Page 69 of Black Widow

The air around them grew thick with tension. Disbelieving, she stared at him, wondering how he could be so obtuse. But he was in earnest—so much so that the cords on his neck stoodout.

“It waspoisoned.”

She threw up her hands. “Damn it, Gideon, you can’t bury your head in the sand and pretend the giant hasn’treturned.”

He put his hands on his hips and walked in a circle, then turned and stared ather.

She waited for him to acknowledge reality. It was suddenly painful to breathe. Was he about to assert his prerogative as her lord and master and dismiss hertruth?

Amelia didn’t know what she would do if thathappened.

Gideon’s eyes flicked to her waist. Without a word, he opened his arms. Relieved, she flew into them andwaited.

“We’re still leaving,” he muttered into her hair. “The air in town is not good for you, and I have put off attending to my estates long enough. But we’ll travel with a few more outriders than I originallyplanned.”

He led her out of the stable and hailed Adolfo, who was watching the men readying thecarriage.

“Yes, mylord?”

Gideon leaned toward him. “Adolfo, I’m going to write a quick note to Inspector Hayes. I’d like you to deliver it. Keep the horse’s body long enough for him to seeit.”

“Yes, my lord. I take it you want me to deliver it after you haveleft?”

He nodded. “We won’t be delaying our departure. Find me in my library in fiveminutes.”

He turned to Amelia. “Come, my love. Our departure from London is longoverdue.”

Chapter 26

“Amelia, love, where areyou?”

Gideon stepped around a stack of books, trying to find his wife. She’d been locked in Tarryhall’s immense library since breakfast and was now officially ten minutes late forlunch.

Despite his initial plan to visit all his estates as part of their bridal tour, they hadn’t stirred past Derbyshire for the past threeweeks.

Once they’d arrived, he had taken a good look at the estate and decided to stay longer. Despite the size of the holding, and the neglect it had suffered after changing hands so many times, the house itself and surrounding pleasure gardens were sound and imminently defendable—almost afortress.

If the giant was coming for them, it would have a hell of a time getting to themhere.

Fortunately, they had sent most of Amelia’s extra staff to Tarryhall. As it happened his estate manager had a few positions to fill, posts his predecessors had left vacant far too long. Grateful for the help, the rest of the staff absorbed the foreign-born servants with surprising open-mindedness.

But there were still superfluous footmen he could now employ as guards for the house and grounds. He also quietly assigned four guards to watch over Amelia whenever she left the house to pay calls or visit his tenants. Since they were all members of her former staff, she hadn’t quibbled about his overprotectiveness—not once he hinted he’d been at a loss to find other occupations for them. Rather than see any of her people dismissed, she’d accepted the guards with nocomplaint.

There had been no further disturbances of the kind he experienced in London, but he wasn’t willing to risk his wife—or the child he believed she wascarrying.

He found Amelia curled up on a couch in a corner of the library surrounded by leather-bound volumes. She’d insisted on bringing her complete collection of occult books to Derbyshire and had taken over the library for herresearch.

Amelia had even added a few texts related to the supernatural from Tarryhall’s own shelves. Apparently, one or more of his predecessors had been an enthusiast of theoccult.

Gideon knelt and tried to shake her awake, but she was fast asleep. He stroked her cheek, deciding to give her moretime.

Amelia continued to ascribe her fatigue and occasional bouts of illnesses to the long journey and his country cook’s preference for heavy local dishes. Privately, he found her sweet ignorance endearing, but it also made him a little sad that nothing in her upbringing had prepared her to consider pregnancy as acause.

Selfishly, Gideon hadn’t been sorry she was carrying his child. When she first showed signs of illness, he’d been concerned she was being poisoned. Then it dawned on him she was only sick in the morning. He’d welcomed the idea of a baby with relief. But the more he thought about it, the more concerned hebecame.

Amelia was so small and he was a big man. It stood to reason his babe would be large. Childbirth might be difficult forher.

At least those strange occurrences have stopped plaguing her.The voices and strange visions, and the horse’s death—those had been directed at him. It was difficult for him to accept, but Amelia had been correct about the supernatural aspect to the harassment. No wonder she had believed she was goingmad.

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