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When he’d married her it hadn’t occurred to him that she would become so vital to him. But she was, and he no longer bothered to fight the inevitable. He dropped a light kiss on the tip of her nose, stretched just a bit, and promptly fell asleep.
Victoria pulled her muffin apart and spread sweet butter and honey on it. “What are we going to do now?”
“We, sweetheart? Don’t alarm me like that. Do you think that I would ever take the chance of placing you in danger? Oh, no.” Her brow furrowed into a fierce frown as he spoke. He tried to smile as he added, “I look at you and realize that you are mine, all mine, and I want to yell to the world that it is so. Forgive my male possessiveness, but I can’t help it.”
“You will most certainly help it.”
“Would you believe that I didn’t quite mean what I said just then?”
“Certainly. I’m a very reasonable woman. I’m also your wife and I’m to share things with you. You can’t shut me out, Rafael. It isn’t fair. And don’t you forget that you are also mine, and what is mine I guard.”
“I shan’t forget that.” He gave her his patented white-toothed grin that could charm the serpent and all the serpent’s cousins from Eden, and she felt herself slipping. She gulped, looked at her muffin as if it were a lifeline, and said firmly, “No, sir. Now, what have you in mind?”
“I plan to have a very serious talk with my twin. It’s time, you know, past time if the truth be told. He has given himself free rein to be as reprehensible as he wishes, and I have allowed it by neither doing nor saying anything in return. All Damien and I have done since you and I arrived at Drago Hall is fence. It must be stopped, all of it.”
“Will you beat him to a pulp?”
“There is a lot of relish in your voice at that prospect. Actually, I hope it won’t come to that. We will see.”
When his eyes slid away from her face, she pounced immediately. “There is more you plan. Tell me.”
“Flash will follow Johnny Tregonnet everywhere. Our infamous Soho pickpocket will become the infamous Cornwall shadower.”
“You don’t think it’s possible that Damien is this leader of the group, this Ram, do you?”
“I doubt it, since there was that note to him from Johnny. In other words, Johnny knows him as a member. No one knows the Ram.”
“Well, that is something.”
“Amen to that.”
“You will be very careful, you swear?”
“I already promised you that I would.”
“And when you need my help, you won’t hes
itate to ask?”
“I won’t hesitate for an instant,” he agreed with serious and immediate untruth.
They returned to Drago Hall the following day to discover that the Demoreton family had accepted their offer. Elaine was very happy to celebrate with them. Victoria imagined that her cousin would be delighted when she and Rafael were well and truly gone. As for Damien, he said the right words, but he looked distracted.
When Elaine gently inquired when they would leave, Rafael replied easily enough, “Next Monday, I think. Does that sound all right to you, Victoria?”
She nodded. It gave them four days to bring things to a conclusion. She wished devoutly it was Monday already and they were gone from here. Then she thought about Damaris and her heart gave a lurch. It was sometimes uncomfortable being an adult, she reflected as her third glass of champagne was making her thoughts more and more profound. One had to face unpleasant things, like leaving her one very small cousin whom she adored.
Before going to their bedchamber, Rafael looked directly at his twin and said mildly, “I assume you’ve spoken to Ligger about the secret passageway and the peepholes?”
Damien didn’t blink. “Yes. Interesting that you discovered the passageway. I myself came across it quite by accident during a vicious storm. It must have created a sort of echo effect. I happened to turn the correct piece of fruit on the frieze.”
“Have you had the carpenter board it up as yet?”
“No.”
“I think it time to do so,” Rafael said, took Victoria’s hand, and led her from the drawing room.
They went to the Pewter Room. Rafael hung his jacket over the cluster of grapes on the frieze.
