Chapter Eleven
Graham
Graham stared at the papers spread across his study desk, Diana’s neat handwriting with her recommendations staring back at him.
Her analysis was brilliant and just what he needed.
She’d identified exactly which unentailed properties would fetch the best prices so he knew which ones he’d put up for sale.
And with her recommendations for improvements their other properties would yield the highest returns, which would secure their future for years to come and keep Diana in the life she deserved.
And keep him from meeting his end at the hands of Rothwell, leaving Diana to face a fate he couldn’t bear to imagine.
She’d essentially solved his problem for him without even knowing it. And the guilt of misleading and using her that way was eating away at him. But he had to ensure she was safe from the situation his dead cousin had put him in.
He picked up her notes on the Somerset property.
Forty thousand pounds, she’d estimated for the current value.
That was almost enough to pay Rothwell. And if he sold the eighty-thousand-pound property as well, then he would be able to pay Rothwell, pay off the mortgaged properties and fill his coffers to ensure Diana could implement her improvements for the remaining properties.
But she’d also said they shouldn’t sell, that the properties were worth more as investments. How could he tell her that investment returns meant nothing if Rothwell’s men came calling?
The decision had been made. He’d already written the necessary letters and had Mitchell post them. The properties would be listed for immediate sale. And it would solve everything.
A knock at the door made him quickly shuffle the papers into a drawer. “Enter.”
Mitchell appeared. “Mr. Rothwell to see you, my lord. He says you’re expecting him.”
Graham’s stomach clenched. “Bring him here.”
He needed to deal with the man and then get rid of him as quickly as possible. He wasn’t certain how would explain his presence to Diana, and he didn’t want to lie about yet another thing.
“Lord Powis.” The man’s voice was riddled with condescension as he swept into the room. “I thought I would check on your progress.”
“I should have his funds within our agreed upon deadline.”
“The full amount?”
“Yes.” Graham kept his voice steady despite the way his pulse raced. He needed the man to leave before Diana saw him.
“Excellent. And might I ask about your lovely new countess? I trust married life is agreeing with you both?”
Graham shot up from his chair and fisted his hands at his sides at the mention of Diana. “My wife is none of your concern.”
“Everything is my concern until I have my payment.” Rothwell adjusted his gloves. “I am prepared to deduct five thousand pounds from what you owe…if you allow me full access to your wife for a night.”
Graham’s entire body tensed and in that moment he lost control. He flung himself from around the desk and drew back his arm, planting his fist directly into the man’s face with everything he had. “Do not dare to mention my wife again.”
Rothwell wobbled on his feet and then covered his cheek with his hand. Then he started laughing. “So you care about the chit?”
“Leave my house!” Graham roared, his entire body shaking from rage and his desire to rip the man apart with his bare hands. “I’ll summon you when I have the funds ready, and do not return here.”
“You’ve got more fight in you than that sniveling cousin of yours.
I’ll give you that,” Rothwell said, starting for the door.
Just as he was on the other side, he popped his head back in.
“But be certain your payment arrives on time. Or else I’ll make you watch while I have my way with your wife before I put a bullet in your head. ”
Then he closed the door.
Graham shifted on his feet, deciding what to do next. His good sense left his body and he charged after the man, ready to take out every bit of his fury on the man’s face. But just as he flung the door open, Diana was on the other side.
“Graham?”
Rothwell was nowhere to be seen. And Graham drank in the sight of her. She was dressed in a soft blue morning gown that made her eyes sparkle from the way she looked at him. And he never wanted that sparkle to vanquish.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, the rage that bubbled within him shifting into fear. All of this was to protect her. To protect what they were building. And himself, if he could at least be honest with himself about that.
She melted against him for a moment before pulling back. “Who was that man who just left? Mitchell said you had a visitor.”
“It was a small matter of business. Nothing important.” That certainly wasn’t the truth and he hated himself even more for it.
Diana’s brow furrowed slightly. “At this hour? It’s barely past nine.”
“I was awake anyway. Habit of my past trade.” He could still feel the fear at Crane’s mention of Diana. And what would happen if the properties didn’t sell in time to issue him the funds?
“Graham, you’re shaking.” She stepped closer, a look of concern in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” The word came out harsh, desperate. He needed her, needed to know she was safe, needed to claim her and protect her, and reassure himself that she was still his. Because she was. She was his. Nothing else mattered but protecting her.
Before she could speak again, he crashed his mouth against hers, needing her kiss to calm himself down. Diana gasped against his lips, and he plunged his tongue into her mouth as he backed her against the door.
“Graham—” she tried to speak when he moved to her neck, but he cut her off with another punishing kiss.
His hands were already working the buttons on her dress, a couple falling to the floor in his haste until her dress was pooled around her feet.
He was thankful she hadn’t been wearing stays and she lifted her arms as he pulled her chemise over her head.
He needed to feel her skin, needed to be with what was his, needed to drown out the voices in his head that told him that everything was going to come crashing down on him.
“I need you,” he ground out against her throat, his voice raw. “Please tell me you want me.”
“I want you,” she moaned against his lips, her hands tangling in his hair as he lifted her against the door. He reached between them to free his cock, then lowered her onto his full length.
Diana cried out, her nails digging into his shoulders. He started at a fast, hard pace, driving into her with all the fear and guilt consuming him. Needing to claim her and to know that all would work out.
“Mine,” he growled against her ear. “You’re mine. Nothing or no one shall ever take you from me.”
“Never,” Diana said, clinging tighter to him. “Graham…oh God—”
All of the emotion he was feeling was far too close to the surface.
He slowed his pace, taking her in long, slow movements pushing her harder against the door, his lips crashing down on hers again.
His hand shifted between circling the sensitive flesh at her opening.
He needed her to make her come, to feel her come undone in his arms.
Her core tightened around him so hard that he thought he might lose the ability to see. When she climaxed, moaning his name, Graham followed immediately, burying himself as deep as he could inside of her when he released.
They stayed pressed against the door, both breathing hard. Graham’s face was buried in her neck, not wanting to let her go.
“Graham?” Diana’s voice was soft, worried. Her fingers stroked through his hair. “Is something the matter?
“No.” He pulled back, not meeting her eyes as he set her down and picked up her dress. “I just… needed you.”
She caught his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. “You should already know that you can tell me anything.”
“I know,” he said, helping her to get back into her dress.
“Then why won’t you just tell me what it is? I can’t help but feel like you are holding something back. And you had an odd reaction about that property.”
He turned her so that he could fasten the buttons on her gown. “I just don’t relish my lack of knowledge on such matters.”
Graham silently cursed himself for being the biggest arse in all of England. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t exactly the truth. And he’d been telling far too many half-truths as of late.
She spun back to face him and cupped his face in her hands. “That’s what a partnership is. We help each other.”
He knew he should just come clean. But the thought of Rothwell’s vile offer made him see red all over again. And he’d protect her from the fear of something he’d never allow to occur.
“And we are partners. All is well,” He kissed her more gently this time, trying to erase the worry from her eyes. “I’m sorry if I was too rough—”
“You weren’t,” she said, grinning at him and then moving toward the desk, she started looking over some of the papers there. “But I still feel like there’s something…whatever had consumed you in that manner. Not that I am complaining, I suppose.”
He’d long missed his opportunity to explain by not telling her the moment they had become betrothed.
He’d been mistaken in how he’d bungled the whole thing, and now no one would believe the truth.
Trapping her into their marriage had never been his intention.
That was most certainly fate that had put this beautiful woman in his life. And he didn’t deserve her.
And if her family knew what Rothwell wanted, they would just as soon see him dead along with Rothwell. But he would keep her safe. Whatever the cost. He’d ensure Rothwell never laid eyes on her if he could help it.
Her fingers brushed over the ledgers and then a few pieces of parchment and she was becoming dangerously close to the first correspondence he’d received from Rothwell. “What is this correspondence? Does it pertain to the estates.”
Panic set in as he realized that everything was left there on the desk.
If she read any closer she would know what he was about, and everything would crumble down around him.
He reached for her hand and pulled her to him, hugging her close.
“I truly can’t quite believe you’re mine. I don’t ever want to lose you.”
And that was the complete truth.
“You aren’t going to lose me,” she replied, and then her lips curved into the most adorable grin. “Because you are also mine.”
He placed a tender kiss on her brow. “There isn’t a truer statement to be told.”
I love you. The words were on the tip of his tongue. He felt them and he wanted to say them. He wanted to tell her how from the moment he kissed her in that gazebo that she was it for him. But no matter how much he willed himself to just speak the three simple, short words. He couldn’t.
Not because he didn’t mean it. But not until the matter was resolved and he could come clean about all of it. He had decided. As soon as Rothwell was paid, he’d tell her everything.