs. Now, because of that man, I’ve missed all of that. My parents couldn’t give her away and neither could I. Her wedding day was an act of desperation instead of a happy occasion.”
Richard never spoke about his parents after their deaths, let alone their hopes. He made it easy for others to forget the loss he’d suffered at a young age and the responsibility he’d taken on willingly out of love for their memory. “You can still give those things to her, Richard.”
Richard shook his head irritably, “It’s not about the things.” He looked at Basil with eyes that were bloodshot and glistening. “I missed her wedding, Basil. I don’t have another sister. I can’t get that back. Let me give my sister a house.”
His throat was burning. Fuck, he looked away, shifting his weight awkwardly. What the hell could he say to that? Was he allowing his pride to rob Ada of a proper home? She was staying with him currently, but once work began, how could he expect her to live there? Was he being unreasonable? He sighed heavily and stalked back over to the chair, dropping into it. “A house,” he conceded, knowing that in the end he would agree to anything. Anything for Richard to put those sad, fucking eyes away.
Richard blinked in surprise, then shook his head, clearing his throat. “Country house then.”
“The city one needs more work.” The words came out before he could stop them.
The tears were still there but now a smile was there, small but genuine. “Take my sister on her honeymoon and leave the blueprints with me.”
Basil cleared his throat again, refusing to smile back. “I’m still not comfortable with this, mind.”
“I know, but it’s something I can do for you as well, for both of you. After all, you risked a great deal for my sake.”
“Leo risked as much as I did, are you going to buy him a house as well?”
“First of all, Leo is a trained veteran, and you are not, secondly, Leo didn’t nearly blow up his reputation by marrying my sister while engaged to a daughter of the nobility. But since you mentioned it, I am well aware that I will owe him for the rest of my life.”
“So, I’m meant to consider this a favor?”
“Yes, if you like that better?”
It was a novel concept, if wildly disproportionate. “You and I have different ideas on what constitutes a favor.”
Footsteps came fast and heavy down the hall and then the door opened to reveal Leo, looking harried and exhausted.
“Speak of the devil,” Richard murmured.”
“You look absolutely gorgeous, Kingston,” Basil joked. Leo rolled his tawny eyes and shook his head.
“I have had a bitch of a week, Thompson. I’m in no mood for you.”
“You came here for succor and companionship?” Richard tilted his head and practically batted his eyes.
Leo pinned him with an exasperated stare, “I came here to make sure you two were all right and to ask if you’ve seen Trent.”
“Not since we left him in your capable hands,” Richard replied, all humor melting from his face.
“Not my hands—the local constabulary,” Leo hissed in frustration. “Apparently he had friends in there. He’s in the wind.”
Basil and Richard shot to their feet in alarm. “I beg your pardon?” Basil said as he felt his blood pressure spike.
“Donald Trent is missing. I just came from questioning the sergeant who let him go. We can’t find a trace of Trent anywhere.”
“We haven’t seen him, but frankly we haven’t been looking.”
“How long has he been gone?”
“It was noticed that he was missing three days ago.”
Three fucking days? Basil’s stomach pitched unceremoniously as a cold sweat coated his body.
“Three days?” Richard repeated in alarm. “And you’ve only thought to tell me this now?”
“I’ve only just heard of it,” Leo replied testily but it was clear he wasn’t angry with them. Someone in Scotland Yard had no doubt received an earful. “I was looking into the group that he’s been involved with, which has been a cockup from day one, thank you for asking. I just went to question Trent this morning and found out that he had been missing for days and no one had relayed it to me.”
“So, he could have been gone longer than three days?” Basil asked.
“Potentially, yes.”
He had to get to Ada. He’d left her all alone with no one but Mr. and Mrs. Crouch to protect her. He glanced at the clock. Five o’clock. Crouch would be leaving soon to escort his wife home. If Basil wasn’t there, Trent would have nothing but a door between him and Ada. Basil grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair and started for the door.
“He’s been laying low for a reason, Thompson,” Leo said laying a hand on his shoulder, “With the men Trent has on his tail, you and Richard are the least of his problems.”
“But those men don’t care where they get their pound of flesh from,” Basil said. “If they can’t get it from Trent, they may well try his method of extracting cash from his former employer.”
“Go,” Leo said, giving him a light shove of encouragement.