Page 78 of Claiming his Cursed Duchess
“Oh yes, Duchess? I do not doubt that if youcouldmake investments of your own, you would run rings around the rest of us.”
Rosaline scoffed. “When my uncle returned from the army, he made several imprudent and foolhardy decisions. I remember my aunt arguing with him a great deal about the money he lost at the time. I think he was quite a gambler. My aunt controlled the purse strings from that moment on.”
Adam’s ears pricked up at that knowledge and jumped at the chance to ask her more about it.
“Yourauntcontrolled the money?”
“Well, she certainly had a strongbox fashioned that housed any ready cash to prevent my uncle from getting a hold of it. She used to keep the key around her neck,” she said with a derisive laugh.
A strongbox where the two of them might keep important things they do not wish for others to find.
Adam felt a rush of excitement that he might have discovered the key to where Henry’s letter was hidden.
A wave of affection for his wife washed over him for furnishing him with such a gift.
Rosaline gasped as he used his body to push her against the edge of the balcony. The other couple had left them, and they were blissfully alone for a few private moments.
“You are full of surprises, my duchess,” he said with a rumbling growl, feeling the tight curves of her body beneath his fingers and wishing they were truly alone.
“You are going to start tongues wagging, Your Grace,” Rosaline stated somewhat breathlessly.
Adam boldly lowered his lips to her throat, letting his tongue discreetly run along the line of it as she shuddered beneath him.
“I am not worried about any other tongues but my own,” he murmured, and Rosaline clutched at his arm tightly as he drew back. “I believe I shall take you home, Duchess. I do not wish to be in public a moment longer.”
With that, he pulled her through the doors of the ballroom as they discreetly made their way to their carriage.
The ride home was an interminable torment, her beautiful gaze fixed on him throughout the journey, his desperation mounting as he imagined peeling her out of her exquisite gown and having her beneath him again.
As they alighted at their home, Adam could hardly contain his desire, but for the sake of propriety composed himself as the butler greeted them at the door.
“Silas is waiting for you in your study, Your Grace,” the butler said quietly, as Adam dispensed with his hat and gloves.
With a groan, he turned to Rosaline. She did not help matters by smiling at him coyly and heading up the stairs to her room.
Mustering all his self-control, he dragged himself away from her alluring form, and stalked through the house to the study.
He burst through the door, startling Silas, who stood before his desk looking rather nervous.
“Have you recovered it?” Adam asked eagerly.
“No, Your Grace,” came Silas’s rough tones. “He has it kept under lock and key, I’d wager. Men like him are good at hiding what they don’t want no one to find.”
Adam walked to his desk, fingers clenching and unclenching at his side.
“Damn,” he muttered. “But it is no matter. We still must recover it, but I have some more information that I have learned. There is a strongbox, somewhere in the Claridge house, presumably in Claridge’s study. His wife has the key. If we can find a way to get it from her…”
Adam picked up an invitation from the surface of his desk, smiling to himself as he recalled the other note Claridge had sent him.
“We may be in luck at any rate. They are holding a soirée in a few days’ time which the duchess and I will attend. The house will be filled with guests and Claridge occupied. Gaining access will not be difficult.”
Adam scratched at his jaw.
“The only obstacle is the key. We will need to find a way to get hold of it.”
Silas’s smug expression gave Adam pause. “I don’t need no key, Your Grace,” he said confidently. “Not many locks get past me.”
Adam blinked at him, rather shocked to discover who he had on his employ, but grateful for it, nonetheless.
