Oh, why must Mr Cole make things more difficult? Could he not see that her heart was breaking? Could he not see that she would crumple to the floor at any moment, a blubbering wreck?
Eva lifted her chin. “He’ll have to marry and sire an heir. And he’s not the sort of man to keep a mistress.” Not that she could make love to a man who had a wife.
The slam of the front door and the clip of booted footsteps prompted Mr Cole to say, “Ah, let us see what Ashwood has to say about the matter. I’m rather glad I have a seat for this.”
Eva arched a brow. “If I didn’t know better, I might believe you’re amused.”
After having a brief conversation with Kenning, Noah strode into the drawing room.
Eva’s heart lurched.
Tears threatened to fall.
“Forgive me. I didn’t realise I would be so long. We’ve been out searching for Gertrude.” He looked exhausted, world-weary. Those magnificent green eyes had lost their confident sparkle. “Lord knows where the woman has gone. If she has any sense, she will be halfway to France by now.” He walked towards the decanters on the side table, stopped abruptly when he noticed her valise on the floor next to the chair. “What the devil’s going on?”
Before she could form a word, Mr Cole said, “Miss Dunn is of a mind to save you. She is returning home so you may concentrate your efforts on playing the dutiful peer.”
Eva gritted her teeth and resisted the urge to kick Mr Cole’s injured leg.
Shock, and something infinitely more disturbing, flashed in Noah’s eyes as he absorbed the information. “You’re leaving? You’re returning to Brownlow Street?”
“I don’t want to be a distraction, not now you have more pressing matters to deal with.” This was not a conversation she wanted to have in the presence of Mr Cole. She was bound to cry. “And Howard is no longer a concern. As soon as Mr Daventry explained that the blade that killed Mr Hemming was meant for my brother, he accepted five thousand pounds and passage on the next ship sailing to Italy.”
“As Dunn hasn’t committed a crime and is guilty of nothing more than tormenting his sister,” Mr Cole explained, “Daventry and Bower bungled him into the carriage and left for the docks.”
But Noah didn’t seem remotely interested in her brother’s fate. “You don’t think I would make time for you, Eva?” he said in a low voice. “After my experiences, you don’t think I know what is important?”
Every bone and muscle in her body throbbed with the need to kiss him, to strip off his clothes, take him into her aching body and never let go.
“Noah, I’m simply returning home now the threat has passed, as we agreed.”
“No, you’re leaving because you think I’m to inherit. You think that changes things.”
“Of course it changes things.”
Noah shook his head. “Gertrude might be carrying an heir.”
“I think that is highly unlikely.”
“Well, yes, particularly after Sir Malcolm spoke to her lady’s maid, but nothing is set in stone.”
Eva glanced at Mr Cole, who didn’t seem remotely embarrassed that he was party to this conversation.
“We all need sleep,” she reiterated. “McGuffey will take me back to Brownlow Street, and we can discuss this later.”
Noah remained silent for a moment, then he crossed the room and came to stand a mere foot away. “You forget, I once looked into a woman’s eyes when she lied and professed all was well. Sometimes, later never comes. And so we will have this out now, madam.” His determined gaze remained fixed on her when he said, “I shall call on you later today, Cole. Won’t you excuse us?”
Without warning, Noah scooped Eva into his arms and headed for the door.
She might have protested, attempted to wriggle free, but the feel of being held so close to his hard body proved divine. Love, and an insatiable longing, saw her thread her arms around his neck as he carried her to his bedchamber.
The heavy blue curtains were drawn, blocking out the early morning rays. The smell of Noah’s teasing cologne clung to the air, and she inhaled the potent scent.
“Now, let us deal with the real problem,” he said, lowering her down onto his plush mattress. He crossed the room and locked the door. “Just in case you attempt to escape.”
That wasn’t the reason he held her captive.
He was going to make love to her.
He was going to make it impossible for her to walk away.
Noah returned to stand at the foot of the bed. “I almost lost you tonight. My world collapsed around me as I anticipated you falling down the stairs.” He shrugged out of his coat, and it fell to the floor. “I watched that devil press a pistol to your head. The sheer terror in your eyes will haunt me for the rest of my days.”
“I know,” she whispered, tears welling as she imagined every tragic outcome. “You wanted him to shoot you, but I would give my life to save yours.”
Noah finished unbuttoning his waistcoat, and that hit the floor, too. “Then what makes you think I would let you walk out of my life without protest?”
“You’re a man who takes responsibility seriously,” she countered, though she couldn’t concentrate knowing he was about to discard his cravat, that his shirt would soon follow. “That’s the reason I chose you to take my case.”
A sinful smile played on his lips. “You still maintain that’s the reason you picked me?”
When he drew his shirt over his head, she inhaled a sharp breath. Merciful heaven. The need to press her lips to his bronzed skin danced like a devil inside.
“Your strength of character was evident the first moment we met,” she said, the burning heat between her thighs distracting her, too.
“No, there was more to our first meeting than that.” He unbuttoned the band on his breeches. “Think.”
For a woman who had suffered at the hands of Lord
