Beyond Rubies (Daughters of Sin 4)

Kitty opened the box, then gasped as she held up the exquisite diamond and ruby earrings to the light.

Turning with a smile, she stepped into his open arms, while his cry of joy was truncated by his kiss.

“Come home with me, Kitty. Tonight and every night.” His impassioned murmur vibrated against her lips.

Kitty’s legs buckled. This was getting close to the proposal she longed for. Not quite, but she had him begging, realizing his need for her. Oh yes, she’d show him how much he needed her.

Nestling her head on his shoulder, she rocked happily in the carriage that took them back to his townhouse, and whimpered with pleasure as he undressed her.

Lord Nash needed her. She could feel it as he gently laid her upon the bed, trailing his fingertips delicately over her face and down her throat while he seemed to drink her in with his eyes. Lord Nash was her slave in love. It was clear with every soft breath that caressed her as he divested her of her clothes, gently massaging her breasts, kneading then suckling her nipples.

Lord Nash couldn’t live without her. This he told her in anguished tones as he tossed off his shirt, pulled off his boots and breeches, then trailed kisses over her breasts, down her belly, burying his face between her legs and pleasuring her with tantalizing strokes of his tongue.

Kitty squirmed with pleasure, believing him. She’d never felt such happiness. Nash had learned his lesson. He was hers now.

She hardly got any sleep that night. Twice Nash woke her, eager to repeat their incendiary lovemaking. When a knock on the door heralded morning hot chocolate, Kitty was exhausted, still on a cloud. And as they dined opposite one another in the window embrasure, he spoke of his plans.

“Today, I shall sign the lease on your little house, and we shall go shopping for all the accoutrements a lady needs for her wardrobe, eh? That’s once the mantua maker has come by to measure you.”

Kitty couldn’t believe his generosity. He loved her even more than she could have imagined.

“And I shall have my own maid to attend me?”

He nodded. “Indeed you shall. I’ve already made inquiries.”

“But Nash, there is someone I expressly wish to wait upon me. A friend from past days.”

He frowned. “I would rather I selected someone I could trust, my dear. You are young and may be taken advantage of.”

For a second, Kitty thought he feared she may be taken advantage of by other men. Then she laughed. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I know what to look for in a good servant. Mama always had me interview the maids we employed at home.”

“What a curious past. You’re very secretive. Servants? In your home? Who are you really, Kitty La Bijou?”

Kitty dropped her eyes. One day, she would tell him, just not yet. “I have reinvented myself since coming to London, and that is my secret. But there may be some difficulty in prizing away the lady’s maid I wish to employ, for she has fallen into the clutches of a woman of ill repute. Oh Nash, please say you’ll help me rescue her?”

She’d expected the same willingness to please as he’d shown last night. Instead, his mouth pursed with the indelicacy of the suggestion. “Rescue someone from a house of ill repute? Darling Kitty, I really can’t imagine we’d have such a conversation the very morning after our wonderful reunion.” He rose, smiling to soften his words perhaps. “Let’s talk no more of such unpleasant matters. Are you ready to go forth with me and begin our frenzied round of purchases? I want to show you how much I’ve really missed you.”

Kitty was prepared, for the moment, to allow Nash’s wishes to eclipse her desires for finding Dorcas. Clearly, he needed careful managing, and she could not force him to do her bidding.

All she could hope for, now, was that Dorcas wasn’t working in the capacity Silverton presumed. Kitty would bring Nash around soon enough, for she’d accepted she was helpless in aiding her friend, alone, but she’d need to be patient.

Nevertheless, anxiety sapped some of the thrill of promenading along the fashionable shopping streets on Nash’s arm. After acquiring three pairs of Oxford tan gloves, a quantity of feathers, silk shawls, a pair each of dancing slippers and half-kid boots, they finished their expedition with ices at Gunthers before winding up at the sweet little bower Nash had secured for Kitty.

Kitty gasped and clasped her hands disbelievingly. Her own abode. She was equally thrilled when Nash turned her in his arms, kissed her nose and murmured, “Until it’s properly furnished and decorated, and we’ve found you a lady’s maid and a general cook and servant, you must let me look after you.”

“And what might that entail, my Lord?” She sent him an arch look and with a wicked rumble of laughter, he swooped to kiss her before taking her hand and hurrying her up the steps. “I’m afraid it’s not something I can explain to you for all the world to see.”

Chapter Fourteen

“M’lord, yer in all but darkness. Let me find a lamp.”

Silverton barely attended as the maid bustled about, banking up the library fire before fetching the Argand lamp. He was not prone to moods of black despair, but today had started with the very real disappointment that Kitty was not around to share his breakfast with her bright chatter, and had ended with news of the horrifying circumstances surrounding his friend, Lord Calder’s untimely death.

“Cook’s made a fine dinna an’ ‘ere it is, untouched. Are yer poorly, m’lord?”

“Just not in the mood to eat, Mary.” He waved her away. “Please don’t fret. It’s very good of you, but I wish to be left alone to think. And please, no visitors, do you understand?”

He therefore felt a frisson of anger when, an hour later as the snow fell outside and his gloomy mood was exacerbated by the whistling wind that rustled the embers in the fireplace, he heard footsteps in the passage and the door was unceremoniously thrust open.