It bothered her that she hadn’t been entirely honest with him about her heritage, but she knew that as things stood she was likely to be shoved into doing things she wasn’t ready for as soon as he discovered the truth.
“I do, Sebastian,” she replied, knowing she meant it. “You wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”
Sebastian bit back a sigh of frustration and settled down. Being allowed into her bed, even fully clothed, was a major step forward. He was grateful for small mercies, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Careful to keep his hands to himself, he tugged the covers up, this time over both of them, before settling down with a deep sigh. Within moments they were fast asleep.
Sometime during the night, as the temperature beneath the covers built, Sebastian became too hot. His attempt to kick the covers off was met with a murmur of discontent from Amelia, who promptly tugged them upwards again. Grumpily, Sebastian tugged his shirt over his head and tossed it onto the floor. Minutes later his breeches took the same journey and with a sigh he instinctively spooned, completely naked, around the woman who held his dreams in her small palms.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The following morning Sebastian stretched and rolled onto his back as the last vestiges of sleep left him. Feeling somewhat out of sorts, he blinked sleepily against the morning sunlight streaming through the windows, and glanced towards the vast expanse of bed beside him. The empty bed beside him. A quick glance around the room confirmed Amelia had already got up and left.
He knew she was avoiding being alone with him. Whether because she didn’t want him asking questions about her past and pushing her for her true identity, or whether she didn’t want to make love with him just yet, he couldn’t be sure. For some reason, he suspected both.
With a soft curse, he quickly left, dressed and went in search of her.
By the end of breakfast, he knew Amelia was avoiding him. After a brief ‘Good morning’ at the breakfast table in the presence of the others, she had made little attempt to converse with him. Once or twice during their repast he had managed to catch her gaze with his, but she had smiled vaguely in his direction before turning her attention to her meal.
It rankled.
A lot.
“I think we need to search the books in the house again,” Sebastian murmured, wincing at the resounding groans that met his announcement. “We found the Penny Dreadful tucked in a book on gardening. As far as I am aware there is no connection between gardening and being hung.”
“But do we have to search every book? This house is littered with them.” Peter already knew the answer to his question, and was unsurprised at Sebastian’s reply.
“We need to check to see if anything else is hidden.”
“The book has to have some significance to your uncle Bertram,” Amelia murmured, watching Peter shake his head.
“What do you mean?” Sebastian queried with a scowl.
“I mean that in a house full of books such as this one, how would he remember where he had hidden the pouch? The book has to have some oblique meaning to Bertram.” Amelia licked the last crumbs of her bread from her fingers before rising to her feet. “Was it given to him as a present or something? Or was he a keen gardener?”
Sebastian turned toward Dominic, impressed by Amelia’s logic. “As far as I am aware, Bertram never gardened in his life.”
“I have no idea where Bertram got half of these books,” Dominic muttered, glaring at a haphazardly stacked pile on the kitchen table. “It may be worth searching the gardening books first,” he added reluctantly, moving towards the door. “It may save us a year or two of searching.”
Amelia smiled sympathetically as she followed Dominic. “If we each take the rooms we had yesterday and search the books, shake them out and then move towards the library?”
Her question was met with groans and huffs by the assembled gathering, before everyone took to their allotted rooms. The soft thuds and thumps of books being randomly stacked soon filled the air.
Throughout the morning Amelia fully expected Sebastian to seek her out and challenge her. By late morning, she wasn’t certain if she was glad or not when he had made no move to come anywhere near.
She still couldn’t explain last night. Why she had caved in so quickly to have him lie with her. Although he had remained true to his word and not pushed her to make love, she wasn’t sure she appreciated it or not.
She had awoken this morning with her nose buried in his chest, his strong masculine arms wrapped around her. The soft huff of his breath as he slept ruffled the hair on the top of her head. It would have been far too easy to remain with him until he woke up.
Sometime during the night he had clearly become hot and had divested himself of his clothing, leaving him blessedly, temptingly naked beside her. Even as he slept, Amelia could feel the masculine length of him against her leg.
It had taken every ounce of inner strength she possessed to carefully ease out of his arms and get dressed. She knew that if he had woken up before she left; she would give him anything he asked of her. And most probably regretted it later, she thought ruefully, turning back to the books with a sigh.
It was a dejected search party that reconvened later that evening in the library. Covered in dust, shoulders dropping wearily, they each took a seat to decide what to do.
“I have been thinking,” Amelia murmured reluctantly. She knew her announcement would open up a whole new can of worms, but she had to confide in them. To withhold her suspicions might mean a delay in discovering who had tried to kill Sebastian, and what the Penny Dreadful had to do with it. If anything.
She would never forgive herself if anything happened to Sebastian because she had kept something to herself. Squaring her shoulders, she took a deep breath.
“I think I know who the man in the Penny Dreadful is.” She was very much aware she had everyone’s rapt attention and continued quickly, her words exploding from her in a rush. “I think he is Lord Jeremiah Hawksworth. He was an old business acquaintance of Lord Eastleigh. I can remember seeing him with Eastleigh on several occasions. From a distance of course. But I am fairly certain this is the man.”