Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

"Thank heavens Rothley is otherwise engaged tonight." Aaron observed the men throwing their fortunes away at the tables. "Many refuse to play with him. I might ask Devon Masters to join a game and see if Rothley is hiding cards up his sleeve."

Theo wondered if Aaron's problem with Rothley had more to do with the marquess' interest in The Burnished Jade. "You're the only man in London who could accuse Rothley of cheating and live to tell the tale."

Theo prayed the marquess hadn't set his sights on Miss Scrumptious. Aaron could handle anything, except watching the woman he secretly admired being courted by another man.

"I'd take great pleasure in wiping the smug grin off his face."

"You should tell Miss Lovelace that Rothley is watching her property. You don't want him to catch her unawares."

Aaron cursed under his breath. "If he hurts her, he's a dead man. I don't care about his damn title." He paused, realising his outburst may have revealed too much. "I cannot abide men who target vulnerable women. The sooner Rothley gets bored with this club, the better."

An argument erupted at the hazard table.

After a few cross words from Aaron, the game resumed peacefully.

"Thank you for letting Eleanor stay," Theo said. They agreed that until they determined how the Franklins were involved, it was safer for Eleanor to stay at Fortune's Den. "I'm sure this dreadful business will be over soon, and we can return to normality."

Aaron held Theo's gaze, a questioning look in his dark eyes. "We don't keep secrets, not from each other. You know I despise being kept in the dark."

Theo should have called him a hypocrite. Aaron was never honest about his own feelings. "I have kept you informed every step of the way."

"I'm not referring to the case, but your feelings for Miss Darrow." Aaron gave a humourless chuckle. "Daventry possesses an otherworldly skill. He knows exactly what a man needs in a woman. He found your ideal mate."

Eleanor was more than his ideal mate.

She completed him.

"Daventry had no part to play in my relationship with Eleanor." Daventry had not encouraged him to steal her sewing box. He had not persuaded them to kiss, make love, or forge an unbreakable bond.

Aaron frowned. "No, he's subtle and manipulates events from behind the scenes. I'll be damned if I know why."

"Perhaps he understands the value of emotional connections. Daventry had a difficult upbringing. Meeting his wife changed his life. He's an example to us all. "

Aaron fell silent.

Theo's thoughts turned to Eleanor, sleeping upstairs in his bed. And how he had no choice but to hurt the man he loved most in this world. How he would fail the person he admired and respected above all others.

He pinched the bridge of his nose to stem a swell of emotion. "I'm in love with Eleanor," he said, feeling a dreadful guilt for being happy. "She's everything I could want in a woman—kind, compassionate, intelligent." Beautiful inside and out. "She understands me like no one else."

Aaron kept his gaze on the gameplay. "Does Miss Darrow know how you feel about her? Might your regret over stealing her box account for these temporary feelings?"

"My feelings are not temporary," he said with unwavering conviction. Being with her felt like coming home.

"Are they reciprocated?"

His mind flashed to their interlude in the carriage. She'd missed him. She touched him at every opportunity, made love to him like he was the most desirable man alive. "I can only hope I have not misread the signs. If I'm wrong, I shall be inconsolable."

"Who wouldn't love a man with your kind heart?" Aaron faced him. Shadows of loneliness flickered in his eyes, but he smiled. "Go to her. Tell her how you feel. I can deal with things here. Sigmund will help me throw this rabble out."

Theo's chest tightened. Not because he was afraid to confess his love but because he sensed a gulf opening between him and his brother. They had walked the same path their entire lives. Now, the path had diverged.

"I'll stay until the last patron leaves."

"I'm fine on my own."

If only that were true .

Sensing Theo's discomfort, Aaron gripped his shoulder with brotherly affection. "You don't need to concern yourself with me. I'm renowned for being robust. Follow your heart. It has served your siblings well. You deserve the best life has to offer."

He swallowed past the thump in his throat. "There's no one I admire more than you. I want you to know that I love you, as a brother, as a friend."

Perhaps the smoke from the candles or the patrons' cheroots had made Aaron's eyes water. "I trust my actions always convey my feelings. All I have ever wanted is for you to be happy." There was a sudden shift in Aaron's mood, and he slapped Theo playfully on the back. "Go now. You know where to find me if you need me."

Aaron crossed the room under the guise of speaking to the croupier.

With a heavy heart, Theo mounted the stairs to his chamber.

Perhaps Daventry had a plan for Aaron. The agent was the only person skilled enough to topple Aaron's barricades. The road to love would be rocky. Too arduous for most women. He might help by making Miss Lovelace see Aaron was almost everything she would want in a husband—strong, honest, fiercely loyal. If only he could love her with the same fervency.

Theo forgot Aaron's plight the second he walked into the softly lit chamber and found Eleanor in her shift, brushing her hair before the freestanding mirror.

"I thought you'd be asleep." He crossed the room and stood behind her, threading his arms around her waist. Happy just to hold her. "We have a busy day tomorrow. Hopefully, everything will go according to plan. "

She leaned back against his chest and gazed at him through the looking glass. "Deception is a complex game. What if I can't convince both ladies to meet in Hyde Park?"

"We'll think of another way to discover the truth."

"What other way is there but kidnapping and torture?"

He laughed. "I imagine you're ruthless when the mood takes you." He moved his hands to her shoulders, gently kneading her tight muscles. "Bed for you, Miss Darrow. You've had a long day."

A soft hum left her lips. She tilted her head, her body swaying to the rhythm of his fingers. "That feels so good." All moral intentions left him when her mouth parted, and she whispered, "Don't stop, Theo. You have such magical hands."

He watched their dancing reflection in the glass. As he stroked her temple with his cheek, their eyes met in a shared moment of intimacy.

She wanted him. He was in no doubt.

Rather than take liberties, he said the gentlemanly thing.

"You need sleep."

Except he didn't want her to sleep. He wanted her writhing beneath him, gripping his buttocks and urging him to thrust deeper.

"I've not seen you for hours. Let's stay up a little longer."

Mesmerised, his gaze dipped to her pert nipples pressing against the lightweight linen. "I can stay up for as long as you like."

She heard the implicit meaning and smiled. "Scoundrel."

"Is that not why you love me?"

She froze, her eyes growing wide like a startled doe.

Had he made a mistake ?

Had he misread the signs?

Fearful of rejection, any man would have laughed and played the teasing card, pretending it was said in jest. But he was the King of Hearts, not the King of Liars.

"I'm in love with you, Eleanor." He turned her to face him, wanting to gaze into her eyes when he declared his feelings, not look at a distorted version through the glass. "I love you."

She swallowed hard, her chin trembling. "How do you know?"

He brushed her hair from her brow and pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead. Anything to delay the agony that came with misjudging a situation. Now he knew why Aaron avoided intimacy.

"How do you know it's more than lust?" she added.

"Because I don't need to make love tonight. I care that we're together. I can talk openly about anything, and you'll listen like I'm the most interesting man in the world."

"You are the most interesting man in the world."

He touched her again because he couldn't help himself. "You bring light to every dark moment. Joy when I should feel sadness. I respect how hard you work. Admire your capacity for forgiveness."

"Well, you have certainly given it much consideration."

He waited for the "but"… It never came.

She rose on her tiptoes and kissed him tenderly, the touch of her lips a gift from heaven. "You're my love, my life. I only hesitated because Delphine said men often confuse lust with deeper emotions."

"I know how I feel about you." His arms were around her now, holding her tight. "As I told Aaron, nothing about this is temporary. It's the stuff of dreams and lifelong promises. I never thought I would leave Fortune's Den, but I would leave for you, Eleanor."

"Leave Aaron?" She blinked rapidly. "What will he do here alone? How will he cope when he closes the doors at night?"

"Trust you to think of others." In truth, he didn't know how Aaron would fare. "I hope it will be the impetus he needs to confront the past." He had to believe Aaron would benefit from a time of reflection.

"We must help him," she said. "In any way we can."

He drew her hand to his lips and rained kisses over her palm. "That's why I love you. You're my match in every way."

A coy smile touched her lips. "There's one way we differ."

"Oh?"

She stepped out of his embrace to gather the hem of her shift and draw it over her head. "I really would like to make love tonight, Theo."

The sight of her full breasts made him tremble. "We both know I'd struggle to keep my hands off you. Prepare to be ravished beyond all reason."

"Is that a promise?"

"Damn right it is." He was out of his coat and had thrown it on the floor when she ran from him like a lithe little sprite. It wasn't a question of whether he could catch her but how long he wanted to play this game.

Indeed, he could spend his life watching her bottom shake as she tried to evade him. Where did he want her? That was the question.

He didn't want to take her against the wall or bend her over the bed. He wanted to watch Eleanor as she came, to see pleasure dance in her eyes like sunlight on emerald waters. He wanted to take his time and relish every thrust. He wanted her beneath him in bed.

"Come here, you rapscallion." He caught her and hauled her over his shoulder—though she did not put up a fight—and delighted in gently biting her bottom.

"You devil."

He dropped her onto the bed, though seeing her fiery red hair splayed over his coverlet, her breasts heaving as if begging for his mouth, well, it left him rampant.

While she giggled, he tore off his clothes as if the damn things scorched his skin. "Open your legs. Let me see that glistening jewel."

She panted upon seeing his raging erection. "I thought you didn't need to make love tonight."

"I'm happy to admit I was wrong." She squealed when he grabbed her foot and drew each dainty little toe into his mouth. "I mean to brand every inch of you tonight."

Her breath came short and fast as he kissed his way up her milky-white thigh. A lengthy moan escaped her when he buried his face between her legs and licked her like there was no tomorrow.

"Oh, Oh, Theo … don't … yes."

The brazen woman he would marry bucked against his mouth, shuddering on a keen cry.

He climbed on top of her, his erection an angry-looking thing in need of her love and attention. "Touch me."

She did his bidding without question, her tentative fingers stroking him back and forth until he thought he might go mad.

"I need you now, Theo."

He liked the thought of having her in his bed .

He liked the thought of owning her body, even though her mind would always be her own.

He eased into her, his eyes rolling in his head. She was so sweet, so tight, so wet. "You hug me like a glove. I could bury myself inside you and never leave."

She wrapped her legs around him, taking him deeper. "I love you."

He wasn't prepared for the power of those words. They hit him in his chest, in a distant place he'd not known existed. "I love you."

He angled his hips, quickening the pace, sinking into her as the feeling overcame him again—the need for this soul-deep connection to last a lifetime. He wanted more than her friendship, more than her love. He wanted marriage. He wanted everything this woman had to give.