Chapter 34
Anoise disturbed their quiet moment, Jeremy’s attention briefly flitting to the stairwell.
Outside, he heard the shouts of constables and the flustered explanation of the driver.
The jingle of keys made Jeremy momentarily uneasy, fearing that Mr. Miller might flee as soon as the door was opened, but the girlish scream of indignation, a few moments later, soon quietened his fears again.
“You can’t do this to me!” he wailed. “I am innocent!”
“His Grace wants this man locked up for poisoning him,” Katherine’s voice interjected, shaky but firm. “You should take him away at once.”
“I should have strangled you in your cot when we were children!” Paul snarled in reply, his shouts soon muffled… and then gone entirely, as the constables took charge of him.
“Where is His Grace?” a constable’s low voice asked.
“Inside. He is tending to his wife. Please, allow them some time,” Katherine replied.
And in the relative peace that followed, Jeremy smiled and dipped his head, pressing a kiss to his wife’s brow. They didn’t have long, but he would savor every second.
“Do you think Mr. Miller is still a threat?” Anna asked, her hand sliding into Jeremy’s hair.
Jeremy shook his head. “Nay, but never say that name to me again. For what he tried to do, he’s lucky to still be breathing.” He brushed his thumb over her lower lip. “Ye’re safe now. And… Anna, I love ye. I love ye, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell ye sooner. I was a fool, but ye knew that already.”
“Then, you are my fool. My wild, ill-mannered, unrefined fool,” she told him with a sly smile. “And I love you, too. I would have told you earlier, but I could not say it until I knew it was returned.”
“It is, love,” he assured. “Never doubt that.”
As she brought her mouth closer to his, she whispered, “I shall try not to, though… I may need some proof now and then.”
“Whenever ye need it,” he agreed with a smirk, as he caught her mouth with his.
She met his kiss with a sigh that shivered through her, pressing her smile to his lips as she drew him closer. They hadn’t been apart for even a day, yet this reunion felt as if they had been separated for weeks, filled with the relief of the trouble they had avoided.
He kissed her slowly and sensually, his tongue gliding along hers as he wondered how he could have been so foolish to almost lose her.
From the moment he met her, she had been stuck in his mind, filling his waking and dreaming thoughts.
He should have known she would find her way into his heart, where he no longer wanted to be rid of her.
The household will wonder where their duke and duchess have gone, when we don’t emerge from our bedchamber for a week…
His desire flared at the thought of picking up their wedding night where they had been so rudely interrupted by his almost dying.
Caressing his hand over the swell of her backside, he pressed her harder against him, so she could feel the immediate effect she had on him. Her smile against his mouth grew wider, her laugh tickling his lips, before she grabbed his face and kissed him more fiercely.
He walked her backward until her shoulders bumped against the nearest wall, her fingernails raking lightly across his back. His hands traced the contours of her perfect hourglass figure, gripping her hips as he kissed her back with equal fervor, entirely forgetting that they weren’t at Stonebridge.
“Perhaps,” he said quietly, pulling back for a moment. “We could make use of those apartments.”
Breathless, she shook her head. “If we are to continue our wedding night, my love, I want it to be in my own home.” She grinned. “Although I fear the carriage ride back to Stonebridge might be a thing of immense torture.”
“Or the very opposite,” he replied, as he lowered his head to kiss her neck. “A thing of endless pleasure.”
She moaned softly, her hands running through his hair. “Then… let us make haste and head home at once.”
“As ye wish,” he replied, grazing one last kiss on her lips before he took her hand in hers and led her toward the stairs.
He didn’t want to disappoint her, but it would still be a fair while until they could get in the carriage and return to Stonebridge. For he would not go back until he was certain, beyond any doubt, that Mr. Miller would never see the light of day again.
Outside the jail that the butler had been hauled into, fighting the entire time against the two constables who had been entrusted with wrangling him, three figures stood on the pavement beside the carriage.
No one seemed inclined to speak, though Anna kept glancing at Katherine, trying to gauge how her friend was feeling. There were no tears in Katherine’s eyes, but her pale face was wracked with a quiet kind of sorrow.
“If you would like me to join my brother in there, I will understand,” Katherine said suddenly. “I knew that he meant to put something in His Grace’s drink, but he insisted it was just to make him sleep, so that you wouldn’t have to suffer the... pain of your wedding night, Your Grace.”
She addressed only Anna, likely too ashamed and too afraid to speak to Jeremy directly.
“I agreed to stand guard because I thought… it wasn’t what you wanted,” she added, dropping her chin to her chest. “After all we discussed before the wedding, I thought I was doing the right thing. I had no notion that it was poison, nor that it was supposed to kill your husband. I only understood that when I came in to assess him.”
Jeremy cleared his throat. “How did ye save me?”
“I guessed what had been used,” Katherine replied sheepishly.
“And I gave you charcoal and a tonic that I had made previously. An antidote, really, in case you accidentally drank what was intended for the former duke. I am so very sorry to you both, and I will accept whatever punishment you wish to give me.”
Anna reached for her friend’s hand, surprisingly soothed by the woman’s explanation.
In fairness, there was a lot that Anna had said before the wedding that could lead a person to believe she wanted no part in such a marriage.
For that reason, Anna couldn’t find it in herself to be angry with Katherine.
She certainly couldn’t be angry with Katherine for having no remorse about the previous duke’s death, not while knowing of the terrible, violent things that Robert had done to her.
“It was not your fault,” Anna said, giving Katherine’s hand a squeeze. “I cannot blame you for thinking that you were doing the right thing, and I will never blame you for wanting revenge upon Robert. I believe you probably saved a great many lives by not saving him the way you saved Jeremy.”
A sob wracked Katherine’s chest, tears spilling from her eyes. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness, Your Grace. I should have known what my brother intended. I should have seen that he was half-mad, obsessed with you. He is my brother; how could I not have noticed it?”
“We do not often see the flaws in those closest to us,” Anna replied gently. “We do not want to believe what they are capable of.”
“I am so sorry,” Katherine mumbled, her chest heaving. “I am so very, very sorry. I can’t bear to think what might have happened if I had been slower, or if Paul had used something else.”
Jeremy settled his hand on Katherine’s shoulder, her head snapping up in surprise.
“The one responsible will be punished, Miss Miller. He will not bother us again, and he won’t bother ye either,” he said. “While I admire yer request to be punished, it’s not necessary. If me wife forgives ye, then so do I.”
The maid stared at him with wide eyes, as if she didn’t understand.
“You are forgiven, Katherine,” Anna reiterated.
“If you do not wish to remain at Stonebridge, I will understand, but… I do not know what I shall do without my dearest friend. But, rest assured, whether you return with us or not, no one at Stonebridge will ever know that you played a part in Robert’s death. It will forever stay between us three.”
Katherine smeared the tears from her cheeks, her lip quivering. “I don’t deserve such grace.”
“You do, Katherine,” Anna insisted. “You do because you are not cruel and you are not wicked. None of this is your fault, and I pray that you will return with us. Indeed, your brother would not be captured now, if it were not for your aid, and I am certain something bad would have befallen me if you had not acted.”
With a shaky breath, Katherine looked from Anna to Jeremy and back again. The turmoil was etched upon her pretty face, her doubts clear in the way she anxiously chewed her lip. Yet, Anna hoped that her friend wouldn’t abandon her, not because of her brother’s despicable behavior.
“I… will come back to Stonebridge,” the maid said. “I will come back, and if I can’t bear it, then… I will consider my choices. But… I can’t leave if you still need me, Your Grace. I never would. And… I thank you, both, for being so gracious when I… don’t know if I deserve it.”
Anna’s heart lightened. “Then, it is settled.” She gestured to the carriage. “Go on, dearest Katherine. You get inside and situate yourself before you change your mind.”
The maid bowed her head, tears still flowing down her cheeks, and shuffled toward the carriage door. She opened it and climbed inside, closing it behind her, as if she knew the couple might want a moment alone before starting the journey home.
“Do ye really forgive her?” Jeremy asked, gently pulling Anna off to one side.
She nodded. “I do. Another time, if she grants permission, I will tell you what happened to her, and I shall explain what I said on the day of our wedding that might have given her the wrong impression.” A soft chuckle escaped her throat. “I was not particularly complimentary.”
“Ah… and I’ve nay doubt I deserved whatever ye said,” he replied, his hand cradling her cheek. “But did ye have to tell her to ride in the carriage with ye? Could ye not have asked her to ride on the bench with the driver?”
Anna grinned. “I suppose that does scupper our plans somewhat.”
“Nay matter,” he said with a dramatic sigh. “I’ll just have to rely on the anticipation instead.”
“Anticipation?”
He nodded and leaned in, close to her ear.
“All the way back to Stonebridge, I want ye to think about me mouth on ye, me tongue tasting ye, me kiss exploring every inch of ye, me fingers sliding inside ye… and how ye’ll gasp when I ease inside ye for the first time.
How ye’ll buck and writhe and tilt yer hips, eager for more. ”
A flush of heat and want rushed through Anna’s veins, her breath catching as she gripped her husband’s arms, already imagining it. “That was unkind.”
“Nay, love, that is anticipation,” he replied with a smile. “Now, come on, let’s get ye home before ye explode.”
He dipped his head and kissed her, slow and teasing, completely fueling the desire that throbbed through her body. She kissed him back just as lightly, unbothered by the fact that they were on a street outside a jail, in plain sight of anyone passing by.
“Then perhaps I shall make you wait until tomorrow.”
He growled in the back of his throat. “Now, that would be very unkind.”
She chuckled as she pulled back, admiring his handsome face. “I love you.”
“As I love ye,” he replied, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “More than ye know.”
With a contented sigh, he guided her toward the carriage door and opened it for her, giving her a sly smile as he helped her inside, his hand lingering for a moment on the small of her back... and along the soft curve of her hips. A promise of the wedding night still to come.
“I’ll see ye when we get home,” he told her.
She turned back and nodded. “When we get home. To our home.”
Her heart had been crushed when he had arrived at her sanctuary of Stonebridge, threatening to take everything she cherished, disturb the balance of the place she loved so deeply.
She couldn’t have known then what she knows now: that his arrival was a gift, not a curse, and one that would last a lifetime.