Chapter 6 #2
He’d never trembled in his bloody life, but he swore he’d have given the greenest lad a run for his money in that moment.
Her hand slid to the back of his neck, her thumb stroking through his hair. Sterling groaned, capturing her mouth hungrily.
And a sharp rap came at the door—
They broke apart hurriedly, Edwina putting three paces between them as the serving maid bustled inside. “A message from Lord Willoughby, my lord.”
Sterling curled his fingers into a fist. “Excellent.” Timing, at least. He was half tempted to strangle the man.
He plucked it from the servant’s fingers.
“Are you done with the dishes, my lord?” The serving maid gave them both a bland look that was suspiciously knowing.
Sterling rubbed at his lips, shooting Edie a look. She was studiously staring out the window, but he could see the color in her neck. “Quite, thank you.”
“Well?” Edwina murmured, as the door shut behind the serving maid.
She didn’t dare brush her fingers against her flushed lips, but she saw Sterling’s gaze drop to them as he tapped the letter against his thigh.
And then he sighed as he tore the envelope open. “Patience is a virtue.”
It sounded like he was reminding himself.
She couldn’t resist a nervous giggle.
I am besotted with you….
The words left her breathless. They turned everything she knew about him on its head. She didn’t know what to do with them.
“What is it?” she asked, because they were halfway through a case, and as much as she wanted to drag him into her bedroom and kiss him again, it was the middle of the morning.
The servants would be up to see to the rooms shortly.
They were probably already gossiping. A woman travelling alone with a duke’s son?
The role of secretary had given her somewhat protection in the past, but now…
? She’d seen the way the serving maid glanced at Edwina’s mouth, and was fairly certain her recent sin was written all over her skin in a flush of color.
“Lady Willoughby suffered several nightmares last night,” he murmured, reading the missive. “She’s taken ill with the shakes. Says she felt like she was trapped in a dark world, where Bletsoe looked like it was in ruins. She won’t stop crying, and Lord Willoughby is distraught.”
Edwina swiftly snapped to attention. “Nightmares? Or were they planted in her mind?”
“Or is she picking up on something?” he mused, tapping the envelope against his lips. “Your wards are good, but I think we might need something… a little stronger. I’ve brought a few holy relics….”
A necessity when dealing with much of the unknown.
Regardless of what one believed, holy relics were powerful for the sheer amount of belief they soaked within.
“I’ll fetch them then.”
And she turned toward his rooms.
His mind was elsewhere.
It was the only excuse.
Edwina disappeared inside his bedchamber, and then Sterling suddenly realized exactly what was nested next to his small case of holy relics.
“Edwina!” He bolted toward the door.
Too late.
She was by the bed. Hand deep in his personal satchel.
It was something she’d done a thousand times before as his secretary—she was privy to everything that came across his desk, but this time—
“Stop!” he yelled, throwing himself toward her as her hand closed over the little velvet box nestled securely within the satchel.
They collided in a spill of fabric. His hand closed over hers, forcing the box closed.
“What on earth?” She blinked up at him in surprise.
His stomach was in freefall. His heart in his throat. He stared at her as her shocked expression gave away to a scowl.
“What are you trying to hide?” she demanded, tugging her hand out of his.
He snatched at the box. “Don’t—”
Edwina gasped as she flicked the box open and saw its contents.
Fuck. Sterling staggered to a halt. It was too late.
The heat drained from his face.
Edwina’s startled gaze slowly lifted to his. “What… what is this?”
A bloody flawless diamond ring, what does it look like?
But her cheeks were so pale he didn’t dare jest in this moment.
“I’ve been trying to tell you,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “That it wasn’t just a kiss for me.”
He swallowed as she plucked the ring from its secure location.
This wasn’t how he’d planned any of this.
And she always did this to him. She always took all of his mad-dash plans and tore through them like a hurricane.
But for the first bloody time, he was going to be the one who controlled this situation. She might have ruined the surprise, but he wasn’t going to let her get away with it.
“I bought the ring three days ago.” He took a step toward her.
“For you. And then I demanded that Lady Rathbourne allow me to escort you to Bletsoe when the case came in. That’s why I was playing billiards with Adrian Bishop.
He’s the prime’s brother-in-law, and he owes me a favor.
So I called it in. I wanted to be here with you, Edie, because I’m not ready to let you go.
“I don’t want you as my mistress. I don’t want you as my secretary, or a friend. I want you to be my wife. My partner. My lover. I want you to be there at my side, forever.”
Edwina’s eyes widened.
“Say something,” he demanded, his heart thick in his throat.
And then her eyes rolled back in her head and she toppled backward like a felled tree.
The world swallowed her whole as her psychometry rose to choke her.
She was one with the ring, and the ring was one with her.
“This one,” said a man’s voice and it sounded like Sterling, though a Sterling she’d never known before. He almost sounded nervous.
“The smoked diamond, sir?” A stranger’s voice. “Are you sure? I have diamonds with much better quality in the back. They’re enormous and cut superbly and—”
“This one,” Sterling repeated. “The color of the stone perfectly matches the lady in question’s eyes.”
“A very lucky young woman, sir.”
Sterling laughed under his breath, though it was without humor. “We’ll see. I haven’t talked her into it yet, and she’s of a particularly stubborn mind.”
Edwina was drowning in the smoky depths of the diamond’s multi-faceted edges.
Echoes of his last few words ran through her on repeat.
And then the world was shifting again.
Her talent for clairvoyancy was not as great as her gift for psychometry, but when it hit, it tended to drive all else out of her mind.
She saw Lady Willoughby smile at her husband as he slid her wedding ring onto her finger in the chapel, even as a malevolent shadow watched over them.
But the ring was gone and in its place was a pall of pure darkness.
Edwina came to with a gasp, both her psychic senses warring within her even as her hand clutched the ring in her palm.
Sterling swung her up in his arms and grimly made his way toward the bed. “Well, if I’d known you were going to take it that well, I would have postponed this entire idea.”
“It’s the ring!”
“I know it’s a ring,” he said, his jaw locked tight as he lowered her onto the bed. “Here, sit still. You’ve taken a nasty knock—”
“No!” She grabbed his wrist, her heart still racing. “It’s the ring! It’s Lady Willoughby’s ring! It’s cursed!”