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S uddenly in a hurry, they both stripped off their clothes. Having never been naked in front of another person before and feeling self-conscious, Thea jumped in the water first, dipping quickly beneath so it covered her to her chin, and shamelessly watched him do the same.

His body was so different from hers. Broad where hers was slight. Angular where she had curves—and hard. The skin on his shoulders and flat abdomen covered intriguing muscles. He had thighs Harriet would approve of, she realised with a giggle. Strong and taut, as if he had spent many an hour in the saddle, but it was the wholly male part of him which appealed to her more. That, too, was hard. For her. And the prospect excited her and terrified her at the same time.

Should she be doing this? They barely knew each other, yet she wanted to be intimate with him. It would be the ultimate grand gesture. For the first time in for ever she had found a man she could trust. She felt giddy and euphoric and overwhelmingly glad she’d had the courage to leap.

Was it too soon?

Her heart said no. He was, bizarrely, everything she had ever wanted. And if she tweaked her essential attributes list, he ticked every one. Gray was prudent in his own way and gave sensible advice. For a purported scoundrel he was delightfully proper. In fact, he had been more of a gentleman to her than all the gentlemen she had encountered since her come out. Cautious with his heart, but adventurous in all else. It went without saying he was trustworthy and, while he wasn’t completely above reproach, there were reasons why he had behaved as he had in the past. They had both been young and foolish and lived to rue the day. And they had both survived the experience and emerged the stronger for it. She didn’t care if he had no fortune because she knew in her bones he had no interest in such things. He embraced her wayward nature. Enjoyed it. With him, Thea could be herself. He had always brought that out of her, even as she had tried to fight it. When you met the right person, fighting that powerful, all-encompassing emotion was pointless. She understood that now. It was deliciously liberating.

And he wore his breeches well—although she much preferred him out of them.

He climbed in and swam towards her, then caught his arm around her waist, pulling her close for a searing kiss. Wet bare skin next to wet bare skin was a revelation. Her body seemed to fit perfectly against his as if it had been made to do exactly that. Thea curled her arms possessively around his neck, flattening her breasts shamelessly against his chest, and enjoyed the way her pebbled, water-chilled nipples tingled at the contact.

He took his time kissing her. His big hands sliding over her body with aching slowness. Learning its shape and caressing the sensitive places she had not known she possessed until he touched them. Unable to stop herself, Thea’s hands also went exploring, marvelling at the feel of the smattering of dark hair on his chest and the way he shuddered when her fingers grazed his nipples. It emboldened her to allow her palms to journey south, until she could tentatively trace the hard, hot shape of him with her fingertip. She watched his eyes close and his Adam’s apple bob as he fought for control, until he could stand no more, wrapping his fist about her hand as he schooled her in how to hold him properly. Boldly.

Then he kissed her again, filling his hands with her needy breasts which were screaming for his touch, his thumbs doing wicked things to them which made her cry out in a voice she didn’t recognise. A carnal, desperate sound that wanted more. So much more.

As if sensing that, he lifted her so that her over-sensitive nipples came level with his face and took one scandalously into his mouth, flicking the tip with his tongue and smiling against it as she moaned and writhed against him. Suspended in the water, all she could do was cling on to his shoulders as he thoroughly worshipped that breast before he moved slowly to the other. Torturing her with unspeakable pleasure until her legs were locked wantonly around his hips, her body throbbing with need, his hardness jutting against her with all the forbidden promise she had always secretly craved. So close, but yet so far from where she desperately needed it to be.

Of its own accord, her body positioned herself to take him, feeling the whole length of him harden further at the encouragement. ‘There are other things we can do...we don’t have to do this.’ He voice was gravelly and breathless, laced with desire.

‘Don’t you want to?’ Because she did. Thea had passed the point of no return and was ready to commit herself completely. There was no point executing a giant leap of faith to falter at the end. That wasn’t a grand gesture when she was in the mood to be scandalously grand and shamelessly bold. She wanted to experience all of the things Harriet had alluded to. Wanted to feel such passion that she lost her head and he lost his.

‘Of course I want to. But there are implications...’

‘Forget them.’ She moved her hips to caress him shamelessly, felt his fingers flex against her waist. Heard his laboured breathing as he fought the inevitable. ‘Just make love to me, Gray.’

He hesitated for a second, clearly at war with himself. She recognised the second the lure of the moment won, because his beautiful, silvery, wolf-like eyes darkened and locked intently on hers. He watched her as he entered her, as he slowly lowered her body in the cool water to take all of him. His eyes closed only briefly as she winced slightly at the intrusion, as if he shared her pain, and she loved him for that, his strong arms holding her steady as the slight discomfort passed.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t be. I trust you to make it right.’

He kissed her with such tenderness then that she knew she had made the right decision. ‘I will. I promise.’

‘I thought you could make no promises?’ She didn’t wait for his answer, knowing that it might not be at all what she wanted to hear or was ready to accept. Instead, she ignored his brief hesitation and the wary look in his eyes, kissing both away, then losing herself in his kisses and the blissful sensation of him moving inside her.

Neither spoke then. He offered her no promises and no flowery compliments, but he loved her body with such determined and sustained intensity, it didn’t matter that so many important things were left unsaid. This was as daunting for him as it was for her. Nothing needed to be settled in the heat of this glorious moment—although for her so much was.

As the last rational thoughts fled from her head, she told him how she felt. If he was not ready to hear the words that was too bad, because she was ready to feel them and say them. ‘I love you, Gray. I want to spend for ever with you.’

His answer was a kiss so intense it sent her over the edge. As she tumbled over the second, unexpected precipice, she wrapped her arms and legs tight around his body and dragged him with her. Through the roaring chaos in her head and through the powerful sensations which had possessed her body, she heard his voice. The quiet whisper so close to her ear, choked with emotion and desire.

‘God help me, but I love you, too, Thea.’

It was late afternoon before he ventured home. Stunned, unsteady and shaken to his core. He was in love again and cautiously delighted to be so. He recognised all the signs, although despite some of them feeling familiar, they also felt different. It was that difference which occupied his mind now that he was alone and he tried to quantify exactly what had caused it in order to understand it.

Gray had always thought he had loved Cecily with every fibre of his being—but they had never been intimate. They had dabbled in pleasure—in an inexperienced and guilty way—but he had never seen her completely naked or been given the privilege of taking her innocence. In many ways, that lack of intimacy had been a barrier. With hindsight, he could see now that it was her insurance in case something better came along. Back then, he had accepted her reluctance to fully share her body with him as the way things were. They were both saving themselves for their wedding night because propriety dictated they did so. Similarly, as childhood had given way to adulthood, he could now see that his relationship with Cecily had been unbalanced. It was Gray who had done all the running and Cecily who controlled things.

It had always been Cecily who had stopped things getting out of hand, because as much as she had enjoyed his touch—and she had been quite selfish in the pursuit of her own pleasure—she had still had the rational and pragmatic ability to stop. In private she had used his affection and desire to manipulate him to bending to her will, so much so that in public in the latter stages of their relationship she had convinced him to behave as if there was nothing serious between them at all. She had rationed them to one dance at balls and happily allowed him to watch as she was twirled around the room by other men.

Now that he thought upon it, how many times had he watched her waltz with his brother? Certainly enough that he had come to think nothing of it.

In contrast, Thea had given herself with complete abandon. He had given her plenty of opportunities to hold back and she had dismissed every single one. Her trust and complete commitment had humbled him. Initially, it had been daunting. Terrifying, even, because he had known that the physical act of love between them was as much of a declaration as the words had been. She had been the first woman he had made love to with his heart as well as his body and the experience had been earth-shattering and earth-changing as a result. With entirely unscientific motives, he had made love to her twice more and both times the intensity of emotion had been there front and centre throughout.

What had really shocked him was how easy it all was. They had not only made love in the brook, on the bank and then back in the brook again—but they had laughed and chatted and relaxed with each other in between. She never asked him about the future, nor did he venture anything about it, but she had shared her body with impunity and delighted in sharing his. They had lived entirely in a moment that had lasted hours, both stripped naked in more ways than one and, despite not discussing what would happen next, Gray accepted they would have to. They would have to because he wanted to.

There was no turning back now. They were in love and there were plans that needed to be made. All he had to do first was work out how to remove the giant fly from the ointment. The enormous elephant in the room. Whichever path he took now was positively littered with potholes and, frankly, he had no idea what to do about it. Because it didn’t take a genius to work out that Gray’s mission, and all the secrets he was keeping from her, had the power to destroy it all and leave him alone and heartbroken all over again.

That horrendous prospect had occurred to him about an hour ago and had plagued him the second he finished their lingering goodbye kiss at the stables and he still hadn’t worked out a way of fixing it. Casually dropping the fact that he was a spy into the conversation, one who had lied to her about a number of important details, one who happened to be searching for enough evidence to see her uncle hang for his crimes, wasn’t an option. Nor was failing to do his sworn duty for King and country. Waiting for the cards to fall where they may, his usual answer to all life’s problems, was also unappealing. He wouldn’t trust fate with something of such importance. Somehow, he would find a way to negotiate the potholes because he couldn’t and wouldn’t live through all that misery again.

Trefor’s barking interrupted his thoughts and it was then Gray saw the subtle signs—the amassed forces of the King’s Elite had made it to Kirton House well before an agent came to tell him.

‘Lord Hadleigh is waiting for you inside, sir.’

Of course he was. Now that an arrest was imminent, the lawyer would be chomping at the bit to get started. ‘Is Lord Fennimore back?’

‘Not yet, sir. We’ve received word he’s staying overnight to continue his interrogations and see the prisoners secure. I’m to tell you that you are in command in his absence.’ A responsibility which had now lost all of its appeal. One that meant he might be called upon to hammer the death knell into his and Thea’s relationship. ‘And to give you this.’ The agent handed Gray a burned piece of what once must have been a letter. Remnants of a wax seal still adorned the charred back while on the other side were words which now made no sense because the rest of the sentences were missing, written in neat, tight handwriting.

Men will meet...

...payment in full...

...do not

‘The captain of the vessel was in the process of burning this letter as the Excise Men found him. They managed to salvage this. It’s not much, but Lord Fennimore wants you to do some subtle digging to see if you can find who wrote it.’ A task easier said than done. It wasn’t as if he could blithely stroll up to Gislingham and Bertie and demand they write something for comparison.

Wearily, because the full weight of the world now seemed to rest entirely on his shoulders, Gray headed to the kitchen where Hadleigh was calmly drinking coffee. ‘What’s going on at the Hall?’

‘Nothing. To all intents and purposes, Gislingham and his right-hand man are behaving as if nothing is amiss at all.’

‘His right-hand man?’

‘Bertie. Or Albert Frederick Walsham, to give him his full name. Ostensibly his manservant but there’s more to it than that. I can feel it.’ The secretive behaviour. The knowing looks. Instinct told him there was something there. Something more than the bond between a master and an invaluable servant. ‘The man watches everyone like a hawk and was the only person to dash back after the express arrived. He was needed , apparently.’

Gray shared everything they knew thus far, which was not a whole lot more than they had known when they had first arrived a few weeks ago. But at least they now had this tiny fragment of charred paper and the handwriting of somebody significant, even if they had no earthly idea whose. Then he gave Hadleigh all the papers he had taken on his midnight raid. The lawyer scanned each one silently and thoroughly before pushing them to one side on the old, battered table.

‘There has to be more. The man never leaves the house! Did you search everywhere?’

‘Of course not. It was too close to dawn, so I focused only on his study. I’ve thoroughly searched downstairs and, believe me, there is nothing of any interest down there.’

‘What about the bedchambers?’

‘Never set foot in one of them.’ For very good reason. ‘All of Gislingham’s private apartments are on the first floor. Thea and the Viscountess sleep on the second.’

‘Thea?’ His friend quirked an eyebrow. ‘That’s very informal .’

They were long past informal. Gray had kissed every beautiful inch of her. ‘Things are more informal here in the country.’ Especially down by the brook.

‘Do you think his niece is involved?’

‘No.’ And nor was he prepared to even discuss the possibility that she might be. ‘But dear Bertie is in it up to his neck. And unlike Gislingham, he does leave the house. He’s been gone weeks.’

‘I concur. Maybe Bertie’s room holds the key? I assume it is within the Viscount’s private apartments. We need to urgently procure a sample of the man’s handwriting.’ The lawyer’s eyes lit up. ‘And in view of recent developments, I suggest we do that sooner rather than later. We don’t want evidence destroyed.’

‘Impossible. The man has eyes like a hawk. We can’t go rifling around in his private quarters in broad daylight. Believe me, I’ve tried. I haven’t even been able to return the letters I took from his desk! The Viscount is very particular about his privacy and Bertie is the hawk that guards it.’

‘Even hawks sleep, Gray. And the longer we wait, the more chance we give them to cover their tracks. We have one tangible piece of evidence. This note.’ He tapped the burned missive with his index finger. ‘This could be our only chance to categorically link it to Gislingham.’

‘You want me to break in again? Tonight? The day after his ship has been seized and they will be on their guard? That’s utter madness. I won’t do it.’

‘Fair enough. I’ll do it alone. I am an unknown entity here. I’ll have a good poke around the bedchambers and if I’m discovered you’ll be completely in the clear.’