To Desire a Wicked Duke (Courtship Wars)

Ian dropped his hand as if scalded and stepped back. “You needn’t worry that I will force my way into your chamber and ravish you,” he said, resorting to a sardonic tone. “I told you there will be no consummation of our marriage vows. Not until you beg me.”

Tess swallowed and then seemed to regain her composure. “We will both be gray from old age before that happens,” she replied with a challenging smile before disappearing into her room and softly shutting the door in his face.

Ian stood there for a moment, undecided whether to laugh or swear. He wasn’t certain he could wait so long for conjugal relations with Tess. Not when he was becoming obsessed with the notion of bedding her. Every night she invaded his dreams, making him burn for her.

He blamed Tess for being so damned captivating and leaving him in a constant state of aching arousal. Relieving the physical pain with his own hand wasn’t nearly as satisfying as assuaging his needs in her lovely body. If he wasn’t wed to her, he could turn to another woman, but he intended to remain loyal to his marriage vows.

Therefore, Ian vowed, he would continue to deny himself the right to hold her and touch her, to arouse her to passion and to sleep with her wrapped in his arms.

The thought of bringing Tess to passion made his loins grow heavy and hard—which did have the effect of making Ian curse.

Sexual obsession made bloody fools of its victims, and he refused to become Tess’s victim … although he had the sinking suspicion that it might already be too late.

If their relationship left Rotham moody and irritable, Tess felt a similar frustration. It was her own fault that she was trapped with her handsome husband in a carriage for the better part of each day as they traveled

throughout the district soliciting funds for her latest charitable project. But Rotham pervaded her dreams by night and taunted her with remembered passion.

The pleasure she found in his company was another enormous point of vexation for Tess. She would rather quarrel with him than engage in mere polite conversation with anyone else. How contrary was that?

Even more contrary was the dissatisfaction she felt because Rotham was keeping his word and not pressing her to consummate their union. Absurdly, she resented that he was leaving her strictly alone. She was a married woman now, but still a virgin in essence. And she was just as lonely as before her marriage—perhaps more so, since most of her friends were far away and Fanny was currently preoccupied with Basil.

Tess had vowed to banish the emptiness from her life, but here at Falwell, the same hollow ache continued to plague her, while a new restless energy thrummed through her entire body.

Her weakness for Rotham was to blame for her sexual frustration, of course. Merely being near him aroused stirrings of physical need inside her … particularly since she knew that if she wanted to share his bed, she had only to ask. It was growing harder by the moment to anchor herself against temptation.

Even her carefully planned distractions were proving less effective than she’d hoped, although their search for the Falwell ghost took an interesting turn.

To Tess’s surprise, Rotham hunted down the scholar who had supplied information on Cornish spirits to Patrick Hennessy when the actor had researched ghosts for his play.

“You spoke to Hennessy about the rumors of Falwell Castle being haunted?” she asked Rotham when he mentioned a change of plans for that afternoon.

“Yes, the day before I left London. I wanted to know how he had learned of it. Hennessy told me about his correspondence with a noted expert who lives in Polperro—a Mr. Norris. So I arranged an appointment with Norris today at two o’clock. We can consult him in between our other calls. I want to know what he can tell us about Falwell’s ghost.”

Mr. Norris was indeed an expert on local lore, they discovered when they sat down with him.

“Godolphin House near Falmouth is said to be haunted by the White Lady,” the elderly gentleman told them. “The wife of the first earl died in childbirth, and she reportedly appears on the anniversary of her funeral.”

When asked, however, Norris had little to add to what they’d already learned from the castle’s housekeeper and steward about Falwell’s phantom—that their ghost was supposedly a murdered ancestor of Rotham’s.

“But we have our own legendary spirits right here in Polperro,” Norris added. “Battling Billy was a smuggler who transported his contraband brandy inland in a coffin. When he was shot and killed by a Revenue officer, the tale goes, Billy’s dead body continued to drive the hearse for some distance, all the way through the town and into the harbor.”

Tess and Rotham left Norris’s cottage more knowledgeable, but disappointed.

“You don’t believe Falwell is haunted, do you?” Tess asked as he handed her into the carriage.

“No, not for one minute. It’s more likely that some person or persons are slipping around the corridors undetected. This area of Cornwall is known for supporting and protecting smugglers, so residences along the coast—great houses in particular—often have secret passages and tunnels to provide hiding places to escape detection by the Revenue Service. I wouldn’t be surprised if Falwell has its own share of hideaways. To that effect, I tasked Eddowes with keeping an eye out for architectural renderings of the castle when it was modernized a century ago.”

Tess eyed Rotham with admiration. “That was clever of you. I would never have thought of examining how the castle was rebuilt.”

“I do have my uses sometimes,” he said dryly.

Tess conceded the point in silence. Strangely enough, she felt safer with Rotham there. She wanted his protection if there truly was an entity haunting the castle, either real or supernatural.

Unwilling to admit her concession, though, she changed the subject slightly. “I would say that your new secretary is proving useful already. I understand that he has unearthed several rare volumes to add to your library at Bellacourt.”

When Rotham confirmed as much, Tess couldn’t refrain from needling him. “So hiring Basil was worth all the trouble you went to?”

“I wouldn’t go so far,” he replied, albeit with a smile.