Belong To Me (book 4) (The Fielding Brothers Saga) (28 page)

How she dared to partake of the awful tasting drink, she wasn’t sure, but she forced the vile liquid down her throat and held back the urge to regurgitate.

“What I would like to know,” he continued, “is what possessed you to consume the whole bottle?”

After she finished the last drop in the mug, she answered, “I was waiting up for you, you imbecile. I was worried about you.”

He laughed again. “I wanted to come back so badly last night, but couldn’t. Didn’t O’Toole tell you I was following the commissioner?”

“No. I probably feel asleep and he didn’t want to disturb me. Unfortunately, my worry for your safety kept me drinking that horrible drink.”

“From now on, I’ll make certain liquor is nowhere in sight when I’m not around.”

Charlotte watched him through squinted eyelids, and his comment made her smile. “I have been mistaken. You are the one who is horrible, not the wine.” She enjoyed their playful banter.

“Ah, but I still love you,” he said, leaning over and gently kissing her lips.

Suddenly, another kiss was deeply embedded in her mind, and she thought the alcohol must have still been in her system, because she was certain it felt as if Adam had kissed her. Adam had always been gentle, whereas Ian was wild. She mentally shook the thought from her head when Ian pulled away.

“Do you want to know what I discovered last night?”

She sat up a little more. “Yes, of course.”

“Well, I am certain Ewan is working with the commissioner. I followed Jeffrey Franklin after he left last night, and he went to Ewan’s place. I don’t know what was discussed, but Ewan looked just as upset as the commissioner.”

“I wish there was a way we could trap them.”

“There is.”

“We should get started on it right away, whatever it is.” She pulled back the covers to climb out of bed, but was stopped when Ian’s body moved to lay over hers, pushing her back across the sheets.

“Later, I have other things on my mind right now,” he said, eyeing her seductively.

She would have agreed, but without warning, her stomach lurched. “Ian, you’d better move before I do something that will be quite embarrassing!”

He quickly jumped off of her and helped her out of bed. She ran to the bathing chamber to empty her stomach. Taking a wet cloth, she dabbed her head and neck and returned to her bedchamber. Ian’s worried face made her heart melt. It was very obvious he loved her.

“Give me an hour and I will be presentable.”

“All right, but just one hour.
I don’t think I could last very much longer without seeing you.” He winked.

A smile touched her lips as she watched him leave.

* * * *

This afternoon was a perfect day for shopping in town. Charlotte needed to be away from the two men in her life, so she took her maid and went into the city. As she wandered from one shop to the other, she tried to come to decide how to tell Adam, but couldn’t come to a conclusion. By the early evening, she’d ordered several new gowns, which she purchased with matching shoes and bonnets, and she had eaten a meal. Thanks to O’Toole’s drink, the food stayed down.

As Charlotte walked out of one of the shops, she bumped into a woman she hadn’t thought she would see so soon. Charlotte’s packages tumbled to the cobblestones.

“Oh, good heavens, Mrs. Fielding,” Jacqueline
Fonteneau
gasped. “I’m truly sorry.” She bent to help her pick up the packages. “I suppose I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

“I’m all right, Miss
Fonteneau
. Please do not give the matter another thought.” Charlotte smiled. “How are you?”

After every last package had been picked up and handed over to the maid to put in the carriage, Jacqueline straightened. “I’m doing wonderfully.
But how about you?
Have you heard any more about that handsome husband of yours?”

Charlotte blushed. It was a little difficult and rather embarrassing to be discussing Ian with the woman who’d tried to seduce him while he was married. “I haven’t, I’m sorry to say. I pray something will
happen
one way or the other. I’m tired of worrying.”

“Yes, I can understand what you’re feeling.” Miss
Fonteneau
tapped Charlotte’s arm. “Would you like to have some tea with me?”

Charlotte really didn’t want to, but the look on the other woman’s face told Charlotte she had something she wanted to discuss. “Tea would be nice, Miss
Fonteneau
.”

“Please, call me Jacqueline.”

Charlotte nodded. “Jacqueline.”

The two women entered the nearest food establishment, and after receiving their tea, Jacqueline cleared her throat. “I had a visit from Ewan the other day.”

The teacup was halfway up to Charlotte’s lips when she stopped and stared across the table. “Indeed?”

“It seems as if
Ewie
has taken over Ian’s business.”

“He told you that?”

“Yes.”

Charlotte set the cup down. “Can he do that?”

Jacqueline smiled slyly. “Not to worry. It won’t work out. It’s quite obvious the main reason Ian was so well liked was because he was so incredibly handsome and charming. Most of his cases involved women, married or not. The women spread around gossip that Ian was the best, and the men soon heard about him, but of course, they thought it was because of his detective work.”

Charlotte really did not want to hear about Ian’s other liaisons. He’d promised her he hadn’t had affairs during their marriage, and she wanted desperately to believe. “But Jacqueline, Ian is a good detective.”

“Oh, yes, of course, but not at first…I mean, that was not what originally got him the jobs.”

“But you were speaking about Mr. Stout?” Charlotte quickly went on. “Why don’t you think he’ll be able to take over Ian’s business?”

Jacqueline giggled again. “Well, you’ve met
Ewie
, right?”

Charlotte nodded.

“Then you know. He’s a mousy sort of man. Not one that would attract a woman’s eye, if you know what I mean.”

“I understand.” Charlotte took a sip of her tea, and then set it back down on the table. “What did he tell you?”

“Well, we really didn’t do that much talking.” She giggled. “But his business must be doing all right. He gave me this.” Jacqueline stretched her arm across the table and showed Charlotte an expensive bracelet.

Charlotte hitched a breath.
“Oh, my.
This is certainly worth a lot of money.”

“That’s what I’d thought.”

“Those diamonds and rubies are definitely real.”

When Charlotte reached for her teacup again, someone knocked into her chair, and a cane bumped against her leg. She looked up to scowl at the clumsy oaf, but his hand fell to her shoulder to steady
himself
. It irritated her to think this elderly man would be so openly rude, but just as she was about to personally remove his hand, she noticed the familiar large fingers. As recognition struck, she glanced into the man’s wrinkled face. The face was the same one that had gone with her and portrayed a servant when she had visited those clients of Ian’s, except for this time, he wasn’t wearing servants clothing, but fancy attire instead. He gave a wink then straightened himself.

Charlotte smiled widely. “Uncle Edward,” she exclaimed, jumping up to give him a hug. He was still looking at her strangely, so she continued. “It’s your niece, Charlotte Ashley Fielding, your brother’s only child.”

“Oh, my goodness.
It is you.” He laughed. “It’s hard to see clearly without my spectacles.”

“Why are you not wearing them?”

“I’ve misplaced them, my dear.” His hands patted the pockets of his jacket, and then his waistcoat until he found the object he was looking for. “Oh, here they are,” he said, putting them on. “How are you, my dear Charlotte?”

“I’m fine, Uncle Edward. Would you like to join my friend and
I
?”

Ian glanced at the other woman. “Indeed I would.” He sat as a serving girl brought him a cup of tea then he looked from his cup to the other woman at the table. “So, are you two lovely ladies enjoying your day?”

Jacqueline smiled at the older man.
“Yes, very much.”

“Uncle Edward?” Charlotte spoke quickly. “May I present Miss
Fonteneau
?”

Ian took Jacqueline’s hand and placed a small kiss on her knuckles.
“A pleasure to meet you, Miss
Fonteaeau
.”

Jacqueline giggled again.

“Uncle Edward,” Charlotte went on,” Miss
Fonteaeau
just showed me her beautiful diamond and ruby bracelet. If my memory serves me correctly, didn’t you used to work in a jewelry shop?”

“I did.”

“Well, my friend is not certain if the diamonds were real. Do you think you could look at them and see?”

Jacqueline stretched her arm forth as she showed the older man her bracelet. Charlotte watched as Ian studied the piece of jewelry, and then after a few seconds, he looked up.

“Yes, Charlotte you are correct. The diamonds and rubies are real.”

Jacqueline squealed with delight. “I didn’t think
Ewie
liked me
that
much.”

“Now that you know he does, what are you going to do about it?” Charlotte wondered.

Jacqueline shrugged. “I have no idea, but I’ll discover my true feelings after he has given me more pieces of jewelry, I think.” She picked up her parasol and stood. “I hate to be cutting this short, but I have a million things to do before dusk. It was a pleasure meeting you, Uncle Edward.” She looked at Charlotte. “It was nice to see you again. Come by sometime when we can chat more.”

“I will.”

After Jacqueline left the shop, Ian leaned over, taking Charlotte’s hand in a tender caress. “Charlotte, my darling,” he whispered, “
that
bracelet was one of the items stolen from Mr. and Mrs. Pendleton.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Are you certain?”

“I helped recover that piece of jewelry while working for them not too long ago.”

“Oh, my,” she gasped. “And Ewan Stout gave it to her?”

“Which means Ewan is definitely involved. Possibly he still has some of the stolen items.”

“How can we find out?”

“We’ll have to sneak into his house.”

Charlotte’s mind worked quickly. “Or, maybe I could become friends with him.”

“Don’t you
dare!
” His voice rose. “Have you any idea what Jacqueline does with him to make him her friend?” Blushing slightly, she nodded. “But the fact is
,
you are not going to become that close to Ewan.”

“You need not worry about that.”

“I hate to inform you, but that’s the only way he’s going to give you jewelry.”

Charlotte sighed heavily in defeat. “So, what shall we do now?”

“I don’t know just yet. Let me think on it for a little while. I’ll come up with something.”

She touched his arm softly. “Let me know if I can help.”

His brown eyes darkened with desire. “I know how you can help, but it has nothing to do with Ewan Stout.” His deep voice simmered with barely checked passion as he gazed upon her.

Laughing lightly, she slapped his arm playfully. “Uncle Edward, such an inappropriate idea.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Ian’s voice lowered. “When can we have a repeat of last night?”

Her heart tripped and she caught her breath in her throat. “We shouldn’t be talking about this right now.”

“Then let’s talk about it in the carriage on the ride home.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to make love with an old man,” she whispered softly, but smiled at him in jest.

“Then I shall take off my disguise.”

“If you do that, people will see you when we reach the castle.”

He sighed and shook his head. “Why do you always have to make sense?”

“Just my nature, I suppose.”

Taking her hand, he stood and brought her up with him. “Come, my dear Charlotte, and I’ll walk you out to your carriage. I’ll let you ride home alone, but,” he lowered his voice, “I’ll be waiting for you in your room when you arrive at the castle.”

Chapter Fifteen

Ian’s lips caressed the top of Charlotte’s head as she rested it against his chest. Cuddling with him right after making love was glorious!

“You know,” he said, stroking the side of her face, tenderly pushing back the hair that had fallen into her eyes. “It’s so satisfying to make love to you when love is the emotion behind it.”

“Oh, Ian,” she sighed dreamily, sleepily. “You really are sweeping me off my feet, aren’t you?”

“That’s what I’m shooting for, my love.”

She smiled and cuddled closer, pressing her face back to his hard chest. The light strokes of his hand on her back eased her mind and relaxed her body. This felt nice, very nice. Being his wife would be everything she’d dreamed about.