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“Is... it morning yet?” he asked in a low voice.
His question almost made her laugh. Apparently, he hadn’t opened his eyes yet, or else he would know that answer. “No.”
“Splendid. I have more time to kiss you.” He swept his tender lips up her neck and across her chin, heading for her mouth.
Tingles multiplied all over her. Why was he such a hard man to resist, especially now when she wasn’t feeling dizzy any longer?
Holding her breath, she waited for his mouth to capture hers, but soon, his breathing became shallow again. Within moments, his head dropped back to the crook of her neck. Obviously, he had fallen asleep.
Disappointment washed over her, and she scoffed herself for feeling this way. Kissing this strange man was wrong in so many ways. She needed to leave. Now!
Being careful, she pushed him back and braced him against the wall of the coach. From where his tilted head rested against the coach’s wall, a small light from the window touched his face. Finally, she could see him slightly better. His hair appeared to be midnight black. His facial structure was incredible, giving his chiseled appearance a rugged shape.
Within seconds, her vision adjusted, and she recognized the man that had kissed her tonight with so much zealousness that it made her sigh with happiness.
Wayne Nichols?
Bile rose to her throat, and guilt washed over her. How could Wayne do this to Jane? But more importantly, how could Regina have done this to her best friend?
With tears of shame stinging her eyes, she moved ever so slowly until she could open the coach’s door. Taking a quick peek outside, she couldn’t see anyone lurking about. Before she could change her mind, she slipped out of the vehicle and closed the door. She darted toward the manor, lifting the hem of her gown to her ankles as to not slow her progress.
Tears blurred her vision, but she continued until reaching the inside of the manor. Very few people stood around, chatting. Where had everyone gone?
She glanced at the grandfather clock in the main hall.Three o’clock?
Groaning, she rubbed her forehead. Why hadn’t her parents tried to find her? This was worse than she thought. The scandal she had wanted to stop would happen no matter what she tried to do now.
Chapter 3
The morning light shonethrough the split in the curtains, waking Wayne Nichols from a deep sleep. He stretched his stiff arms over his head and yawned. Groggily, he crawled out of bed and walked into the bathing chamber, fiercely trying to rub away the dull ache that had always accompanied his hangovers.
Thankfully, one of the chambermaids at the boarding house where he lived left cold water in the wash basin. He splashed cold water on his face in hopes of waking up a little, and after a few more deep breaths, he felt the tension begin to leave his body. Now all he needed was the family concoction that would remove his sickening headache caused by the wine.
When he turned and walked back into the bedroom, he stopped dead in his tracks. His mind opened in flashes of what he’d been doing last evening. Before Jane Meyer’s uncle and aunt’s ball, the Earl of Penrose decided to take Wayne and four of Jane’s cousins to a tavern to celebrate Wayne’s and Jane’s engagement. The strange thing was, he recalled only drinking one glass of port. Yet, why did he feel as though he’d been hit by a speeding horse?
Something wasn’t quite right, and he suspected his future father-in-law had something to do with it. He hated referring to that man as his father, but Wayne’s undercover assignment as a Bow Street Runner required that he pretend to be engaged so that he could become closer to the earl. How else could he discover Jane’s father dealt in the Opium trade if he didn’t get close to the family? Britain was trying to stop the Opium business before it took over the country, and as a Bow Street Runner, he would do all he could to stop men like Harold Meyers, the Earl of Penrose, who hid behind their title.
