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“As did I, but now I shall be nothing but a widow for the rest of my life.” She rolled away from him as tears slid down her cheeks. “I could never take a chance on marrying a man I love after what happened to the husbands I didn’t love.”
His thick arm slid around her and brought her up against his chest. “Perhaps the key is to not marry the man but keep him as your lover.”
“Until he tires of the situation and moves to another younger woman. And it still won’t give me the one thing I want in this world.”
“Children?”
Tessa pressed her lips together and nodded. She couldn’t stop the tears now. What was wrong with her speaking of such things with him? She’d assumed with each of her marriages that she would conceive but none of her husbands had lived long enough for that to happen.
“Shh, sweetheart,” he murmured to her. “Everything will work out as it is supposed to.”
“No, it won’t. As soon as you tire of me, you shall find another or you will decide to marry.” She shouldn’t have said those fears aloud. He would try to convince her that she was wrong.
“You’re right,” he said. “I just might do that. Nothing is tying either one of us together. You might tire of me long before I do you.”
“I suppose you are correct.” Another lie to him. She would never tire of the way he made her feel. “I should take my leave now. Will you call for a carriage?”
“No,” he replied, tightening his arm around her. “You will sleep here tonight. Goodnight, darling.”
“You must take me home!” What would her servants think if she didn’t return home? What would his servants think if stayed here?
“Stop worrying over nothing. You are a young widow and can do as you please. Hang your servants. If they gossip, let them go. It will teach the others not to speak ill of their mistress.”
Tessa glanced back and noticed he had already closed his eyes. She still wasn’t used to the idea that she didn’t need to worry about what others thought of her. She had money, no husband, and a very amorous lover. She nestled down into the pillow with a sigh. She supposed staying here for a short time couldn’t hurt.
CHAPTER 15
Jack stretched and glanced over at the small clock on the table next to the bed. It wasn’t even seven in the morning and yet he was awake as usual. He rolled over to stare at the beautiful woman still in his bed. He had done exactly the opposite of what he was supposed to do on this case. Now he was falling in love with a woman who might have had some hand in her husbands’ deaths. A part of him didn’t want to believe that was possible, but she admitted her duplicity with meeting the duke in the bookstore.
You’re a fucking idiot, Jack.
She had every motive for killing her husbands—abuse with her first husband, lack of love with all three, and most importantly money. Even one of those should have put her at the top of the list, but she had all three. Did his damned heart care? No. All he saw was a woman who defended those whom she loved, who gave up her freedom for them. A woman who wanted everything she could no longer have, and it was that thought that made him think she wasn’t a killer.
There was no good reason to kill Stanhope. By all her accounts, he was deeply in love with her and she had admitted she might have come to love him. He could have given her everything, including children as he had proven that ability with his first wife. There was no reason for her to murder him. It made no sense. If she was being honest with him.
It was that slight bit of doubt that concerned him.
He eased off the bed and dressed quickly. He wanted to review his file on her before he spoke with Fairchild this morning. As he walked downstairs, Bentley glanced up at him from the corridor.
“Good morning, sir. Do you need a carriage this morning?”
“Not yet, Bentley. Could you have some tea and toast sent into the study please.”
“Of course, sir. Should I tell the maids not to make up your room yet?” he asked softly.
“Tell them to wait until noon. I shall have the lady home by then.”
Bentley nodded and walked down the hall toward the steps of t
he kitchen.
Jack walked into the study and unlocked the one drawer that he used for his personal papers. He had to get this case finished so he could get down to Devon before the new babe was born. He’d been there for the birth of both girls and helped his brother get through the awful waiting and agony of labor. He only hoped Neville would be there for him...if the time came.
He pulled out the file he’d created on the case and added a few notes from what he’d learned last night. Something just didn’t make sense. Three men had died while married to the same woman and yet, something deep inside him rejected the idea that she was involved. Yet, all three men’s coroner’s report cited the smell of garlic on the men, one indicator of arsenic poisoning.
But what if someone else had done the killing for her?
“Sir,” Bentley said from the doorway. “There is a Mr. Roberts here to see you on urgent business. I told him to return later but he insists he see you now.”
