Page 7 of One Kiss in the Shadows (Singular Sensation #12)

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M ay 26, 1819

It had been two days since his wife had been lost to a traumatic memory, but in that moment, they’d bonded over the fact that circumstances meant they would always have demons of the past to fight at the back of their minds.

The following day, he’d opted not to go to his club, and even though he desperately needed to check in with his rogue friends, he felt that spending the day with Mallory was a better use of his time. Because of that, he’d discovered that she had a talent for sketching. When he’d mentioned it when coming upon her in the library, she’d been embarrassed and a little shy, but she’d showed him the notebook she’d been using, and the vibrancy of the drawings had taken him aback. How she’d managed to show shadow and light with only charcoals astounded him.

There’d been pictures of people he didn’t recognize as well as places he’d never seen. Since she’d been kept as a prisoner for the past ten years, he assumed they were brief looks into what her world had been like, and that fascinated him also. Then there was a marked change in the drawings. They weren’t quite so dark nor did they have a foreboding quality.

In fact, she’d implemented a completely different way of drawing that captured the light, movement, and even emotion on a subject’s face. There were pictures of Cook and the housekeeper. One of the butler as he polished silver. Several of her cat, Peri. A few drawings of various rooms inside the townhouse.

And one of him. How she’d managed to capture him as he sat at his desk in the study, he couldn’t say, but perhaps he’d been deeply immersed in his work and just hadn’t seen her. More startlingly, the way she’d captured him, every strand of hair, the fine lines at the corners of his eyes, the way he sat in his chair to relieve the nearly constant ache of the mangled muscles in his thighs, was extraordinary. Where had she learned such a skill? Or perhaps it was merely talent, but the sketches took away his breath, and after seeing them, his chest had swelled with pride.

Today, he aimed to spend time with her, talk to her about why her mother had thrown her into the asylum in the first place, and in the process perhaps glean vital information regarding Lady Stover that might help them in the fight against her.

“Barnes, have you seen the silver chain for my pocket watch?”

The valet frowned. “I believe it was on top of the bureau as of fifteen minutes ago.” Then he snickered. “But if you’re quick, you can catch it before it goes out of the room.”

“What?” Nathaniel glanced at the door just in time to see his wife’s fluffy cat dart out of the room with the watch chain hanging out of her mouth. “Buggar.” It had been a long process of trying to befriend said cat. Sometimes she would hiss whenever he came into her vicinity, but other times, she graciously let him pet her head or scratch her ears... before batting his hand away. Oddly, he was determined to win over the feline’s affection, for there was something about a cat’s purrs that brought him a sense of peace.

Barnes snorted with laughter. “Good luck. Perhaps it means she fancies you.”

That set him into motion, which made the muscles in his left thigh scream with protest. “Damn it all, bring that back!” Thief of a cat. He swore the cat glanced back at him with malicious amusement in her blue-green eyes, and she ran along the corridor as if the chase was the greatest jaunt. “Don’t you dare go down the stairs.”

Of course, she did.

Nathaniel plunged down the staircase after the feline, cursing the whole time due to the pain in his thigh and leg. The cane, at this point, was superfluous, but he was glad that he had it because it prevented him from toppling over. “Peri, stop! I need that damned chain.” On the second floor, not far from the drawing room, he came up short when he spied the Duke of Edenthorpe being shown into the room by Jennings, the butler.

They both glanced at him with varying degrees of amusement or consternation between them, while Peri darted into the dining room with what he swore was a smirk.

“Your Grace, the Duke of Edenthorpe is here to see you.”

God, could the butler be even more droll? “Thank you, Jennings. I can see that.” He glanced at his friend. “Come in. This visit is unexpected, but I’m glad you’re here.”

The other man’s grin was quite wide. “Am I interrupting?”

“Of course not. Just trouble with a cat who stole the chain to my pocket watch.” After ushering Edenthorpe into the drawing room, he instructed his butler to have tea brought up. “Also, where is the duchess?”

“I believe she is preparing for the modiste’s arrival, Your Grace.”

“Thank you.” It had already been a busy day, and he hadn’t really had a chance to speak with his wife more than in passing. Had he failed as a husband not a week out from saying vows to her? As he sat on one of the chairs, he blew out a breath. “In the event you are wondering, my wife’s cat is determined to make an enemy of me.”

“Well, felines are rather contrary. Perhaps you need to try harder to make friends, or perhaps she is like her mistress in the fact she doesn’t trust easily.” Edenthorpe settled onto a low sofa with a slight groan. “Truth to tell, I’d take that over the fight we have ahead of us.”

Immediately, the mood in the room shifted from the hints of amusement and exasperation to worry. “Has something occurred? You seem distracted.”

“And rightly so.” Edenthorpe leaned forward, rested his forearms on his knees and let his hands dangle between them. “There has been another attack on one of the rogues.”

All the air whooshed out of his lungs. “Who? How? When?” Of course, they’d expected it, but since nothing had happened since his nuptial ceremony, he had wondered if Lady Stover needed to regroup.

“A cart full of barrels was deliberately rammed into Twinsfield’s carriage when he was coming back from his solicitor’s office. Thank the heavens his pregnant wife wasn’t with him.”

Knots of concern pulled in Nathaniel’s gut. “Good God, is he hurt?”

“Not overly much. When I spoke to him directly following the accident yesterday afternoon, he indicated that his back aches and his physician said he has a sprained ankle.” The duke paused to frown. “However, his driver suffered a broken leg and is currently in hospital waiting to have the bones set. Twinsfield is home and has been ordered to rest by both me and his physician.”

“At least there is that. What of his wife?”

“As far as I know, she is holding her own, worried, of course. Her time of confinement will soon arrive. She can’t be stressed further without putting her health in jeopardy.”

“Understandable.” Nathaniel nodded. When a footman brought in a tea tray, he held his tongue, and only after the man left did he speak again. “What the hell are we going to do?”

“We need a council of war.”

“Agreed.” Over the years, they’d only held a few such meetings wherein all the rogues were summoned back to London to discuss how to meet a threat. “I rather doubt you will summon all the men to Town what with the various threats against them.”

“I will not.” With a sigh, Edenthorpe poured some of the steaming amber liquid into a delicate porcelain cup. When he offered it to Nathaniel, he declined. “We’ll need to make do with the rogues who are left.” After putting in a small lump of sugar and a splash of cream, he stirred the contents of his cup. Then he raised his gaze to Nathaniel’s. “Have you talked with your wife about her mother and Stover’s plans?”

Of course the conversation would come ‘round to this. “Not yet. It’s a delicate situation, much like coming home from years at war.”

“I understand that, but time is of the essence, and we must plan our defense.” He sipped his tea. “I assume that was one reason you decided to marry the chit.”

“It is, but the biggest reason was for her protection.” A frown tugged his lips down at the corners. “Don’t worry. I’ll take matters in hand and broach the subject with her over dinner.”

A bit of a wicked gleam entered Edenthorpe’s eyes. “Or take her to bed. That might help the words come more easily.” He peered more intently at Nathaniel. “You have thought about it, haven’t you? Kissed her as well?”

Heat rose up the back of his neck. “Yes, there have been a couple of kisses. One in the shadows of the country lane shortly after I broke her out of the asylum.” He blew out a breath as confusion danced through his mind. “Yet I promised her a marriage in name only.” Then how did he explain the pure desire that took hold each time he did embrace his wife? “Regardless of what I need physically, I refuse to break that promise when everyone has already done the same to her. Imagine being abandoned and imprisoned at the age of fifteen for no logical reason.”

“Understandable.” Edenthorpe sipped his tea. “I realize she might be skittish about things, but time is of the essence. With the attack on Twinsfield as well as the one on you in Hyde Park, I feel that Lady Stover is growing desperate. Whether that is because she’s grown weary of dragging out this ridiculous war between her and us, or with the advent of her daughter marrying a rogue, I couldn’t say, but things will come to a head soon.”

“I feel that as well.” Slowly, Nathaniel nodded. “I’ll introduce the subject in a way that won’t do damage to the fragile new existence she’s beginning to build.”

“Thank you.”

“What of your family? It must be agony for you worrying over them.”

Shadows went through Edenthorpe’s eyes. “It is, and I hesitate to think of what will become of me if something were to happen to them, so I’ve sent my family to be with Lockwood to keep them all away from London. He assures me his property is under heavy guard.”

“All to the good.” Nathaniel snagged a seed cake from the tray. After he’d popped it into his mouth, chewed, and then swallowed, he continued. “Last I heard, St Vincent sent his family away as well. To an undisclosed location.”

“He did, and I know how much it pained him to do so, but we all must do what we feel is best for our families.” Once Edenthorpe drained his teacup, he set it on the saucer which rested on the table. “It’s for the best, and we are all feeling the strain. Quite frankly, I miss my family and my friends. This needs to end. I want Lady Stover and her minions either locked away in Newgate awaiting trial or I want them dead as justice for their crimes.”

The emotion in the duke’s voice animated his own thirst for revenge. “I agree. Give me a couple of days. I refuse to damage Mallory further or make her believe the only reason I wed her was to glean information from her about her mother.”

“Fair enough. In the meantime, I have my groomsmen and footmen doubling as security detail around my house and that of a few other rogues. We can’t be too careful.”

“Good idea.” Nathaniel nodded. “I’ll do the same. Are we still meeting at the club?”

“One night a week and we are alternating those nights in the event there is indeed still a mole in our midst. With Hallerston out of the club and a known associate of Lady Stover’s, we can’t be too careful.”

“After all this is over, I’ll wager membership within the club will be taken care of in a different way.”

“Oh, indeed.” With another grin, Edenthorpe stood. While Nathaniel scrambled into a standing position, he grinned. “Don’t discount the power of letting yourself get close to your wife, regardless of how the marriage came about. It might benefit you both.” He winked. “I have a feeling you two have been alone for far too long, which is essentially what might bind you together.”

A wave of heat went through him. “I’ll make certain to consider my options.”

L ater that evening

Nathaniel knocked on the door to his wife’s suite, and when bid, he pushed open the panel and then came inside the sitting room that also served as a dressing room.

“Are you ready? Dinner will be called soon.” Then he frowned, for his wife stood at her window with her back toward him, and her form clad in a gown of peony pink silk that gave life and a glow to her pale skin. “Is all well?”

“I suppose.” But she remained silent.

With a frown, he came up behind her. “Thinking about your mother?”

“A bit, yes.” As she sighed, Mallory turned around to face him. “Before I went in with the modiste, I’d come by the drawing room to see if you would look at the gowns with me, but then I realized you were with the Duke of Edenthorpe.”

He nodded. “His visit came as a surprise.”

She lowered her gaze. “I overheard the two of you talking about me and my mother’s plans for the Rogue’s Arcade.”

Well, fuck.

“That isn’t a secret, as you well know.”

“It’s not, but did you marry me because you want me to spill all her secrets? If so, you must also know that I don’t have many. I was imprisoned when I was only fifteen.”

“Did you leave before I could answer the duke?” When she nodded, he expelled a sigh. “I have never been one to lie, so you’ll hear the truth or nothing. I married you to keep you safe, and I’ll not waver from that mission. As for finding out what you do know regarding your mother’s plans, yes, that was always a part of it. You are Lady Stover’s daughter, and she is our number one enemy.”

“The plans I overheard or even spied through correspondence are ages old by now. Chances are, she has already put them into action.”

“I realize that, but it was a conversation you and I needed to have that I didn’t want to broach, at least not this early in our marriage for fear it would further aggravate the hurt she has already inflicted upon you.”

A light of hope glimmered in the blue pools of her eyes. “Then I wasn’t brought along merely as a pawn in my mother’s game?”

“No. God no.” Slowly, he shook his head. “However, I wish our marriage and the circumstances therein, weren’t mixed together, but as I said before, the mettle of a person does not hinge upon their past or their lineage.”

“Will you ever look upon me with pride or perhaps friendship instead of wondering if I’ll betray you or if I’m secretly working with my mother?”

“I am already proud of you, Mallory. There is no doubt about that, and since you originally wrote to Edenthorpe with no knowledge that I would be the one to come break you out of that asylum, you can be certain every decision since then has been my own without strings attached.”

“You can’t help but protect the people around you.” It wasn’t a question. “No doubt it started during your military career, but it’s continued now that you’ve survived all of that. Because you can’t help being a hero.” She laid her palm against his cheek while lifting on her toes. The fleeting caress of her fingertips as she brushed them over his skin went straight to his stones. “It’s refreshing to know there are still good men in this world.”

“I am not a hero.”

“You are to me, and my whole life changed because of you.”

“You would have found a way.”

She snorted. “I hadn’t in ten years, and you don’t want to know what I had to do in order to see that letter to Edenthorpe posted.” A look of disgust crossed her face.

“But you did it.” Would this one conversation start an avalanche of confessions which would culminate in an emotional torrent that would drown him? “I’m sorry we haven’t spent much time together, but I’d like to rectify that.” For the space of a few heartbeats, he reveled in her touch then he took her hand and held it. “If you’ll let me.”

“I would like that, with the caveat that I might need a bit more patience. There were things that happened in that place I won’t soon forget.” When she attempted to pull her hand from his, he held on tighter and slipped his other hand to her waist. She frowned. “What are you doing?”

“Perhaps making inroads into coming to know you better.” Feeling marginally better than he had in many years, Nathaniel wrapped his arms more tightly around her. “That gown is splendid against your skin, and the candlelight makes your hair glimmer.”

“Thank you. It’s one the modiste completed first. The rest of the garments will arrive within two days.”

“You deserve them all, Mallory. Never let your mind or what anyone might say compel you to think differently.” The golden illumination made the room cozy and the woman in his arms wore vulnerability like a garment. It was a powerful point of attraction, and damn if he didn’t crave her lips pressed against his. A nodcock idea, surely, but when she slightly tightened her fingers on his shoulder, his control slowly unraveled.

“For what it’s worth, I don’t know anything about my mother’s plans or hatred against the Rogue’s Arcade. I only know that she somehow rejoices in killing and the power found therein. And I despise that her blood runs in my veins.” She stared up at him with a thin sheen of tears in her eyes, and he gazed down at her, and in that moment, there was no need for talking.

Damn, but this is a bad idea, yet we are married.

In that moment, he would do this for him, because he simply wasn’t strong enough to resist her innocent charms. Slowly, watching her the whole time, Nathaniel slipped a hand to her nape and with a hand resting at the small of her back, he drew her closer then claimed her lips in a kiss designed to bring them both comfort. How was it that two soft pieces of flesh could have him longing for something he had no right to, for something he promised her wouldn’t happen? He didn’t know, but every time he was in Mallory’s company, his resistance slipped, and his thoughts chased in his mind about enjoying her in every way their marriage would allow.

Was Edenthorpe correct in that they needed each other, and that bedding her would be good for him?

“Mallory...” He pulled slightly away. “We should go down for dinner.”

“Why? This is ever so lovely.” If she hadn’t looked at him with the same hunger in her expressive eyes that was currently coursing through his blood, if her fingers hadn’t curled into the lapel of his tailcoat, if the tip of her tongue hadn’t darted out to moisten her bottom lip, he would have been fine. He could have escorted down to the dining room and shared a meal with her, but all those things had happened, and he was lost.

Or weak. Perhaps it didn’t matter.

“Indeed, it just might be.” With a groan, Nathaniel took her once more in his arms and crushed his lips to hers, only this time, he didn’t keep it chaste. He wanted much more from her than he could articulate with words; they had never been his strong suit, especially with women. Damn but she tasted so sweet, felt like the sunshine on his face after days of rain. When he encouraged her lips to part, she gasped, and he took full advantage. The second his tongue slid against hers, another portion of his control shattered, for this kiss wasn’t like any of the others he’d shared with her.

Apparently, his wife was finished being bossed and bullied, for Mallory kissed him back with an enthusiasm that nearly matched his own. Satin slid over steel as they dueled for control, but when she surrendered to him with a tiny sigh, need shivered down his spine. She looped her arms about his shoulders, and the second her fingers caressed his nape, common sense fled along with his control.

While devouring her mouth as if he were a man starving, Nathaniel lifted her off the floor, shuttled her along the hardwood, and at a low bureau, he deposited her arse onto the piece of furniture. Books, no doubt from his library, that had been piled on the surface tumbled to the floor with dull thumps and thuds, followed by a couple of sketching notebooks, but he didn’t care. Not when kissing Mallory was suddenly... everything.

She’d somehow managed to give him back what was good in life.

The pounding of his pulse in his temples kept time to the insistent throb of his shaft as he dragged his lips along the column of her silky neck. That faint scent of lavender was both innocence and sin. It spurred him onward, beckoned him closer until he held her head between his palms and moved between her naturally splayed legs.

“Nathaniel, please...” Mallory didn’t finish the sentence, for he returned to her lips as if he couldn’t bear to be parted from them. A soft sound of pleasure came from her throat, and damn if he didn’t wish to hear that again. She fumbled with his cravat, and when she had it untied, she surged upward to press her lips to the skin of his throat she’d uncovered. “I have dreamed of such a kiss for years, and it’s better than anything I could have imagined.”

Need slammed into him; he was nearly drunk on her. Daring much, he nibbled the underside of her jaw while working the laces at the back of her dress. The silk was like water against his fingers, and when the bodice of the garment gaped, he tugged it downward, along with the thin shift beneath until the pale globes popped free. Dear God, she hadn’t worn stays—did she not have any?—but she was gorgeous.

“Perfect,” he whispered, and damn if his hands didn’t shake slightly when he cupped her alabaster breasts. “Like something Elgin might have found.”

“What does that mean?”

Ah, the poor thing who’d been cheated out of her life. “Elgin donated several marble pieces to the British Museum. I’ll take you there soon.”

“I would enjoy that.” When she trembled, that reaction transferred to him. Was she fearful of what he might do or was she excited? There was only one way to tell. “Please touch me.” She pressed a hand over his, guiding his fingers to the bright pink, pebbled nipple.

Well, he had his answer, and it further fanned his own lust. “You’re sure?” She gave him a nod for an answer. “Thank God.” As he kissed her again, he worried those hardened tips with the pads of his thumbs. A tiny whimper left her throat, and she squirmed, so he caressed her breasts before rolling the nipples merely to hear the soft sounds of pleasure she made. Each nip, nibble, or suckle he gave her, the more he wanted to explore the rest of her body.

“I... oh...” Mallory plucked at his sleeves, his waistcoat, shoved the tailcoat halfway from his shoulders; perhaps she wanted the same.

This is madness.

Desire clouded his mind; hunger drove his actions. Nathaniel urged her backward over the bureau. He slipped a hand beneath her skirting, and damn if the silky skin of her thighs nearly sent him over the edge. If he wasn’t careful, he’d claim her body right there in her dressing room where he’d left the door to the corridor open. Quickly, before he was completely done in by the sensations coursing through his body and hardening his shaft, he mentally berated himself . She deserves better treatment. He refused to bed her like a savage.

When the sound of a masculine throat clearing near the door caused them both to spring apart, Mallory gasped. “Who is that?” Her whisper sounded overly loud in the space as she tugged her clothing back into place.

Damn it all to hell. “The butler.” He willed his pulse to settle. “What is it, Jennings?” he called to the man who at least had the decency not to stand in the doorway.

“Uh, I came to tell you and Her Grace that dinner is ready to be served,” the man answered, still hidden in the corridor.

“Thank you. We will be down directly.”

“Very good, Your Grace. I shall tell the cook.”

As the sound of the butler’s footsteps faded, Nathaniel blew out a breath. “Remind me to close the door next time.” When he met her gaze and she laughed, he couldn’t help but do the same, for it was such a happy sound and she’d not uttered such before.

“Well, it was a lovely kiss.” After she’d squirmed off the bureau top and stood before him, she shrugged. “However, I am famished.” Quickly, she turned. “Do me back up?”

“Of course.” As his fingers worked the laces, he grinned. That kiss had been inordinately satisfying, and he couldn’t wait to repeat the opportunity. Perhaps he wasn’t as alone as he’d previously thought.