Page 28 of Trapped with the Earl of Sin

As he glanced down at Susanna, all he wanted to do was protect her from the mess that he had brought her into. He was the one who thought that now was the perfect time for the investigation, and clearly he was wrong.

He would not allow anything to happen to Susanna because of his silly choices.

CHAPTER NINE

This is a nightmare!

Susanna did not know that it was possible to be so afraid. She had never been so shaky in her whole life. This wasnotsupposed to happen. She was not supposed to get caught investigating Edwin. The idea that everything was about to fall apart right in front of her very eyes was absolutely terrifying. She did not know what she should do.

Thank goodness Martin was in the closet with her.

She clung to him far harder than she would have if they were in public. She needed him, needed his comfort to survive this. Every single sound of Edwin moving about his bedchambers made her so anxious that she could hardly catch her breath. And then she was far too scared to breathe because she did not wish to get caught.

Thank goodness the gun was in Martin’s hand right now. At least Susanna was safe in the knowledge that Edwin could not get hold of it. Unless he swung the door of the closet open and everything got crazy. That was an outcome that Susanna did not even want to think about.

Susanna caught Martin staring down at her with concern plastered across his face. He seemed far more worried about her than Edwin, which Susanna found terribly confusing. How could he not be as petrified as her that everything was about to come crashing down around them?

Suddenly they heard a sound right outside the closet door, which made Susanna jump. It took every ounce of willpower she had not to let out a sound. Her heart was absolutely hammering against her rib cage, she could hardly hear a thing aside from the racing of her pulse and her ragged breaths.

It took her calming down a little to realize that she had practically leapt into Martin’s arms. That might have been embarrassing were she not more afraid of the man outside.

Martin simply held her, and Susanna had to admit that the sensation of his arms around her was comforting. He was warm and clearly very strong. There was a lovely unexpected sensation of joy creeping through her veins. Perhaps this was the knowledge that all of this was wrong, and not what she should be doing at all.

“Ah! Here it is. Edwin, you need to be more careful with your stuff!” he continued to talk to himself outside the closet, but itseemed like his words were more positive now. “You do not want to keep losing things. Your important things. You need all of this, remember?”

It also helped that the footsteps seemed to move away from the closet. It seemed that Edwin was not about to open the door to reveal them any time soon.

Relief absolutely flooded Susanna as the door to the bedchambers opened once more, and it sounded like the footsteps were leaving the room before the door clicked shut and silence followed.

Much as it seemed like they were safe now, Susanna was still far too afraid to move. She was scared to leave the closet in case this was a test and Edwin was waiting for them. It seemed like Martin felt the same way because he did not move either. He continued to hold on to her until the silence had filled the room for quite some time. During that time, Susanna had grown comfortable in his arms.

But then he pulled back just a little, not that there was much room to edge away from her, and he placed the gun back down.

What on earth were they going to do with that gun? How were they going to make Mary and Luke understand how troubling all of this was? They could not move it from the room, not when Edwin was already talking to himself about losing things.

They could not do anything that would alert Edwin to what they were doing.

Especially after her strange moment with him as they were horse riding.

But what were they going to do?

Susanna parted her lips, about to ask all of these questions, but there was something in Martin’s eyes that stopped her. It was a look she had seen a couple of times before, every time she got far too close to this man, but there was something about this time that stopped her in her tracks.

In the enclosed space of the closet, it almost felt like anything could happen. Like this was a separate space from the rest of the world where normal rules did not apply. She was supposed to keep away from this man for so many reasons, her brain knew that, but her body yearned for him. She could not seem to help herself.

Before Susanna even knew what she was doing, she found herself edging a little closer to him. They had not yet exchanged any words, and that made it even better. Without speaking about it, they did not need to let rational thought get in their way. It was not like she needed to ask Martin if he was caught up in this heady lust himself. She could see the flames dancing in his gaze. He did not seem to be the best at keeping his emotions hidden.

Susanna had to admit, she liked that about him.

She enjoyed the clarity she felt around him. Most gentlemen did everything that they could to disguise their emotions, leaving the ladies in their lives constantly confused and guessing until theirintentions were made clear by asking for courtship. But Martin was not like that.

Truth be told, he was not like any man she had ever met before.

A passionate shudder tore down her spine as he reached out and gently cupped her cheek. The way he seemed to ignite flames in her skin with the mere touch of his hand was utterly intoxicating. She could not help but drown in a deep, intoxicating desire.

Susanna desperately hoped that nothing would get in the way and ruin this moment before it could really become something this time. This was almost like an experiment that she could not wait to partake in.

Was she crazy?

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