To Desire a Wicked Duke (Courtship Wars 6)

The courtesan’s expression turned soft. “I believe so, Tess. I suspect he understood my ploy about fearing the ghost, yet he didn’t object to my sharing his room. And it was the most amazing thing … all we did was converse before we fell asleep. I have never, ever done that before—shared a man’s bed when nothing happened. It was … nice.”

Tess’s heart warmed at Fanny’s confession, although it seemed droll that their situations were completely reversed. Fanny was discovering the pleasures of friendship and companionship while courting, and Tess was learning about carnal relations.

“I am even beginning to hope,” Fanny added softly, “that Basil is coming around to the idea of marriage. But it is best to let him proceed at his own pace.”

Tess agreed, and said so. “It is clear to me that Basil worships you and only needs a bit more encouragement. I predict it won’t be long before your strategy bears fruit and you achieve your heart’s desire.”

She was not as confident that her own strategy in dealing with Rotham would work to her satisfaction. Particularly an hour later, when, after a long, hot bath, she joined him in the breakfast room along with Fanny and Basil.

Merely looking at Rotham aroused stirrings of unbridled lust inside Tess. When he scrutinized her with that penetrating gray gaze, as if remembering what lay beneath her gown, her breasts tightened with a delicious ache. And when he seated her at the table and made a point of brushing his fingers across her nape, the pulsing throb between her thighs instantly brought back memories of Rotham moving inside her and giving her the kind of stunning pleasure she had only imagined before.

All through breakfast, Tess was constantly aware of him and her own dilemma. She wanted Rotham, there was no doubt. In his arms she felt alive … gloriously, passionately alive. She cherished that feeling, yet she knew she was wise to keep their marriage strictly a legal union rather than viewing him as her lover.

Tess was therefore quite glad when Rotham said he planned to spend the day searching for the castle’s architectural renderings with Eddowes, and thus would not be making any calls with her that afternoon. The less time she spent with her handsome husband, the better—except that Tess couldn’t help ribbing him about his motives.

“Are you certain you are not merely trying to avoid Vicar Potts? You know I mean to call on him today.”

Rotham’s response held wry amusement. “I admit, being spared the annoyance of listening to the loquacious clergyman prose on and on about his flock will be a relief. But in truth, my purpose is less selfish. Finding evidence of a hidden passage at Falwell will be our best chance at discovering how our ‘ghost’ is getting about the castle without detection. Invading your bedchamber was the last straw, and I mean to catch whoever it is.”

Tess shivered in remembrance. She wanted to expose the ghost as much as he did, so she approved when Rotham retired to the library with his secretary and Fanny, whose manuscript draft was nearing completion.

Tess spent the morning in the drawing room attending to her neglected correspondence. It was perhaps two hours later when she was interrupt

ed by Hiddleston, who said his grace wished to speak with her in the library.

Setting down her pen, Tess answered the summons and found the three of them—Rotham, Basil, and Fanny—poring over sketches of the castle’s design.

“Eddowes unearthed the drawings we were looking for,” Rotham informed her. “A remarkable feat, considering that they were buried behind some history tomes.”

At his praise, Tess noted that Basil smiled modestly but looked pleased with himself. When they stepped aside to let her see the drawings, she realized she was looking at floor plans for each level of the castle and also for the towers that had been built in the previous century.

“Do the plans show any secret passageways?” she asked Rotham.

“No, but by measuring the inner and outer dimensions of various rooms and corridors, we may be able to determine discrepancies in the placement of the walls. You and I will begin by surveying your bedchamber.”

“Just the two of us?”

“I think it best for Eddowes and Miss Irwin to continue their usual work here in the library. The ‘ghost’ could have some connection to the castle staff, and I don’t want him to know we are trying to ascertain his method of access.”

It was in that manner that they found the secret panel in Tess’s room. By using a length of twine marked off in feet, Rotham proved that the inner dimensions of the chamber were not as wide as the drawings indicated they should be. And by examining the wainscoting closely, they discovered a movable panel near the hearth, with a catch that released upon applying pressure to a certain point.

The panel slid open with a soft scraping sound to reveal a narrow passage, and closed with a “snick” that Tess recognized from her dream.

She shuddered to realize that last night someone truly had entered her room by way of the panel and touched her face while she slept.

Rotham’s expression turned grim as he evidently came to the same conclusion. “You are not sleeping here again until our damned ghost is caught,” he said resolutely.

Tess gave him no argument. There was no way she would remain in this bedchamber tonight—although that didn’t mean she would again take refuge in Rotham’s room or bed. But she would deal with that problem later, Tess reflected as he lit a lamp. For now they had a hidden passage to explore.

It was an extremely tight fit for Rotham to squeeze into the dusty, airless space, and awkward for Tess, wearing skirts, to climb the rungs of a ladder that led to the floor above. And given the dirt that had collected over a century, her gown was filthy by the time they crawled into a cupboard in a linen pantry, where they narrowly missed startling a chambermaid at work.

When the maid left, they quietly retraced their path to Tess’s bedchamber so they could study the architectural drawings and discuss their next steps without whispering.

They knew there could very well be other secret passages that provided access to various rooms of the castle—how many they weren’t certain. But Rotham decided it was more important to discover how the intruder could enter the castle without being seen.

“There has to be a tunnel below the castle,” he mused. “I want to search the cellars next, and then the towers.”

* * *