To Desire a Wicked Duke (Courtship Wars)

She refrained from retorting to his light mockery. Rotham was helping her with her friends’ problems, even against his inclination, and she was very grateful.

Tess glanced over her shoulder at the lovers. Fanny looked like a blushing schoolgirl as she contemplated the object of her affection. It was amazing to see her so nervous and uncertain around any man.

“Fanny is anxious for Basil’s visit to go well,” she observed quietly to Rotham, “and so am I. You do know that you cannot monopolize all of his time? He must have the chance to conduct a courtship … and yet we shouldn’t leave them alone together too often, either. I don’t want the arrangements to seem too contrived.”

Rotham’s gray eyes showed a flash of amusement. “I imagine he already suspects a conspiracy.”

Tess started to reply, but forgot what she meant to say as she got caught up in Rotham’s eyes. Eventually she dragged her gaze away, but only to the rest of his face.

His hair still wanted cutting, she thought absently. She found herself longing to smooth an unruly lock back from his forehead.

Then her gaze dropped to his mouth. She remembered that sensual mouth making love to her body only a few nights ago. A vision filled her mind of his nakedness, of his smooth, hard muscles and sleek, warm skin—

Abruptly, Tess shook herself and forced herself to respond. “You didn’t need to accompany Basil here, you know. You could have allowed him to come on his own.”

“Perhaps, but hiring him served to explain our separation after your sudden departure from Bellacourt.”

“What excuse did you give for my absence?”

“I claimed that we were taking a wedding journey to Falwell, but that I sent you on ahead while I completed some necessary business in London. I had no desire to give the impression that you had left me after one night of marriage.”

“Of course not. We would not want your outsized male pride to suffer.”

Rotham responded with a short laugh, but countered her. “I am more concerned about your reputation than my pride, darling. I don’t want to give the gossips any more fodder to chew on.”

Tess sighed audibly. “I suppose we still must keep up appearances, even if we would both prefer to remain apart.”

To her surprise, Rotham hesitated. Tess had the oddest feeling that he meant to deny his desire to remain apart from her. But he changed the subject instead.

“Did you find the ghosts you were seeking?”

“In a manner of speaking.”

She told him about the strange clanking sounds they’d heard recently and of their futile efforts to search the castle. “We found no leads, but I am determined to solve the mystery.”

Rotham sent her a narrow look. “That is another reason I came to Cornwall. I wanted to be here if you deliberately went seeking trouble.”

Tess refused to be intimidated by him. “I told you, I do not require your protection.”

“Nonetheless, I am better able to handle danger than you are.”

She lifted her chin and stared back at him challengingly. “Is that so?”

“Certainly. I will take a turn in searching the castle tomorrow.”

“Do you think you can do any better than Fanny and I did?”

“I’ll warrant I can. I haven’t visited Falwell much, so I don’t know it well, but as you said, there must be a rational explanation.”

Once more Tess failed to reply as she became conscious of a damning thought: She had greatly missed sparring with Rotham.

In truth, these past few days she had merely been passing time at the castle until he arrived. It was as if all her senses had been slumbering, waiting for the heady rush of awareness that made her feel so vividly alive.

And now that he was here, exhilaration was charging through her like an electrical current—just as if she had never learned of the painful likelihood that Rotham might have a son she had never known about.

Her silence went on for too long. Finally Tess cleared her throat. “We can discuss our differences later, your grace. For now I think we should join our guests.”

She turned away toward her friends, seeking safety in numbers. But as she felt Rotham’s presence behind her, Tess shivered once again, wondering how she would manage to endure the next week or more with her husband in residence. As enormous as Falwell Castle was, it still would not be large enough for the both of them.