An Affair So Right (Rebel Hearts #4)(43)

As often happened, his eyes were drawn to the desolation across from his home. The Daltons’ residence had been reduced to nothing more than blacked brick and crumbling timbers.

Despite that tragedy, he was content in a way he’d never experienced before. There was nothing more he wanted in his life but for this secretive arrangement to continue for as long as possible. And when it did end, as he was sure it would, there were plenty of other women in London willing to invite him to their beds, he suspected.

A knock sounded on his door, breaking him from his thoughts. He snatched up a silk banyan and threw it over his nakedness, ready to face the challenges of a new day. “Come.”

Rodmell poked his head into the room, the sad expression on his face warning Quinn wasn’t going to like what he heard next. “My lord, forgive me for waking you, but a servant has come from Newberry House.”

A chill swept him that his father might have recovered. “What is it?”

“Lord Templeton has passed during the night,” Rodmell told him. “Lady Templeton has asked for you to come immediately.”

Quinn struggled with his feelings, relieved and unsettled by the sensation of satisfaction. “Please inform Miss Dalton of the situation, and tell her the dinner she was organizing must be delayed. Thank you, Rodmell.”

The door pulled closed slowly, and the air burst from Quinn’s lungs.

When he’d first awoken, he’d thought he couldn’t be happier. But he was.

The bloody tyrant was no more.





Chapter 17





Funerals were unbearable, even for someone so unloved. They brought Theodora’s grief too near the surface.

Theodora’s father had been laid to rest without pomp or ceremony in a simple grave last week, but she couldn’t bear to glance in that direction yet. The quiet service for her beloved father was in stark contrast to today’s ostentatious display for a man disdained by his son.

Today, Lord Templeton’s body had been consigned to an impressive mausoleum in the same cemetery where her father rested. No expense had been spared to prove the earl’s importance in society, even in death. A trio of child mourners had followed the carriage bearing the mahogany coffin trimmed with gold in advance of a dozen professional mourners. There might be a few true mourners following behind, she suspected—navy officials and titled lords of his acquaintance—but not too many.

Theodora shifted in the darkened carriage parked at the edge of the cemetery; keeping an eye on the silent and straight-backed figure of her employer as he listened to the vicar of St. George’s send up prayers and whatnot for the late earl’s passing. She was too far away to hear clearly what was said of Quinn’s father, though she thought perhaps only a little of it could be true. Quinn had yet to say anything nice about the late Lord Templeton, but she’d been left in no doubt he was not missed.

A little shiver raced along her limbs as she considered Quinn overlong. She admired his honesty with her. She admired the rest of him very much indeed. They rarely spoke of the hours they spent in each other’s arms at night anymore, and that seemed to suit them both perfectly. Theodora worked diligently during the day, a model of propriety and calm efficiency, but her nights were full of wild abandon atop his comfortably large and soft bed.

Theodora brushed her thumb across her bottom lip as lust caught her in its grip yet again. Quinn was very inventive, had a stamina she’d learned to crave. Their affair had begun as a balm for his anger, but he expected so little in return it concerned her. She could not shake the feeling that his experience with the actress Adele Blakely had somehow hardened his heart against truly enjoying himself.

Did he trust her?

She thought he might not.

She shook off her disappointment as she noted the mourners turning away from the grave, solemn and with little conversation for each other. The Duke of Rutherford had not made the journey to London for the burial. By all accounts, the duke had taken the death of his eldest son and heir very badly. The bulk of the family had gathered at Newberry Park around the duke, and only a few of the men of the family attended the funeral today. Theodora suspected they’d come not out of respect for the late Lord Templeton, but to support Quinn.

She returned her attention to him, a dark figure bundled up in black against the chill of a bleak day. He nodded to many but as he made his way back to his carriage with his head down, she could see he was lost in thought. She wished there was some way to take away all of his pain beyond what she’d already done for him.

She made room for him as he joined her in the carriage, but he took the opposite seat instead of sitting at her side, as he’d taken to doing.

He placed his dark hat carefully beside him before speaking. “It’s done.”

“Yes.”

She braced herself as the carriage moved off, gaining speed as it turned into the traffic that teamed toward the capital.

Quinn stretched out one leg to brace himself against her bench seat. “I will be moving into Newberry House tonight.”

She’d expected it but still questioned him. “Why so soon?”

“I am a Templeton now. I must be seen to take the reins.”

He sounded so bleak, so unsteady, that her heart lurched in sympathy for him. It was clear to Theodora he’d not yearned for the responsibilities that came from his elevation to earl. However, they could not be avoided or passed on to another, as Quinn’s right of succession had been clear. There would be much to do and become familiar with in the coming months.