Page 46 of The Viscount's Code
Hope wassurprised when Anthony told her not to pack her things just yet.
He asked to speak with her after dinner that evening, and they sat together on the sofa in front of the fire as Hope picked at one of the errant threads on a cushion.
“Would you mind staying another couple of days?” he asked. “I suppose the better question is how that will line up with your supposed return.”
“Actually, another couple of days should be fine,” she said, somewhat relieved, for she had been wondering how to approach this with him. “I sent a message to Faith, and I hoped to hear back before we returned so I would know when and where to meet her.” She cocked her head as she studied him, feeling that there was something he wasn’t telling her. “Why the sudden urge to stay? If you would like more time to visit with Reeves, I completely understand.”
“It’s not that,” he said, shaking his head.
“Do we not already have our next clue? I feel that it will be the ultimate wedding gift for Cassandra. I can hardly wait to share the news.”
“Wedding?” he said, frowning at her. “Goodness, I forgot all about that.”
“Yes!” she exclaimed, unable to hide her surprise. “We must be at Castleton within three weeks for Cassandra and Devon’s nuptials. It slipped your mind?”
“I have been thinking of… other things,” he said, his gaze suddenly turning dark and hooded as it had the night before and suddenly, Hope was shivering once more, in much of an anticipatory way.
“Well,” she said, looking down at her hands as her face warmed all over again, “I believe your mother had planned to travel from Newfield Manor directly there, so perhaps we shall be travelling companions again.”
“This time, I shall be riding my horse,” he muttered so darkly that she couldn’t help but laugh.
“That makes perfect sense, given how the carriage makes you ill,” she said. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head, his eyes distant once more. “Unfortunately, your theory does not seem to work, although the notes could mean something still. Actually, Reeves and I also want to further discuss who could have possibly set up my father. It is rather unlikely we will find anything, but I have nothing to lose in trying to find an answer.”
“Of course. If I can help in any way, I am happy to do so.” She paused and when he didn’t take her up on her offer, she continued. “I believe I shall retire now,” she said, standing, uncertain exactly of what she should say, if she should issue him an invitation to come to her again. For, as much as she knew she shouldn’t, she would not be opposed to another late-night visit from him. In fact, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him and how he had made her feel. Now she finally understood why Cassandra had allowed Devon to take her innocence those years ago, and then welcomed him to her bed once more.
She was still perplexed by her feelings toward Anthony, how the surly gruff viscount had become the man she couldn’t stop thinking about, even before they had departed on this journey together. Had he been any other man, she’d have turned him away before he even stepped foot in her bedroom. But she hadn’t been able to prevent herself from letting him in.
Why did he have to be the man whom her father forbade her from even speaking to, the man who told her that he had nothing to offer her?
It was all a web of confusion that Hope had no idea how to escape.
What scared her the most was that she rather liked having been caught.
CHAPTER18
Anthony spent the next two nights sleeping on the sofa, staring at the door of Hope’s bedroom, wondering if she was also thinking of him.
In truth, he wasn’t certain why she would besides the fact that he was there. He was sure that there were many other gentlemen she would prefer – gentlemen who not only had something to offer her, but who were much more pleasant and charming, men she would actually want to spend time with.
He had forced himself to stay well away from her. For he knew that if he entered her bedroom again, he might not stop at just pleasuring her. She was too tempting, and every time she lifted her beautiful face to look at him, or her hand stroked his arm, or her lips turned up in that beautiful bow of a pink smile, he fell a little deeper for her.
He wasn’t the man for her, but he also knew that he would have to be careful moving forward – for he wasn’t sure how he would react if he was present and saw her with another man. A woman like her was sure to attract more attention.
But at the moment, that shouldn’t be his concern. In fact, he shouldn’t even be thinking of her. He should be thinking of the strides that he and Reeves had made in proving his father’s innocence. They had begun to determine what evidence they would require – his father’s whereabouts, his loyalties, the fact he had no reason to work with the French. They also had to prove that he had never been financially compensated.
They had spent a great deal of time discussing who might have had something to gain from a traitorous allegiance against their country – and who knew Anthony’s father’s activities well enough to have sent the cipher to him.
“To me, there is only one true suspect,” Anthony finally said over breakfast the day they planned to leave. Anthony and Reeves hadn’t prevented themselves from speaking of the subject in front of Hope, but he had asked his father’s old friend not to say anything aboutwhyit had suddenly become imperative that they discover who was truly the traitor.
“Who?” Reeves asked.
“His handler – the man who provided the two of you with the letters,” he said. “They almost always came through him, did they not, unless it was an urgent message delivered to him directly from the front?”
“You think it was Johnson?”
“Yes.”
