Stole? Calder? Highwayman?
Deirdre gazed at Meggie in amazement. Meggie’s grin faltered.
“Oh, blast,” she muttered. “I wasn’t supposed to talk about that.” She started to inch back under the bed, but Deirdre sank to her knees on the floor and gently captured one long black braid in her fist.
“Meggie, tell me everything or your belly will never wrap itself about another piece of my toffee for the rest of your sticky little life.”
Chapter Fifty-three
“By God, I have had enough! Enough, do you hear me?”
Shocked, Calder jerked his head up from his miserable contemplation of some facts and figures he couldn’t have cared less about. In an instant he was out of his chair and across the study. “You little fool!”
Deirdre was braced in the study doorway, white-faced and shaking. He swept her off her unsteady feet and carried her to the parlor where there was a fire and a sofa. “Fortescue!”
The butler appeared instantly, already armed with a blanket and the news that Miss Blake was on her way to fetch the physician.
Deirdre lay limply in his arms but her eyes blazed. “Your physician can jolly well keep his hands to himself until I’ve finished what I have to say!”
Calder made a noise of objection, but Fortescue merely bowed. “As you wish, my lady.” Then he left, shutting the door on his way out.
Calder knelt by the sofa to deposit Deirdre very carefully on the cushions, but she refused to loosen her grasp on his lapels.
“You have to rest,” he protested. “What in the hell were you thinking, taking those stairs? You could have fainted and broken your neck and then I’d have to live the rest of my life knowing I’d killed you!”
Deirdre tried to shake him, but her arms were too weak and he was too solid. “Shut up, darling. I have something to say before I faint in your arms.”
Darling?
Calder shut up. Easing himself down to sit with her in his lap, he kept her supported in his arms while he clumsily draped the blanket over her. Stupid, mad, stubborn, beautiful creature!
She weakly slapped the blanket away. “Calder, stop fidgeting and listen. I have had enough—no, more than enough—of your inability to speak your mind. We have been at odds with each other from the beginning because we are both too bloody tight-lipped!”
She curled her body carefully so that she faced him, then released his coat in order to cup his jaw in her soft hands. He was relieved to find them normal, not chilled and not fevered. Then he released his watchfulness, for to be touched by her sent his pulse racing!
She gazed into his eyes. “You started hiding before we were even wed. Let me tell you, my love, my stupid, stubborn darling—hiding will do you no good now. I am going to tell you the complete and entire truth, every minute of every day. You’ll hear so much truth you’ll run the other way when you see me coming.”
Never. Having her in his arms again—feeling the curve of her backside against his lap, the weight of her breast against his bicep—
“Calder! Pay attention.”
He blinked. “So sorry. You were saying?”
She frowned at him. “I’m saying I love you. I want to live with you. I want to be your wife, your lover, the mother of your child.” She hesitated, a shimmer of doubt in her eyes for the first time. “But only if you love me as well.”
His heart rose mute in his inarticulate throat. He choked on the poetic and beautiful words of love he wished he could cast into her lap like a thousand gold coins. He swallowed, but where to start? His feelings were too intense, too overpowering—he didn’t know the words for such a longing!
She seemed to see some of his struggle in his face, for her eyes warmed with humor. “Say, ‘I love you, Deirdre’,” she prompted.
He cleared his passion-clogged throat. “I love you, Deirdre.”
That was easier than he’d thought it would be. He tried again. “I love you very much.” Still, the words were too simple, too tiny to encompass the depth of what he wanted to tell her.
He tried. “I—you were so ill—I thought—I found you on the heath—and then you wanted to leave—”
“Shh.” She pressed tender fingers over his lips. “Don’t rush yourself. There will be time to practice.” She twinkled at him, her spirit undiminished in her shadowed eyes. “Years, possibly.”
Years. At that stunning realization, something eased in Calder. They had the rest of their lives together. There was plenty of time to get it right.
Then, suddenly, he knew precisely what he most needed to tell her. “I did kill Melinda. I ignored and neglected her, yet when she left me I pursued her. The carriage turned over because I was gaining on it, drunkenly whipping my horse to a reckless speed. That regret was the most devastating thing I’d ever known … until I met you.” He slid her from his lap, then knelt on the floor before her. “I am wreckage before you. You have broken me, my love. All the walls of my life have come tumbling down and I stand in the rubble.”
She smiled proudly. “You stand freed in the rubble.” She wrapped his hands in hers. “You were already broken, my darling. Broken and badly mended. I had to take apart the pieces so you could become whole again.”
He bowed his head over their clasped hands. “So what will hold me together now? I don’t have the strength to rebuild myself, I fear.”
She slipped his arms about her waist, then lay her head on his shoulder. “We both are in pieces, I think. Love will have to be the glue.”
He gusted a sigh as his arms tightened carefully about her. “Well, we’ve plenty of that lying about, at least.”
She choked out a damp laugh. “That we do, my darling. That we do.”
Then she glanced down. “Calder, I hate to break this to you, but it might be some time before I can take care of that properly.”
He laughed out loud, a deep rumble that brought her a whole new pleasure. She made an instant decision to make him laugh often.
“I’m sorry, my love,” he said, his smile half-eager, half-embarrassed at his obvious erection. “But you do bring out the Beast in me.”
Epilogue
The dream was of a place she’d never seen, although she knew it to be Brookmoor in her mind. Deirdre walked through a lonely wild space, with the wind pulling at her hair and the heather higher than her knees.
“Mama!” The small voice was hardly louder than a distant seabird’s cry, yet she turned immediately toward it.
“Meggie?”
“Over here, Mother.”
Over the softly rolling heather a girl came closer. She was tall and lovely, nearly a woman. Meggie’s dark eyes flashed laughter as her hair was whipped about her face by the wind.
“Mama, look what I found!”
Deirdre looked down at the child who clutched at Meggie’s skirts with one hand and cradled something in the other. “What is it, my darling?”
The boy looked up at her with great pride. “It’s a bug!”
Deirdre peered at the slimy tail whipping indignantly from the boy’s grubby fist. “It’s a salamander.”
He held it out proudly. “It’s for you!”
“Oh, my,” she replied faintly. “Thank you so much.”
He waited, fist extended. She took a breath and held out her cupped hands. The wiry black creature dropped into them and went still as it assessed the new threat.
She was very proud that she didn’t drop it.
Meggie chortled. Deirdre shot her a “just you wait” glare, then smiled at her tiny son. “It’s marvelous. Wonderful. I love it.”
Then she leaned forward conspiratorially and whispered in his ear, “I think Meggie’s envious. Why don’t you catch another for her?”
The child gazed up at her with Calder’s dark eyes. “And one for Papa, too?”
She caressed his dark hair while surreptitiously letting the little creature slither to freedom at her side. “Oh, yes. For Papa, too. He’s been simply longing for one.”
Meg
gie’s tinkling laugh rang out over the moor to dance with the wind … .
“Shh, Lady Margaret. His lordship and milady are still asleep,” Patricia scolded with a smile in her voice.
Deirdre opened her eyes to the dimness of the private space behind the closed bed curtains. She was curled against Calder’s large warm back, skin to skin with him. Drifting in and out of sleep still, she listened while Patricia shuffled Meggie out of the marquis’s bedchamber and shut the door quietly.
There was no need to wake yet. She could sleep the morning away if she liked. Fuzzily, she wondered what Brookmoor looked like. She wondered if it was windy … and covered in heather … .
Reaching for his arm, she tugged Calder about to cradle her and snuggled deep into his sleepily welcoming arms. Hours yet to sleep …
Suddenly her eyes flew open in surprise. Scrambling naked from the bed, she raced across the grand chamber to the tiny room that held the commode.
Calder joined her seconds later, still naked, his brow furrowed over sleepy, worried eyes. “You’re ill. I’ll send for the physician!”
Deirdre wiped her mouth and sat back on her heels. “No … I think I’m all right now.” She shook her head. “That was so odd. You’d almost think I was …” Her heart stuttered. Her breasts were sore and she’d been quite inclined to sleep—
She lifted her head swiftly to gaze at him, hope dawning within her.
Something flashed bright in those dear, dark eyes. “That would be … quite delightful.”
Deirdre pressed her palms to her belly, paying no mind at all to the long jagged scar there, healed for months. Calder’s arms came about her as he knelt behind her, covering her hands with both of his.
“Is it possible, do you think?” His voice was careful, but she heard the joy behind it.
“Why not?” She leaned her head back against his bare shoulder, feeling his strength surround and support her. “Sophie never did put much stock in doctors.” She closed her eyes. In her memory came the faintest call, hardly louder than a distant seabird’s cry.
Why not indeed?
Don’t miss the other titles in
Celeste Bradley’s new series
Desperately Seeking a Duke
Duke Most Wanted
AND LOOK FOR THESE OTHER BOOKS
BY CELESTE BRADLEY
THE LIAR’S CLUB
The Pretender
The Impostor
The Spy
The Charmer
The Rogue
THE ROYAL FOUR
To Wed a Scandalous Spy
Surrender to a Wicked Spy
One Night with a Spy
Seducing the Spy
Available from St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Praise for USA Today bestselling author Celeste Bradley and her previous novels and series
SEDUCING THE SPY
“Thrilling up to the last page, titillating from one sexually charged love scene to the next, and captivating from beginning to end, the last of the Royal Four series displays Bradley’s ability to tell an involved, sexy story. If you haven’t yet read a Bradley novel, let yourself be seduced by the mistress of the genre!”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews
“Have you discovered the bawdy charms of Celeste Bradley? Laced with intrigue and adventure, she has quickly become a staff and reader favorite and with each book we just fall further in love with her characters. This is the final book in the superb Royal Four quartet, with her most dangerous deception yet!”
—Rendezvous
THE ROGUE
“Once you’ve read a Liar’s Club book, you crave the next in the series. Bradley knows how to hook a reader with wit, sensuality (this one has one of the hottest hands-off love scenes in years!), and a strong plot along with the madness and mayhem of a Regency-set novel.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews
“Bradley continues her luscious Liar’s Club series with another tale of danger and desire, and as always her clever prose is imbued with wicked wit.”
—Booklist
“Celeste Bradley’s The Liar’s Club series scarcely needs an introduction, so popular it’s become with readers since its inception … Altogether intriguing, exciting, and entertaining, this book is a sterling addition to the Liar’s Club series.”
—Road to Romance
TO WED A SCANDALOUS SPY
“Warm, witty, and wonderfully sexy.”
—Teresa Medeiros, New York Times bestselling author
More …
“Funny, adventurous, passionate, and especially poignant, this is a great beginning to a new series … Bradley mixes suspense and a sexy love story to perfection.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews
“A wonderful start to a very looked-forward-to new series … once again showcases Celeste Bradley’s talent of creating sensual and intriguing plots filled with memorable and endearing characters … A non-stop read.”
—Romance Reader at Heart
“Danger, deceit, and desire battle with witty banter and soaring passion for prominence in this highly engrossing tale … Bradley also provides surprises galore, both funny and suspenseful, and skillfully ties them all in neatly with the romance so as to make this story more than averagely memorable.”
—Road to Romance
“A fantastic read … Bradley successfully combines mystery, intrigue, romance, and intense sensuality into this captivating book.”
—Romance Junkies
THE CHARMER
“Amusing, entertaining romance.”
—Booklist
“Bradley infuses this adventure with so much sexual tension and humor that you’ll be enthralled. You’ll laugh from the first page to the last … The wonderful characters, witty dialogue, and clever plot will have you wishing you were a Liar too.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews
THE SPY
“Only a clever wordsmith can make this complex, suspenseful tale work so perfectly. Bradley pulls us into the wonderful world of the Liar’s Club and gives us a nonstop read brimming with puzzle after puzzle.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews
“With its wonderfully witty writing, superbly matched protagonists, and intrigue-steeped plot, the third of Bradley’s Liar’s Club historicals is every bit as much fun as The Pretender and The Impostor.”
—Booklist
“A must for readers of the Liar’s Club series and a good bet for those who haven’t yet started … I unhesitatingly recommend.”
—All About Romance
“Ms. Bradley has an effortless style to her prose.”
—The Romance Reader
“A Top Pick … the best of [the Liar’s Club] so far. Bless Celeste Bradley … She just seems to get better at it as she goes along.”
—Romance Reader at Heart
THE IMPOSTOR
“Bradley carefully layers deception upon deception, keeping the intrigue level high and the tone bright … Readers will race through this delightful comedy of errors and eagerly anticipate the next installment.”
—Publishers Weekly
“With delicious characters and a delectable plot, Bradley delivers another enticing read brimming with the mayhem and madness that come with falling in love when you least expect it. The devilishly funny double identities, witty dialogue and clever twists will captivate.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews (Top Pick)
“Don’t miss this second book of the Liar’s Club series. With humor, passion and mystery, it’s absolutely delightful in every way! I can’t wait for the next one.”
—Old Book Barn and Gazette
THE PRETENDER
“Totally entertaining.”
—New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn
“An engaging, lusty tale, full of adventure and loaded with charm.”
—Gaelen Foley, USA Today bestselling author of Lord of Ice
“Bradley certainly knows how to combine engaging characte
rs with excitement, sensuality, and a strong plot.”
—Booklist (starred)
“Bursting with adventure and sizzling passion to satisfy the most daring reader.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews
“A charming heroine and a dashing spy hero make The Pretender a riveting read … [E]ntertained me thoroughly from beginning to end.”
—Sabrina Jeffries, USA Today bestselling author of After the Abduction
Read on for a sneak peek at CELESTE BRADLEY’S
Duke Most Wanted
Now available from St. Martin’s Paperbacks
“You’ve turned into such a lady,” Graham teased softly. He made a grab for her hand and caught it. He tugged her around. “Sophie, don’t let’s be angry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
She kept her face turned away. “I’m not upset. I’m just dead sick of you, that’s all. No time for this, I fear. Too many more important people waiting for me outside.”
He drew her chin about with tender fingers. “Here now. You’ve mussed your fancy doings.” He pulled out his handkerchief and dabbed at her powdered cheeks, smoothing the lines of her tears away. “There now, all pretty again.” He dropped a quick, meaningless little kiss on her lips, so close to his own.
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