Page 68 of Her Impeccable Scoundrel
Blythe grimaced. “I’m sorry. There are actually two: one in the library that Adwick can open. The Chilcombe jewelry is in there. There also is one in your suite that only you will be able to access.” She handed him a key. “I ought to have given you this sooner. You will find this one more convenient. After Archie died, I had a new safe installed here.” She stood and drew him up. “It’s in your bedchamber. Let me show you.”
He would finally have her in his bedchamber. If only the circumstances were different.
He followed her into the inner room, and she led him to the fireplace where the safe had been concealed behind nearby paneling.
“It’s a special Chubb lock,” she said. “Impossible to pick.”
The iron box interior smelled new.
“It’s empty.”
“Yes. There were some documents in there, stock certificates and such. I’ve had them moved to the other safe so that Adwick can retrieve them for the broker when he visits.”
After the letter was safely stowed in the empty compartment, he handed the key back to her. Color rose in her cheeks as she stood looking at it.
Chapter Fifteen
Graeme had moved closer, and he hadn’t simply handed her the key—he’d pressed it into her palm.
“No.” She shook her head. “I ought to have given you this sooner. In all the, er, excitement, I forgot. Nor should I be entering your bedchamber to access the safe.”
“My new valet says you were responsible for the elegant refurbishing, the bathing chamber, and the new bed. He said you ordered the old one burned.”
He lifted the key from her hand, sweeping his thumb across her palm as he did so, sending a wave of sensation through her.
“Would you consider entering my bedchamber for other reasons?”
Her chest tightened, desire blooming in her. “I would… consider… That is, but I wouldn’t do it.” At least not until the will was resolved. And that resolution was the important topic. “You said that you have another approach in mind—those were your words. What is it?”
“I would like to involve Morley and Jarrow. Your brother as well. Will you allow it?”
Panic flared in her. “Will you tell them how the letter was obtained?”
“No. Not the truth, anyway. We can imply that we got it from that woman. Jarrow says there is political opposition to Diddenton that may serve our interest, and Morley is looking into fraud with regard to the land claim. Will you allow me to tell them about the letter?”
“Oh. If you must.”
“Blythe, love.” His arms came around her. “I won’t betray you. We’ll sort this out. Will you trust me?”
There was a firmness to his lips, and yet, a vulnerability in his eyes.
Hadn’t Archie said the same words a few months after their marriage, after her discovery that he’d been seducing the maids? I won’t betray you again, Blythe. Will you trust me? Hadn’t he also looked vulnerable?
No—he’d simply adopted the penitent little boy look he must have used on his grandparents for years.
But this was Graeme, not Archie.
She nodded. “I will trust you. For now.”
“That will have to do.” He dipped his head and captured her lips in a kiss that filled her with such tenderness and yearning that she wanted to weep.
Desire gripped her and she went up on her toes, angling her head and raking her fingers through his hair, pressing so close she could feel the pounding of his heart against hers.
Yes, she would make love to him, here in this new bed, and cleanse the room of the last earl’s debauchery. Graeme, who’d been her friend, and then her enemy, and who was now an ally. One who wanted her.
A door clicked shut in the sitting room and they both froze.
“Leave the tray in there,” Graeme called through the open door of the bedchamber. “I’ll be out in a moment.”
