A Devil's Touch (2 page)

Still, he was flummoxed. Salime had never been in want since coming to London. For five years she had reigned supreme. He wondered what could be behind her request but abandoned both letter and the dilemma the moment another came bursting into his library. It was surely a day of surprises.

"Ned?" Ludovic leaped up to greet his best friend. "What the devil has brought you all the way from Yorkshire to Kent?"

"I have most portentous news, DeVere," Ned sputtered with excitement. "News I could hardly relay by messenger. Thus, I came down myself."

"What kind of news? Out with it, Chambers," Ludovic commanded.

"Mayhap you should pour us a drink first."

Ludovic lifted a sardonic brow. "A drink? Not so urgent after all?"

"'Tis fortification you'll need for the shock you are about to receive."

"Shock? Me? You know I am not easily shocked, Ned." Ludovic paused with his hand on the brandy decanter and a slight frown marring his face. "Come to think of it, I'm damned if I can recall a single occasion that has wrought from me such a profound reaction as
shock
."

Ned flung himself into Ludovic's favorite chair. "There's a first for everything, DeVere. Now that drink?"

Ludovic sloshed amber liquid into two glasses, handing one to the would-be herald, who downed it in one draught. Ludovic quirked a brow.

"It was a devilish long ride," Ned explained.

"All to deliver this
shocking
report of yours?" Ludovic perched a hip on the corner of his mahogany desk.

"Yes! It's Lazarus all over again!"

"Lazarus, you say? Am I to surmise that someone has been miraculously raised from the dead?"

"Actually, he might as well have been," Ned declared. "I can hardly countenance it after all this time."

"You are trying my patience, Ned."

"It's Simon returned."

"Good God!" The glass slipped from his hand to shatter at Ludovic's feet. "You can't mean Sin is
alive
? He was pronounced killed in action six years ago."

"I mean exactly that!" Ned exclaimed. "I have the news straight from Baron Singleton. He is indeed alive and may even be in London as we speak. His ship was expected to arrive several days ago."

"Why am I only hearing of this
now
? I see the bloody Singleton regularly at Parliament."

"Probably because the good baron doesn't like you, DeVere. He believes you were an abominable influence on his son."

"Then he would be right." Ludovic smirked and then stared at the shattered glass at his feet.

"Looking a bit white there, my friend. This is known as shock."

"Admittedly, I am incredulous. How can this be? Where the devil has he been?"

"Interned as a prisoner of war for the greater part of six years."

"
Six years
imprisonment? In all that time there were no exchanges?"

"Very few. The colonials refused to give up ours when they claimed their men were only released on the point of starvation and death, the poor sods. I daresay 'tis no exaggeration, for I've seen a number of reports on the deplorably inhumane conditions of our prison hulks. Indeed it's said that the colonials set fire to the
Whitby
, choosing to go down in flames, rather than die of starvation and disease." Ned shook his head. "What a hellish business war is."

"But if Sin was a prisoner, he should have been released nigh on a year ago upon the treaty signing."

"Apparently he was too ill to travel all the way to England. He only made it as far as Bermuda before he was struck with the bloody flux or some such ailment that required months of convalescence…the poor sod."

Their gazes met as silence engulfed them in a dark and sober cloud.

"He'll not be the same man," Ned finally voiced what they were both thinking.

"No. Likely never again," Ludovic agreed. "We must go to him, Ned. At once."

***

Diana bathed, dressed, and resolved to seek out her husband. She took great pains with her appearance in hope of inspiring at least a faint spark of interest from him, sensing that alone would set her troubled heart at ease. Although she still felt ungainly, she knew she at least looked her best, or as good as she could under present circumstances.

The gown she'd chosen was a soft silk damask of green and gold, shades most complimentary to her coloring and eyes. Both the colors and the scandalously low cut bore no small similarity to the one that had mesmerized Ludovic the night they had first met. Although it was over five years ago, every word and nuance from their first night together was burned indelibly into her brain. She wondered if he would recall it as well.

She hoped her generous showing of flesh would serve to jog his memory and incite his passion, that she would see
something
telling in his expression when she appeared; for it seemed to her a cruel and heartless jest of nature that her desire for him would have increased during this time, while his for her had only waned. Even in her ninth month of pregnancy, she still craved him with a desperate hunger.

Clasping the balustrade for better balance, she cautiously descended the massive marble staircase, her mind racing for a means to discover and mend the breach between them. If he hadn't gone riding, Diana presumed he would be consulting with his man of business in either his private study or perhaps in the library. When she didn't discover him in the former, she sought him out in the latter. Finding the library door ajar, she gave a soft rap and entered.

"Darling, might we speak for a moment—" She paused at the threshold when
two
pairs of eyes darted to her. "I'm so sorry! I didn't realize you were occupied."

"Diana!" Ned took to his feet the moment he saw her.

"Why, hello, Edward!" she exclaimed with a smile of genuine pleasure. "What a delightful surprise! Are Phoebe and little Ned with you?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but no. This was a very unexpected trip." Ned strode across the library to greet her with a kiss on the cheek. "How lovely you look, like a rose in full bloom."

Diana blushed. "
Lovely?
You mean how large! Blooming indeed! I'm as big as a
blooming
house."

He shook his head. "I would argue that breeding quite agrees with you."

"You can desist now, Ned," Ludovic interrupted with a peculiar look. Although she knew jealousy to be foreign to his nature, it was almost as if he resented the open display of affection between Diana and his best friend.

Ned's brow furrowed. "Desist what?"

"Flirting with my wife. It will go to her pretty head. Trust me when I say she does not want for attention. Indeed the proof is in the oven." Ludovic came to Diana's side and placed a possessive hand on her rather protuberant midsection.

With fire infusing her cheeks, Diana playfully slapped his hand away. "Don't be crass, darling."

His gaze raked over her, settling on her well-displayed breasts and then narrowed when it met hers. He chuckled and leaned into her as if to nuzzle her neck, but murmured darkly in her ear, his voice emerging with an uncharacteristic rasp. "Why do you torment me thusly?"

His words, proof positive, that her effort to regain his attention had not been in vain, sent a satisfied ripple down her spine. But her moment of triumph was cut short when he caressed her cheek and withdrew to arms’ length with a look of regret that left her befuddled.

"You needed me, Diana?" he asked after a moment.

More than you can imagine.
Her gaze flickered with uncertainty from Ludovic to Edward. But alas, it was not the time.
"It can wait, my love." She forced a smile and prevaricated. "'Twas only a minor question about the nursery."

"My, my, DeVere!" Ned lifted a brow with a chuckle. "You are now consulted about the nursery? It is my turn to be shocked at how domesticated you have grown. I never thought I would live to see a once feral tom cat so completely tamed."

"Cats?" Ludovic visibly shuddered. "Must you speak of cats?"

Diana looked to Ned, who then explained, "He has had a powerful aversion to felines ever since our school days."

"Why is that?" Diana asked.

"It involves a certain escapade with a lion," Ned replied.

"
A lion
?" Diana laughed. "Whatever were you doing with a lion?"

He and Ned exchanged conspiratorial looks. "'Tis a long story for another day," Ludovic said.

"Men!" Diana rolled her eyes but noted that
his
had never left her. Although their entire exchange was light and playful, his gaze was not. It slid over her again, slowly, heatedly, inciting quivers low in her belly and warmth between her thighs.

"I'll leave you both be. Perhaps you could come upstairs when you are finished?" she suggested, feeling a bit breathless with anticipation.

He cocked a brow. "To discuss the nursery?"

"Yes. Of course." She licked her lips.

"I'm sorry, my pet," he replied with a pained look. "It may have to wait a few days, as it seems I must make an unexpected journey to town."

"Oh?" Diana bit her quivering lip. "Why must it be
now
?"

"Because it must." He caressed her cheek. "I promise, Diana, not to be gone a moment longer than my business requires. I know you are growing anxious about your confinement, but the physician said it is weeks away yet."

She knew he meant to reassure her, but the words echoed a hollow peal in her head. Why did he have to leave when she felt so fragile, so filled with insecurity and doubt?

"Very well." She averted her gaze. "I'm sure a few days in town will do you a world of good. I know I've been poor company for you of late. It seems the days are growing more exhausting as my time draws nearer."

"So I am told by the accoucheur," Ludovic stated dryly.

"It will be so until the last week," Ned interjected. "And then you may feel a sudden burst of energy."

"Oh? Is that so?" Diana asked, feigning an interest she didn't feel.

"Yes. Annalee and Phoebe both experienced it at the end of their confinements."

Ludovic made an impatient noise. "If you are quite finished playing midwife now, Ned, I should like to discover the current whereabouts of one Captain Simon Singleton."

"Captain Singleton?" Diana asked. "Is he an acquaintance of Hew?"

"No," Ludovic replied. "He was one my closest friends, second only to Ned, and is the reason for my abrupt departure. His father shipped him off to the colonies before the rebellion. He has been gone these dozen years or more. We had believed him killed. Ned now informs me that he lives."

"Oh my!" Diana exclaimed. "What a shock this must be. Is he safely home then?"

"I don't know, but I shan't waste any time finding out. If he is, I daresay he'll be in dire need of his old friends." He and Ned exchanged a significant look. "God knows how we will find him physically…or otherwise."

"Heaven knows indeed," Diana echoed sadly. "Do whatever you must, my love. I understand your haste and shall be fine."

***

An hour later, Ludovic had kissed her goodbye, leaving behind a hollow feeling in her chest. Though fatigue had once more set in, Diana avoided her bedchamber for fear of dampening her pillow with tears of self-pity. Instead, she moped about the empty house until returning to the library. Thinking a book might serve as a distraction, she searched amongst the vast collection of leather-bound spines for something to help her pass the time until her husband's return.

She pulled her beloved volume of John Donne's poetry from the shelf but then returned it for fear of the memories it surely would invoke. It was after reading
The Dream
that she had first fantasized of going to DeVere's bed. When she had eventually and inevitability succumbed to him, the reality had far exceeded her naïve fantasies of what could be between a woman and a man. He had loved her body and shown her pleasure in myriad manifestations, the memories of which even now filled her with longing for what had been and incited an ache deep within her.

Diana worried that she would never again experience such passion, that it was already spent—a mere three months into their marriage. Perhaps she was making too much of matters and all would return to normal after her lying in? Still she vowed, upon Ludovic's return, to do whatever she needed to do to reclaim him before his jaded eye wandered to another.

She paused her perusal of the bookshelves to rub the small of her back with a woeful sigh before finally settling on the latest novel penned by Fannie Burney—the adventures of a young heiress named Cecelia. She retrieved the book from the shelf, but by now her feet and back ached so badly, she dreaded the thought of climbing the stairs to her private apartments.

Instead, her gaze settled on her husband's highly comfortable and recently vacated chair. Alighting in the plush over-stuffed chair, Diana released a soft moan of contentment. Ensconced in the faint and wonderful scents of leather and Ludovic, a renewed calm settled over her. Giving in to the most unladylike urge to prop her feet on the desk, Diana took up a stack of papers to clear a spot, but a particular sheet of foolscap conspicuously penned in a most delicate and elaborate style of calligraphy caught her eye. It was definitely
not
a man's hand.

Curious, she picked up the letter. The wax seal had already been broken, revealing a terse note of only a few lines. She hesitated with a pang of guilt, knowing she should not proceed, but her current state of anxiety overcame her initial qualms.

Most honored Efendi,

It is with the greatest humility that I appeal to he who once safeguarded my life. It is with exceeding distress that I must entreat you once more, being much in need of a friend and protector. Your most devoted and obedient servant,

Salime

Diana clutched the missive to her breast with quivering lips.
An old friend indeed!
Was it truly a
man
named Simon he went so urgently to meet…or an erstwhile
lover
named Salime?