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“What’sthat?”
“That I love you, Marc. I do. Idoloveyou.”
Those words swirled around his heart and Marc squeezed her tighter. “I loveyoutoo.”
“And I meant what I said earlier,” she continued. “I don’t want to lose you. I can’t lose you. So whatever we have to do, we’ll do it together, allright?”
Except that might not be possible. Marc loved her too much to put her in harm’s way. But he didn’t want to say that. He didn’t even want to think about what tomorrow would bring. So he pressed his lips to the side of Caroline’s neck and said, “And I meant what I said earlier.” He splayed his hand possessively across her belly. “You should only wear nightrails from now on.” He kissed her again. “That is, if you have to wear anythingatall.”
“And what about you?” He felt her laugh in his arms and he couldn’t help but smile. “Such a shame to hide your remarkable form beneath jackets and waistcoats andtrousers.”
“Remarkable?” he drawled. “I do like the sound ofthat,love.”
She spun in his arms until her breasts were pressed against his chest and her dark blonde curls danced across his skin. “I havealwaysthought you quite remarkable.” Then she kissed the side ofhisjaw.
Marc squeezed her to him and brushed his hand over the swell of her bottom. How he wished it could be like this always. If onlytherewas—
Bark! From the floor below, the dog began barking up a storm, jolting Marc right outofbed.
Bark!Bark!Bark!
Damn it all. “Stay here.” Marc flew out of Caroline’s chambers, down the darkened corridor and the steps, and was fortunate not to have fallen to his death when Emma’s cat nearly tripped him, racing up the stairs as Marc went down them. For the love of God. Was the dog barking at the cat? In the middle of the goddamnednight?
Bark!Bark!Bark!
Apparently not. Marc raced to where the dog was ferociously growling from inside the library just in time to see a fellow hop from the window to the moonlit freedom of the outside worldbelow.
What thebloodyhell!
Marc stood, dumbstruck, for just a moment before racing to the open window. And sure enough, a fair haired fellow darted into the mews across the way, or limped rather. Marc was half tempted to go after the man but…he wasn’t wearing any boots, or anything else for thatmatter.
“Sir?” Simmons asked from thethreshold.
“Her thiefwasback.”
“Galloway’s man?” Simmons crossed the library to stand at Marc’s side, not that there was anything to see out the window now. The man had hidden himselfquiteaway.
Marc nodded. “Or possibly one of St. George’s.” It didn’t matter. Either way, Caroline and her daughters were in grave danger. “Rouse her driver. He’s going on a merry little journey.” It was, after all, the best way to throw someone off, or at least it alwayshadbeen.
“I’ll give him instructions, milord.” Simmons said as he started for the corridor. “Pardon me, milady,” hemuttered.
“Marc?” Caroline said softly from thedoorway.
He turned around to face her and shook his head. “I thought I told you tostayput.”
She held out his trousers for him. “Yes, well, I thought you might have need ofthese.”
He probably shouldn’t be gallivanting around Staveley House without a stitch, but if the thief had still been down here, she could have been harmed. Marc crossed the floor to retrieve his trousers with a sigh and then said, “Wake your girls, have them dress in the dowdiest things they have.” He stepped into the trousers and pulled them up over his arse. “Better yet, borrow something serviceable from your maids. You need to blend into the lower classes, allofyou.”
She blinked at him. “I beg yourpardon?”
Marc buttoned himself into his trousers as a plan started to piece itself together in his mind. “Take a hack to the Gloucester Street Coffee House and buy passage on the mail coach to Driffield,Yorkshire.”
“The mail coach?” Caroline echoed in a whisper. “But you toldSimmons—”
“Yes, well, your coachman is going somewhere else,” Marc said, reaching for her hand and pulling her to him. She looked so afraid, and he wanted more than anything to soothe her, but there simply wasn’t time. “Buy passage for me too. I’ll meet you there.” Well, probably. “But if I’m delayed, don’t wait. Go without me. I’ll catch up along the way.” One way oranother.
“Marc, what is going on?” she asked, and the panic in her voice made hisheartache.
