bed, she took up the channel changer and clicked her television set on. She punched in the Channel's number, and when the grand entry hall of the duke's home came into view Emily pushed the enter button firmly.
The duchess was standing in the foyer, shaking the rain from her long cape. She turned, startled, at the sound of his voice.
'Where the hell have you been for the last five days, madam?' Justin Trahern demanded of his wife.
'In London,' the duchess answered.
'You detest London, and especially in season,' he replied.
'Yes, I do,' the duchess said. 'But my uncle's valet sent for me. The earl was ill, and he feared for him.'
'You detest your uncle too,' the duke said.
'And what illness did he have? Something brought on by too much wine, bad companions, and the riotous living he pursues, I have not a doubt,' Justin Trahern sneered. 'The man is a lost cause. The title will die with him, for no decent woman will wed him, nor would any decent father give his daughter to Eddis Thornton, despite his ancient title. Not even a rich merchant attempting to vault his family into the nobility with a nubile and well-dowered daughter would have him.'
'For which I am very grateful,' the duchess replied calmly, 'for I mean to have the earldom of Chetwyn for a second son one day, milord. As I am the last of the Thorntons, and you have a good relationship with both the king and the prince, we should be able to manage it once Uncle has drunk himself into his grave.'
'So that is why you cosset the man,' Justin Trahern remarked with not just a hint of admiration in his voice.
'Yes,' the duchess answered in a cold voice.
'Do you give him money?' the duke demanded to know.
'Of course,' she said. 'God knows I have enough, thanks to my father. His investments in the East India Company paid off quite well. I do not give my uncle a great deal. I pay his valet, his wine bill, and just enough of his gambling debts to allow him to keep gambling.'
'Thereby continuing to make him unattractive as husband material, and gently hastening his path to the grave,' the duke murmured. 'Very clever, my dear. You say you want your family's title for a second son, but we have not even a first son. Or daughter, Caro. And you were not in London, my dear. At least, not at your uncle's.'
'How can you possibly know that, milord?' She began to ascend the stairs.
'Because I had you followed,' Justin Trahern responded, keeping pace with her. 'Do you think I am a fool, Caro? We haven't even been married for a year, and you are always disappearing from Malincourt. You do not take your coach, but ride out alone.'
They had reached the top of the stairs, and the duchess almost ran to her rooms.
'Where do you go? Have you a lover? Someone you took when my uncle lay dying?' he wanted to know.
'I think you can have no doubt that I was a virgin when we married,' the duchess said coldly. 'And I am not a woman to betray her marriage vows. How dare you impugn my honor, milord?' She had reached her chamber door. 'Leave me now! I am tired and cold and wet. I wish a hot bath, a tray, and my bed.' She looked at him imperiously.
'You may have your hot bath and your tray, madam,' he said. 'But I will share your bed tonight, for I have lacked your company for many nights.'
'You are intolerable!' the duchess said, and she stepped into her chamber, slamming the door in his face behind her.
Behind her the door sprang open, and the duke entered the room. 'Get out!' he said sharply to his wife's maid. 'Her ladyship will call you when she needs you.' He almost shoved the girl from the room. Turning, he said in a deceptively quiet tone, 'Now, Caroline, you will tell me exactly where you have been, and with whom you have been consorting. If you do not I shall lock you in this room until you do.'
'You wouldn't!' She gasped.
'But I would, madam. Oh, yes, I would,' he responded.
'You would not understand, Justin,' she said, actually using his name in her despair. 'How could you? What could you know of the horror I have seen?'
'I cannot if you do not tell me,' he replied in a gentler tone.
She flung herself into his arms, pulling his head down to hers and kissing him passionately. 'Make love to me,' she begged him. 'Oh, please make love to me!'
Their clothing seemed to evaporate as they pulled the garments from each other. Naked, he swept her up in his arms and carried her to the large wing chair by the fire. And all the while they kept kissing each other again and again until both their mouths were bruised and sore from a mixture of both passion and sweetness. They cuddled together, slowly exploring each other's bodies. His big hands cupped her small, perfect breasts, kissing the nipples until they were tightly puckered, like small frostbitten rosebuds. His teeth tenderly scored the sensitive flesh of her bosom.
The duchess sighed with her pleasure as he lifted her to sit facing him and his mouth traveled across her torso. Her fingers entwined themselves in his dark hair, kneading his scalp with her rising desire to be possessed by him. Her slender legs rested on his shoulders. But as eager for her as he was, he was not quite ready to consummate their mutual passion. He licked her body, tasting the saltiness of the sea on her skin. Then, lifting her up, he impaled her onto his engorged lover's lance. She sighed again.
'Now, madam,' he said in measured tones, 'you will answer my questions or you will gain no further pleasure from me.'
Her blue eyes widened with her shock. She could feel his thickness throbbing within her love passage. 'Justin,' she whimpered. 'Please!' She attempted to ride him, but he held her firmly about her narrow waist, his fingers digging cruelly into her flesh. 'Please!'
'Where were you?' he demanded once again. 'Where?!'
'France.' She gasped. 'I was in France!'
'You will tell me the rest afterward,' he told her, standing. 'Put your legs about me, Caro.' He walked across the room to her bed and, laying her down, stood over her, fucking her at first slowly, and then with more rapid strokes until she was sobbing for release. A release he was not yet ready to give her. He quickly took his own pleasure, and then withdrew from her heated body. Moving to a table with a basin and pitcher he bathed his satisfied member.
'Bastard!' she hissed at him. She was aching and unsatisfied.
'When you have told me all,' the duke said, 'I will scratch that naughty itch of yours, my dear. But not until then. Do you understand me?' He climbed into bed, taking his wife into his arms. 'Now, why were you in France?'
'Have you heard of Lady Lavender, Justin?'
'The person who rescued the Duchesse d'Almay and her children? Of course. It was the talk of the ton several months ago. Why?'
'I am Lavender, milord. It is I and the women who work with me both here and in France who have been rescuing the victims of tyranny and injustice. Not just the nobility, but decent working people who have been denounced to the Committee for Public Safety. All one need do is drop a paper with a name on it in those boxes they now have in Paris and every small town in France. Today we brought back a vineyard owner, his wife, his old mother, her elderly maid, and three children. On our last trip it was the Comtesse d'Islay, her maid, and the old seamstress who had sewn for the comtesse for years. And Justin, there are so many more who need our help.'
He was astounded by her confession, and then he grew angry. 'How dare you endanger yourself, Caro! And who are the women who work with you? You all put yourselves at risk! It stops now! Do you comprehend me? It stops now!'
'No! No!' she cried to him. 'There are too many who still must be rescued!'
'I cannot have the woman I love putting herself at risk like this,' Justin Trahern told his wife. 'I love you, Caro! Do you understand that? I love you! Even if you do not love me, I love you! I have since the first day we met, and I
