With its dull gray walls and mismatched furniture, it was hardly the appropriate setting for a proposal of marriage, but with the arrival of Sommersby that afternoon Maitland had realized that he couldn’t abide the notion of Daphne going to the other man because he’d been too principled to bow to her wishes.
“What did you wish to speak to me about?” she asked, her lovely face tight with impatience. “I should like to have another look at Lady Celeste’s letter before dinner. Especially now that Sommersby has arrived to search for the cipher.”
Her thoughts were a million miles away, and Maitland was suddenly determined to bring her back here to this room. With him.
Pulling her against him, he lowered his lips to hers in a soft, seductive kiss, full of all the pent-up desire he’d been fighting against since their first encounter weeks ago.
She was surprised, but it took only the barest moment for Daphne to catch him up. And when she opened her mouth to his, and slipped her arms around his neck, he hummed with satisfaction. Whatever might have passed between them, whoever might have arrived to distract her, the spark between them was still there.
Coming up for air, he leaned his forehead against hers, and looked down into her half-lidded eyes. “Marry me, Daphne. So that we can explore what’s between us.”
When she didn’t reply at once, he realized his mistake.
Shaking her head, she pulled away from him, and reluctantly, Maitland let her go.
“I won’t marry you simply so that we can lie together, Maitland,” she said with exasperation. “It’s too high a price. If I were already married, or a widow, you wouldn’t even feel obliged to offer at all. Why can you not afford me the same courtesy as you would a willing widow?”
At her words, he huffed out a startled laugh. “You do realize that you’re probably the only unmarried lady in the country who doesn’t wish to become the next Duchess of Maitland?” He thrust a hand through his hair, disheveled from her hands. “I vow, Daphne, you are the most frustrating lady it has ever been my misfortune to meet.”
“If it’s such a misfortune,” she retorted dryly, “then I wonder at your wanting to spend the rest of your life with me.”
“You would try the patience of a saint, madam, and make no mistake about it,” he said with a sigh. “And no, that is not a contradiction of my wish to wed you. It is rather a statement of fact.”
He stepped close to her again, looking down into her defiant green eyes. “Another statement of fact is that there is unfinished business between us, and I will not insult either your or my honor by attempting to bed you without an understanding between us. You might wish to be treated like a different sort of woman, but the truth is that you are not. And a gentlemen would not, could not, forget that.”
“Then I fear you will be doomed to disappointment,” Daphne responded with a shrug. “Which is a shame. For I think we’d get on well together.”
How she could be so hot in his arms one minute and cool as a cucumber the next, he couldn’t know. But he couldn’t deny it added to his desire for her. Even now his fingers itched to pull her against him and persuade her to change her mind.
He wondered suddenly if others were tempted by her in the same way. And was beset with a rare fit of jealousy. “I won’t stand by and let this Sommersby chap take advantage of your friendship, either,” he warned her.
But rather than the irritation he’d expected, he saw instead a shadow pass over her eyes. He realized at once that he’d mistaken her feelings for the other man. Whatever was between her and her former tutor’s son, it wasn’t the sweet tale of young love’s dream he’d conjured in his imagination. If he wasn’t mistaken, it had been fear he’d seen in her eyes.
“What is it, my dear?” he asked, noting that the hands he pulled into his own were trembling. “Daphne, what has that blackguard done?”
But she took a deep breath and pulled away. “Nothing,” she said with a hollow laugh. “We simply knew each other in our youth. That’s all. And I do not wish him to find the Cameron Cipher before I do.”
But Maitland couldn’t let her get away so easily. “Simple acquaintance does not explain the way you paled when you set eyes on him. Nor the way you trembled just now.”
She looked as if she would speak for a moment, then stiffened her spine and gave a slight shake. “Do not be absurd, Duke,” she said with a sunny smile. “I fear you are letting my rejection go to your head. But please do not repeat your proposal again, for I do not know how many times I can tell you I have no wish to wed.”
“You will have to do so one day,” he warned her. “I doubt your father will simply allow you to do whatever you wish.”
Daphne’s lips curled into a genuine smile. “You’d be surprised, Duke. Very, very surprised.”
He watched her, trying to guess what she was thinking. Finally, he shook his head. “I’m going to wear you down, you know. I can be very persuasive.”
“I’m sure you can be,” she replied with a catlike smile. “And so can I.”
Lifting his chin, he said, “Then may the best man, or woman, win.”
With a nod, she accepted his challenge. And without a backward glance, she sailed with head held high from the room.
Watching the sway of her hips as she went, Maitland knew he had his work cut out for him.
And more than ever he wanted to know what had passed between Sommersby and Daphne. Because judging from her response to the man, it hadn’t been anything good.
* * *
After dinner that evening, the ladies—clearly eager to discuss matters they did not wish to share with male ears—headed upstairs to bed, while Kerr and Maitland retired to the room they still thought of as Aunt Celeste’s study, though she’d been gone for months now.
“What did you make of him?” the duke asked his cousin as he settled his large frame into one of the oversize chairs his aunt had purchased expressly for her nephews. “I didn’t believe his story a bit.”
Kerr, who had been pouring them both generous snifters of brandy, looked up, his brow furrowed. “Who?”
If Daphne was frustrated with her friend Ivy’s recent lapse into absent-mindedness, then Maitland was equally put out with Kerr, who spent most of his time away from his wife gazing off into space with a vague smile on his face. “That Sommersby fellow, of course. He looked at Daphne like she was a prize calf at the cattle show.”
His cousin nearly dropped the glass in his extended hand. “You’d better not let her hear you describe her thus. Or any of the ladies, actually. They would flay you alive.”
“You know what I mean,” Maitland said pettishly as he took the brandy. “That chap is up to something, make no mistake about it. And he has designs upon Lady Daphne as sure as the sun rises in the west.”
“It rises in the east,” Kerr corrected absently, “but I suppose I agree about your point. He did seem a bit … calculating.”
“East, west? What does it matter when there is a wolf on the doorstep?” Maitland had never been particularly interested in such things. But he was interested in Daphne, who had clearly not been pleased to hear of her old friend’s reasons for being here. Whether the man wanted her for romantic reasons, or strictly because he knew her agile mind would far more easily unravel the Cameron Cipher once it was found, Maitland was unsure. Hell, it might be both.
“You really are enjoying the animal metaphors this evening, aren’t you?” Kerr quirked a brow at him. “Though the wolf one does seem apt.”
“Well, this is one wolf who will not catch his prey.” Maitland would allow the fellow near Daphne again over his dead body.
“You can hardly bar the door to him when he arrives for dinner tomorrow,” Kerr said reasonably, crossing one booted foot over his knee. “Aside from the fact that the house doesn’t belong to you, you really have no claim on Daphne aside from friendship.” He narrowed his eyes at his cousin. “Unless of course, you’ve changed your mind recently and allowed her to have her wicked way wit
h you. You haven’t, have you?”
“Of course, I haven’t.” Maitland scowled. “Not that it’s any of your business. But, no, my mind is made up on the subject. I will not besmirch her honor. Even if she is willing to let me do so.”
“You’re a stronger man than I am,” Kerr said, shaking his head. “If Ivy had approached me with such an invitation…”
“She’d have to have done so before you even met in order to beat you to the mark, cuz.”
It was no secret that Kerr had compromised his now wife only a few days after their arrival at Beauchamp House.
“I think you’ve proven your inability to control your baser urges around your wife, else you’d not now be married.” Maitland gave his cousin a speaking look. “Though I will admit to a certain amount of envy at your situation. It’s certainly no easy feat to get through every day around her knowing that she’d be mine for the taking if I only agreed to her terms. But I am not in the habit of seducing innocents. And bold though Daphne might be, she is no wanton. I won’t bed her without at least the promise of marriage. It’s as simple as that.”
“I’m not saying it’s not noble of you,” the other man said. “It’s just that not many men would be able to resist temptation like that.”
“Not many men were raised by my father,” Maitland said, his mouth tight. “I will not repeat his sins, no matter how strong the urge. He was a rake and a scoundrel and is likely somewhere in hell beside himself with laughter over my priggishness. But I will not relent. I saw what havoc his dishonor did to not only my mother, but also to the women who were unlucky enough to fall prey to his charms.”
Kerr nodded solemnly. “I know, old fellow. I shouldn’t have teased you on the matter.”
Maitland only nodded in response.
“It was rather a shock to hear Sommersby mention the Cameron Cipher,” Kerr said, changing the subject. “I haven’t thought of it since we were boys. And I certainly had no idea that Aunt Celeste knew anything about it other than the legend.”
“I begin to think there was a great deal that Aunt Celeste knew but didn’t share with us,” Maitland said wryly. “The identity of her heirs, the secrets of her youth, and now the fact that she knew the location of the infamous Cameron Cipher. I wonder if we knew her at all.”
“It’s no secret that she disliked mysteries,” Kerr said with a shrug. “And it would appear that she’s left two at least as part of her legacy to the four heiresses. I wonder what the Misses Hastings are keeping back from us.”
“For now, let’s concentrate on the Cameron Cipher,” Maitland said, more concerned with Daphne than the Misses Hastings, fond though he had grown of them. “Daphne has been searching the library for it since her arrival, it would seem. And has thus far had no luck finding it. Which, given her intellectual abilities leads me to believe that it isn’t there.”
“Or it’s somewhere she hasn’t looked yet,” Kerr retorted. “It’s one of the largest libraries in England. One lady searching for three months is hardly going to find it quickly. No matter how brilliant she is.”
“You have a point, I suppose,” Maitland said with nod. “What I want to know is how Sommersby learned that it was hidden in Beauchamp House. Or that there was a connection at all.”
“Someone must have told,” Kerr said reasonably. “Perhaps we can learn from him at dinner tomorrow. Aunt certainly had innumerable friends and acquaintances. She might have hinted at the cipher’s presence at Beauchamp House to any one of them.”
“She clearly chose Daphne as one of her heirs because of it,” Maitland said. “I wonder if she feels any discomfort over that. That she was picked because of her ciphering abilities.”
“I can’t imagine Lady Daphne is the sort to dwell too much on such things. She seemed eager enough to find the thing. It’s Sommersby’s arrival on the scene that’s set the cat among the pigeons. For all that they’re old friends, she didn’t seem particularly happy to see him.”
Maitland thought back to her response earlier when he’d brought up Sommersby’s name. There was definitely something from the past between them. And on Daphne’s side at least, it was an uncomfortable memory. If he judged Sommersby aright, he thought Sommersby had some sort of an in with Daphne. There had been no mistaking the proprietary way the man’s eyes had roamed over her.
He’d proposed tonight because he thought perhaps Daphne would turn to her old friend in the face of his own rejection of her advances, but the way her hands had trembled at the mention of the man told him she’d sooner proposition a snake.
He looked down to see his hand clenched tight around the brandy glass. When he glanced up, he saw Kerr was watching him knowingly.
“I don’t think there’s anything particular between them, you know,” his cousin said. “If there were, Sommersby would have looked far more smug than he did. He was trying to win back her trust, I think. Ingratiating himself with her.”
“Perhaps,” Maitland said, not wanting to speak of his suspicions regarding the newcomer just yet—at least not with any specificity. “Regardless, I will continue to keep an eye on him. Until he proves otherwise, I don’t trust the man.”
“What did you make of his friend? Foster?”
“Most of my attention was on Sommersby,” Maitland admitted. “But Foster seemed a nice enough chap. He didn’t strike me as anything but what he seemed. Certainly not like Sommersby did. There’s just something about the fellow I cannot like.”
“Foster didn’t look familiar to you at all?” Kerr asked, his eyes troubled. “I could have sworn I knew him from somewhere, but I cannot think of where for the life of me.”
Maitland thought back to the scene on the path to Little Seaford. Sommersby, he could recall with exact detail. His companion, however, was less clear. He had an impression of reddish hair and a medium build. But he’d not lied when he said he wasn’t focused on the fellow. Kerr was usually good at recognizing faces, however, so he didn’t dismiss the other man’s words.
“Perhaps you saw him somewhere in town? Or at university?”
“Maybe,” his cousin replied. “Doubtless it will come to me as soon as I stop trying to remember.”
“If you’d stop mooning over that wife of yours, you’d probably remember quickly enough,” Maitland said, setting down his now empty brandy glass and stretching. “You were a rather clever fellow before Ivy came into your life.”
“I was a rather lonely fellow before Ivy came into my life,” Kerr corrected him with a wink. “And you cannot blame me for being a besotted fool when I have such a prize.”
Despite his jest, Maitland could see that his cousin was happier than he’d ever been. It was as if Kerr had become lighter somehow. As if the cares of the world had lifted from his shoulders and been replaced with a mantle of joy. Or something. He was no poet. He only knew his cousin was a different man since he’d married Ivy. And the duke couldn’t help but be a wee bit envious.
Aloud he said, “I won’t agree too heartily, because I do not wish to be called out.”
“Now, who’s the clever fellow?” Kerr asked with a wink.
And on that note, the cousins made their way upstairs. Kerr to his own room where he would likely share every syllable of their conversation with his wife, and Maitland to his bachelor bedchamber, where he would lie awake for some time mulling over the events of the afternoon.
Chapter 3
“Why didn’t you tell us you were searching for the Cameron Cipher?” Sophia demanded once the ladies were safely ensconced in the sitting room they shared upstairs near their bedchambers. “We could have helped!”
“I knew you weren’t simply cataloging the books,” Gemma said with a scowl.
Ivy only looked at Daphne with disappointment.
Daphne could tell that the other ladies were hurt by her deception, but she could not regret her decision to keep her own counsel on the matter of the cipher. Not only had Lady Celeste chosen to share the presence of the puzzle in Beauchamp H
ouse with Daphne alone, but some sense of inner caution had warned her that once the others knew, the secret would not be secret for long. News like this had a way of getting out. And given the number of people who had traipsed in and out the house following that business with Ivy’s search for Lady Celeste’s killer, Daphne knew she had made the right choice.
“You know now,” Daphne said aloud. “And that is what matters, is it not?”
Sophia opened her mouth to object but closed it again.
“What matters is that we find it before your Mr. Sommersby does,” Ivy said briskly. “For he seems quite determined. And unless I mistake the matter, he will arrive on our doorstep first thing tomorrow morning rather than waiting until the dinner hour.”
“He did have the look of a man on a mission,” Gemma agreed. “I was rather surprised he didn’t invite himself along with us on our trip into Little Seaford. He certainly wanted to spend more time with you, Daphne.”
“Yes, he did.” Sophia’s shrewd gaze rested on Daphne’s, as if assessing her response. “If I know men, and I believe we’ll all agree I do, then he wants more than just the Cameron Cipher from you, Daphne.”
Daphne felt her cheeks heat. She had, once upon a time, thought Nigel Sommersby the most handsome gentleman of her acquaintance. And for a fleeting moment that afternoon, her old feelings had come to life again, like the reanimated being in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, which she and Nigel had devoured in the schoolroom.
But, like the monster, her feelings were not something that could be allowed to flourish. There had been a moment, years ago, when she thought perhaps … but those fanciful notions had been snuffed out almost as soon as they’d come to life.
* * *
“Do not be absurd, Sophia,” she said aloud. “He’s desperate to find the Cameron Cipher since he was a youth. If he has any thought that it could be in the vicinity, he will stop at nothing to retrieve it.”
“Those are rather strong words,” Gemma said with a frown. “Are you saying he has no thought for the law? Or that he would physically harm someone to get to it?”
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