"Then who is that?" she asked, pointing toward the bed.
Richard noted the way her hand was shaking, and sighed at her unnecessary upset. This was al his fault. He was the one who had fal en on her like a randy bul and then apparently lost al sense as the blood rushed to his manhood. That was the only explanation he could come up with for how he could have been stupid enough to try to tumble her on the bed where his dead brother lay. Good Lord, he'd completely forgotten al about the man's presence, able to think only of the nearest horizontal surface and getting her onto it and himself in her.
"That," he said wearily, "is my twin brother George. "
Richard supposed it would have been too much to hope that Christiana would suddenly relax, and say, "Oh that's al right then, let's go to my room and finish what we started. " But real y, his stil aching manhood would have been grateful for it. However, instead her eyes narrowed suspiciously and there was a sudden pinched look about her lips that assured him explanations were in order. He ran a weary hand through his hair and said, "A little over a year ago I returned home to the sound of a muffled scream from the rooms above stairs. I rushed up to see what was about and found my valet struggling with four attackers.
Unfortunately, I was too late to aid him. Even as I reached my room, one of them slit Robbie's throat and let him drop on the bed to die. I had grabbed up a bust from the entry on the way upstairs and brought it down on the skul of the man who had kil ed Robbie. I think it kil ed him instantly. Even so, there were stil three men to my one and after a bit of a struggle they managed to subdue me.
"The only reason they didn't kil me outright was that George wanted me to know that he was the one who had hired them. He was staying with me at the time and my body was to be found, burned beyond recognition in his bed. It would be assumed that it was he who was dead and he could simply step into my place and become the Earl of Radnor. He would claim my name, the title, the lands and wealth that had been denied him simply because he was born three minutes after me. He wanted me to die knowing I had been kil ed by my own brother. " Richard's mouth twisted bitterly as he recal ed the sense of betrayal he'd felt that night. While the two of them hadn't been close for years, he'd stil reeled under the news that his brother could hate him so much. Now he glanced toward the man in the bed and forced himself to continue. "That nasty streak in him is what saved my life. Not kil ing me outright gave me the chance to barter for my life. I had an iron chest hidden behind a false wal of the townhouse. No one knew about it but me and I offered it to them in exchange for my life. "
His gaze slid back to Christiana to see that while she stil looked wary, she was listening and that was something. "At first, I didn't think they would take the deal. The man I'd kil ed had been a friend to one of them and he wanted to just kil me . . . after beating the whereabouts of the chest out of me, of course. The second fel ow was greedy, he wanted to let me live, keep me tied up somewhere until they could get the money George had agreed to pay them and then let me go and watch the chaos that fol owed when I came forward with the news that George had tried to have me kil ed
. . . I gather he didn't
like my brother much. " He waited for her to nod or otherwise acknowledge what he'd said, but Christiana merely stared at him waiting, so he continued.
"The third fel ow was the brightest of the bunch. He didn't think that even a beating would get them the location of the chest, especial y since I knew they would just kil me afterward. But he also didn't want word getting out that they'd welsh on a deal as it might affect their getting future jobs. So, he suggested a compromise.
They would let me live, and take me and the iron chest to the ship they worked on. It was setting sail for America the next day, where they would trade me to the Indians as a slave in exchange for some furs they could then sel off. They would more than treble the money they'd expected to get from George for just kil ing me.
"It took a bit of persuasion for the friend of the dead attacker, but in the end his greed won out and they al agreed to the plan. I wasn't too pleased about the being traded to the Indians part of the plan, but I would be alive and alive was better than dead so I told them where the false wal was, and how to open it, as wel as the iron chest, and then they bound and gagged me. They dumped me in the back of a cart, set the townhouse on fire and drove to the prearranged meeting spot where George was to pay them. " He glanced toward his brother again. "I heard it al . He wanted to know every moment of the night's events, wanted to know if I'd begged for my life, how crushed I'd been by my valet's death . . . He seemed to take delight in the idea that I'd suffered. "
Richard shook his head with disgust. He'd never imagined his brother had hated him so much. "Once they had satisfied his morbid curiosity and gained their pay, the men took me to the docks and dumped me in the hold of a ship. I stayed there for what seemed like forever. "
He closed his eyes at the memory of what had turned out to be one long, dark hel ish journey for him. They'd kept him bound the entire trip and only removed the gag to give him food and water. Days had sometimes passed between feedings and the journey had seemed unending. By the time it did end, Richard had been half dead, weak and feverish, his wrists and ankles a mass of infected sores from the chafing of the ropes binding him. Uncaring of that, his three captors had dragged him from the hold, thrown him over the back of a horse and ridden out to try to trade him as a slave to Indians in exchange for furs. However, in the shape he was in, no one had been wil ing to trade anything for him. Final y his captors had simply pushed him off the horse, and then ridden off.
"They just left you there to die? After you'd given them your iron chest?"
Christiana asked with outrage. "How did you survive?"
Richard blinked his eyes open, saw Christiana's upset expression and realized he'd been speaking the memories aloud as he'd recal ed them. Clearing his throat, he shrugged. "I was fortunate enough that a farmer named Teddy McCormick found me. He put me in the back of his cart and took me to his farm. He and his wife, Hazel, both took care of me. They saved my life. " He smiled at the memory of the couple.
"The moment I was wel enough I wrote a letter to Daniel explaining al . I had no family except for George," he explained quietly. "And Daniel was my closest friend. "
This time when he paused to look at her, Christiana nodded solemnly. She was aware of his lack of family, of course. She'd been married to his brother this last year. Wel , sort of, Richard thought to himself, relieved to note that she was also looking much less suspicious and frightened. She believed him.
"I stayed with Teddy and Hazel and worked the farm with them to pay them back for their trouble in saving me, and waited what seemed like forever to receive a reply. It was almost a year to the day since the attack in my townhouse when who should ride up to the farm but Daniel. "
Richard smiled at the memory, recal ing his shock and joy on seeing him. "I'd expected him just to purchase me passage on a ship or send someone to fetch me, but he got on a ship and came after me himself. He brought clothes for me and had a ship waiting to bring us back to England. "
"Us? The McCormicks too?" Christiana asked.
"What?" he asked with surprise. "Oh, no. They were happy on their farm, but I had Daniel leave some money with them for al their trouble. " He frowned now and added, "Which reminds me I have to pay him back. What with everything that's happened since our return I haven't got around to that yet. "
"And exactly what is everything that's happened?" Christiana asked quietly. "How long have you been back in England?"
"Ah. " Richard managed a crooked smile. "We arrived in port yesterday morning. "
Christiana suddenly moved over to the bed to drop to sit on the edge of it. The action seemed to suggest her legs would no longer hold her up, but he couldn't tel what she was thinking from her expression.
"Daniel and I had decided that the best way to handle the situation was to confront George at the Landon bal . As the season opener, it would be attended by nearly everyone in the ton and the plan was to surprise a confession out of him. "
"Except he was dead," she said quietly.
"Yes, and he was married to you, which put a wrinkle in our plans," Richard said quietly.
Christiana blinked at him in surprise. "Why did that put a wrinkle in them?"
"Because George had escaped justice by dying. It was only you and your sisters who would suffer in the scandal that would ensue if I revealed what he'd done, and the three of you are innocents. "
Christiana was staring at him now as if he were some exotic creature she'd never encountered before. Uncomfortable under that steady, odd gaze, he added,
"So when Daniel suggested that I simply step back into my life as if George had never stolen it from me . . . wel , the truth is that I hesitated. I didn't wish to hurt you or your sisters, but on the other hand, I didn't know you and didn't wish to be punished further by his actions either. So we decided to remove George and hide him away for a couple of days while I saw if you and I would deal wel together. "
Christiana stood up abruptly, her face suddenly florid and Richard realized she'd taken what he'd said the entirely wrong way, thinking he'd meant whether they suited each other in bed. "Not that way," he assured her quickly. "Last night was whol y unexpected. In fact, if you'l recal I was trying to stop you from undressing me. It was you who was so determined to get my clothes off. "
"I was trying to see your strawberry," she snapped and then narrowed her eyes.
"Speaking of which, I should like to see it now. "
"My strawberry?" he asked blankly and peered down at his groin. It had been his pants she'd been so determined to remove last night as he recal ed, but no one had ever cal ed his manhood a strawberry before. In fact, he thought he might be insulted if that was what she was referring to.
"On your bottom," she said, her irritation of a moment ago seeming to transform into a mix of exasperation and embarrassment. "Richard Fairgrave is supposed to have a strawberry-shaped birthmark on his behind. I should like to see it, please. "
"Oh. " Richard relaxed and even grinned. "No one has ever said to me that it was strawberry-shaped. "
She merely arched an eyebrow, apparently unwil ing to be put off from seeing it.
He supposed he couldn't blame her real y. She'd been married to who she'd thought was Richard Fairgrave this last year and now he was tel ing her it had real y been his brother George. He supposed it was reasonable for her to want proof of who was who. Sighing inwardly, he grimaced, turned his back to her, undid his trousers and dropped them.
Christiana simply stood there gaping at Richard for a moment, completely taken aback. She supposed she shouldn't be so surprised, she'd asked to see his bottom to check for the strawberry, but real y she'd expected something of an argument perhaps, or a little modesty, but the way he'd simply dropped his drawers suggested there was very little modesty in the man.
"Wel ?" Richard asked impatiently.
Swal owing, Christiana took a tentative step closer to him and forced herself to focus on his bare derriere, but then frowned. T
he man was standing near the door about as far away from the light cast by the window as possible. He also happened to be standing in the bed's shadow. "I . . . erm . . . it's too dark. I can't see. "
Richard clucked impatiently and turned around to make his way across the room.
With his pants around his ankles it wasn't a fast maneuver and watching him duck march around the bed toward the window with his family jewels hanging out and swinging to and fro under his frock coat was real y quite the most ridiculous thing she thought she'd ever seen.
"There. Is this better?" he asked, pausing beside the window and turning so that he was sideways to it. Christiana cleared her throat to remove the laughter lodged there and made herself fol ow him across the room. She then bent and peered at his behind.
"Oh! There it is," she said, reaching out to brush a finger over the mark. It was a pale red or dark pink-colored splotch on his left butt cheek as Langley had said. "It's not real y a strawberry though, is it? It's more the shape of a rosebud. Langley said it was - "
"My lady? Your sisters are - Oh, dear Lord. "
Christiana straightened abruptly and turned toward the connecting door that she'd left open and Daniel hadn't closed. Grace now stood in the entrance, eyes wide as she took in the portrait of the two of them by the window. A moment of silence passed as Christiana tried to think of something to say and then the maid started to withdraw, mumbling an apology that died abruptly as she spotted the body on the bed. Her gaze slid from the body in the bed to the man behind Christiana and back and she breathed, "Oh, dear Lord," again.
"I can explain everything," Christiana said at once, and hurried toward the woman. Hearing a resigned sigh and the rustle of clothing behind her, she glanced over her shoulder to see Richard looking exasperated as he pul ed up his pants and did them up. She supposed between her discovering the body, her demand to see his bottom and Grace's discovering the body, the man was having something of a difficult morning. Christiana could sympathize, she'd been having a difficult year and it didn't look as if things were going to get any easier in the near future.