At first Adam would be cross that she had returned to him before he came for her, but Jean-Marc himself had escorted her to the door and seen her safely inside Number 7. Adam would soon forget to be angry when he discovered what she’d done.
She ran up each flight of stairs with light steps and rushed into 7C. Adam sat in his chair with a drink in his hand. He looked so worried, she could hardly wait to tell him her news.
“Adam—”
“My love, you cannot be here. I told you—asked you to remain under your brother’s roof until I came for you.” But a little of the worry eased from his face and he smiled at her. “It’s getting late. Perhaps they will not come tonight.”
“Perhaps not,” she said. “But it is not so very late and I hope they do.”
He beckoned for her to sit on his lap and when she settled there, he began kissing her, each kiss more ardent than the last. He paused to look at her. “I hope they come, too. You are truly my helpmate. You know what is most important to me, and what is right. I love you, Desirée.”
Adam had told her he loved her before but usually in the wild heat of their lovemaking. Tonight he looked at her with such intensity she quaked. Whatever happened she would always crave that look.
Turning in his embrace, she put her arms around his neck and did some kissing of her own. It was amazing how the sensation of his lips moving on hers only became more exciting.
She took her mouth from his. “Adam, I can’t wait another moment to tell you. Our troubles are over. Lucas’s troubles are over. We have the money.”
Adam regarded her blankly.
“I have the money to pay Lucas’s debts,” she told him, and got to her feet. She took off her cloak and from a pocket inside she withdrew a thick, heavy envelope. This she gave to Adam. “Fifty thousand pounds.”
His silence touched her. She had overwhelmed him by lifting his burdens. “Fifty thousand pounds,” he said, opening the envelope and staring in at the contents. “How did you know this was the sum needed? I didn’t.”
She smoothed back her hair and pulled a little stool near his feet to sit on. “Rolly told me when you were talking to that man at the gardens. I was so flattered that he would trust me and come to me.”
“Were you?”
“Yes.” She waited, expecting him to take out the money, but he didn’t.
Eventually he raised his eyes a little to look into her face. He wasn’t happy and she didn’t understand why. Those eyes turned almost black might have been a stranger’s, a stranger who found her baffling. There was hurt there, too. And he’d grown so pale that the flamboyant bones of his face cast the darkest shadows.
“What is it?” she asked him. “Why aren’t you glad?”
“Where did you get this?” he said.
Her heart beat faster and faster. Halibut approached and jumped onto Adam’s lap. He rested a hand on the cat’s back but the animal looked up at him, gave a high whine, and fled.
“I asked you a question,” Adam said.
“From Jean-Marc,” she said, barely able to get the words out. “I asked him to loan it to us and he got it at once. Within half an hour it was in my hands. Jean-Marc didn’t even ask what it was for. It was just the way Rolly said it would be. My brother was glad to be able to do something for us. Adam, I think he regrets being so angry with us and wants to make amends.”
“By giving us money as if I were incapable of taking care of you and your needs?”
Her limbs trembled and felt weak. “No. He didn’t ask me why I needed the money but I told him it was to help Lucas who has some problems. I said he would get it back, but he told me he’d be offended if we tried to repay him.”
Adam raised a hand and Desirée flinched. He laughed and the sound was awful. “You know so little about me that you think I would strike you?” He tossed the money on the floor and stood up. “I was right all along. You and I were not meant for each other. Our backgrounds are too different. I should have listened to my instincts, no, I must be more fair than that—I should have found a way to stop wanting you and moved where I would never see you again.”
“Adam, please—”
“No, don’t beg me. Begging isn’t becoming of your station. You are too young, I should have listened to my instincts there, too. If you were more mature you would understand that to do what you have done is to question my manhood. You have confirmed your brother’s opinions of me. And you have betrayed my trust by going behind my back.”
She got to her feet and reached for him, but he backed away. “I wanted to make you happy and I wanted to save Lucas,” she told him.
“Pick that up.” He pointed at the envelope. “You will take it back, thank your brother, and tell him I don’t need his help, which is true. Today I did what I had never intended to do. I sent word to the Manthy solicitors, telling them I’ve changed my mind and will take the inheritance my grandfather left me. I had decided I was being foolish and selfish when Lucas needed money and when I wanted to provide you with a beautiful home that would bring you pleasure.”
“This place brings me pleasure.” She spread her arms. Her hands felt like ice and she shivered all over. “I never wanted more than to be with you wherever you are.”
“I believe you think that’s all you wanted. But that was easy enough as long as you could always run to your family for those things you thought I couldn’t provide. I was not a poor man when we married. I am about to become an exceedingly wealthy man, only the thought is like a stone in my heart.
“You are not for me. I had come to believe you were, but I have been more wrong than I could have imagined. Please God this marriage can be annulled somehow and you can marry one of your own kind.”
Her eyes stung but she couldn’t cry, even as she couldn’t stop the burning in her throat. “There will never be anyone but you. If one of us has been wrong, it is me, but my motives were the best. I wanted to do good. And anyway, you are also wrong for being too proud.” Once more she reached for him and once more he stepped back. “I am desolate,” she told him, not caring how she pleaded. “You are my life.”
He pressed his eyes shut and she saw his lashes were moist. “And I have wanted you to be mine.”
A rap on the door caused Desirée to jump and she heard Adam curse under his breath. He threw open the door and said, “Yes,” into the face of Evans, the under-butler.
“You’ve got visitors,” Masters said, showing no sign of being disturbed by Adam’s sharpness. “Mr. Lucas Chillworth wants to know if he can bring his wife up to meet you.”