“How was your day, Elspeth?” Val asked when he returned home and found her in the small sitting room.
“I did nothing but eat and sleep all day,” she confessed with a smile. “I hope that by tomorrow I will have caught up and can get out for a while.”
“You should take all the time you need….” Val started to say and then stopped.
“But…?”
“We will likely be receiving invitations tomorrow.”
“I don’t know how we can. Maddy doesn’t know I have arrived. And no one even knows we are married,” she added with a faint blush.
“The minister at Whitehall does now,” Val informed her with a rueful smile. “Evidently it is necessary for the success of my assignment that I socialize, so we will be included at a number of parties. And after you send Maddie word that you are in London, we will be invited to even more, Elspeth,” he added.
His voice was strained and Elspeth saw he looked worried.
“Come, sit down, Val, and tell me exactly what Captain Grant sent you to do,” she said, patting the sofa.
“I suppose I can tell you,” he replied as he took the chair opposite her. She gave a little sigh and wondered when he would wish to be close to her again.
“But you cannot tell anyone,” he added.
“I am very capable of keeping a secret, Valentine, I assure you.”
“Of course you are. I apologize. I told you that someone was passing information to Massena this winter?”
“Yes, and that Mrs. Tallman was one of your confederates….”
“We had three suspects: George Trowbridge, Lucas Stanton, and James Lambert.”
“James!”
“My own reaction,” Val said sadly. “But it was indeed James who was the contact in Portugal. He was fed information from private government meetings by a minister’s secretary who fancied himself a revolutionary.”
“But James is no radical,” Elspeth protested. “What would be his motive?”
“The late marquess ran through most of the estate. James has managed to clear himself of debt, but there would have been very little left over for his sister’s Season.”
“Sell secrets to the enemy to fund Maddie’s come-out! I can’t believe it. She would have waited a year willingly.”
“He also needs to marry, Elspeth, and what father would give his daughter to someone on the edge of bankruptcy?”
“But I know James…. He is not the sort of man to do this,” she said, a bewildered look on her face.
“I certainly didn’t think so. But perhaps if he felt desperate enough…. And then, even if he had wanted to get out of it, he couldn’t. Lucas Stanton made sure of that.”
“Lucas Stanton…?”
“Was blackmailing James. He must have found out early on. So then James needed the money for himself and to keep Stanton quiet.”
“And you are here to arrest James?” Elspeth said quietly, the sympathy in her voice almost palpable.
“Not immediately. I am here to question young Devereaux and make sure he is telling the truth first.”
Elspeth’s face brightened. “Maybe he is lying? Could Lucas be paying him to lie?”
“I would love to think so, but there is that little matter of blackmail, my dear.”
“Did the letter Mrs. Tallman found name James?”
“No,” Val admitted.
“I have always disliked Lucas Stanton, from the moment I met him,” declared Elspeth.
“So have I, and I met him years before you, Elspeth,” said Val, amused by her vehemence.
“I forgot that you were at school with him. He was the reason you left, wasn’t he?” she said slowly, remembering. “Charlie said you beat him senseless. But you never said exactly why.”
“He…er…degraded a young boy, Elspeth. I couldn’t stand that such brutality was accepted.”
“Lucas Stanton is one of those men who likes other men? He was always after some woman in the camp,” replied Elspeth, a puzzled frown on her face.
“Lucas Stanton is one of those men who uses whoever is available to him, but I don’t think he is of an unnatural disposition.”
“He is an evil man,” Elspeth said flatly. “Whatever his disposition.”
“I believe so.”
“Then why could he not be the traitor? Perhaps he was blackmailing someone else.”
“I would have liked to believe that, Elspeth.”
“Then do. Don’t go into this convinced of James’s guilt.” Without thinking, she reached out and put her hand on his. It was the first time they had touched aside from their wedding kiss and Val could almost feel the hair on his hand and arm stir in response to her light touch. He moved his thumb caressingly along hers and wondered if she would pull away. Instead, he felt her hand relax under his touch. She was leaning toward him and, without letting go of her hand, he slipped off his chair and onto the sofa.
“Your wedding ring looks very lovely on your hand, Mrs. Aston,” he whispered.
“It is a beautiful ring, sir,” she answered breathlessly.
“It is a beautiful hand,” Val replied as he traced its structure with one finger. “Both finely shaped and strong.”
“I have always been strong,” sighed Elspeth.
“Surely that is not a bad thing to be?”
“Strength is not usually the first quality men look for in a woman,” she said lightly.
“And what is?” he asked gently.
“Why, you should know, being a man, sir. Beauty, of course.”
“Perhaps that is true for the everyday man. But a soldier needs a strong woman.”
Elspeth knew that she had no claim to beauty, but it would have been lovely had he lied, she thought wistfully. But then her heart lifted as he continued.
“This soldier is lucky to have found a woman with such beautiful hair.” His hand smoothed back a few wisps that had freed themselves and were shining in the afternoon sun. “And hazel eyes flecked with green….” He lifted her chin and gazed into them so intently that she lowered them in confusion.
“And freckled skin,” she added, trying to dispel the tension that was building between them.
“Yes, a fine dusting,” he agreed as he traced her cheek.
“So you are satisfied with your wife, sir,” she teased.
“Oh, very much, madame,” he replied as he lowered his face to hers and brushed her lips with his.
Her lips immediately parted, and he nibbled at her mouth with his. Elspeth gave a little moan and he pulled away. “Oh, don’t stop,” she whispered and pulled him down again.
This time their kiss was long and deep and when it ended, Val buried his face in her neck. “I want you, Elspeth,” he whispered against her ear. “But I used you so urgently that I would not wonder if you did not want me.”
“Oh, but I have, I do,” she answered.
His hand caressed her breast and she shivered. “But not here on the sofa,” she said with a mischievous little smile.
He slid his hand around her waist and kept it there, guiding her upstairs and into their bedchamber. When he had closed the door behind them, they stood there, looking at one another.
“It is still light out,” Elspeth told him.
“Let me close the curtains, then.” When Val had drawn them shut, he turned and there was Elspeth standing in the same spot.
“Have you changed your mind?”
“No,” she said slowly. “I just have never undressed in front of a man before.”
“Then let me help you.” Val stood behind her and, as he dropped kisses on her neck, slowly unpinned her. The dress slipped to the floor and Elspeth stepped out of it and turned to face him.
“I am a little chilly, Val,” she said nervously. “I’ll get under the covers while you undress.”
He knew it wasn’t the cold but her self-consciousness. He pulled opened the buttons of his tunic as he watched her slip into the bed. He was just unfastening his trousers when she giggled. “Your boots?”
It seemed to take forever to pull the damned boots off, but he finally succeeded and stood there in his small clothes, his back to her. He debated taking them off in bed. But they were husband and wife, and she would see him sooner or later, he told himself, and he stripped right then and there.
As he was turning around, she gasped and he flushed with embarrassment. Perhaps he should have waited.
“Your back, Val,” she said, her voice shaking.
He had completely forgotten about it. It had been dark the first time they had made love, so she wouldn’t have seen the scars, and it had been so hurried she’d hardly had a chance to feel them.
“Yes, well, no one serves in the army for twelve years and escapes flogging,” he said lightly. “That is, if you serve in the ranks,” he added ironically.
“I have only seen one flogging,” said Elspeth, “and that was enough. I know it may be a necessary discipline, but I could not watch another one.”
Val sat on the edge of the bed and Elspeth ran her fingers over the crisscrossed weals. “How long ago was this, Val?”
“Oh, early on. I had not gotten used to not being a free man, though you’d think I would have learned after George Burton,” he added ruefully.
“George Burton?”
“My aunt’s husband. The blacksmith I was apprenticed to. I haven’t led the life of an officer and a gentleman, Elspeth.”
“Was he a hard man, this George?”
“Some would say so. Some would say no more than most.”
“You told me your mother died when you were eight. Did you go directly to your aunt’s?”
“Where else was there to go?” he said matter-of-factly. Her fingers were still on his back, lightly tracing the scars as if she could make them go away. He could not turn and face her, not while he could feel her pity. It wasn’t pity he wanted.
“Your father’s?” she whispered.
He looked down at the ring hanging around his neck and, pulling away, slipped it off. “Until I was eight, I thought my father was a soldier killed in India,” he said bitterly.
Elspeth said nothing. What could she say? That she was sorry for that little boy who had lost mother and father at the same time, who’d been sent off to a harsh, perhaps cruel man? She had thought she’d understood his pride. She had even, God forgive her, thought him unduly sensitive to a situation that did not seem that important to her.
“I am sorry you were forced to marry me, Elspeth,” he said.
“I am not sorry at all,” she answered fiercely and sliding over to make room for him, she took his hand and pulled him down next to her.
After the first kiss, Val did not even care whether it was love or pity. He was lost in the moment, lost in the pleasure of suckling at her breast, lost in amazement when she slid her hand down and caressed him gently and rhythmically.
“Not yet,” he whispered as he gently moved her hand away.
“I hope that would give you pleasure,” she whispered.
“Oh, it does,” he groaned. “But too much, too soon. I wish to give you pleasure this time.”
When his hand found her, Elspeth realized she had been hiding all her life. From the moment she had known she was not beautiful or sweetly foolish, she had hidden her deepest self away. For why should she be there, eager and loving, when no one was there to meet her and see her for who she was? No one had ever been curious about what lay beneath the surface. No one had cared to find her until now. Until this man with his hard face and scarred soul and oh, so gentle fingers drove her up and up, seemingly away from him. But he would not let her hide. He came after her, he sought her longingly, and then she was coming down into his arms and she was free and home at last.
It was only when she clung to him, shuddering, that Val entered her. He couldn’t wait, for he knew she was there, ready to meet him. And as he poured himself into her, he marveled that Elspeth could make him forget everything in the past and only be with her in the present.
They lay collapsed in each other’s arms for a long time and Val dropped occasional kisses on her head, Finally they fell back against the pillows and Elspeth looked over at him and gave a soft laugh.
“What is so amusing, madame?” he asked.
She reached out her finger and traced his nose.
“You are making fun of my nose!” he said with mock indignation. “I’ll have you know it is considered quite—
“Wellingtonian,” she said with a little giggle.
“Surely not so prominent as that?”
“I wonder if our children will inherit it,” she said without thinking.
He sighed and she asked anxiously, “You do want children, don’t you, Valentine?”
“Yes, yes, I do. It is only that I never thought to be married…to be a father.”
He turned to her. “I suppose in my own way I am as bad as Will Tallman,” he admitted. “I didn’t believe a soldier should marry. Didn’t imagine I would ever find a woman who would be willing to follow the drum,” he said lightly.
“Well, you have found one,” she replied softly.
“It seems I have,” he answered, reaching for her hand and giving it a squeeze. “And you need not worry too much about the nose,” he teased. “It has been broken and is not quite as prominent as my father’s,” he added.
“Will you go see your father soon, Val?” she asked hesitantly, hating to disturb the easiness between them.
“I promised Charlie, Elspeth. I planned to visit Faringdon House tomorrow to see if he is still in town.”
“Do you wish me to come with you?”
“No, Elspeth. I thank you, but it is something I must do myself.” He leaned over and kissed her. “You are a good comrade, madame wife.”
Elspeth lay awake after he had fallen asleep. He had given her his body, this new husband of hers. He had helped her discover her own capacity for passion. But it seemed clear to her that for now, he came to her for pleasure and to hide himself in her. When would he let her love him? When would he let himself be found?