Price of Desire (51 page)

“You don’t seem upset by the idea
.
I thought you’d sworn never to marry a lady.”

“Things change.”

“Still . . .”

Wulf turned from his friend and stared out over the gardens
.
“I am not sure what you want me to say
.
It’s not what I imagined for myself, but now I can’t imagine anything else.”

Arthur chuckled
.
“That is what I want to hear
.
I’ve seen what honor can do to men, and I wanted to assure myself that it was not strictly honor that moved you
.
I’d hate to know I’d contributed to you
r
making a grand mistake.”

Wulf turned back and met Arthur’s eyes, for a moment the duke slipped away and he could see the young friend that he remembered
.
“No, it’s definitely not honor, or even just . . . I honestly don’t know why, but I just have to marry her, the world won’t be right otherwise.”

Arthur clap
ped him on the back one more time and then swung up on the horse
.
“Can I trust you’ll visit soon
?
Lily will be upset enough to know the nuptials are proceeding without her
.
It’s going to be all I can do to keep her home tomorrow
.
She’s a soft spot for your wife – says even from their one meeting she knew . . . well I didn’t exactly understand what she knew, but whatever it was, she knew it
.
She didn’t have the do
ubts I did
.
It was actually she
who had me sending off for the license
.
I wanted to come and investigate first, but she just smiled and told me to send to my uncle the arch-bishop.”

Wulf smiled
up at his friend
.
“Women. T
hey just seem to understand things we don’t.”

“You can say that again.
”
Arthur set his heels to the horse and set off, his grooms rapidly mounting and trying to catch up.

Wulf turned and stared at the house, at
his
home
.
His smile grew wider as he walked towards the door.

Chapter
Eighteen

Rose stood at the top of the stair a
nd glared down, not at anybody since
the hall was empty, but at
the
sheer disorder of her life
.
She kept feelin
g if she could just find the cipher to the code
everything would fall together perfectly
.
There was something, or several some
things, she just could not grasp
.

She had the urge to stomp her foot.

Instead, chin in the air,
she sailed down the stair
s
.
Sh
e
’d
spent enough time playing with Anna that it was unlikely the duke was still here
.
She trusted Wulf to handle matters, but it wouldn’t hurt
to drag the plans out of
him
.
A hint of a smile curved
her lip
.
She’d already proved she had some power over the man
.

He’d been willing to hold off the wedding even though he still wanted to marry her
.
Her steps slowed.

He’d been willing to wait for the wedding and she’d been the one to insist it go forward, immediately
.
Why had she done that
?
It would have been much more sensible to wait a few weeks and plan everything out, only yesterday she’d been working to persuade him of that fact – and today . . .

Well, it had been hard to think while his fingers were moving over her in the most delicious rhythms
.
Most unsporting of the man
.
Now that she was in a more settled frame o
f mind she’d tell him that
–
she couldn’t bear to wait until tomorrow
,
much less any longer
.

Her footsteps slowed to the point of stopping as she approached the library door
.
Wulf was everything she’d promised to avoid in a husband . . . and yet she felt not the slightest desire to seek anothe
r
.
He was forceful and strong . . .
and
clearly had a penchant for having things his own way
.
She didn’t think he’d let her manage things just because he didn’t want to be bothered
.
He was not the man for her.

Only, he was
.
She let that thought play about her mind.

He had seemed different today
.
A blush worked its way up from her neckline as she considered how different
.
From the moment she’d agreed to still marry him, said she didn’t care for title or wealth, something had changed
.
He’d looked at her with a heat that was more than passion
.

S
he put her hand on the door to the library and edged it open
.
She’d sneak up on him and lure him into confiding all the secrets he’d discussed with
Westlake
and then, well if it took awhile to worm the secrets out of him she’d just have to do what was required.

He wasn’t there
.
Only Mitter stood in the corner of the room, rapidly shoving books into a chest
.
He jumped slightly as he saw her.

“Oh, I am so sorry to disturb you
.
I was looking for M
ajor
Huntington.”

Mitter banged the lid shut on the box, some of the documents still peaking out at the edge
.
“Haven’t seen him since this morning
, Lady Burberry
.
I am just finishing up by myself.”

Rose looked around the library
that
had returned to its normal sense of order
.
There were fewer books on the shelves than previously, but still more than she had expected.

“Are you done then
?
I thought from what M
ajor
Huntington said it would be a few more days
.
I didn’t realize you were so close to finishing
.
Are you sure you have everything Lord William would want
?
I know it was important to Burberry that his friend had the chance to choose
.
My husband actually mentioned it several times in the week before he died
.
Such a pity Lord William couldn’t come himself
.
Although, M
ajor
Huntington . . .” Rose knew s
he must have reddened like a bee
t as she considered the possibility of Wulf not having come
.

Trying to move beyond her embarrassment she strolled around the table to the chest
.
Mitter moved quickly
,
trying to step in front of her, but with a smile she stepped around.

“Don’t worry that I’ll mess up your order
.
I just want to see what you’re taking
,
although I am sure you left a list
.
She placed her hand on the lid of the chest
.
His came down on top of hers, trying to prevent her from opening it.

But, it was too late, she’d seen.

Hanging over the corner, scrunched by his hurried closing of the lid, was a piece of parchment
.
For a moment her eyes didn’t focus on what they saw, a coiling green sea monster.

“You!”

She turned on him with all the fury in her mother’s heart.

She stepped towards him, blind to their size difference, blind to all but her anger
.
“You risked my daughter’s life
.
You put her in danger.”

He stepped back
,
edging towa
rds the door
.
His eyes darted
between escape and the chest on the table
.
He quivered with anxiety and nervousness
.

“I didn’t mean to, Lady Burberry
.
I didn’t even know she was there.”

She stalked forward.

“You think that is an excuse.
”
She didn’t pause to draw a breath
.
“
You sneak into my nursery, what should be the safest room in my house, not once, but twice and you think there is any excuse?”

“No, but I had to, there was no other way.
”
He tried to dart around her to get back to the chest.

“You had to do what?”

“I had to get the map
.
I had to find it
.
You had no right to it
.
It should have been mine
.
Don’t you understand, nothing else matters.
”
Mitter’s words accelerated as he spoke and Rose could see the pound
ing
of the pulse at his throat.

Nothing else
being her daughter
.
She felt red fury rise within her
.
Her daughter had been terrified and endangered for what
?
For a map
?
She took another step forward.

As if sensing there would be no escape, Mitter sprung at her, pushing hard
.
She spun back, her skirts tripping her
.
She felt her head bang against the edge of the table, felt the sharp stab course through her as the world blurred.

She sank to her knees, gasping for breath, seeking clarity
.
His boots clattered on the floor as he darted around her
.
The lock on the chest snapped shut
.
She turned her head
,
trying to focus on the two of him lifting chests
.
She shook her head trying to bring the images together.

He strained, lifting the chest to his shoulder
.
He didn’t even glance at her as he headed for the door.

Her foot shot out, catching him in the shin
.
He stumbled and almost dropped the box
.
She kicked at him again
.
Their feet tangled and for a moment she thought she’d won
.
Then
,
kicking back at her, he turned, his face vicious.

“It’s mine
.
You can’t have it
.
I am the only one who’ll know the secrets, find the treasure.”

Rose still had no idea what he was talking about, but there was no way she was letting him leave
.
She reached out for the stand of Burberry’s old canes, pushed herself up and let out a loud scream
.
It was wonderful to take care of thing
s
herself, but she was no fool.

Her fingers curled around the knob of the cane, only it wasn’t a knob it was a pommel
.
Her fingers clenched the sword tight – Burberry’s sword and now Anna’s
.
She swung it free in a single motion.

It sparkled dimly in the late afternoon light
.
It weighed heavily on her arm, but reflexively she twisted it to the proper angle and brought it down, aiming the point straight at Mitter.

“Put down the box.”

He turned toward
s her, his eyes glazed in anger,
started towards the door again.

She lunged forward, the blad
e catching on his jacket button
before slicing it free.

“Put down the box and step back.
”
She felt like a mother lion, all the anger and confusion she’d experienced in the past day coalescing
.

He started again, and she swung again
.
A second button popped free
.
Her arm ached with the effort, Burberry’s dress sword was far heavier than the fencing blade on which she trained.