Too Wicked to Love
Page 26
The inspector flashed a smile. “I was here when His Lordship shot that poor fellow. Cold-blooded murder, that’s what it was. I saw the whole thing. And I heard the entire conversation—including the letter from the witness clearing you of murdering your wife.”
“So John is free?” Genny asked as John helped her to her feet.
“He will have to give statements and present the letter as evidence,” Brooks said. “But in the end, yes, he will go free.”
She looked up at John, her eyes shining. “Free,” she whispered.
“Free,” he echoed, and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “You are a madwoman to be taking such chances with your safety. I would not have been able to go on if I lost you.” His voice broke at the end, betraying the stark fear that had turned his insides to jelly.
“I could not simply stand there and let him destroy your chance to clear your name.” She laid her head against his chest. “I would do anything to save you, John.”
“And I you,” he murmured.
Inspector Brooks cleared his throat. “My apologies for interrupting, but Your Grace, would you please hold your pistol on the earl while I get the handcuffs on him?”
“I will do it,” Genny said. She pointed the gun she still held at Raventhorpe. “I would remind you again, Lord Raventhorpe, that I am an excellent shot.”
“I forget nothing,” Raventhorpe snarled.
“I will find something to staunch that bleeding,” John said, nodding at the earl’s injuries while the inspector bound his hands in the cuffs. “I would not want you to expire before you stand trial, Raventhorpe.”
As John walked away, the inspector called out, “Don’t forget the letter, Your Grace,” and pointed at the document, which lay near the pulpit where John had dropped it during the excitement.
John picked up the letter, turned it over in his hand. So strange to think that something so small could have such importance in his life. He turned, looked at Genny fiercely holding Raventhorpe in her sights.
Then again, maybe not so strange after all.
Chapter 22
Genny lay in her husband’s arms, drawing circles in the fur of his chest. Through the curtains she could see the rosy glow of dawn over the garden. They had not slept; they had spent the entire night making love, as if they needed to forge their bond over and over again after nearly losing everything that day.
“Do you think we will be safe?’ Genny asked.
John made a gruntlike sound, and she realized he had been dozing. “What?”
She propped herself up with her elbow on his chest and waited until he opened his eyes. “Do you think we will be safe now that Raventhorpe has finally been arrested?”
“I warned Brooks not to turn his back on him.” John yawned and stroked his hand over Genny’s unbound hair. “As long as he is on his guard, all should be well. But the bastard has always been slippery.”
She slapped him lightly on the chest. “There is a lady present, Your Rudeness.”
“Really?” He fondled her bottom. “Hmmm, so there is.”
“You, sir, are insatiable.” She kissed him, lingering as his hand stroked over her buttock and up her back. “Seriously, John, should we worry?”
“About Raventhorpe? Just keep our guards up.” He curled his arm around her, pulled her closer. “I lived half my life hiding and worrying about being discovered, my love. I do not want to live that way any longer. We will be vigilant, but I will not live in fear. Not anymore.”
“I do not want to live in fear either. But I might have lost you tonight—would have surely lost you if that letter had not come to light. I want to live joyfully.”
“That is exactly what you should do.” He dragged her more fully on top of him, then smoothed his hands along her back. “I always felt that I should have been able to protect Elizabeth from Raventhorpe. But I could not, and she died. From that point forward, I made it a policy not to let anyone else get close enough to me to put me in that position again. I was a bad bet. And then I met you.”
“What did I do?”
“My little warrior. You bullied your way into my heart, slipped right beneath my defenses when I wasn’t looking. You taught me what real love is, and how the more you have, the more you have to lose.”
She wrinkled her nose. “That does not sound very pleasant.”
“You also taught me that there are people in this world who will support others no matter what the cost. You could not know your father would approve of our marriage when you stood up at the breakfast table and threw your lot in with mine. Yet you did it anyway.”
“Since meeting you, I have been inspired to do all manner of improper things.”
“Oh?” He waggled his eyebrows.
She slapped him on the chest. “I was not talking about that.”
“Why not? I thought you liked that.”
“I do. I just meant . . . You make me less afraid. Bolder.”
“I like bold.”
“I know you do.” She frowned, struggling to put the feelings into words. “You make me brave and happy. I feel as if I can do anything as long as you are by my side.”
“You know what, my darling Duchess? I feel exactly the same way.” John lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. “And suddenly I have an urge to see how improper we can be . . .”
“John!”
She laughed as he rolled over with her, starting the day—and the rest of their lives—with love and laughter and a sense of coming home.
For both of them.
About the Author
DEBRA MULLINS is the author of several historical romances for Avon Books. Her work has been nominated for the Golden Heart and RITA® awards from Romance Writers of America and the Holt Medallion from Virginia Romance Writers. In 2003, she won the Golden Leaf Award from NJ Romance Writers for her book A Necessary Bride. A native of the east coast, she now lives in California. Visit her website at www.debramullins.com.
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Romances by Debra Mullins
TOO WICKED TO LOVE
TEMPTING A PROPER LADY
TO RUIN A DUKE
THE NIGHT BEFORE THE WEDDING
TWO WEEKS WITH A STRANGER
SCANDAL OF THE BLACK ROSE
JUST ONE TOUCH
THREE NIGHTS . . .
A NECESSARY BRIDE
A NECESSARY HUSBAND
THE LAWMAN’S SURRENDER
DONOVAN’S BED
ONCE A MISTRESS
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Debra Mullins Welch
EPub Edition JUNE 2011 ISBN: 9780062090676
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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