Page 34 of The Right to Remain Single

“I don’t know what you’re up to, Furbelow, but I suggest you leave while you’re still in one piece.”

Furbelow took the stairs two at a time. “And I suggest that you take your pleasure with darling Thomasina while you can.”

Max roared and hurled his spear. Once again, it passed harmlessly through Furbelow, and the ghost vanished. Furbelow went down the corridor to his bedchamber, laughing all the way.

“By God, he’s revolting,” James said.

“Don’t take no notice of him, sir,” Joey said gruffly. “You’re a godsend, sir, that’s what you are. You’ll take good care of Miss Tommie. We all know that.”

If only Thomasina could be convinced of the same.

Max appeared again, so transparent as to be almost invisible, and pointed up. “I do not lie,” he croaked. “Go see!”

“What’s the ghost saying, sir?” Joey asked.

“That I must go up to the tower.” James wanted to search for the rope, but the ghost was dithering with urgency. “Nip outdoors and see if there’s a rope in the shrubbery or lying about elsewhere close by. If you’re quick, there may be fresh footprints to guide you.”

“You think Mr. Furbelow pulled the stone down?” Joey’s eyes gleamed with excitement.

“I’m sure of it.” James lit a candle from the lantern. “The snow’s getting thicker. I don’t want you out in that storm for more than a couple of minutes. If you don’t find anything immediately, come inside, bar the door, and keep watch on the landing till I return.”

At the top of the tower stairs, James removed the key from its nail, and then found that the door was unlocked. He continued up the narrow staircase to the battlements.

Max the ghost drifted up through the floor, his spear dangling limply from his fist. Sure enough, footprints led to the edge of the parapet. In a very short time, they would have been obliterated by the falling snow. James glanced around the parapet but saw no gap from a missing stone. “Damn. What in Hades is Furbelow trying to prove?”

“I said there was danger, and you didn’t believe me,” Max moaned. “I do not have the strength to protect the maiden. I will never be worthy!”

“I believed you,” James said. “I will do my utmost to protect Miss Thomasina. In the meantime, go keep watch over her until I return.”

The ghost sank through the floor again, and soberly, James returned to the Great Hall just as Joey came in, stomping the snow off his shoes. “Sorry, sir. I didn’t find nowt. Footprints went partway round the house, but there weren’t no rope lying about.”

“It’s no matter,” James said. He had enough proof to go to Mr. Warren.

“But I thought of something unusual, sir, like you told me and Mick. Mr. Furbelow, he carried a bag upstairs by himself just before dinner. Heavy by the look of it, too. I offered to take it, but he wouldn’t let me. Called me a lazy bastard for not carrying it up in the first place. But it weren’t with his other bags, sir, when I took them up in the afternoon. I swear it.”

James nodded. “Thank you, Joey. That’s just the sort of information I was looking for. Off to bed with you now. I don’t suppose Furbelow will try that particular trick again.”

But what next? And why?

Even if James hadn’t been so weary, that disgusting remark of Furbelow’s would have destroyed any urge to make love to Thomasina that night. Somehow, that cur had made healthy desire for a beautiful woman seem filthy and even vile.

Once Mrs. Day and the valet were out of the way, he crept into Thomasina’s bedchamber to find her huddled at one end of the sofa, fast asleep. Dismissing the watchful Max with a whispered word of thanks, he locked the door. He pulled Thomasina down beside him on the sofa and wrapped the coverlet over them both. She murmured something, but didn’t wake.

A sensation of perfect peace descended upon him. Nothing Furbelow could say or do would ruin what he felt for Thomasina. He closed his eyes and slept.

* * *

Thomasina woke just before dawn to find herself still on the sofa, wrapped in James’s arms…with one of his hands curled about her breast, and a rather hard part of him poking into her behind. She froze, wondering what to do, until she realized from his breathing that he still slept. She remained motionless, savoring the mounting thrills of desire…

Before long he woke and sat up, stretching. “Sorry about that, but my hands and cock aren’t under my control when I’m asleep.”

She huffed. “Then perhaps you should go back to sleep, for I was enjoying it very much.”

“You will enjoy it even more when I’m awake,” he smiled.

“Is that a promise?”

After a pause, he nodded. “I believe it is.”