The Marquis and I (The Worthingtons #4)(88)

“I still feel bad about tying the maid up.”

“Ah, well, needs must. We did not have any choice that I could see.”

On the way to their apartments, he had borrowed the landlord’s map of Surrey and Kent. Rolling it out on the table, he pinned down the edges with candlesticks. He followed the route leaving London that the villains had used. Blast and damnation. He had missed a minor road leading to the post road to London.

“That’s how I became disoriented,” he murmured to himself.

“What is it?” Merton asked.

“Nothing. The inn is only about ten miles on the other side of Twickenham.”

If he had known where he was, Con could easily have had Charlotte back in Mayfair shortly after dawn. Well, he damned sure wasn’t going to tell her that now. Maybe in four or five years, after they had children and she might think it was a funny story. He just hoped she wouldn’t figure it out for herself.

“That close?” his beloved exclaimed. “I would never have known. It took us hours to get there.”

“It makes sense though,” Dotty mused. “Miss Betsy would not have to travel far, but there is enough distance between the Crowes and the Wicks that they would not know each other.”

Merton glanced at the maps and raised his brow.

Con quickly rolled them back up again. There was no point in tempting the Fates. “We could return here, or go to Hilltop Manor. That’s a bit farther, but none of the servants would ask questions.”

“There is no reason why we cannot bring the woman here,” Merton said. “Once we discover where she lives, we can more easily return her from a busy town than from a country estate.”

“If we depart early tomorrow morning, we can be on our way back to Town by tomorrow afternoon,” Dotty added.

Charlotte looked up from the papers she had been reading. “We will want to return to Town as soon as possible in any event. It appears that Miss Betsy has a daughter. Her solicitor’s direction is in these documents, along with her will. The girl is being raised by a couple in Shrewsbury and does not know they are not her true parents. Everything has been left to her.”

That might have been the only selfless thing she ever did. “Tomorrow morning it is then.”





Chapter Thirty


Later that evening, Con entered Charlotte’s bedchamber. She was sitting at the dressing table, already in her nightgown. Her golden hair spilled over her shoulders, glinting in the candlelight, and curling down to her waist. He sucked in a breath, unable to believe how lucky he was. For the rest of his life the most beautiful woman in the world would be the last person he saw before he slept and the first person he saw when he awakened. He could not imagine ever wanting anyone else.

For years he had run from marriage, unable to believe that an innocent could stir his blood. That he could be content with one woman. That conjugal relations could be more than a business arrangement. He had cursed himself for stopping to help her, and cursed the Fates for placing him in a position where he was the only man who could help her.

Yet no whore, widow, or other woman had given herself to him as freely as Charlotte had. Nor had he ever given his heart, mind, and soul to another woman as he had with her. His mother was right when she’d said if he could convince Charlotte to marry him, it would be the making of him. In the short time they had been together he had changed, and for the better.

“Constantine?” Her soft blue eyes warmed as she looked at him. “A penny for your thoughts.”

“I was thinking”—he strolled to her, taking her in his arms—“that I have never been happier than I am with you.”

A light pink colored her neck and face. He hoped that years from now he could still make her blush. “I feel the same. I watched my sisters, cousin, and friend fall in love, and I wondered if I would find the right man for me.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “And I have. Imagine what would have happened if you hadn’t got lost.”

He groaned. “You knew?”

“I am able to read a map, and you talked to yourself about it in the carriage.” Her eyes danced and her lips tilted up. “I am delighted it happened. If not, we would not be together. And your mistress would still be stuck in a life she did not want.”

“I’m usually quite good with directions. I must have been distracted.”

“Constantine, are you upset that you did not realize how close to London we were?”

Bending his head, he nibbled her jaw, fluttering kisses down her graceful neck. “Now? Not at all. Had I discovered my mistake earlier, I would have been. Still, there was something about you that drew me to you.” His hands cupped her breasts, the nipples already furled, waiting for his touch. “Even when I thought you were being stubborn for no reason, I was thinking of ways to make you agree to wed me.”

Her breath hitched as she leaned into his palm. “I know what you mean. Something about you called to my heart.”

“I wish your brother had taken me up on my offer to marry you immediately.” He moved his hands lower. Someday he would be able to spend hours making love with her. Someday when he had her at home, and they didn’t have to rise early to attend to a kidnapped woman.

“No, you do not.” Charlotte laughed, a light tinkling sound. “The revenge my sisters would exact would not be worth it.”