Sinful Liaisons (9 page)

Women like Josephine who often chose to paint both sides of life were at the forefront of exposing the vast differences. Evelyn admired her very much.

“This is wonderful, Josephine. I’m gratified to see you are doing so well.”

“Well, you know I have you to thank for much of my success.”

She shook her head. “I helped in but a small way and this is all your hard work. One cannot make miracles out of nothing. Besides which, one day I shall own a painting worth a small fortune. So really I should be thanking you.”

They walked a little farther before stopping again and Josephine drew her closer. “Forgive me if I’m being impertinent, but is it true Pierce is your lover?”

“Yes.”

Colour graced Josephine’s cheeks but Evelyn refused to be embarrassed by her needs. After all, rich men like Dante himself took lovers, why should she not?

“I don’t mean to pry...”

“I do not mind.”

“It’s just Dante’s been worried about Pierce. They all have really. I am not sure what—”

“I know of his gambling.” She squeezed Josephine’s arm. “I also know he hasn’t gambled for a month. And he shall be solvent before long.”

Josephine chuckled. “Cynfell men are not the easiest men to change, but I’ll confess to not being surprised that you’ve managed to change Pierce.”

Evelyn shook her head. “I haven’t changed him. I wouldn’t wish to.”

“I used to say that to Dante. He changed himself. Do you not think that Pierce might be doing the same for you?”

She glanced out of the door to view the two men deep in discussion. He looked her way and their gazes locked. Evelyn swallowed. Was he really trying to defeat his demons for her?

“We need to travel to Cornwall.”

Evelyn scowled up at him. “Cornwall?”

“Dante’s heard rumours of business letters of Sir Lloyd’s coming from Cornwall. Polperro to be precise.”

He pushed a hand through Evelyn’s red hair as it streamed over the pillow. He couldn’t help himself. Seeing her all unravelled and unladylike tugged sharp at his gut, especially knowing he’d been the one to unpick those pins, draw her out of her tight corsets and make her scream with pleasure. Knowing he had full control of her body when they were in bed. Now if only he could make some progress into her mind...

He didn’t want control there. No, he admired her independence and intelligent mind very much. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t like to occupy her thoughts a little more, just as she did with him. The woman was becoming slowly ingrained deep inside him, and he had this niggling thought he’d struggle to forget her when their time together ended.

Pierce didn’t want it to end.

That realisation wasn’t new. It had been crawling under his skin for a while. Even so, it was the first time he’d voiced it.

However, persuading her their arrangement didn’t need to end wouldn’t be easy. The bloody woman valued her independence far too much. Didn’t she realise there was no shame in relying on another occasionally?

She wrinkled her nose and he resisted the desire to tell a grown woman how adorable she looked when doing so.

“Polperro? What’s in Polperro?”

“Not much. Boats, fisherman’s cottages. Cornish things.”

Evelyn laughed. “Have you even been to Polperro?”

Pierce brushed a finger down her nose and skimmed her smooth cheeks. A hint of rosiness sat in them, making her appear more youthful. Evelyn had the look of a woman fully grown into her beauty, someone completely at ease with how she appeared, yet at times she seemed so fresh and beautiful, like an undiscovered rose tucked away in a bush. Why had no one plucked her yet? It made no sense.

“I’ve never been to Polperro, but what’s to know? All Cornish villages are the same.”

“Well, I suppose we shall find out soon enough.”

We. That appealed to him. He liked that she deferred to him now, that she even allowed him to take the lead outside of the bedroom. It couldn’t be easy for an independent spirit like Evelyn, but he was grateful she let him indulge his need to help her. He suspected he would happily take on far more for her if she let him.

A trip to Cornwall might be a fine thing for them. Time together in a carriage. They’d have to make an overnight stop there. Cornwall was a romantic setting, was it not? He could seduce her further, make her consider the benefits of enjoying more time together. A smile stole across his face and Evelyn touched his lips.

“What is it?”

“I was just considering the things I could do to you on the journey.”

That flush in her cheeks grew, enhanced by the light of the lamps. He loved the two sides to this woman. Bold, courageous...outrageous even. Then he drew her into bed and she became this coy creature, capable of seducing him with her innocence.

Loved
those sides. He stiffened. She smoothed her hands over his back and he forced his muscles to relax, one by one. Pierce shook aside the word for the moment. That realisation hadn’t been sneaking up on him. No, that had just hit him like a hammer to stone, rattling through his bones and summoning an earthquake inside him. Loved? Surely not? He wasn’t sure he was the type to go falling headlong in love. Lust, certainly, but love?

It would explain why he wanted more of her, however.

“Pierce?”

He snapped his attention back to her. “Yes?”

“You’re terribly distracted tonight.”

“Forgive me. I’m only thinking on this Lloyd chap and what we shall do once we find him.”

“Force him to confess to forgery, of course.”

He pressed his lips together to smother a grin. He could well imagine Evelyn threatening the man with all sorts and him even cowering and confessing all. But if this wager was indeed a forgery, the stakes were high indeed. A man of his ilk would not give up everything so easily. If necessary, Pierce might have to use his fists. It was a fine job he was good with them. Growing up with six brothers had meant he’d had to be.

“If we get a confession from him, what then?”

“I...I don’t know.”

Drawing her in close, he nuzzled behind her ear and relished the light fragrance of her hair. “You won’t wish to have this business put through the courts will you? The newspapers will take great interest

“Rupert is innocent,” she said forcefully. “But you are right. It would hardly do Samuel any good to have his father’s name bandied around with talk of forgery and gambling.”

“Well, let us get this confession and then we can think on our next step.”

“Yes,” she agreed, wrapping her arms about his neck.

He noted she didn’t correct him or try to argue her case for doing it alone. A light flutter of anticipation started low in his belly. Perhaps this quest of theirs would be good for more than simple seduction. Perhaps he could persuade her to see him as something other than a lover.

Husband material?

Bloody hell.

But, yes. The idea appealed. He couldn’t deny he’d once harboured a thought or two of marrying a rich woman to solve his problems but he’d always shoved aside that thought. As he liked to remind Evelyn, he did have some pride. But if he married her, it would be little to do with wealth and everything to do with how much he admired this woman. How beautiful and entrancing he found her. How he adored trading words with her then making her his in the bedroom. She was his match, he suspected.

Of course everyone would say he married her for her money. But hang them all, he cared little for their opinions and neither did Evelyn. If they were happy, what did it matter?

Pierce shifted his lips from her ear, down to her neck, darting his tongue into the little depression at the base of it. Her responding gasp sent curls of anticipation through him. He slipped a hand underneath the bed sheets and down her naked body to find her wet and ready for him again.

She needed no coaxing. Her legs fell apart, eager for his touch. He gave several light, experimental touches while he gauged how easily he could bring her to the brink. It wouldn’t take much. He knew her body inside and out now, and she never hid from him. Another benefit of having an older woman in his arms. She knew what she liked and never played coy.

“Pierce,” she begged when he toyed with her again. “Do not make me wait.”

He released a low groan. Tonight, he couldn’t deny her. Not while thoughts of love and...other things floated about in his head. Tonight, he’d give her everything. Likely his heart and soul too. He slipped between her legs and thrust deep inside her.

As her body closed about him and her soft moan rang in his ear, he closed his eyes and resigned himself to it. She owned him now. Not just his body, but his heart. He loved his duchess.

Pierce pushed open the small window of the inn room and the scent of salt teased his senses. Like crisp cotton after a long, tiring day, it wrapped about him and revived him. Out on the seafront, a few lamps glinted off the sea like fireflies, revealing the position of a few fishing boats. He turned back to Evelyn, who stood in the middle of the tiny, low beamed room, studying her travel bag whilst drawing her bottom lip between her teeth.

“I don’t think you’ll find anywhere to put your belongings in here.”

They were in what was apparently the largest room at the inn—and that was likely true. But he still had to duck to avoid hitting his head on the wooden beams and there was but a few feet of space around the old brass bed. There were a handful of other inns in Polperro but they were all the same—small, white buildings, crammed between other houses at odd angles. The fishing village wasn’t used to catering to people of Evelyn’s stature.

A faint whisper of sea air brushed his bare arms. The distant tinkle of metal against wood ran across the harbour. The boats swaying in the breeze, he presumed. He rolled down his sleeves and retrieved his jacket.

“We’ll not have to stay long if I can help it. Why do you not rest awhile?”

“How can I rest when I know that man is out there somewhere? When I know he holds the truth about Rupert?”

There was something vulnerable to her movements when she sliced a hand through the air. Pierce detected a slight tremor of her arm. Did she fear that Rupert had actually been a gambler? From what he knew, she had loved the man very much. The thought created the tiniest itch of jealousy in his gut but it was quickly forgotten when he recalled he was alive and in Evelyn’s company while Rupert had departed this world. As much as he envied the man having been married to her, to have had Evelyn and then be cruelly taken from the world was no position he’d envy.

“I’m going to order some food to be brought up. It’s been a long day.”

Pierce paused in front of Evelyn and put his palms to her neck. He used his thumb to rub her stiff muscles. After a long train journey, a carriage ride and a late afternoon of traipsing through the inns and few shops in the village, they were both wearied. And she was frustrated.

Perhaps Sir Lloyd wasn’t even here. No one had been able to tell them anything and in a small place like Polperro, he would have expected someone to know something. Strangers in their midst would certainly draw attention.

“We’ll find him,” he assured her, urging her chin up so he could stare into those beautiful eyes.

“Yes.”

The word was weary, full of stresses and strains. He wished she let him do more. Hell, she needn’t have even come all this way if she hadn’t wanted to. He could have done this alone. But in spite of her fatigue, that familiar proud glint lingered behind her eyes. Sometimes he didn’t know whether to be grateful for her stubbornness or aggravated by how little she let him in at times.

“Sit and rest, I’ll be back in a moment.”

Pierce ducked out of the room, barely biting back a curse when he narrowly missed striking his head on a beam. He took the uneven steps down to the next level but there was no sign of any maids or serving girls.

Continuing down, he entered the bar to be greeted by the sound of an out-of-tune piano being played poorly indeed and the scent of stale hops. Underfoot, the floor was sticky. He only hoped this wasn’t an indication of what their bed linens were going to be like. He’d catch a mail coach back to Plymouth and find them a suitable hotel there rather than have Evelyn sleep in a lice-riddled bed.

He strode over to the bar and paused. A comely lass in the corner drew his attention. She eyed him lasciviously, thrusting out her inviting cleavage. He changed direction and slid into the seat next to her. Her stifling perfume wrapped itself about him.

“Good evening to you, sir. You’re not from around here are you?”

Her broad Cornish accent told him she was certainly a local. “No.”

“And you’re needing a friend perhaps?”

A hand curled around his arm. He let it linger though he didn’t much like the presumptuous touch. At least he knew for certain he’d guessed her profession right.

“I have friends. What I need is information.”

Her lips moved into a pout. “I’m not sure I can help you there.”

“It’s valuable information.” He drew out a shilling and pressed it over the table. She pocketed it so quickly, he couldn’t be entirely sure it had touched her hand during the process.

“I’ll do what I can.”

“I’m looking for a Sir Lloyd Chapman. Rumour has it there has been letters sent from this area in his name.”

“I don’t know any
sirs
.”

“He’s balding, wears glasses.” At least according to Dante. “Works in cotton. Are you certain you’ve never seen anyone like that in the village?”

Her eyes took on a glint that told him she knew something. He withdrew another two shillings and held them between his thumb and forefinger. “Surely you don’t get strangers in this village often? A girl like you probably knows exactly who is coming and going.”

She released a long sigh, her eyes fixed on the coins. “If it gets out that I...they’ll throw me in the sea. And no one cares if a whore dies.”

“No one will know but if you’re concerned for your safety, I can offer protection.”

“Who
are
you?”

“Lord Pierce Cynfell.”

She lifted a shoulder. Clearly the Cynfell name meant little in Cornwall. Not that he held much of the power—it was his brother who was the marquess after all—but being a member of one of the largest and richest families in England held a certain weight. He could guarantee her safety easily enough.

“What’s your name?” he prompted, seeing the defensiveness in her posture remain.

“Merry.”

“Merry, I have a lot of wealth and resources at my disposal. Did you see the woman I arrived with?”

She nodded.

“She needs my help, and I’ll do anything I can to help her.”

“Oh...how lovely.”

“She’s also one of the richest women in England. Between us, we can ensure you never have to whore yourself out again.”

“My lord, I weren’t asking for anything like that...”

“Tell me what I need to know and I’ll help you.”

Merry traced the scarred top of the table and refused to meet his gaze. Her shoulders rose and fell as she took a breath and finally looked up at him.

“There’s a gambling den down by the old mine. It’s a rough one. Smugglin’ and the likes gos on there. I don’t go there if I can help it, but a gentleman did invite me to accompany him. A lot of criminal types spend time there. It’s a good place to hide out. When I was there, I saw a fella that matched that description. Glasses, balding. Someone said he was a business man from London, come to see his cousin who lives nearby, but that’s all I know.”

Pierce kept his triumphant grin smothered. Sir Lloyd was indeed in hiding and that had to mean one thing—that document had been fraudulent. Why else vanish to a place of ill-repute in such a tiny village? If he had family locally, he must have known there was somewhere he could hide and likely not be discovered. He likely wanted to lie low until George had his land.

“Merry, you’re a doll.” He fished into his pocket and drew out a sovereign, carefully pressing it into her hand. “I won’t be wasting my time. I’m going to find this man. Do you understand?”

“You mean I could be in danger soon?”

“I’m sure reports of our conversation will be about soon enough. If you wish to take advantage of my help, use this to take a train to Plymouth. Find a hotel and leave a message for me at the train station.”

“How do I know you won’t abandon me?”

“I won’t abandon you.”

Merry uncurled her hand, eyed the gold sovereign in her palm and nodded. “I’ll get a ride on the mail coach. Hopefully I shall see you in Plymouth. Be warned, they’re a rough bunch there. Lord or not, they won’t think twice about sending you out on your arse with more than a few bruises.”

“Thank you, Merry. I can handle myself.”

Pierce left her with her new wealth and hastened up to the room. When he opened the door, he found Evelyn asleep, slumped back still in her gown. A smile curved his lips at the sight. With her lips parted, her hands thrown over her head and her skirts ruffled around her, she was a picture of innocence and temptation.

Part of him longed to trace the line of her profile with a finger and touch those soft lips while the other part considered using his fingers lower down, under her skirts perhaps, to rouse her before bringing her to a peak.

Her lids fluttered open and put an end to either of those paths. A good thing really, considering he had a sordid gambling den to find and a liar to threaten.

“Have I been asleep long?” She pushed up to sitting.

“Not long.” He considered her for a moment. “The food will be up shortly,” he lied, aware he’d need to go down and find someone to bring some up before he left. “I need to head back downstairs.”

The more he thought about it, the less willing he was to tell her what he’d discovered. She’d do something foolhardy like demand to come with him. It was far better he do this alone, get the confession he needed and then suffer her wrath.

“Why?” Evelyn rubbed her eyes and a furrow appeared between her brows. “Pierce?”

Devil take it, she saw through him. The moment their gazes connected, he knew she’d realised he was up to something.

“Just a little business.”

“What business?” She slid off the bed and came to stand in front of him. “Pierce, what are you going to do?”

He drew in a breath through his nostrils and held it for a moment. “I believe I know where Sir Lloyd is.”

Her eyes brightened. “Oh thank the Lord. Where is he?”

“A gambling den of some sort.”

“Are we going to him now?”

“Not at all.
I’m
going to him now.”

“You’re not leaving me here!”

“If I have to tie you to the bed, I will. You’re not coming with me.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

He took a step closer and drew back his shoulders. “Want to find out?”

“Honestly, Pierce, if you wanted to tie me up, you only need ask.”

An unexpected laugh burst from him. Trust Evelyn to throw him off at a moment’s notice. He quickly smothered his amusement and forced himself to scowl at her. “He’s hiding out in a dangerous place if the rumours are correct. I won’t have you in a position of danger.”

“You know sometimes I think you forget that
I
asked you to be my lover.
I
am the one in charge here.”

“Don’t start playing those games, Evelyn,” he warned darkly. “You know full well I won’t tolerate them.”

“And I won’t tolerate you being so bloody commanding. You are not my master or my husband.”

“Thank the Lord I am not. Who could put up with such a stubborn wife? You are not coming and that is final.”

Pierce regretted the words. As soon as they were out, he saw her body deflate a little. He had little idea if she’d even considered whether he would make a good husband or not but he was certain she felt far more for him than simple lust. He just needed to break it out of her, to knock down those hard walls she kept around herself. He knew one thing for certain, he hadn’t meant it. He’d do anything to make her his—stubborn woman or not.

“Pierce, you can’t go into a gambling den, what if—”

“Trust me.”

He didn’t give her time to answer. He turned away and shut the door behind him, pausing only a moment to realise she’d called him Pierce. A tiny grin of triumph thread its way across his face. She loved him.