Everything slipped away except Alex and the almost unbearable feeling of pleasure spiraling inside her. She called out his name. In wonder. In joy. And in gratitude for the gift he had given her.
“I love you, Alexander Courtland,” she whispered. “With all my heart.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
“We are known by our friends.”
—Saying
“Good morning,” Griffin greeted Alex as he walked into Griff’s study. “Have you seen our babies yet?”
Alex nodded. “I’ve just come from the nursery, Your Grace, where I was introduced to your additions to the family. Liana is visiting with Alyssa now.”
Griff was grinning like a fool.
“They are beautiful. You and Alyssa outdid yourself with twins.”
Griff sat up straighter in his desk chair, his chest puffed out like a peacock’s. “She was magnificent. Once minute, she’s complaining about her water and the next she’s pushing our little girl into the world. I still can’t believe it. We had no idea there were two babies. Six minutes later, our son is born.” He stood up and walked to the tray holding the coffee pot, his limp barely noticeable. “Alyssa came through like the trooper she is.” Griff poured a cup of coffee and offered the cup and saucer to Alex. “Here. You look like you could use a cup this morning.”
Alex accepted the coffee gratefully. “Thank you.” He took a sip of the scalding brew. “How’s your mother? And your brother?”
“Mother had a harder time of it. Nathan came breech, but the physician says he’s none the worse for wear for coming into the world feet first. It was touch and go for Mother for a while, but she came through it because she was so determined to succeed and because Alyssa refused to allow any physician to bleed them. Alyssa believes loss of blood weakens the body instead of strengthening it. And from what I saw on the battlefields on the Peninsula, I’m inclined to agree. Mother is much stronger this morning,” Griff said. “Father is up with them now. He’ll be down when the physician arrives. All in all, it was a very harrowing night for Father.” He met Alex’s gaze. “Unlike the night you had. I trust you found everything to your liking.”
Alex raised his eyebrow at that. “Is it that obvious?” He had spent the night making love to Liana and allowing her to satisfy her curiosity by making love to him until they had finally collapsed in one another’s arms and slept the sleep of the dead, only to wake up and make love again.
“I recognized the signs,” Griff said. “Before and after. But it doesn’t hurt that I’m a duke and informed of everything that takes place in my house. Including the fact that someone raided the larder in the small hours of the morning and that the remains of that early morning raid were found in the Yellow Suite along with a very naked marquess curled around his marchioness asleep on a makeshift bed in front of the fireplace.” He smiled at Alex. “Keswick was taken aback for a whole second.”
Alex groaned. “We had an early morning picnic in front of the fireplace. And one—”
“Taste led to another?” Griffin teased. “Think nothing of it. Fortunately for us all, Keswick is the soul of discretion. He’s found Alyssa and me in similar circumstances in nearly every room of this house. He once found us in the conservatory, completely nude and still—shall we say—as one. We believe in love in this house. In all its forms. As for me, I’m very happy to know my good friend and houseguest finally came to his senses, followed his heart, and made love to his bride.”
“How did you know I hadn’t before now?” Alex demanded.
“I received a message from my counterpart—the other duke—before he left, telling me, among other things, about the sacrifice you were prepared to make by not making love to your bride.” Griff refilled his cup and walked back to his desk. “You are nothing if not honorable, Alex. But no man can hold out forever. Twelve days has to be a record. Especially when anyone with half an eye can see you’re in love with her.”
Alex bristled. “Was someone spying on us?”
“A spy in the home of a spy? Heaven forbid!” Griff laughed. “That would be a waste of money and talent. Completely unnecessary. The two of you couldn’t keep your gazes or your hands off one another yesterday. Her hair was down and there were hairpins scattered all over the floor of your coach and on the front walk after you arrived. Your shirt was misbuttoned. And both your lips and hers were swollen. It looked as if you’d spent the afternoon kissing.”
Alex sighed. “So much for discretion.”
“There was blood on your bedsheets this morning. And according to the maid who collected them, they reeked of lovemaking. The sheets are in the laundry as we speak.” Griff smiled. “You owe me five hundred pounds, by the way. You owe each of us five hundred pounds.”
“I’ve already paid your counterpart.” Reaching inside his jacket pocket, Alex pulled out a bank draft made out to Griffin for five hundred pounds. “And I came prepared to pay you.” He handed it to the duke.
“Thank you.” Griff pocketed the bank draft. “I may need this now that I have two more mouths to feed instead of one.”
“Griff, I was trying to protect her. I was trying to give her a choice. Her father gave her no choice about Rothermere. Then I showed up and gave her no choice about marrying me. As long as she remained a virgin, we could have the marriage annulled and she could pick the man of her choice.” Alex raked a hand through his hair. “Was that so wrong?”
Griff shook his head. “There’s nothing wrong with trying to protect her—even from herself. What’s wrong is trying to tell her how to feel and how to think. She has a good head and a good heart. She can think for herself. And nobody can tell anyone how to feel or whom to love. You love whom you love. Nothing can change that.”
Alex sat back in his chair. “I wasn’t planning to marry until I was thirty.”
“None of us planned to marry until we were thirty. And we’ve all turned out to be remarkably happy.”
“But I was the last unmarried Free Fellow. Who is going to do what I’ve been doing? I had just returned from a Channel crossing the night Daniel told me Lady McElreath needed my help. I made those channel crossings because everyone else had a wife to worry about. Now what? Who is going to do that now?”
“We’ll find someone.”
Alex and Griffin turned to find Griffin’s father, Lord Weymouth, standing inside the doorway. They had been so engrossed in their conversation, they hadn’t heard him enter Griff’s study. “We always do.”
“Good morning, Father. Coffee?” Griffin lifted the silver coffee pot from its tray.
“Only if you have something stronger to go in it.”
Griff set the pot back down, then went to his desk and produced a decanter of Scots whisky. “Will the breath of life do?”
Weymouth nodded.
Griff filled his father’s cup halfway with whisky and topped it off with coffee before handing it to him.
“Lord Weymouth,” Alex greeted Griffin’s father. “I hope everything is well with Lady Weymouth and your new son.”
Lord Weymouth took a sip of his coffee. “Lady Weymouth is much improved and the little ones are all hale and hearty.”
“Congratulations, sir,” Alex said.
Weymouth smiled a broad smile. “Imagine that,” he mused. “I’m fifty-seven years old and a new father and new grandfather on the same day.” He looked at his son. “Thank God, it’s over. I don’t think I could go through that again. I haven’t needed anything to steady my nerves since you went off to join the cavalry.”
Griffin and Alex exchanged a look. Lord Weymouth had arrived in time for the birth of his second son, but Griffin had been there for the duration.
Weymouth continued. “Your mother has been my strength, my salvation, and the love of my life for longer than you’ve been alive. I can’t believe how damnably close I came to losing her again. Thirty years dulls the memory of the agony she endured and how close I came to losing her when you were born. You recall how wonderful it was to
have a child. You forget the bloody, painful details.” He ran a shaky hand over his brow. “You’ve been an only child all your life, Griffin, and I’ve been the proud father of one extraordinary son. This is going to take some getting used to.”
“I’m thrilled to be able to get used to it. Being a brother and a father.” He met his father’s gaze and was surprised by the emotion he saw there.
“And you, young Courtland, how is married life treating you?” Weymouth asked. “I met Lady Courtland upstairs. Remarkable young woman. Takes after her mother and her brother. She’ll make you a wonderful wife.”
“You met Liana?” Alex asked.
“Of course,” he said. “I always make it a point to meet the wives of my Fellows.”
Griff and Alex shared another look. The Free Fellows had become Lord Weymouth’s Fellows when Griffin joined the cavalry and went off to fight on the Peninsula and needed his father’s help to keep in contact with the others and with Alyssa. Since that time, they’d served as spies and ciphers and couriers and smugglers for a special branch of the War Department headed by Lord Bathhurst and run by Lord Weymouth. Before that, Griffin, Colin, and Jarrod had been a secret league unto themselves.
“I met her before, of course, at Grantham’s wedding to Miss Davies, and saw her at Sussex’s second public wedding, but we didn’t have a chance to speak in that crush. She’s just the girl for you, Courtland. She wrote me a few years back right after Grantham’s wedding…”
“She wrote you?”
“Yes, she wrote and asked that I do everything in my power to keep her brother and his league friends safe, because it would break Lady Grantham’s heart to lose her husband and become a widow and it would break her heart if anything were to happen to you.” He shook his head, then looked over at his son. “Reminded me of all the letters Alyssa used to write begging me to look out for you.”
“I never knew,” Griffin said.
Alex looked flummoxed. “I had no idea.”
Weymouth chuckled. “For spies, you can be most unobservant. There wasn’t much I could do with you in the thick of things with the cavalry, son, except pray, but I’ve watched over you since you came home.” He turned to Alex. “And I thought I’d done a fairly good job of looking out for you until McElreath made his bargain with the devil and you had to engage in new hostilities and put yourself in Rothermere’s sights once again.”
“You’ve been looking out for me?” Alex was surprised.
“You’re a Free Fellow, aren’t you?” Weymouth queried. “I had my eye on you from the day you became the marquess until today. Who do you think suggested you to the others?”
“You.” Alex turned to Griff who nodded.
“I asked Father for a recommendation for a good man,” Griff said. “He assured me you were completely loyal and trustworthy. He was right. You were a perfect fit. You risked your life on your first mission and have continued to do so on a regular basis. Thank you, Alex.”
“It has been my honor,” Alex answered. “Thank you for trusting me with your secret.”
The Earl of Weymouth clapped Alex on the shoulder. “I think of you as another son and I’m as proud of you as I am of Griffin, Jarrod, Colin, or Jonathan. Now, I have a question for you.”
“Sir?”
“Have you told Liana you love her? Outside the throes of passion?”
“No, sir.” Last night, after their tender lovemaking, when Liana still slept in his arms he had whispered his love. I love you, Liana. From now through eternity. But she hadn’t heard it. And he’d been too afraid to repeat it in the light of day for fear she might not love him back.
“Do it,” Weymouth advised. “As soon as possible. Else you may live to regret it.” The earl rubbed his hands together as if he were washing them. “Now, let’s get down to work. We have a great deal to discuss.”
“Yes, sir.” The two younger men answered in unison.
“First of all,” Weymouth began, “I need to tell you that Rothermere is free. Your mother sent him back to his townhouse five days ago.”
“Is my mother all right?” Alex asked.
“She’s fine,” Weymouth told him. “I paid her a visit on my way here. She told me she’d followed your instructions. She released him after seven days and sent notice to the newspapers that her houseguest had returned to his London townhouse.”
“She did,” Alex confirmed. “Is she alone? Is anyone staying with her?”
“Her physician friend. And I hired Runners to guard her without her knowing it. No need to worry. I’ll see that she’s safe.”
Alex let out the breath he’d been holding. “Thank you, sir.”
Griff returned to the coffee tray, poured his father another cup of coffee, then refilled Alex’s cup and his own. “I’m curious as to why you gave her those instructions.”
Alex shrugged. “I was concerned that my mother might be tempted to avenge my father’s death. It was my way of insuring she would do as I asked and have the newspapers confirm it.”
“What did you hope to accomplish by releasing Rothermere?” Weymouth asked.
“My main purpose was to prevent my mother from committing murder. If he turns up dead after she was kind enough to take care of him, no suspicion can be attached to her. The other reason was to force Rothermere out into the open so I could track him.”
“Speaking of tracks, what happened to your face?” Griff asked, gesturing toward the crease on Alex’s cheek.
“Someone took a shot at me yesterday at the Abbey while I was out riding.”
“Any idea who?”
“My first thought would be Rothermere,” Alex said. “But I don’t think he would hire someone to kill me. He did so with my father. But killing me is more personal now. Rothermere wants to do it himself, preferably piece by piece.”
“Who else would want to kill you?” Griff wanted to know.
“Other than Colin?” Alex tried to make light of Colin’s reaction to his marrying Liana. “A dozen or so French spies. I was supposed to be killed in France after the crossing. But I survived and took a Gilpin A-1 Rifle off the assassin to bring home to England to prove they are in production and that the French received the first shipment of them purchased by the British government.”
“I concur with your assessment of the situation,” Weymouth said. “And so do Shepherdston, Manners, Grantham, and Sussex. It’s why I sent Sussex to Sheffield to speak with Gilpin. There’s a connection between Rothermere and Hayward Gilpin and to the nest of French spies we’ve been trying to identify and remove…”
“Gilpin is smuggling British guns to the French?” Griffin asked.
Weymouth shook his head. “I suspect Gilpin is completely innocent of smuggling, but he’s no longer in charge of his company.”
“Who’s in charge?”
“I believe Rothermere’s in charge. He inherited it through his marriage to Polly Gilpin,” Weymouth elaborated, explaining the theory he and the other Free Fellows had come up with in Vienna. When he finished, he turned to Alex. “I disagree with your assessment of Rothermere. He wants you dead and while he would like to do it himself, probably at the fencing school where you fought a few years back, he’s desperate now to get the deed done.”
“Why is he so desperate to kill Courtland now? He’s had dozens of opportunities over the years and at his aborted wedding.” Griff set his coffee cup on its saucer and got up to walk to relieve the pain in his leg that came with sitting for long periods of time. “He challenged Alex to a duel on the spot.”
“Because Courtland has something he needs desperately, but Courtland only came into possession of it thirteen days ago,” Weymouth concluded.
“He’s not getting Liana,” Alex told them. “She’s my wife and I’m bloody well keeping her!” He turned to Weymouth. “And she’s not going to be used as bait to trap him, either.”
Weymouth sighed. “I tried to get a warrant to arrest him, but he’s a peer and the government wouldn’t hear of arres
ting him for treason or murder or attempted murder without proof. And the Crown insists that there be no trial or public execution. He is, after all, a marquess.”
“My father was a marquess,” Alex said. The fact that the government cared more about Rothermere’s rights than they did his father’s left a bitter taste in his mouth. “Surely he deserves more consideration than his murderer.”
“We can’t prove Rothermere had your father murdered,” Weymouth reminded him. “So we’re going in another direction. Daniel is gathering the evidence from Gilpin and you”—he nodded at Alex—“are going to provide the rest of the evidence.”
“With what?” Alex asked.
“The marriage contract between you and Lord McElreath. According to Colin, Liana’s dowry includes inherited property in Edinburgh and France. That’s what Rothermere needs. And he needs it because he’s smuggling the rifles through Edinburgh and storing them in an empty chateau in France in preparation for Bonaparte’s arrival in Paris to reclaim the throne.”
“What?” Alex was aghast.
“You said it yourself in your report to Sussex. Something big is about to happen in France. Napoleon’s escape from Elba, Rothermere’s smuggling of the Gilpin A-1 rifles, and his rush to marry McElreath’s daughter to get the only thing of value McElreath had left is no coincidence. Everything is connected. And you and Gilpin have the marriage contracts to prove it.”
“I didn’t receive a dowry from Liana,” Alex told them. “I didn’t negotiate with Lord McElreath or ask for her hand in marriage. Lady McElreath and I forged the contracts. I wrote them based on what Lady McElreath told me and she forged his signature. Then, I had my solicitor record them so everything appeared legal. I had no idea Liana had a dowry or property and no idea if what Lady McElreath told me to put into the contracts is real. It didn’t matter. I was bluffing to save her reputation. To make it look like Rothermere had poached what was mine and was in the wrong, but the truth is that his marriage contract with McElreath was valid. Mine was all fiction. McElreath doesn’t remember negotiating the contract with me because he didn’t. It was all a ruse.”
A Bachelor Still Page 29
