Page 30 of The Hero

Her gaze became knowing. “Talk, or talk?”

“The former,” Gideon bit out. Not that he was averse to making love to Harry again. In fact, he craved it, and his cock pulsed with that same clamoring need. But he believed he and Harry needed to discuss what had happened between them today more than they needed to immediately repeat the heady experience.

Gideon couldn’t remember ever being as aroused in his life before as he had been when he touched Harry’s silky flesh and tasted her on his tongue.

As he had known from the moment he met her, Harry was unique and special. To a degree Gideon couldn’t seem to stop thinking about her for longer than a few seconds at a time.

Lying beside her in her bed, the two of them giving each other pleasure, had been the singular most intimate experience of his life. To be that close to her. To hold her. To fall asleep with her in his arms but wake with that same knowledge of intimacy. It had been life changing.

He believed—no, he knew—he was falling deeply in love with her.

Was perhaps already in love with her?

If so, that knowledge meant, now more than ever, that he needed to settle the problem of her father or brother’s possible involvement in Plymouth’s death. Until he had done so, he couldn’t, in all conscience, even hope to voice his feelings for Harry.

She was aware of my reason for being here earlier today and still the two of us shared intimacies I know with certainty Harry never shared with any other man.

Yes, perhaps.

But Gideon would still prefer to solve the mystery before telling Harry of the depth of his feelings for her.

To that end, he kissed her lingeringly on the lips before straightening. “I must go and be ‘found,’ as you say, and you must visit your father. We will talk again after dinner,” he promised before releasing her to pick up the rest of his clothes and quickly make his way to his own bedchamber.

Half an hour later, his appearance once again as sartorial as it usually was, the last person he wished to “find” him was that young peacock, Robert Granger, the usurper to the Plymouth title, along with several of his friends, which included Harry’s brother.

Granger was still one of the people suspected of paying someone to assassinate his cousin, despite having announced previously that he was carrying out his own investigation.

“We missed you at the shoot this morning,” the younger man greeted him jovially.

“I am sure you had plenty of others to keep you amused,” Gideon dismissed.

One of Granger’s brows rose. “And did you find something to amuse you this morning?”

Gideon’s eyes narrowed. “I find I am usually less bored in my own company than when in others’.”

“Indeed?”

Gideon glanced at the other young gentlemen. Henlow, in particular, gave him a searching glance. As if he might see evidence on Gideon’s face of his having spent the morning making love with his sister.

His gaze returned to Granger. “If I might have a word in private…?” Perhaps, if Granger was serious in his investigation, he had managed to learn something Gideon hadn’t.

Such as Dunhill’s indisputable innocence.

If so, it would be one step closer to Gideon successfully claiming Harry as his own.

“Of course,” Granger accepted smoothly. “If you will excuse us, gentlemen.” He didn’t wait for the permission of his friends but instead strode down the hallway to what turned out to be the Whitings’ library. “What ludicrous bee do you have in your bonnet now?” he demanded as soon as Gideon had closed and locked the door behind them.

“When we all talked in London a few weeks ago, you omitted to inform us that Henlow is one of your closest friends.” He went straight to the point of his continued issue with Robert Granger’s claim of innocence in his cousin’s murder. “That his whole family are more than casual acquaintances.” To a degree this man called Harry by the affectionate name of Monkey.

Something which rankled with Gideon more than it ought. Harry had a life and friends before the two of them met, and he was glad of it. But he would not tolerate such liberties being taken when Harry was his…

When she was his what?

They had yet to establish what they would be to each other after this weekend. Which was why Gideon needed this business settled as soon as possible.

“Eddie? What does he have to do with anything?”

“He was present at the battle the day Plymouth was killed. I have since learned that he drinks too much and has gambling debts—”

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