“Will you stop doing this? For me?”
He whirled to face her. “I cannot promise that, Kendra.”
“We’ll find another way to support the orphans. I’ll ask my brothers—”
“I cannot stop.” Coming closer, he put his hands on her shoulders. “Soon, but not yet.”
“It frightens me.” Her voice came out a whisper.
“You do have a way of wrenching one’s heart.” He tilted her chin to meet her eyes. “I’ll be careful,” he said softly.
“Promise?”
“Cross my heart.”
She smiled faintly and touched him lightly on the chest. “This one?”
“That one exactly.” He placed his hand over hers and bent to meet her lips.
She leaned against him, sighing into the kiss.
When he finally pulled back, it was with a chuckle. Playfully he tugged on her hand, pulling her toward the corridor. “Shall we try the bed again, do you think?”
She stood her ground. “Not on your life. You think your kisses are good enough to tempt me to try that?”
“I’m betting on it.” He scooped up the coins and stuffed them into his surcoat pocket. “And I’m not a losing man.”
TWENTY-TWO
THEY RODE across the downs, taking a leisurely route to enjoy the warm day. Trick felt better than he had in months. Odds were he had enough information now—he would send a message to the contact the king had provided, meet with the man, and hopefully be done.
Premature though it might be, relief flowed through him in powerful waves.
His gaze drifted over to Kendra, her hair bright in the midday sun. A blade of grass stuck to her dress brought a smile to his lips. Though she was a challenge, he found it impossible to stay angry with her. She was the helpmate he’d never thought to have, and he loved that she felt so protective of him. As soon as word came that his mission was complete, they could start anew.
Their marriage was suspended on a fragile web, but without this secret coming between them, they could begin to spin it stronger.
“Trick?”
“Hmm?”
“Why did you want a description of that man?”
He shrugged uncomfortably, suddenly questioning the wisdom of allowing her to have seen him do that. But he’d always made his notes immediately, while the vision was still fresh in his mind.
“To send to the authorities,” he said in an offhand manner. “Anonymously, of course, so they can identify the blackguard without my being involved.”
“Why do you suppose he’s counterfeiting?”
“To get rich, I imagine.”
“I imagine there’s another reason. Something tied in with his being a Roundhead.” Her eyes unfocused, she stared right through him, clearly lost in contemplation. “I don’t think he’s acting alone,” she said.
“What makes you say that?”
“He didn’t seem bright enough.”
Not as bright as she was, Trick thought, that was for sure.
“I’m thinking he’s part of a bigger operation,” she continued, “and if the members are Puritans, perhaps in league with some other Parliamentarians, they might be acting against the king’s interests. Passing worthless currency in an attempt to undermine the economy and the people’s confidence in the monarchy. A plot to regain the power they once had, the power that died along with Cromwell.”
She stole his breath. Both the strength of her reasoning and the fact that she’d hit it on the mark—the very suspicions that Charles had put forth and Trick was attempting to prove. He’d never considered that his pretty young wife might understand the intricate linkage of economics and political power.
But it was dangerous, this line of reasoning. Kendra might have a sharp head and aligning interests, but he couldn’t risk her spreading this idea around, allowing the perpetrators to discover someone was on to them.
“Maybe,” he said lightly, keeping his face and tone nonchalant. “But I expect he’s just trying to get rich.”
She studied him, her hands tightening on Pandora’s reins. “How easily you dismiss my ideas. Are you still angry that I followed you earlier?”
“Nay,” he said, relieved to be on a different subject. “No harm was done.” They turned up Amberley’s drive, the trees on either side throwing cool shadows across the pathway. “You’d have to do much worse to incur my long-term wrath. Infidelity, for instance—though I’ve nothing to worry about on that account, have I?”
Yet. In the near future, he hoped, she’d overcome her fear of physical intimacy…and then maybe he’d have something to worry about.
“Infidelity?” A challenge in her voice, Kendra jostled Pandora closer to Chaucer’s side. “Most gentlemen expect fidelity only from their mistresses.”
Most gentlemen hadn’t found their betrothed in bed with someone else. Trick sighed, pushing away those old memories. “You will learn that I am not like most gentlemen.”
She shot him an arch look. “And what if I’m not like most ladies? What if I expect the same fidelity from you?”
“Turning the tables, are you?” He risked leaning from the saddle to chuck her under the chin. “You surely know how to try a man’s patience.”
Her green eyes flashed. “That was no sort of answer.”
“I wouldn’t ask something of you if I weren’t willing to offer it myself.”
Her expression said louder than words that she didn’t believe him. But she dropped the topic, her gaze drifting to Amberley’s impressive facade. “My brother Ford will want to go up the tower and see how the clock works.”
“He already has.”
Her pretty brow creased in a puzzled frown.
“The house parties, remember? He seems much taken with clocks. Stayed up there half an afternoon, while we twiddled our thumbs waiting for him. Here we are.” Trick slid to the gravel and handed his reins to a groom. With a gentle hand at her back, he urged Kendra up the steps of Amberley House.
“Dinner,” he said as Compton opened the door. “I’m fair starving. And then—”
“A letter, your grace.” The butler proffered a silver tray. “It arrived while you were out.”
Frowning, Trick snatched it up. Wrinkled and grubby, it looked as though it had traveled quite a distance. “Thank you, Compton. We’ll take it to the study. Let us know
