by Lucy Monroe
"You want me." He sounded awed and extremely pleased by the fact, if somewhat confused.
"Do not concern yourself. I’ll overcome my idiocy. Apparently, one’s body is not at governance from one’s head in these matters."
He shook his head, his black mane swaying against his shoulders. "I’m concerned all right."
Oh no, it was that seductive voice. The one he used when they made love. She backed up a step on the bed and almost fell as the feather ticking dipped under her feet. "No."
He moved closer to the bed, until his legs were braced against the high wooden frame. "Yes. Cali, please. We both need this."
No. She couldn’t let him make love to her, could she? She was furious with him. He didn’t believe in her. She couldn’t want him. She shouldn’t. But, oh heavens, she did.
She warily waited for him to move, not sure what her response would be if he attempted seduction.
He climbed on the bed, his male member bobbing with the movement. She wanted to reach out and touch it to see if it was always that resilient. She almost screamed as the thought entered her mind. How could she do this to herself?
With the speed of a striking snake, his hands shot out and grabbed her, yanking her down beside him in one fluid movement.
She did scream then, but the pressure of his lips quickly cut it off. The erotic taste of his mouth battered against her resistance, but she couldn’t meekly submit.
She’d never been so angry with anyone in her entire life, but her body latched onto a truth that had eluded her mind. There was a safe outlet for that anger, even a pleasurable one.
So, she kissed him back with ferocious hunger, biting at his lips and thrusting her tongue into his mouth with more aggression than she had believed herself capable of. He let her do it and groaned his response. "That’s it angel. Kiss me like you mean it."
She meant it all right, but she didn’t think he’d like to hear just what she did mean.
He yanked at her nightgown and she heard the fabric rip. She didn’t care. She wanted her naked skin against his. In seconds, she had her wish. She rubbed her aching nipples against the curling hair on his chest and moaned her pleasure at the sensation.
He cupped her bottom and pushed the juncture of her thighs against his throbbing flesh. She hooked her thigh over his leg, opening her feminine softness to brush against his engorged manhood.
"You make me crazy."
"Make me forget," she demanded.
And he did. He slid the hand that had cupped her bottom down until his fingers were between her legs, touching and tormenting her sensitized flesh. "You’re so wet."
He slipped a finger inside of her and she arched her body against his hand. "Yessss."
"You’re so hot and tight. It feels so good."
It did. Good enough to get lost in. She wiggled her hips and shards of pleasure splintered through her. He pressed his thumb against the center of pleasure above her opening and thrust his finger more deeply into her.
"Jared."
He did it again, this time making a small circle with his thumb. And then he just kept doing it. His finger moved in and out of her tight channel and his thumb made little circles or up and down movements against her swollen nub.
She moved her hips against him, maximizing the contact with his hand. She grabbed his face and kissed him again, her tongue playing sensual games with his while he touched her with intimate abandon. Then she was on her back and he was poised to enter her.
"Tell me you want me, Cali. Let me hear the words."
She shook her head. She’d given as much as she was going to.
"Say it, angel. I have to hear you say it."
His erection throbbed against the entrance of her body and she tried to tilt her hips up to receive him, but he wouldn’t let her complete the joining. He wanted the words.
She glared up at him, her whole body shaking with unsatisfied desire. "You say it. Tell me you want me after everything that happened today."
He grabbed her wrists and yanked them above her head, his expression fierce. He leaned down and kissed her with a feral intensity, then raising his lips just a breath from hers, he growled, "I want you, now and forever."
Tears spiked her lashes, but she ignored them. "Then come inside me. I want it." She would not say she wanted him, she would not give him the satisfaction. And right now she wasn't sure it was him she wanted. What she craved was oblivion. Apparently content with her semantics, he kissed her again and pushed slowly forward with his hips. Everything else had been so wild, she’d expected him to roughly shove himself into her, but he didn’t. He took his time, waiting for her body to adjust to the width and length of him.
He rocked gently against her. "Take all of me, mon ange. Please, baby. All of me."
She wanted all of him. She wanted his body so melded to hers that she didn’t feel alone anymore. Spreading her legs as wide as they would go, she arched her hips up and he slid the rest of the way in. And stopped.
He kissed her again, this time his lips as soft as a butterfly’s caress against hers.
Then he started to move, careful thrusts that built the pleasure in her one slow degree at a time, until she was panting and begging him to go faster.
"Harder, Jared. Please. Faster." She needed more. That incredible explosion of pleasure hung just out of reach as he rocked his body slowly against hers.
"I want this to last. I don’t want it over too soon."
She knew what he meant. Right now, nothing existed for them except each other. No ugly accusations. No poisoned candy. No danger. Not even the oblivion she thought she craved. Just pleasure and oneness.
She kissed his face, his lips, his chin, his neck, soft nibbling kisses that expressed what she would not say in words, what she might never give voice to. Her love an emotion strong enough to withstand even the painful betrayal he had dealt her.
Then her mind went blank of anything but the pleasure in her body as the slow, burning thrusts built up the coiling tension inside her. She felt the warm track of tears down her temples as her body went stiff and pleasure splintered through her, overwhelming her until she cried out with it.
He let go of her wrists and hugged her tightly to him, while his thrusting went out of control, bringing an almost instant replay of the spiraling enchantment. As his warm seed filled her, she convulsed around him again, crying out his name.
He opened his eyes and met her gaze, his expression so intense it shattered her. "You are mine."
She didn’t deny it. She couldn’t. But she refused words of confirmation.
He rolled off of her and tucked her into his side. She lay there for several minutes letting her thoughts float in the aftermath of the loving, but eventually reality once again intruded.
"Do you think I’m guilty, Jared?"
"I think there’s a lot I don’t understand, but I’m going to figure it out."
She frowned in the darkness. "I could be pregnant. After yesterday and tonight."
His arms tightened around her. "Yes."
"If I am and you aren’t convinced of my innocence when the baby comes, will you take it from me like Langley took you away from Anna?"
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"What color was the candy?"
Cali’s question exploded in the silent room like a firecracker on Boxing Day although she spoke in her usual low tones. She had stood in silence at that bloody window for what felt like forever. She’d asked him to request his family come to Rose Cottage this morning and he’d agreed.
He didn’t know what her plans were and he hadn’t asked. He was still so furious over the question she’d asked him after making love the night before that he didn’t trust his temper talking to her. How could she ask if he would act like Langley? He wasn’t his father and she bloody well knew it. But, the worst part of it was the fact that he hadn’t had an answer for her.
What could he say?
If she were guilty, she wouldn’t be a fit mother, but he couldn
’t make his mouth form the words.
Her face now wore the expression it had on the first day he met her, its creamy smoothness revealing nothing of her thoughts. After the intensity of their lovemaking last night, having her look at him with that blank calmness both angered and frightened him.
Thea asked, "What does it matter?"
Cali met Thea’s gaze, her own unflinching. "As long as you all believe I’m guilty, you will only think to protect Hannah from me. I must establish my innocence so that Hannah can be adequately protected until the true villain is caught."
Didn’t she think he would watch over their daughter?
"How will knowing what color the candy was aid you in doing so?" Ashton asked, his face an impassive mask.
His wife glared at him. Jared wasn’t the only one with woman problems.
"I only make candy with red roses. My Slater’s Crimsons are my favorites for the task. You can verify that with both my cook and the vicar’s wife. If the candy was a different shade of rose petal, then that will be a chink in the wall of your belief in my guilt. That chink alone may be sufficient to encourage you to keep your guard up even if you don’t stop suspecting me."
"That won’t prove anything. You could have made another color deliberately, just to try to get us to believe your innocence." Thea didn’t sound accusatory, more like she was hoping Cali had an answer for that eventuality.
"Oh, for Heaven’s sake," Irisa exclaimed, clearly irritated with all of them.
Cali ignored her interruption and answered Thea’s question. "Preparing rose candy is a very long process and certainly not something I could have hidden from my cook. If I had made any using a different color of roses, she would have known. Again, you are free to ask her. Besides, if I’m muddle-headed enough to use my own servants to deliver the poison, I’m too lackwitted to think of making the candy with a different type of rose petal."
Hope exploded in Jared. His wife was bloody smart, too intelligent to do as she’d just said and have used her own servant to deliver the poisoned candy. She was also too clever to have approached Willem, disguised only in her widow’s weeds.
Thea smiled. "The candy was pink, a very pale pink."
"Thank God," Cali whispered, her clenched hands relaxing at her side.
She hadn’t known. She had been hoping, but she hadn’t known.
Jared wanted to shout Hosannas. He’d been unable to accept that his gentle wife was guilty of something so foul from the beginning, but the evidence against her had been strong. Too strong to dismiss out of hand when coupled with her admission that she resented Hannah at first. However, using that clever little brain of hers, she’d poked holes in the case against her. He was so relieved he was going to blubber like a pregnant woman if he didn’t keep a tight reign on his emotions.
She’d be a damn fine chess player.
"You said the duke came to see you on Saturday." Ashton’s mask had dropped away and he appeared as relieved as Jared felt.
Jared had told them all what Cali had said about the duke coming to call when he went to the manor to fetch them that morning.
"Yes, but I have no proof." Cali’s expression had not lightened.
Didn’t she realize they believed her? Jared wanted to go over and take her in his arms, but the remoteness of her expression stopped him.
"You don’t need proof. We believe you," Irisa announced.
Cali turned to face his sister and smiled. It was a small smile, but genuine and Jared would give anything to see it again. "Thank you."
"Why did he come, Cali?" Drake asked.
"He wanted to warn me off marrying into a family so rife with scandal."
"The hell you say." If the duke had been there at that moment, Jared would have flattened him.
Cali turned expressionless eyes to him. "Yes. He was particularly concerned that as the son of a dishonorable man, you would have no honor yourself."
"He told you about my father?" How had the duke learned the truth?
Jared supposed it wouldn’t be that hard. Rumors had circulated since his parents left for the continent, but no one had ever come out and made an accusation. Funny how his father fleeing had actually been the catalyst to destroying his reputation, rather than the refuge he sought.
"Yes. Apparently your mother was not dead when he remarried the current countess. Lady Ashton’s birth was illegitimate?"
She asked the question of Ashton and he was the one that answered. "That is correct."
Pink stained Irisa’s cheeks and Cali met his sister’s eyes. "Your father’s actions are no reflection on you."
Irisa nodded. She knew that. They’d told her often enough, but her illegitimacy had almost cost her Ashton and she did not dismiss it lightly.
Cali turned back to Jared. "He was angry when I refused to back out of the marriage. He threatened to refuse to acknowledge me in the future. He implied you might be counting on my connection to the Clairborne title."
Jared wasn’t sure how to reply. She had married him anyway, so the duke’s words must not have swayed her, but it bothered the hell out of him that someone had tried so hard to convince Cali not to marry him. "I don’t care about the bloody title."
"That is what I told him."
"And you married Jared, despite what you learned about his family," Thea said, her voice warm with approval.
Cali’s brow rose fractionally. "Yes."
Something was wrong, but Jared couldn’t quite figure out what. Cali should be happy. The sparkle that had lit her eyes after their marriage should be returning, but she was watching them all with that bloody emotionless duchess look.
His sister’s prediction that Calantha would not easily forgive him his lack of trust came back to torment him. He hadn’t meant to hurt her, damn it. He had only wanted to protect both his wife and his daughter.
"You think the duke left the poisoned candy and added instructions to your list for Thomas?" Drake asked, getting back to the subject at hand.
"I don’t know. He was very angry when I refused to call off the wedding."
"Does the duke know that his brother is Hannah's father?" Ashton asked.
"He behaves as if he doesn't, harping on Jared's willingness to raise his illegitimate daughter in the public eye as proof of his unsuitability."
"That could be a clever ruse to protect himself from suspicion," Irisa said, her expression thoughtful.
Calantha nodded. "I considered that possibility. If we don't, nothing else makes sense."
Thea's brow creased. "Do you think the duke is capable of killing a child to protect himself from uncertain scandal?"
Calantha said nothing, nor did her expression give a clue to her inner thoughts, but Jared could easily imagine how offensive she would find the question when the day before Thea had been accusing Cali of something similar.
"He's far more likely a suspect than Cali," Irisa said, her tone acidic.
"A woman hired the would-be kidnapper," Drake reminded them.
"A woman who looks, smells and speaks like me," Cali added, her voice showing neither concern nor anger at that fact.
"The duchess?" Jared asked.
Cali’s attention swung to him. "I don’t think so. She is a duchess. A real duchess. She would never stoop to consorting with a man like the one I met at the gaol. She’s been trained from birth to ignore the unpleasant and I don’t think she would care enough about Hannah’s parentage to take action. If she knows the truth, she is much more likely to simply pretend Hannah does not exist. Besides, she has brown hair, not blonde and she scents her bathwater with an exotic French bath oil, not rose water."
It struck Jared that Cali was talking in paragraphs for the first time since he’d met her.
"I think the time has come to call on the duke," Jared said.
He was surprised when Cali shook her head. "What would be the point? If he is guilty, he isn’t going to admit it. If he isn’t, he’ll be terribly offended."
"I don’t care abo
ut his tender feelings."
"You should. He’s a powerful man and he can cause you and your family a great deal of harm, Jared. He’s not above doing so if you anger him."
Jared couldn’t believe she thought he couldn’t protect her from Clairborne. "I won’t let him hurt you."
"If he’s the one who is behind all this, he already has." She didn’t say it like it mattered. He knew it did. Damn it, didn’t she realize that was the reason he had to talk to the duke? Not only had the man tried to hurt Hannah, but he had succeeded in hurting Cali and for that alone, Jared might kill him.
"At any rate, I wasn’t referring to myself," Cali continued, "I meant your family, Jared. Henry could make trouble for Drake’s shipping company or spread the scandal about Irisa’s illegitimacy in the highest echelons of the ton. He could drag your mother’s name through the mud and hurt your sister, Thea."
How the hell had she come to the conclusion that she wasn’t his family? She was his wife.
Drake frowned. "None of that matters if he’s responsible for trying to harm Hannah. As Thea said, whoever poisoned the candy could have killed all the children. That sort of mad evil has to be stopped."
Thea hadn’t accused some unnamed person of trying to kill her children, Calantha thought. She had accused her. "I’m aware that whoever is responsible must be stopped, but it would be prudent to seek out more information before accusing a duke of the realm of such a heinous crime."
She went to the bell-pull and gently tugged on it. Thomas had insisted on having a local handyman install it after they took up residence at Rose Cottage. A duchess should not have to call for her servants, he had said.
Thomas arrived moments later. His eyes were filled with wary concern.
"Will you please have Cook come to the parlor?" she asked.
Thomas did not show by so much as a flicker, his surprise at having the cook called to meet with nobility in the parlor. "Yes, milady."
"Why did you call for the cook?" Jared asked, clearly puzzled.
She wondered at his ignorance. "To verify my statement concerning the color of rose petals I use to make candy."
Why were the others staring at her like that? Surely they did not think she had been bluffing. Moments later, the rounded form of her cook appeared in the entrance to the parlor.
