Page 102 of Under the Earl's Wicked Spell

“That would be a first.” Rafe reached for her as Victoria came around the table, heading towards the door. “Enjoy yourself. And be careful.”

Victoria gave him a smile, and she linked fingers with him.

“Everything is going to be fine, Rafe. We’ll find whoever hired Asante. And then we can put this to rest.”

“I hope so.” Rafe kissed her fingers. “I really hope so.”

Something flickered behind Victoria’s eyes, and then she leaned over and kissed his cheek. She pulled away before Rafe could react, heading towards the door. Rafe watched her go, wishing he could ask her to stay. He wanted to do nothing more than lie in bed and hold her, just for a while. That was enough to calm him.

Then again, there was something that could calm him, but after the knock to the head from falling off Paco and the news from the night before, Rafe wasn’t really in a fit state to do anything more than lie there. While getting Victoria naked and under him would be a dream come true, his current health wasn’t going to let him do what he desired any good. Victoria deserved him when he had his complete faculties.

And he would wait for her to say yes. Rafe wasn’t going to force that on her; that was not fair. Even if the waiting didn’t feel very fair to him, he wanted her. But it was on Victoria’s terms.

He could only hope that he was getting through to her. There had been instances where they had been intimate, and Rafe cherished those moments. He just wished that there was more. After all, they were husband and wife now.

Weren’t people meant to be intimate with those they loved? Rafe felt like a failure on that part.

You said it would be when she was ready. Don’t push it, or you’ll lose her completely.

Finishing his breakfast, Rafe stood up and stretched. Charlie must still be asleep. They had gotten back very late after questioning Asante for quite a while. He had told them quite a bit, and not a lot at the same time. Rafe hadn’t thought that was possible. All they knew now was the man who had hired Asante was a gentleman, who didn’t show his face, but he was wealthy enough to offer the amount Asante told them.

Someone at the hunt that day? The man who killed Richard? Or was it someone who wanted Rafe to suffer for what he had done? If there were no witnesses who could say otherwise, Rafe would still be under the impression that he killed his friend.

The last part didn’t really make sense. But what else could it be? The former thought was just scary, knowing that the real murderer was around and trying to stop the truth from coming out.

It had been six years. It should be time that the truth came out.

Rafe’s head was really hurting, and he was exhausted. He had only woken up to see his wife for a little bit. Now he was going to go back to bed and sleep until his head didn’t hurt anymore. That sounded like a good idea.

There was a knock at the front door. A moment later, the door opened, and Rafe could hear voices. Who was visiting them at this hour? He didn’t remember anyone calling ahead to say they wanted to visit.

Curious, Rafe went into the foyer. Hayward was there, one of the footmen taking his hat and cane. Rafe stopped. What was he doing here?

“Hayward?”

The other man turned, straightening up when he saw Rafe. Then he cleared his throat and bowed slightly.

“Lord Blackmore.”

“If you’re here to see Victoria, I can have her sent for….”

“I actually wanted to see you.” Hayward glanced around. “It’s best that Victoria doesn’t know that I’ve been here.”

Rafe frowned.

“You don’t? I thought you two were relatively close.”

“Well, it’s about your…well, the situation.”

Rafe wanted to tell the other man to leave. He believed that Rafe had killed Richard, after all. But he had to admit that his curiosity was winning out. Beckoning Hayward to follow him, Rafe went into the morning room, closing the door behind them as Hayward moved into the room. His guest looked around.

“This place doesn’t seem to have changed much since I was last here. It’s almost like time has stopped.”

“I haven’t really had time to change things.” Rafe folded his arms, keeping himself near the door. He still didn’t trust the man. “Why are you here, Hayward? Considering what you believe, I’m not really comfortable having you here.”

“Yet you still allowed me to stay.”

“Mostly because I’m curious to see what you have to say.” Rafe’s head was pounding. “I’m not in the best physical state right now, so I would rather we were left alone, but you are Victoria’s cousin. I want to be as hospitable as I can, within reason.”

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