A Murderous Masquerade (25 page)

Giles glanced at the clock on the mantle. Charlotte was almost due for one of her visits but he didn’t think he could bear for her to come into the room and see him looking so frail.

The last bowl of broth that Craddock had patiently fed him had stayed down and he felt the desire to leave his bed. Quickly sliding to the edge of the bed, he rose and grabbed the robe that lay over the chair. His legs were a little unsteady, his head swam for a few moments before the door behind him clicked open, and the scent of vanilla and roses hit the air. He turned slowly to see Anne enter the room. She closed the door behind her and quietly turned the key.

Giles raised a curious eyebrow.

“Has my young cousin fallen down the well? This is her normal time for a visit.”

Anne smiled and walked towards him.

“I asked her to exercise the horses with Geoffrey and Callum. They were getting fat standing about the stables all day and I cannot help them due to my condition.”

Giles swallowed his own breath as she stood before him and peeled the shoulders of her gown down over the tops of her creamy white arms.

“You will be fine to ride for weeks...Ah!” He stopped speaking as desire suddenly flared in her eyes.

She walked slowly around him, trailing her fingertip under the edge of his robe and along his collarbone.

She bit gently into the lobe of his ear.

“Yes, my love. I will be riding for weeks and weeks. There is nothing to fear.” She paused in her torture of him as he fought to remain still. The weeks of not seeing her had nearly killed him and he wanted her to complete her little game. She pulled his robe from his shoulder and pressed her succulent lips to his flesh. It was all too much. His pent up passion, his desire, his overbearing need of her rose up so fast the all his blood raced to his groin and left him light-headed. Anne gave a small laugh and put a finger to his chest. She pushed him gently backwards. He didn’t even attempt to resist as he fell back onto the covers and she climbed over him.

“I am an ill man, treat me with care,” he breathed into her neck as she lifted her skirts and he helped her pull them over her head. Her breasts fell into his willing hands and he groaned out his pleasure as the weight of them filled his palms. “My wife, my lover. Anne, I love you,” he whispered as his mouth closed over a tight, rosy nipple.

She loosened the cord at his waist and eased his robe from his shoulders. She straddled his hips and slid down over his throbbing shaft. They both stilled at the sensations and emotions that filled them and Giles released her breast with a gentle ‘plop’. He stared up at the beautiful woman who rose above him and then slid back down his aching member. He thrust his hips upwards to meet her and her eyelids fluttered closed as she pulled in a breath and a long moan left her lips.

“You know that the horses haven’t left their boxes in several days. They will need exercising all afternoon.” She admonished him as he attempted to increase her pace.

He shook his head against the pillows, held onto her hips and thrust upwards again.

“I don’t care. I want you to come with me and there is no way that I can hold this back. I don’t even want to consider trying. I need this, I need you. Come with me, Anne. Ride me as though your life depended upon it and I will ride with you.”

She needed no more encouragement. She opened her eyes, gazed down at the father of her child, the man she loved, as she threaded her fingers through his hair, and began to move her hips in rhythm with his.

Epilogue

Edward stared about the deck. His arrival had not caused a single flicker of recognition in anyone’s eyes. He walked up to a large man who appeared to be giving orders to the others on the deck. Pushing in front of a thin fellow wearing nothing but a pair of dishevelled trousers and an overload of metal in his ears, he looked down at the man seated on a barrel.

“Lord Edward Ellesworth. Would you please conduct me to my cabin?” He tapped his cane against his polished boot.

The big man cocked his head and spat a stream of chewed tobacco onto the deck just in front of Edward’s shiny boot.

“Oh ho! So ye be thinking that ye deserve a cabin do ye? Well, let’s be having ye then. I will conduct you to your sleeping quarters meself seeing as ye be such a fine upstanding young gent.” He heaved himself up from the barrel and towered over Edward.

Edward sucked in his bottom lip thoughtfully. There was clearly something wrong with this situation. The man’s sarcasm had not escaped him, but given the man’s stature he decided to keep his mouth shut and follow where the seaman led.

The steps down into the hold did not look promising and neither did the smell that assaulted his senses as they descended into the dark. He hesitated for a moment and held the seaman’s gaze as he turned towards him.

“If you have anything of value, give it to me an’ I’ll see that Captain Jacobs holds it for ye until we reach port. Other than that, find yourself a hammock and then come back up on deck. I’ll pair ye up with a more experienced man as soon as we set sail.”

Edward narrowed his eyes. Was this some kind of joke? He looked back at the man staring steadily at him.

“There’s no mistake here? I do not have my own cabin?” He asked somewhat hopefully.

The big man shook his head slowly.

“Sorry, old chum, but we know who ye are. Ye and yorn father are dead broke an’ ye are a murderer. Fraid there ain’t no cabin for the likes of ye. Be thankful that I offer to take yorn valuables to the Captain. There’s many a man on here who wouldn’t be above relieving ye of them by more unreasonable means.”

Edward pressed his lips together and held his tongue. He looked about the deck. Hammocks hung only inches above one another, sand buckets stood in various alcoves and niches, limp shirts hung from nails banged into the beams. He raised an eyebrow at the big man behind him and moved towards a hammock near a porthole. He hung his cane on a nail beside it and rolled his coat up to use as a pillow.

The man behind him began to laugh.

“Aye! Ye have made a wise choice, boy. Now get yeself up on deck before I gets the lash out to them pretty white shoulders. There ain’t no room for slackers on this ship; especially those that can’t pay their way!”

The man laughed again as he strode back towards the steps to the main deck and Edward pulled back his ‘pretty white’ shoulders and strode after him, steeling himself for the first day of his five year penance.

Anne blinked at the letter lying in front of her. A tear dripped onto her cheek as she read her brother’s words of apology. She wasn’t sure that she could forgive him.

Her father had requested this meeting and she had reluctantly agreed to go. Giles insisted on accompanying her even though his name had not yet been cleared as a murderer. He had spent the last two weeks lying low at Caithwell, waiting for word of Edward’s discovery. He’d been more than surprised that the boy was still missing.

The Earl of Lavenham had gasped in shock when he saw Giles’ very live figure loom at him out of the dark corner of the inn’s private parlour, but after his initial surprise he appeared calmer and had actually had the courage to nod at Giles in some form of recognition.

He handed Anne a letter addressed to her in her brother’s hand. She had opened the flap and read the contents with a heavy heart. His explanation for the circumstances surrounding the practical joke made some sort of sense to her, but she wondered if the punishment handed out fit the crime. It was only Charlotte’s ingenuity and daring that had saved her husband’s life. Five years away from home hardly seemed a fair exchange.

She lay the letter the table and looked at her father.

“And when he comes home? Will all be forgiven and forgotten?”

The Earl shrugged.

“That rather depends on you both. I don’t suppose that he will be received in many circles without your sponsorship. You are a married woman; I leave it all in your hands as to what you want to do.” He stood up from the table and made his way to the door. He turned just before he left them. “The judge knows what has happened to him and agreed with the punishment I doled out.” He glanced up at Giles. “I suggest that you go to the judge now and show that you didn’t die on that scaffold. I’ll back you up if there is any question, of course, but as Edward is clearly alive and well, I can hardly think that you will be strung up for a murder that you certainly didn’t commit.” And with that, he walked out of the door.

Charlotte sat and watched the sparkles issuing from the huge diamond as she threw it into the air and caught it once again. It seemed so ridiculous to own such a useless prize. Once put in a setting, it was even too big to wear.

If she ever travelled to the continent, she would take it with her and see if she couldn’t find some nabob who would part with his millions to own it.

Movement outside in the courtyard caught her eye. Geoffrey stood with the cart, ready to return it to Ormond. He placed a firm hand on Callum’s shoulder and she could see him give the boy a friendly squeeze. Her own heart clenched as Geoffrey swung himself with fluid grace up into the driver’s seat. She raised her hand as he started off, but he never turned his head to see her salute.

She dropped her gaze to the pink diamond and a tear dripped from her eye onto one of its many cut surfaces. The tear rolled across the facets and teetered on the edge of the stone. Charlotte let out a deep sob of pain as her own heart mirrored the fabulous jewel. It shone as deeply pink as her own bleeding heart.

Geoffrey forced himself to look forward. He could not risk turning back or she would see the passion in his eyes and the despair in his heart. His goodbyes to Anne and Giles had been joyful ones with promises of meeting again soon and visiting in the autumn. He dared not ask if Charlotte would accompany them on their visits or even if she would remain with them for the foreseeable future. As if answering all his questions, Giles had stated that his ward wanted to be an independent woman. He’d already set her up with a share of their livestock breeding programme so Geoffrey guessed that he would see her on occasions, but a business meeting wouldn’t feel the same as the camaraderie of their recent adventure.

Geoffrey shook his head at the thought of how she had approached him in the barn with her mad idea. A mad idea that had sort of worked, he might add. He tried to delude himself that it had only been the outfit that had made him agree to her every demand, but it wasn’t true. His list of reasons why he should avoid her had grown mightily since that day. He’d added ‘too foolish’, ‘too innocent’, ‘too daring’, ‘too outrageous’, and ‘far too dangerous’ if she didn’t put on some decent attire.

If he had been a lesser man, she would have been flat on her back with those tempting breeches and almost sheer shirt thrown into the nearest stall within seconds. He ground his teeth at the thought of anyone ever seeing her in them again.

He closed his eyes for a moment, desperately trying to rid himself of the image he had just conjured before he clucked at the horses and slapped the reins gently across their rumps. They picked up their feet and trotted quickly out of the gateway.

Giles watched as Anne slipped out of her wedding gown.

The blessing had been a quiet affair but Giles had insisted on everyone knowing that he and Anne had already been married a month. The fact that the original service had taken place in the town gaol was whispered about for days, but he cared not. He wanted the world to know that his bride was his and there were no questions to be asked. If his child was born a couple of weeks early for the dates to be secure he would argue that they had consummated their marriage while inside the gaol walls. No one would dare contradict his statement however scandalous it appeared.

He pulled off his perfectly tied cravat and dragged his shirt over his head, dropping both to the floor before he reached out for the beauty in front of him and dragged her against his chest. The heat of her body ignited flames of desire in his soul and he leaned down to touch his lips to hers.

The night was theirs and he meant to make it one to remember. He lifted his beautiful bride in his arms and carried her to their bed. That they had already spent the last passion filled weeks in it every night meant nothing to him. Today was the day that he had declared to God and the world that she was his, and nothing was going to take that away from them.

He raised an eyebrow at her chemise and lace undergarments. There were far more layers here than normal. He glanced at her face and caught sight of her mischievous smile.

He flicked one of her petticoats and looked enquiringly at her.

She laughed breathily.

“Something for you to work for. Page seven in the third book...It looks positively heavenly...” She had no time to finish. Giles picked up the neckline of her undergarments and rent it in two without a second thought.

He grinned down at her now naked body and then bent to whisper in her ear.

“You should have looked further. Page ten is far more interesting.” And with that, he dipped his head much lower and proved to Anne exactly what being sent to heaven felt like.

The End