Chapter Thirty
At eight the next morning, Tobias collected Jack from her residence like he’d arranged after dropping her off yesterday with the plan that they would travel to Broadmoor first thing today.
After Jack had recognized the ring, it had become clear that they had to attend Broadmoor Asylum as a priority, if nothing else but to ensure that Baron Denton was incarcerated there, and hopefully to also find out who might be using his signet ring.
That was if it was the man’s ring, though it seemed unlikely to be a coincidence.
He glanced over at Jack sitting on the carriage seat across from him, her already porcelain skin paler than he’d seen it, the normal rosiness of her cheeks still drained of all color as she stared out the window, her thoughts seemingly far away.
“Are you sure you wish to come with me to Broadmoor? You don’t have to, you know.”
She twisted in her seat and turned to face him. “I’ll be fine.”
“No one would think less of you if you didn’t see him,” he warned. “The man murdered your mother.”
“Seeing him in person will be no different to seeing him in my nightmares,” she replied. “Besides, it might even help me to see him locked up. If nothing else, it will put my mind to rest sighting him with my own eyes while confirming how stringent Broadmoor’s security is.”
“Well, perhaps try to rest on the trip there. You look like you didn’t sleep at all.”
“I didn’t. I had nightmares all night where my past came back to haunt me.” She exhaled sharply. “Honestly, I doubt I’ll sleep well until this mystery is solved. I need to satisfy myself that the baron is locked up still. Otherwise, every shadow I see, I’ll think he’s hiding within it.”
“I don’t like that you had nightmares.” It surprised him how much he didn’t like it. Without thinking, he leaned forward, taking one of her hands in his own and gently caressing the back of her knuckles with his thumbs. “I wish I could take away the pain of your past.”
She gasped softly at the contact, her eyes widening, but she didn’t pull her hand away. “It’s not so bad. It made me who I am today.”
“I still don’t like to see you hurting.” Slowly, he turned her hand over and his thumb caressed the inner skin of her wrist. She was so soft, and so smooth.
He found himself wanting to explore and caress every inch of her silky skin.
He bent his head over, his eyes never leaving hers as he raised her hand up to his mouth, his lips replacing his thumb, feathering her delicate skin with a kiss.
Jack’s eyes dilated with the contact and Tobias felt his body throbbing in need. He knew it wasn’t the right time or even appropriate while they worked a case together, but suddenly, he didn’t care. He wanted this woman with a need that was unmatched.
*
The very touch of Tobias’s lips as he softly brushed them against the inner skin of her wrist sparked a desire deep within Jack that she’d never known was there. A longing whispered through her as every inch of her body began to beg for his touch.
Without worrying about the repercussions, Jack grabbed the lapels of his jacket and pulled his head towards hers.
Their lips met in a frenzy of heat, and Jack felt all her resistance to this attraction between them dissolve then and there. He tasted of sweet honey and berries, and she’d never craved anything more.
She entwined her hands behind his neck, her fingers brushing through his hair, while he swept her onto his lap, and she felt the hard length of him pressing into her thigh.
It had been so long since she’d been touched by anyone, and even then, it had felt nothing like this. This was the touch of a man who knew what he was about, and her body was all but melting under the exquisite onslaught.
His mouth slanted over hers, his tongue deftly teasing and stroking against her own, and she couldn’t help but moan at how delicious it felt.
She gasped as his hand reached up and cupped her breast through the material of her dress and corset, gently kneading and squeezing her flesh, her entire body quivering in response.
She realized that she wanted this man, that she yearned for him, far more than she’d ever done with Caleb. The thought was like a bucket of ice being poured over her head and she pulled away from him, scrambling off his lap and over to the other side of the carriage.
“I’m sorry, I can’t,” she rushed out. “Not now, not with everything going on.”
He made her body feel things she hadn’t even known possible.
Caleb had always been a clumsy lover, far more interested in his own pleasure than in Jack’s, but with Tobias, he was anything but selfish.
His lips and tongue so expert in their endeavors that she was blushing just thinking about him kissing her again.
He slowly nodded. “It’s fine, Jack. As I’ve told you before, I’m a patient man. And besides, when I do bed you, it will be in a proper bed so I can explore every inch of you, over and over again, all night long.”
“Oh…” She gulped, not knowing quite how to respond. She’d not had a lover since Caleb, and even then, she’d been a young nineteen-year-old who’d thought the whole process rather awkward and uncomfortable. She imagined it would be a far different experience with Tobias. “That’s rather bold of you.”
“It is, isn’t it?” He winked at her, and she found herself smiling despite his cockiness.
Perhaps having a lover wouldn’t be such a bad thing, after all, especially as she was well past the age of having to worry over the proprieties. It could even be interesting, especially given she did find this man fascinating. But obviously now wasn’t the time or the place.
“In any event,” she continued, “we should do such a thing again until after the investigation is concluded.” And they shouldn’t, even if her traitorous body was already craving his touch again. “We really should focus all of our energies on finding this killer.”
“Very well,” he agreed, though Jack could see the spark of amusement in his eyes.
“Good.” Now she just had to focus on that instead of noticing how ridiculously strong and big Tobias looked sitting there in the tiny carriage. He really was intensely masculine. It was a distraction she really didn’t need, particularly not if the baron had escaped.
The very thought of the baron sent an icy chill across her skin, and all amorous thoughts of Tobias were swiftly forgotten, replaced by the insidious fear she’d held in her heart since her mother’s death. A fear that was ever present, despite her trying to ignore it.
A part of her knew that while the baron was alive, it would always be simmering just below the surface. He was her monster, and as much as she’d tried to banish him from her mind over the years, she couldn’t.
Perhaps once she saw him again, she’d finally see him with the eyes of an adult rather than a child.
“You mentioned the baron had a wife and son?” Tobias said, the amusement in his tone now replaced with a matter-of-factness as he returned back to the business at hand.
“I took a quick look last night at the archives for the investigation and trial, and it had very little in there about either of them.”
“I don’t remember a lot about them,” Jack replied.
“It was mostly just the baron who attended my father’s theater and from what I gathered, his wife and son lived at their country estate and rarely came to the city.
Perhaps that’s why he become obsessed with my mother?
I didn’t understand that at the time, of course; I was only eight when he killed her, and my father tried to shield me from the circus of the trial itself.
Though I can still remember it caused quite a sensation, as it was rare for a member of the peerage to be tried for murder. ”
“I remember it too. I was about fifteen and boarding at Eaton, and news even reached there.”
“Do you think his son could be involved in all of this?” Jack realized it could well be possible.
“It would explain the signet ring,” Tobias replied. “The records I found suggest that Edward Clorren, the Baron Denton, had one son named Thomas Clorren who was born in 1857. Which would make him thirty-six now.”
“We need to find and speak with him,” Jack said.
“We do. First, though, we’ll confirm the baron is in fact at Broadmoor and then we can speak to him.”
Jack arched her brow. “‘We’? So you’re not going to try to talk me out of seeing him and speaking with him?”
“Would I have any luck doing so?” He arched his own brow in reply.
“No.”
“Exactly,” he replied, relaxing back against the cushion of the seat. “I’m quickly learning with you, Jaqueline Maguire, that you’ll run your own show despite my suggestions to the contrary. I might as well just accept that, rather than butt my head against a brick wall.”
“I always knew you were a smart man, Tobias Flint,” Jack replied. “I’m glad to see you’re also sensible too.”
He smiled at that and shook his head. “Just promise me if it gets too intense seeing him or speaking with him that you won’t hesitate to leave the room.”
As strong as Jack liked to believe herself to be, she could see the wisdom in his words. “I have no intention of subjecting myself to being in the presence of that man for any longer than I must.”
Tobias nodded. “I’m glad to hear it. I always knew you could be sensible too.”
Now it was Jack who was shaking her head, a small grin twisting at her lips. “You’re incorrigible, Inspector.”
“So my family keeps telling me.” He smiled back at her, then glanced out the window as the carriage began to slow down. “Looks like we’ve arrived. Remember, though, Jack, you don’t have to do this.”
“Actually, I do.” She’d lived with monsters occupying her nightmares for far too long.
Today, she intended to banish one for good.
The baron had changed her life irrevocably, but she wasn’t going to continue to let his memory keep her in fear of the future.
Today, she would satisfy herself with the proof that he was locked up, and then she would purge him from her thoughts forever.