When Adrian’s laboratorydoor clicked open, he glanced up in a panic, only to relax when he saw it was just Clinton. He glanced at his pocket watch and found that it was nearly midnight. He’d been hiding up here from Vanessa ever since he woke up, but perhaps she’d gone to bed by now.
Clinton gave a long-suffering sigh as he came to stand in front of Adrian’s worktable. “If you don’t mind me saying, sir...”
“Would it matter if I did mind?” Adrian asked grimly, sensing yet another lecture.
During the last few days since his wedding, it seemed everyone he knew had decided to give him their views on the way he was handling his marriage. Even though Vanessa had been the one to blackmail him into this whole thing, everyone seemed to think he was the villain.
“Probably not.” Clinton gave a gruff laugh. “It’s just that your lovely little wife has been looking for you all day, and I’m running out of excuses. She’ll find this place eventually, you know.”
“Yes, I know,” Adrian admitted, shoving his work aside. He hadn’t been able to concentrate worth a damn all day anyway. “She’s nothing if not persistent.”
Clinton took a seat and propped his boots up on the table. “So is this how you plan to go on? Hiding up here from the lass?”
Adrian glared at his old friend, wondering if there was anyone Vanessa couldn’t charm. Clinton wasn’t known for caving to a beautiful face but he’d never acted so informally around Adrian before, even though he’d encouraged him to do so. “I’m not hiding.”
“No?” Clinton withdrew a cigar from inside his vest pocket and took his time lighting it. “All I know is, if I had a woman looked like that waiting for me in bed, I sure as hell wouldn’t be sitting up here brooding.”
“It’s complicated,” Adrian snapped, but he was beginning to wonder if it really was.
Vanessa, soft and sleep-warmed, all that sweet passion and beauty, mine for the taking. All he had to do was go down there and have her. She wouldn’t deny him, and he no longer knew exactly why he was denying himself. She’d struck this bargain knowing full well what her role in it would be, and what’s more, she didn’t even seem to mind.
Clinton inhaled deeply, then blew the smoke out in rings, a trick Adrian had never been able to master. “Lad, I’ve been with you for a long time. You took me in when no one else would, so I know a little about what it means to be alone. I’ve watched you shut yourself off from the world for so long, and I always hoped you’d find someone who cared enough to break down those walls you’ve been building. So now that you’ve found that someone, I just don’t want to see you ruin it.”
Adrian stared at Clinton, surprised by both the familiar way he’d addressed him and his words. Though they had indeed been together a long time, Clinton had never before offered advice. Of course, Clinton had no idea how Vanessa had blackmailed him, but maybe he should listen to the old man and quit overthinking it so much.
“Perhaps you’re right,” Adrian murmured, getting to his feet. “She is my wife, after all.”
“Indeed.” Clinton puffed contentedly as Adrian left the room and made his way through the silent house to the set of rooms he shared with his bride.
He went to his room first, to freshen up, hurriedly shaving and brushing his teeth, trying not to look too closely at his scarred face in the mirror. Then he knocked softly on the connecting door before he could change his mind.
“Come in,” Vanessa called, a note of nervousness in her voice. He took a deep breath and opened the door.
His wife sat in bed, reading, her lovely dark hair spread luxuriantly across the white comforter tucked beneath her chin. She smiled at him hesitantly, placing the book carefully upon the nightstand as he entered. It was the same book she’d read to him that night in her flat. Not that he’d heard a word of the story then. He’d been lost in a haze of sexual bliss he longed to repeat.
“I’m so glad to see you,” she told him warmly. “I’ve been worried about you.”
“Have you?” he asked pensively, making his way to the wine decanter and pouring them both a drink. “I told you not to worry,” he reminded her as she took the long-stemmed glass from his hand.
“Did you do... what you said you were going to do?” She drank deeply, unable to meet his gaze, obviously trying to fortify herself for his answer.
“I didn’t kill him, if that’s what you mean.” He sat down in one of the chairs in front of the fireplace, staring at her moodily, wondering why she cared. Did she still have feelings for the bastard? He shook his head as though to clear it, immediately ashamed of himself for such a thought. Of course, she didn’t. She’d been a victim of Roger’s just as Bridget had been. “I did find Bridget though. He was keeping her where he’d kept you. She’s with Fiona now.”
With a relieved sigh, she shoved the covers aside and slid out of bed. She wore nothing but a filmy red peignoir, but she didn’t bother with the robe draped across the foot of the bed. Instead, she knelt in front of him, grasping his hands and staring into his face, her heart in her eyes.
She’s an actress. I can’t trust her.
“I couldn’t have borne it if something had happened to you because of me,” she whispered. “I didn’t sleep at all last night, worrying about you, regretting the way all of this came about. Please, Adrian. Can you please give me a chance to make things right between us?”
He wanted to believe she was telling the truth, but the thought of putting his trust in her again terrified him. He forced himself to harden his heart. “We had a deal, Vanessa. I’m here to collect what you owe me. Nothing more.”
She flinched as though he’d slapped her, letting go of his hands. Her lovely eyes welled with tears, but she nodded. “All right, if that’s what you want, you know I won’t deny you. I just want you to remember that there could be so much more.”
Leaning forward, he cupped her breasts through the silky fabric, rubbing his thumbs across her nipples, which immediately swelled and hardened. “This is enough,” he lied, as a part of his anatomy swelled and hardened as well. “This is all I want from you, wife.”
Holding her tearful gaze, he continued to play with her nipples, thrilling to the way she responded to him. Her body couldn’t lie, even when her lovely little mouth did. For some reason, she did desire him, and perhaps that could be enough. It had to be enough.
“Stand up and take off your gown,” he instructed her roughly, desperate to see what this devil’s bargain had bought him.
