‘‘It seemed a gentleman’s crime that would yield no victims. Or so I told myself. For a time I convinced Tom of it too. At first he believed I’d merely found a shifty buyer and a means of avoiding the export taxes. When he realized the goods had been intercepted from reaching legitimate buyers, he put an immediate end to things. You see, what neither of us ever understood about Tom, what no one understood, was that in his quiet way he was stronger than you and I put together.’’
‘‘I’m beginning to see that now.’’ His throat constricting, Grayson studied his friend for a long moment. ‘‘But you still haven’t answered my question.’’ He swallowed. His hand came down on something cold and metallic on the ground, something forgotten in the past few minutes. His fingers closed tight around it. He cleared his throat. ‘‘Why, Chad? Why did you do it?’’
‘‘What you also have never understood, because I did not let you, is that I inherited a bigger fiasco than Tom did. Damn our fathers.’’ Chad’s hand fisted on his knee. ‘‘Both believed being a Peer meant attending Parliamentary sessions each spring and throwing lavish entertainments the rest of the year. But no.’’ He shook his head; his fist uncurled. ‘‘That would be shirking the blame, which rests squarely on my shoulders.’’
Standing, Grayson passed Jonny into Nora’s waiting arms. With a gesture he bade her to walk the boy a short distance away, just out of hearing range. Clutching Tom’s pocket watch, he faced his friend, who pushed to his feet as well.
‘‘A ship went down off the coast about a year ago. Most blamed the weather. But I heard the word scuttledwhispered in more than one place.’’ He stepped closer and grabbed a handful of Chad’s sleeve. Not a muscle in Chad’s body resisted as Grayson yanked one shoulder higher than the other. ‘‘Were you responsible?’’
‘‘No. I swear, the goods we diverted—’’
‘‘Stole.’’
Chad conceded with a nod. ‘‘The goods we stole never made it as far as a ship. We were to redirect them to London and sell them on the black market, but we never got that far.’’
‘‘And when you claimed to have gone to Helston the other day, where were you really?’’
‘‘You had me followed.’’
‘‘Of course.’’
Chad’s lashes fell; he released a breath. ‘‘Mullion. I went looking for a ship’s captain, an unsavory fellow named Dick Gavin, who was to have emptied the cave at my order.’’
‘‘Did you give that order?’’
‘‘No, of course not.’’ His mouth tightened. ‘‘I told him all deals were off, that I was out of it and he could look elsewhere to make his profits. I swear it, Gray.’’
Grayson released him. Studied him and pondered. Allowed Chad to stew in uncertainty while a lifetime of memories ran through his mind. Their years as boys, as students, as arrogant bucks enjoying their first taste of freedom.
The pranks. The dares. The carousing. The conquests.
The tragedies and heartbreaks. And through it all, a friendship so solid he never once questioned or doubted or looked elsewhere for the borrowed fortitude a man occasionally needed.
‘‘Good God, Chad.’’ He hissed a breath through his teeth. ‘‘I might have shot you.’’
‘‘You wouldn’t have.’’
‘‘You took an awful chance.’’
‘‘Perhaps I deserved it.’’
Grayson hesitated, lifted an appraising eyebrow. ‘‘No. But there will be a reckoning. I’ve sent for a magistrate. I’m sorry, but I felt I had to.’’
Chad shook his head. ‘‘You did the right thing, what I would have done in your shoes.’’
‘‘I’ll speak in your defense, Chad. Now that I understand what happened, I’ll do whatever I can to help you out of this.’’ He held his friend’s gaze. ‘‘Just as you helped me out of countless scrapes through the years.’’
‘‘Thanks, old boy.’’ A glimmer of a smile restored something of the cavalier, good-natured friend Grayson had known all his life.
‘‘Do something for me,’’ he said.
‘‘Name it.’’
‘‘Take my horse and get Jonny home.’’
‘‘You can still trust me after . . . ?’’
‘‘You just saved both our lives.’’ Grayson found he needed to look away from the gratitude swimming in his friend’s eyes. ‘‘You and I are guilty of similar crimes, aren’t we? You stole outright. I stole more subtly by marrying an innocent woman with a generous dowry.’’ He offered Nora a remorseful smile. ‘‘I’m sorry for that.’’
She nodded, and with a brimming but nonetheless steady gaze, bestowed a forgiveness he knew he hadn’t begun to earn. He nodded back, trying to convey his vow to spend the rest of his days doing so. He glanced down at his nephew beside her.
‘‘Jonathan.’’
The boy ran to him with an eagerness Gray hadn’t seen in nearly a year, that pinched the back of his throat. ‘‘Yes, Uncle Gray?’’
Using the diminishing drizzle as an excuse, he scrubbed a hand across his eyes. ‘‘I want you and Uncle Chad to ride home on my horse—’’
‘‘But Aunt Nora said she brought Puck.’’
‘‘That’s right.’’ Nora pointed down the headland. ‘‘He’s not far from here.’’
‘‘All right, son. You and Chad find Puck and bring him home. When you get there, change out of these clothes immediately and have Mrs. Dorn bring you both something hot. Aunt Nora and I shall be right behind you.’’
Chad and Jonny started away, but a weight in Grayson’s palm had him calling them back. When Jonny turned, Grayson held out his hand. ‘‘I believe this is yours, Lord Clarington.’’
Jonny hesitated, seemed almost about to refuse, then gathered the pocket watch in both hands.
‘‘One more thing,’’ Grayson said. ‘‘Blackheath Grange was once a great estate. If you and I work together, it will be again. Can I depend on you?’’
He doubted the boy understood how he could be of assistance, but at the moment it didn’t matter. The small chest swelled and Jonny’s chin inched higher. ‘‘I’ll help you, Uncle Gray.’’
‘‘Good man. Thank you.’’
As the two set off, Grayson moved to Nora’s side and wrapped his arms around her. ‘‘He was lying.’’
She jolted against him. ‘‘You mean Chad?’’
He nodded.
‘‘Good heavens, Gray, we can’t let them go off together, we have to—’’
‘‘It’s all right. I meant he was lying by shouldering all the blame. I know him too well. He did it for Tom’s memory. For me and most of all for Jonny. By making it appear Tom hadn’t fully comprehended the illegalities of their plan, Chad has given Jonny the gift of his father’s honor to cherish for the rest of his life.’’
She relaxed in his arms. ‘‘I was right about him then, wasn’t I? He is your friend and always will be.’’
‘‘Yes, and yours and Jonny’s too. Beyond a doubt he and my brother nearly made a grave mistake, but then, none of us is perfect. Least of all me. I’m certainly no one to judge them.’’
‘‘No. Self-judgment is your indulgence. Do you perhaps feel it’s time to start believing in the honorable, compassionate man I see whenever I look at you, or must I alter your portrait to its former brooding state?’’
He laughed softly. ‘‘I don’t deserve you.’’
‘‘That’s true.’’ She grinned, rose on tiptoe for a kiss, then nestled her cheek in his dripping collar.
‘‘You’ve never stopped believing in me,’’ he added.
‘‘Also true.’’
‘‘I didn’t make it easy.’’
‘‘A gross understatement, sir.’’
He tightened his arms around her. She was toying with him and ah, didn’t she have every right in the world? He’d dragged her through perdition and back. It was time he offered her the heaven she deserved. ‘‘I love you, Nora. My brilliant artist, my unrivaled beauty, my enticing little p
aramour. We both know I am nothing without you—’’
Her grin widened. ‘‘I believe we established that a while back.’’
‘‘You’re not going to make this at all comfortable for me, are you?’’
‘‘Indeed not.’’ She pressed her lips to his neck, her soft breath infusing him with heat. ‘‘I intend to make you uncomfortable for the rest of your days.’’ To prove her point, her hand grazed his length to settle at the juncture of his thighs. He flinched as her nimble fingers took firm possession of him. ‘‘Rest assured I shall keep you on your toes, sir.’’
‘‘You do love me.’’ Though couched as a statement, it was a question born of his lingering inability to believe himself worthy of such a woman; a question with the power to humble him, redeem him or undo him.
‘‘I have loved you since our wedding night,’’ she assured him. Her grasp eased to a caress that threatened to inflame him, even there on the cold, wet headland. ‘‘Since the moment you made me yours and convinced me there could never be anyone else.’’
He lifted her face in his hands, leaning in close to rub his nose across her incredibly adorable one. ‘‘Where did it come from, this extraordinary faith?’’
‘‘My love, an artist sees the world with remarkable clarity. You’d do well to remember that the next time you attempt to shield your heart from me.’’
‘‘I believe you capable of peering into my very soul. Mine and Jonny’s. And I thank God for it. For you.’’ He pressed her closer. His mouth found hers, and their kisses sent flames to lips gone wet and cold with rain.
Still, she shivered in his arms, prompting him to run his hands up and down her back to warm her. Her chills traveled into him, raising the hair at his nape and turning his back to gooseflesh.
A soft light enveloped them, and he understood.
Apparently so did Nora. ‘‘It’s them.’’
‘‘I know. Charlotte, Tom?’’
‘‘Shh.’’ Nora held her fingers to his lips. Then she pointed in the same direction Jonny and Chad had gone. ‘‘There.’’
The surrounding glow shimmered and brightened. Grew warm as it never had before. Their shivers abated, and with arms around each other they watched two shapes gather as if drawing energy from the scant light around them.
Side by side, the lady in lavender and the man in the dark blue coat took form. Hands clasped, they hovered well above the ground.
‘‘Oh, Gray, they’re together.’’ A sob choked Nora’s words. She pressed her face to his shoulder. ‘‘We’ve done it, we’ve set them free.’’
The pinching of his own throat allowed him only to nod, hold her tighter and gaze in awe at his brother and sister-in-law.
‘‘Thank you.’’
Two voices, mingling as one, seeped from the very air around them, caressing them with the gentlest of touches.
‘‘You’re very welcome,’’ Nora whispered.
‘‘Gray, can you forgive me?’’
The sound of his brother’s voice sent tears to burn his eyes. He held on tighter to Nora, felt her returning the pressure. ‘‘We both made mistakes, Tom. Can you forgive me?’’
‘‘A thousand times over. Gray, don’t harbor regrets. . . .’’
Tom’s voice thinned, became little more than a breath of air. The images wavered. It was Charlotte who spoke next.
‘‘Take care of our son. Make him yours.’’
‘‘We will.’’ Grayson’s voice faltered. He pressed his lips to Nora’s brow, seeking strength and finding it. ‘‘We already love him as though he were ours.’’
‘‘And love each other well,’’ they said together, voices blending.
‘‘That is our promise.’’ He took Nora’s chin between his fingers and turned her tearful face to his. Her smile was never more beautiful. ‘‘To you and to each other.’’
The specters were fading now, their light shrinking, cooling, growing fainter. ‘‘Jonny will be so delighted with his baby cousin. . . .’’
The last word dissipated on a stirring breeze, and darkness settled again.
Releasing Nora, Grayson dashed several steps forward. ‘‘Wait. Please. There’s so much more to say...."
‘‘Baby?’’ Nora’s hands were pressed to her stomach, her face filled with alarm. ‘‘Surely,’’ she whispered, ‘‘they did not say baby?’’
The truth of it rolled through him like a rushing tide. A child. Their child. Of course. What better way to celebrate the renewal of their own lives, theirs and Jonny’s, than by welcoming a new life into their little family?
He went to her, turned her in his arms and tucked her back to his chest. They faced toward the sea, toward a distant promise of moonlight glimmering in the parting clouds. Pressing his nose to her hair, he breathed her in, let her love flow through him and released the guilt and grief of these past months to the last of the storm’s gusts. His arms circled her abdomen, to hold and protect the precious life within as he savored a well-being he thought never to know again.
‘‘My darling paramour, I believe baby is exactly what they said. But one can hardly consider it prophetic on their part, not with the way you and I tend to have at it.’’
She gave a backward push against him. ‘‘Scoundrel.’’
‘‘That I am.’’
She snuggled deeper into his chest. ‘‘I want a hot bath and a warm robe. And later, after Jonny’s asleep, I want your warm body next to mine all night long. Let’s go home, my love.’’
‘‘Home,’’ he repeated, as hand in hand they made their way up the headland to where Constantine waited beneath the trees. He swung Nora into his arms, set her on the saddle, and climbed up behind her.
He held the reins in one hand and wrapped his free arm around her middle. She settled into his embrace with a sigh. For a time, they rode in silence, until the house came into view through the trees.
‘‘When I was a child,’’ he said to her, ‘‘I believed Blackheath Grange the very center of the world. But these past months I thought I would never think of this place as home again, not in any true sense of the word.’’ He fell quiet as a warm wind swept the clouds aside to unveil a multitude of stars pricking the night sky. Moonlight gilded the windows of the house, giving the illusion that the lamps were all lit, the manor filled with people.
He realized it was filled, with the people who mattered most. His family. His best friend. And soon, his son or daughter.
‘‘I believe again, Nora. In home, in the possibilities of love . . . most of all in you, and in the kind of man I can be because of you. And do you know what I plan to do?’’
She turned around as far as the saddle would allow, angled her head, and smiled up at him. ‘‘I can’t begin to imagine.’’ The lusty gleam in her eyes suggested she had an idea, but Grayson doubted she would, in this particular instance, be correct.
He smiled back at her. ‘‘I’m going to court you. Properly, as I should have done from the beginning.’’
She gave a little laugh. ‘‘A bit late for that, isn’t it?’’
‘‘Not for a man who’s been given a second chance.’’ His fingers splayed across her belly. He leaned around to kiss her, glanced up at the starry sky, laughed and kissed her again. ‘‘I intend to do a lot of things differently from now on.’’
She leaned back against him, her hand covering his where it lay against her. ‘‘Just be happy. The rest will take care of itself.’’
Dark Obsession Page 33
