Chapter 27
Madison awoke naked in her husband’s arms and didn’t know whether to snuggle closer or scramble out of bed and dress as quickly as she could. Not that she regretted having intimacies with him, of course. She was more embarrassed her mouth had gotten away from her afterward. She’d been so drunk in the afterglow that she’d said all sorts of embarrassing things that were better left in her head.
It was no big surprise Benjamin was so much better endowed than Robbie. But she needn’t have told him so. Mortification flooded her. Normally she said whatever popped into her head without a second’s thought. But to say such a thing to one’s husband directly following the consummation of their marriage was not appropriate. And if she of all people knew that, it must be bad indeed.
She peeked up at him. Did he think less of her for her comment? Most people usually just laughed or shook their heads in disgust when she said something bawdy. For the most part though, Benjamin usually encouraged her by saying something scandalous in return. But he hadn’t last night. He’d just laughed. She smiled. Perhaps he wasn’t quite as offended as she thought he might be.
She moved her head to the pillow to look at the profile of his face better. He was a very handsome man. She’d always thought so. They’d been introduced by Lady Olivia shortly after she’d come to London. At the time she had no romantic notions and as kindly as possible dismissed him out of hand without more than a cursory greeting. She’d been too busy mourning for the past to care about the future, or even the present.
Lying next to him this way, she almost wished she’d given him more notice before. He was actually turning out to be a good husband. Even if he had a scandalous past, his actions toward her, though not always to her liking, had all revolved around her wellbeing. She ran her hand through his hair. Looking at him thus, he looked familiar, kind of like...
She shook her head. She needed to clear
that
thought immediately. Ever since coming here she’d been on edge with worry about running into Leo. Of course she knew he wouldn’t be in Benjamin’s direct employ, so she was safe around the estate. But feared she might run into him if she went into the village.
Benjamin said she’d met him again, but she didn’t believe that. The only men she’d met were titled and wealthy. Leo was neither. Not that he’d specifically told her he was a chimney sweep or anything. He didn’t have to. His clothes were common. His bearded face was common. Even his manners were common. No noble lord or wealthy merchant would go to America and dress like a peasant. No, Leo was commoner and with any luck they’d never cross paths again. Which was all right with her.
At one time she might have wished for one more meeting with him. Just to confirm if his intentions were honorable as Brooke claimed or dishonorable as Robbie had. Robbie’s argument seemed stronger at the time. No man in his right mind would tell the sister to the young lady he was trying to seduce anything that might jeopardize his plans. But, on the other hand, Brooke had always been a fairly good judge of character and Robbie was, well, Robbie.
She shook her head again. It really didn’t matter. She didn’t plan to see the man again and if she did, she wouldn’t ask. She didn’t care to know anymore. She’d moved on. And to be quite honest, she was glad she had. Benjamin was a good husband and she knew if she were to ever be reckless enough to give her heart away again, she could trust him with it. He wouldn’t do her wrong.
“You look rather serious,” Benjamin said, pulling her out of her thoughts.
“Just woolgathering,” she said with a stilted smile.
He rolled onto his side. “No regrets I hope.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “No regrets.”
He smiled. “Care to tell me what you were thinking of?”
“Just that you look familiar,” she said with a shrug.
His eyes sharpened their gaze. “Yes?”
She waved her hand dismissively. “Yes,” she said laughingly. “But it’s because you’re my husband,” she added flippantly. “I’ve seen you every single day for several weeks now. If you didn’t look familiar we’d have a problem.”
“Yes, we would,” he added quietly. “And what does the duchess plan to do today?”
She laid her head on his chest and kissed his sternum. “The usual, I suppose,” she said, letting her fingers slide down his abdomen. “Eat. Sew. Scowl at Jamison. Walk around the house to try and lose Jamison. Eat again. Read a book. Try to bribe Jamison. Stare at an empty wall. Eat dinner with you. Put on a peepshow for Jamison while I bathe. Put on my nightrail. Have a stare down with Jamison until you arrive.”
He chuckled. “It sounds like you have a busy day,” he acknowledged. “Perhaps I can arrange a little less Jamison and a little more Benjamin. Would that be acceptable?”
She nodded. “I’d like that.”
“I’d prefer to keep you in bed all day,” he said, running his fingers through her hair. “However, I have an errand I’m probably already late for. How about if you put in your quality time with Jamison this morning and we’ll spend the afternoon together?”
“I like the sound of that,” she said.
“Me, too,” he said, kissing her head. “I’ll talk to Jamison before I leave. Perhaps while you’re bathing and dressing he can stand outside the door as long as Lottie is in the room with you and you don’t take too long.”
“I can accept that.”
“Good. But you’re not getting rid of me that easily. I’ll not be leaving the room when you dress or bathe,” he said with a wolfish grin.
“I wouldn’t want you to,” she said, her hand moving dangerously close to his waist.
He grabbed her hand and groaned. “I want to. Trust me, I do. But I really must go,” he said raggedly. “This afternoon. I promise.”
She nodded and watched him as he got up and dressed. His body looked like it had been carved from marble with rounded muscles and chiseled edges. He was magnificent, and all hers. He’d told her so last night and she quite believed him. She’d never be able to share him with another. Never.
After he’d given her a goodbye kiss and departed, she dressed quickly and barely got the door open when she nearly collided with Jamison.
“Hullo, shadow,” she said playfully. She may not have liked the man at first, and still didn’t like him following her about; however, now that Benjamin had promised to talk to him about boundaries, she supposed it wouldn’t hurt to be a bit nicer to him. He was just doing the job he’d been given. He couldn’t help it if said job involved following her like a lost puppy.
“Yer Grace,” he replied.
“Have you seen His Grace this morning?” she asked, praying he’d say yes.
Jamison nodded. “Yes,” he said, the tips of his ears turning a pale shade of pink. “Ta keep me peepers ta meself.”
“Good,” she said pertly. “See that you do.”
“Aye, Yer Grace,” he said, looking perfectly chastised.
Madison smiled and waved her hand around the sitting room. “Please, make yourself at home. I’m going to write a letter or two then I’ll be ready to spend the morning with you.”
She went to the cherry secretary that sat by the window. The writing surface was on hinges and under the board was a little compartment that held a stack of vellum an inch thick, half a dozen quills and four pots of ink that were black, green, blue and red. She reached under the stack of blank paper and pulled out the corner of the page on the bottom. It was the note she’d written her first day here. She pulled the offending paper out and laid the paper on the desk, letting her eyes do a quick scan.
Dear Andrew,
Please come quick. I’ve been abducted! Again! The first time he took me to some remote coastal place that I was never able to learn the name of. He said we were more than fifty miles from the nearest town! Or so he claimed. For all I know we could have been on the outskirts of London.
Oh, and while we were there, Robbie shot Benjamin! It was a dreadful mess and I had to sew him up. Then, his arm got infected and I had to send Billings, his coachman, out to fetch a doctor. And then, just as soon as the doctor treated him, a bullet flew in the window, barely missing our heads and whizzing straight into a piece of furniture. Of course that only led to Benjamin’s predatory behavior of locking me into a dark closet and going in search of Robbie with the biggest gun I’ve ever seen.
And if all that is not bad enough, he came back in, yanked open the closet, slung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and hauled me barefoot from the house and all the way to Glenbrook. Once here, he continued his madman methods and has hired Goliath to follow me around. The man follows me
everywhere
.
I don’t know how much more I can bear. Please come quick before he locks me into his dungeon!
Yours,
Madison
She shook her head. She almost couldn’t believe she’d actually written it. But she did remember writing it. It was only a few short days ago. She’d been so upset by the events of the day what with Jamison becoming her watchdog and Benjamin’s easy dismissal of her arguments. Angry and highly irritated, she’d sat and penned the exaggerated note, knowing she’d never send it. But even knowing she’d never send it, she felt better after she’d written it. Sometimes it just felt good to vent. Even if the truth was embellished a bit.
A noise from across the room caught her attention and she whipped her head around to see Jamison talking to someone at the door.
“Beggin’ yer pardon, Yer Grace,” Jamison called with an uneasy look. “Yer ta be me shadow tis morning. Tere’s a pr’lem tat I need ta hep wit.”
“All right,” she said, opening the top of her secretary and haphazardly shoving the missive inside. She’d prefer to stay in her room and use Jamison’s errand as an excuse to be alone, but knew Benjamin would not be happy if Jamison left her alone or if something bad happened at the estate because she didn’t cooperate with Jamison and go with him to take care of whatever problem he needed to attend.
Madison walked down the stairs with Jamison and out toward the stables. Outside the stables they could hear some of the grooms yelling and physically fighting. Madison frowned. Why was Jamison being called out to deal with the squabbles of the grooms? He was the head footman. Shouldn’t it be the job of the head groom to deal with this?
Inside the stables, she saw Billings standing off by the far wall. He was too old to be involved if he wanted to be, she thought as she murmured to Jamison she was going to go stand by Billings while he settled the fight.
“What’s going on?” she asked Billings as she approached.
The old man shrugged. “They was fightin’ ‘fore I gots here. I sent fer Jamison cuz I canna fine Leer.” He ran a hand through his hair and watched the fight with wide eyes.
Madison hadn’t taken her eyes off the fight, either. Even with Jamison present and trying to break up the fight, they boys were being just as aggressive, if not more so.
“Pr’aps we oughtta step out,” Billings suggested when a stool came flying in their direction.
Madison nodded. She didn’t want to walk up to Jamison to tell him she was leaving. He appeared a smart man. He’d figure out she went outside where it was safer. “All right,” she said sweetly and followed him out.
***
Benjamin rode his mount at breakneck speed to the village where he was meeting several members of his staff, the village constable and a Bow Street Runner. He’d had enough of this business regarding Robbie and was ready to be done with it and move on with his life with Madison.
Before leaving the inn he and Madison had stayed in on the way to Glenbrook, he’d sent a message to London requesting Finch, the Runner he liked to use, to meet him at Glenbrook. Finch arrived one day after Benjamin and immediately started to do a discreet investigation of Benjamin’s staff.
Unfortunately, he’d been unsuccessful in figuring anything out. Of course his staff knew nothing. To start with, only a handful of them had gone with him to Rockhurst and Plymouth. Of those who went with him, none of them were in any condition to have gone trolling around either property in order to have happened upon anything of interest.
Benjamin ran a hand through his hair. “I guess we’ll just have to wait for him to strike again,” he mumbled.
“Aye,” Leer, the head groom, said. “I’ve asked me boys to let me know if they see anyone they shouldn’t be seein’.”
“Good,” Benjamin said approvingly. He’d asked that the grooms be on alert, but not informed. He wanted nothing to tip off Robbie or his mysterious accomplice.
Finch put his tankard down. “Do you still suspect an accomplice?”
Benjamin nodded. “It makes sense, too. The accomplice has to be the brains of the operation. Though not
too
brainy if he leaves his own footprints,” he added ruefully. “But yes, there has to be another man involved. Not only is Swift not smart enough to think of a way to hide his tracks on his own, there’s no way he’d be able to gather the necessary information on his own.”
“What do you mean?” Hunter, his estate manager, asked with a curious look.
Benjamin brushed the imaginary crumbs off the table before looking back up to Hunter. “What I mean is, Swift cannot do everything himself. He couldn’t have camped in the woods outside Rockhurst just waiting to see my carriage roll by—even at midnight. Nor, could he have had access to Townson’s servants, or mine.”
“What are you suggesting?” the constable asked, knitting his brows.
Benjamin’s hand came up to rub his jaw. “I’m not sure exactly. But he more I think on it, the more convinced I am that he has to have had an inside source.”
“An inside source?” Leer asked.
Benjamin nodded. “Madison left her maid in London. I brought a coachman, two footmen and one groom with us to Rockhurst and Plymouth. As much as I hate to think ill of my own staff, I wonder if one of them might be working for him.”
“Any motives?” Finch asked, a cool, disinterested look on his face.
“No,” Benjamin said, shaking his head. “That’s why I have such a hard time believing it myself. But it’s the only thing that makes sense.”