Page 73 of The Duke and Lady Scandal
“Oh. Something’s troubling you.” Allie reached up to stroke her finger across the lines. “What is it?”
“It’s rather terrifying how easily you read me now.” He cupped her cheek. “There’s something I must do before I tell you about my day.”
“What is it?”
He swept his thumb across her lower lip. “This.”
As soon as the word was out, his lips met hers, and she clutched at his shoulder. The heat of his breath sent a warm trickle of pleasure all the way to her toes.
He took his time kissing her tonight, as if he was tasting, savoring. As if she were delicious, and he couldn’t get enough. No one had ever touched her so intimately, so tenderly.
In his arms, she felt safe, wanted. Their connection wasn’t something she’d been seeking, but it felt as if it was precisely what she needed.
“Tell me what’s troubling you,” she urged when he lifted his head and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Then I’ll tell you my news.”
He drew her over to a chair by the fire. Then he lifted another cushioned chair to bring over, and she frowned.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Do we need two chairs?”
He grinned and set the second chair down. After sitting in the one by the fire, he lifted his hand to her. She took it and settled onto his lap.
“Much better,” she said with a satisfied smile.
He chuckled.
Images came into her mind of a lifetime of evenings seated before the fire on his lap, both of them recounting the events of their day.
Though marriage hadn’t been anything she’d ever yearned for, she quite liked the idea of such a future with him.
“Tell me what’s causing these this evening.” She ran her fingertip gently along the ridges between his brows again.
Ben took a breath. “There was an attempt on the Crown Jewels.”
She gripped his shoulder hard. “And we didn’t stop it.” The guilt she felt shocked her. As if she’d failed in some way.
“No, sweetheart.” He stroked a hand down her back. “There was only an attempt. Nothing was stolen. They weren’t successful.”
“And were they caught?”
Ben worked his jaw, and that was all the answer she needed.
“They were not. But I promise you they will be.” Before M, he’d had a perfect record of solving every case assigned to him. He was determined to retain that record. M wouldn’t elude him forever, and these would-be thieves would be caught too.
“I know you’ll find them.” She gripped his shoulder again. This time more tenderly.
He appreciated her faith in him, though he’d done little since they’d met to impress her with his record as a detective.
“Tell me your news,” he urged her.
“Well, it’s not unrelated, I suppose.”
“Oh?”
“Lord Holcroft came into the shop again. This time I spoke to him.” She looked pensive, as if recalling the exchange. “I no longer think he is the man I saw at Hawlston’s. He came in to deliver his uncut diamond, and he was...”
“He was what?”
