Chapter 22
Asher stood, staring down at Evelyn.
His wife.
His woman.
His partner.
She had come apart before him. Knowing that he had the privilege to make her feel all of this – that she was dependent on him, waiting for him, relying on him – had caused a tightness in his chest that he had never felt before.
One that went beyond any emotion he had ever held for anyone he had thought he had loved.
And he had realized then that she had the power to break him more than anyone else ever could.
She lay there now, sinking into the mattress, right where she belonged on his bed, her eyes glazed, and he had never wanted anything more than her in this moment, even knowing just what coming closer could do to him.
He leaned down and kissed her again, positioning himself against her entrance, and he nearly groaned at the thought that her feminine heat was so close, just waiting for him.
“How are you?” he asked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
“Fine,” she said with a sigh. “More than fine. I will never be more fine than I am right now.”
He chuckled lowly before reaching down and rubbing himself against her, causing her to gasp as her eyes flew open once more.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes,” she managed.
“I’ll go slow.”
“Don’t.”
“But—”
Before he could formulate a response, she arched her hips up, slotting him against her, and he couldn’t help but slide in just a little further.
She let out a gasp that mingled with a moan, one that reverberated deep within him.
“Evelyn,” he groaned. “Nothing has ever felt better.”
She had winced briefly, but now her face fell open, accepting him, and he began to move, sinking into her slowly at first, so as not to hurt her.
He took her knees in his hands, placing them over his shoulders to open her up to him, before thrusting in and out, keeping a slow, measured pace, his eyes on her the entire time, making sure she was still feeling only pleasure.
From her gasps, it must have been all right, as she took him, again and again, her eyes closing while he bit his lip and tried to hold on, to make her feel good again.
He reached down, his touch finding her where she was most sensitive, moving in slow circles just as she liked.
“Evelyn,” he cried out, telling her without words that he needed to come, but she had to first.
She must have understood, for then she arched back against the bed, stilling against him, letting out a cry that told him everything he needed to know and gave him the sign to go. Two more pumps into her, and he was shuddering, coming inside his wife, her warmth surrounding him, taking him.
Nothing had ever been so good before. Nothing had felt so right.
And it scared him straight to his core.
But he needed to let that go. For now, at least, for she needed him. He knew by the way she was staring up at him, vulnerable, her lip caught between her teeth as she waited for him to say something. Anything.
She was always so sure of herself that to know he was the one who could be there for her now…
“Evelyn,” he said hoarsely, still inside her. “You are amazing. Beautiful. Warm. So incredibly smart. And now…”
Now he was in so much trouble because of how he felt for her.
He couldn’t finish his sentence as he pulled out of her, easing away before finding a piece of linen and returning to wash her. He threw the linen into the clothes basket before sliding back onto the bed, pulling her beneath the blankets with him.
He wrapped himself around her, unsure of where they were heading but taking full advantage of what they had tonight, together. How had he avoided this for so long?
Because he had been scared of falling for her, that’s why. And he had been right to have expected this could happen.
Yet he couldn’t help but kiss the top of her head, her body fitting perfectly within the curve of his, his arm draped over her protectively.
“Do you want me to stay?” she asked, and he knew that there was so much more to that question than just what was to happen between them tonight, but all he could answer for was right now.
“Yes,” he said, pulling her against him. “Stay right here.”
Maybe they could do this.
Maybe all would be fine.
He could only hope so, for now, he wasn’t sure how he could ever let her go.
When Evelyn opened her eyes the next morning, it took her a moment to recognize her surroundings. Then she felt the heavy arm draped around her, the soreness between her legs, and it all came flooding back. The salon. The rumors against her father. Asher.
She stared at him, sleeping so peacefully, before she tiptoed out of his room, into their shared dressing room, where she put on a wrapper and then called for her maid to help her prepare for the day.
Her life had now become her greatest puzzle. And it was one she was going to solve, along with this blasted theft that she had to get to the bottom of.
Then she would decide what she should do about Asher.
For now, all she wanted was to enjoy him.
Then afterward, if she still found herself falling in love with him while he continued to hold back… she supposed she would have no choice but to let him go, to create a world in which they could co-exist apart from one another.
For anything else would be far too painful.
After she dressed, she hummed a song to herself as she made her way, unhurried, down the stairs to the ground floor.
Hearing voices in the breakfast room, she decided she didn’t have it within her to make pleasantries with Asher’s mother and continued on to find her puzzles for the day.
Usually, they were sitting on a small desk in the library for her, having arrived with the morning papers.
She would either work on them there or bring them into the sitting room with Asher.
Her cheeks warmed again as she thought of last night, even more so as she wondered if they would have a repeat performance tonight.
She wasn’t ignorant of the fact that she could, potentially, be with child soon, now that they had been together so intimately.
When she had married, she had known it could be a possibility, but now…
the idea of creating a new life with Asher caused a tingling throughout her body that she had to shake off as she walked through the high shelves of the library, through the dust motes that floated through the sunlight streaming in the window, and sat down at the small desk in the corner near the window that had become hers over the past couple of weeks.
She picked up the puzzles, sifting through them to find the one she enjoyed the most, from The Lady’s Magazine. Frowning when she didn’t immediately see it, she stood and started to look around. Had it fallen? There – a scrap of paper under the cabinet a few feet away.
She bent down and retrieved it, but not before she noticed the tip of another piece of paper peeking out from the ridges of the cabinet. In a place that it was most definitely not supposed to be.
She leaned down and tugged on the edge of the paper, trying to work it free.
No luck.
She didn’t want to pull too hard and rip it completely, so she tried as gently as she could to move the paper from one side to the other until it finally came free.
What was this?
She ran her eyes down the page, which included a list of names, some she recognized, some she didn’t. Below appeared to be a series of accounts, but the figures beside each name didn’t make sense.
And there, on the very first page, was written without context, “The Duke of Ravenscar.” Which might have been Asher, but she guessed it was likely his father. Then a list that included the Earl of Norwood and the Marquess of Eastclere. All men who were tied to the Paragon Diamond.
If Evelyn had learned anything over the years, it was that coincidences were rarely so simple.
She hadn’t paid much attention in the past to the worn cabinet in the corner, which was full of various ledgers that she had suspected were old accounts dealing with the various estates.
Maybe there was more.
She felt as though she were intruding, but she reminded herself that she was the duchess and this was now her house, and she had a right to learn about her new family’s history, as she sifted through volumes that were clearly labelled and organized.
She moved a few out of the way, finding another row of old account books and loose ledgers behind.
One was labelled “Parliamentary Committee,” and she pulled it out, feeling a sense of success when she noted that the pages within matched the piece of paper she held in her hand, the torn page that had found its way under the cabinet.
It appeared that all the names written on the paper on the floor had their own labelled page within, each with columns of figures.
Most of it was foreign to her, but it appeared to be payments routed through intermediaries, each attached to dates, although what they were, she couldn’t be entirely sure.
Something was wrong with the accounts she was perusing, but the frustrating aspect of it was that she didn’t understand enough to explain how or why.
She had no idea what this parliamentary committee was about, nor what the money trail led to.
She allowed her anger to briefly flare, resenting the limits placed on her education, even though her father had provided her with all he could within his means.
She supposed there was only one thing to do.
Ask Asher.
She turned around to seek him out, jumping in surprise to find the man she was seeking standing in the doorway of the library.
“There you are,” he said, practically prowling toward her, his gaze predatory, his eyes dark.
Her heart beat harder as he approached, until he stopped in front of her, hesitating a beat before bringing his hands to her shoulders, running them down her arms. She wanted to raise herself onto her toes, to press her lips against his, but perhaps that was too much, here in the light of day.
She still wasn’t clear on where last night had left them.
“Good morning,” he said, his lips, far too plush to be fair for a man to own, curling up into a smile. “I was worried about you.”
“Why?”
“You didn’t come to breakfast, nor did you come to the sitting room with your daily puzzles.”
Her puzzles. Right. She had completely forgotten them once she had discovered these documents that told her there was more to them, that there was a reason she had found them, something she was supposed to do with them.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he said, shaking his head before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a piece of linen, which was wrapped around a lemon scone. “I brought this for you, in case you hadn’t eaten.”
“My favorite,” she murmured, taking it from him, hoping he couldn’t see how bright her eyes had become, shining in response to what he had done for her, what he had noticed about her. Did that mean that he cared more than he had let on, more than he had put into words?
She couldn’t think about it, however.
She had another purpose. One right in front of her, and Asher was the man she needed.
For this — and for so much more.
“Thank you,” she said. “Now, I need your help with something.”
“Anything,” he said, his eyes boring into her, and somehow, she knew that he meant it. “Anything at all.”
She wondered just how far that promise extended. And what it might cost to find out.