"I told you that he's in love with you," Rina continued.

"I don't think he is, and I'm not going to embarra.s.s him by declaring myself," Emily told her friend. "My G.o.d, Rina, what a wedge that would drive between us. He could never edit me if I went all mushy-gushy on him. And he is a good editor. Best I've ever had. Rachel was good, but Devlin's better, I have to admit."

"There's a lovely hot tub at the cottage out on the back deck," Rina informed Emily. "It's very, very private too." She grinned mischievously at her younger companion. "Sam and I did it there once when the boys weren't home."

"Too much information!" Emily said laughing. "I don't ever want to think of my doctor as having s.e.x with his wife, who's like a second mother to me."

Rina chuckled as she pulled up to Emily's big house. "Hey, I'm not dead yet, kiddo," she told Emily.

"Never said you were, Rina, and never thought it either," Emily responded as she got out of the Lexus. "Thanks for lunch." She hurried into the house.

"Your office phone rang while you were gone," Essie said. "I finished your grandma's silver, and now I'm going home." She went out the door Emily had just entered. "Sounded like your agent."

"I'll check. Thanks," Emily called to her housekeeper's retreating back.

She ran upstairs to find a message from Aaron. She punched in his private number. "What's up?" she asked when he answered.

"Good news! Good news! J. P. Woods called me today. She wants to make us a new offer." His voice was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with his delight.

"And you told her . . . ?"

"When I got back from Italy." Aaron chuckled. "I said there wasn't any time to negotiate anything to our mutual satisfaction right now. Your editor must be pleased."

"He seems to be," Emily replied smoothly. "We'll do some work while he's here. And I'll have him hire Essie to keep the place neat. Single straight men can be messy."

"Thank you, my darling. Tell Mick the gardener will be in once a week, so not to be surprised when Tony shows up. I probably won't talk to him before we go."

"When are you going?" she wanted to know.

"Tomorrow night," Aaron said.

"Have fun on Capri," she told him.

Aaron Fischer chuckled. "Ciao, bella!" he told her, and rang off.

Emily put down the phone. She had heard from Devlin this morning and Aaron this afternoon. In just a few hours the Channel would be up and running. She had a very pa.s.sionate scene she wanted her d.u.c.h.ess to play out with the duke. He has suddenly discovered her secret absences from Malincourt, and is suspicious. She must lull him into a sense of security, but he will not be soothed. And Caro uses her s.e.xual wiles to distract her husband from learning about her secret life. Yes. Her character of the d.u.c.h.ess had grown from a vengeful and determined girl into a powerful woman who would control her own life at any cost. It was up to Justin Trahern to save Caro from herself.

Emily had been going over some rather interesting pictures in one of her s.e.xual research books. It offered a variety of positions she considered downright acrobatic, but some of them were quite conducive to the year 1793. Especially the one using the elegant tapestried wing chair, and another where a small silk cushioned side chair was utilized. The footstool she considered boring and a bit acrobatic. There had also been pictures of threesomes, which fascinated her, but there was no way to fit that kind of play into The Defiant d.u.c.h.ess. She giggled. But she would have to consider it for another book. Wouldn't J. P. Woods be surprised!

After their lovely lunch at the club she really wasn't hungry for the supper that Essie had left in the fridge for her to heat up. Instead Emily made herself a bacon-and-tomato sandwich with lots of mayo. Nothing tasted better than bacon and tomato when the tomatoes were in season. She had a basket of them on the kitchen table, courtesy of Essie's garden. She sat eating slowly, sipping her iced tea, waiting for eight o'clock to come so she could get to work. Well, maybe work wasn't quite the word she wanted.

The phone rang, and she picked it up. "h.e.l.lo?"

"Just forty-eight more hours, and I'll be with you again," Michael Devlin's voice purred in her ear. "I miss you much too much, angel face."

"I already talked to you today," Emily teased him.

"Am I to be rationed then?" he demanded to know.

"I'll think about it." she answered.

"Are you working?" he wanted to know. "I can forgive you if I disturbed the muse, angel face." His voice was warm, and the very sound of it sent ripples of excitement down her spine.

"I just took a break to make a sandwich," she told him. G.o.d, she wanted him here! Wanted his strong arms around her, kissing the side of her neck, her shoulder, his breath warm and moist on her skin. She shouldn't love him, but she did.

"Can you spend the weekend at the cottage with me?" he asked her. "I'll stop at Leonardo's in town and pick up a pizza."

"A garbage pizza?" she said. "I can only be bribed for a garbage pizza."

"Your wish is my command, lady," he told her.

"Then I'll bring the salad and a bottle of wine," she promised.

"And your little toy," he said. "I'm going to show you something new on Friday night, okay?" He rubbed himself, because just hearing her voice made him hard. No woman had ever had such a strong effect on him as Emily Shanski did. He didn't want their affair to end. He didn't want any other man f.u.c.king her. He wasn't quite ready to commit himself to her entirely, but he wasn't a fool. Michael Devlin knew it was just a matter of time before he asked Emily Shanski to marry him.

"Ohh, are we going to be bad, Devlin?" she teased, her voice suddenly very s.e.xy.

"We are going to be very bad," he promised her. "Good night, angel face. Don't work too hard, okay?"

"I'll have some good stuff for you to read on Friday," she promised.

"Sat.u.r.day morning," he said. "Friday night is already spoken for, angel face."

The phone clicked off.

Emily smiled happily. Although Devlin would never know it, she loved him, and always would. But just maybe the pa.s.sion they shared didn't have to end when the book was finished. Yet it was business between them. But did it have to be all business? Could either of them be that cold-blooded? Emily knew she wasn't. Yet how was she ever to find out if there was something there besides a mutual desire to keep their careers? Didn't romance authors get to have a happy ending too? Rina said Devlin was in love with her, but was he? Really? Or was Rina just being a wonderfully romantic fool?

The big tall clock in the front hall began to chime the hour. Emily got up from the table, stuck her plate and gla.s.s in the dishwasher, locked her kitchen and front doors for the night, then headed upstairs. Undressing, she slipped on one of her comfortable sleep shirts, washed her face and hands, and brushed her teeth. Climbing into bed, she took up the channel changer and clicked her television set on. She punched in the Channel's number, and when the grand entry hall of the duke's home came into view Emily pushed the enter b.u.t.ton firmly.

The d.u.c.h.ess was standing in the foyer, shaking the rain from her long cape. She turned, startled, at the sound of his voice.

"Where the h.e.l.l have you been for the last five days, madam?" Justin Trahern demanded of his wife.

"In London," the d.u.c.h.ess answered.

"You detest London, and especially in season," he replied.

"Yes, I do," the d.u.c.h.ess said. "But my uncle's valet sent for me. The earl was ill, and he feared for him."

"You detest your uncle too," the duke said.

"Detest, milord, is perhaps too strong a word. I neither like nor dislike him. But he is my late father's younger brother. He has no one else but me, and I have an obligation as his blood relation to help him where I can," the d.u.c.h.ess said coolly.

"And what illness did he have? Something brought on by too much wine, bad companions, and the riotous living he pursues, I have not a doubt," Justin Trahern sneered. "The man is a lost cause. The t.i.tle will die with him, for no decent woman will wed him, nor would any decent father give his daughter to Eddis Thornton, despite his ancient t.i.tle. Not even a rich merchant attempting to vault his family into the n.o.bility with a nubile and well-dowered daughter would have him."

"For which I am very grateful," the d.u.c.h.ess replied calmly, "for I mean to have the earldom of Chetwyn for a second son one day, milord. As I am the last of the Thorntons, and you have a good relationship with both the king and the prince, we should be able to manage it once Uncle has drunk himself into his grave."

"So that is why you cosset the man," Justin Trahern remarked with not just a hint of admiration in his voice.

"Yes," the d.u.c.h.ess answered in a cold voice.

"Do you give him money?" the duke demanded to know.

"Of course," she said. "G.o.d knows I have enough, thanks to my father. His investments in the East India Company paid off quite well. I do not give my uncle a great deal. I pay his valet, his wine bill, and just enough of his gambling debts to allow him to keep gambling."

"Thereby continuing to make him unattractive as husband material, and gently hastening his path to the grave," the duke murmured. "Very clever, my dear. You say you want your family's t.i.tle for a second son, but we have not even a first son. Or daughter, Caro. And you were not in London, my dear. At least, not at your uncle's."

"How can you possibly know that, milord?" She began to ascend the stairs.

"Because I had you followed," Justin Trahern responded, keeping pace with her. "Do you think I am a fool, Caro? We haven't even been married for a year, and you are always disappearing from Malincourt. You do not take your coach, but ride out alone."

They had reached the top of the stairs, and the d.u.c.h.ess almost ran to her rooms.

"Where do you go? Have you a lover? Someone you took when my uncle lay dying?" he wanted to know.

"I think you can have no doubt that I was a virgin when we married," the d.u.c.h.ess said coldly. "And I am not a woman to betray her marriage vows. How dare you impugn my honor, milord?" She had reached her chamber door. "Leave me now! I am tired and cold and wet. I wish a hot bath, a tray, and my bed." She looked at him imperiously.

"You may have your hot bath and your tray, madam," he said. "But I will share your bed tonight, for I have lacked your company for many nights."

"You are intolerable!" the d.u.c.h.ess said, and she stepped into her chamber, slamming the door in his face behind her.

Behind her the door sprang open, and the duke entered the room. "Get out!" he said sharply to his wife's maid. "Her ladyship will call you when she needs you." He almost shoved the girl from the room. Turning, he said in a deceptively quiet tone, "Now, Caroline, you will tell me exactly where you have been, and with whom you have been consorting. If you do not I shall lock you in this room until you do."

"You wouldn't!" She gasped.

"But I would, madam. Oh, yes, I would," he responded.

"You would not understand, Justin," she said, actually using his name in her despair. "How could you? What could you know of the horror I have seen?"

"I cannot if you do not tell me," he replied in a gentler tone.

She flung herself into his arms, pulling his head down to hers and kissing him pa.s.sionately. "Make love to me," she begged him. "Oh, please make love to me!"

Their clothing seemed to evaporate as they pulled the garments from each other. Naked, he swept her up in his arms and carried her to the large wing chair by the fire. And all the while they kept kissing each other again and again until both their mouths were bruised and sore from a mixture of both pa.s.sion and sweetness. They cuddled together, slowly exploring each other's bodies. His big hands cupped her small, perfect b.r.e.a.s.t.s, kissing the nipples until they were tightly puckered, like small frostbitten rosebuds. His teeth tenderly scored the sensitive flesh of her bosom.

The d.u.c.h.ess sighed with her pleasure as he lifted her to sit facing him and his mouth traveled across her torso. Her fingers entwined themselves in his dark hair, kneading his scalp with her rising desire to be possessed by him. Her slender legs rested on his shoulders. But as eager for her as he was, he was not quite ready to consummate their mutual pa.s.sion. He licked her body, tasting the saltiness of the sea on her skin. Then, lifting her up, he impaled her onto his engorged lover's lance. She sighed again.

"Now, madam," he said in measured tones, "you will answer my questions or you will gain no further pleasure from me."

Her blue eyes widened with her shock. She could feel his thickness throbbing within her love pa.s.sage. "Justin," she whimpered. "Please!" She attempted to ride him, but he held her firmly about her narrow waist, his fingers digging cruelly into her flesh. "Please!"

"Where were you?" he demanded once again. "Where?!"

"France." She gasped. "I was in France!"

"You will tell me the rest afterward," he told her, standing. "Put your legs about me, Caro." He walked across the room to her bed and, laying her down, stood over her, f.u.c.king her at first slowly, and then with more rapid strokes until she was sobbing for release. A release he was not yet ready to give her. He quickly took his own pleasure, and then withdrew from her heated body. Moving to a table with a basin and pitcher he bathed his satisfied member.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" she hissed at him. She was aching and unsatisfied.

"When you have told me all," the duke said, "I will scratch that naughty itch of yours, my dear. But not until then. Do you understand me?" He climbed into bed, taking his wife into his arms. "Now, why were you in France?"

"Have you heard of Lady Lavender, Justin?"

"The person who rescued the d.u.c.h.esse d'Almay and her children? Of course. It was the talk of the ton several months ago. Why?"

"I am Lavender, milord. It is I and the women who work with me both here and in France who have been rescuing the victims of tyranny and injustice. Not just the n.o.bility, but decent working people who have been denounced to the Committee for Public Safety. All one need do is drop a paper with a name on it in those boxes they now have in Paris and every small town in France. Today we brought back a vineyard owner, his wife, his old mother, her elderly maid, and three children. On our last trip it was the Comtesse d'Islay, her maid, and the old seamstress who had sewn for the comtesse for years. And Justin, there are so many more who need our help."

He was astounded by her confession, and then he grew angry. "How dare you endanger yourself, Caro! And who are the women who work with you? You all put yourselves at risk! It stops now! Do you comprehend me? It stops now!"

"No! No!" she cried to him. "There are too many who still must be rescued!"

"I cannot have the woman I love putting herself at risk like this," Justin Trahern told his wife. "I love you, Caro! Do you understand that? I love you! Even if you do not love me, I love you! I have since the first day we met, and I learned to my grief that you were my uncle's bride. I have waited patiently to have you. I will not lose you now!"

"Ohh, Justin," the d.u.c.h.ess cried softly. "I love you too. From the first day we met, and I was your uncle's wife. But he understood young love, and that is why he arranged for us to marry when he was dead. He knew neither of us would ever betray him while he lived. He was such a fine man, just like my father. That is why they were best friends. And that is why he agreed to marry me, so my fortune would be protected from Eddis Thornton when my father died. My uncle had the t.i.tle by right of succession, but father's fortune was his to disburse as he chose. My uncle would have run right through it, and sold me to the highest bidder to feed his bad habits."

"If you love me then why do you put yourself in such mortal danger?" the duke wanted to know.

The d.u.c.h.ess sighed deeply. "My mother was French, Justin. She was the Duke of Medoro's oldest daughter. Grandfather had no sons, only three daughters: Claire, my mother, Justine, and Louisa. Every summer my mother and I would go to France to stay with my grandfather and his family. The summer I was sixteen my father was not pleased to have us go. He said it was much too dangerous. It was the year after La Bastille. There was much unrest. But Mama a.s.sured him it was Normandy, not Paris, and that all would be well, and grandfather was ill. So we went.

"My father was right. On that first anniversary of the revolution a mob came to the chateau. When my grandfather protested this invasion they killed him. Some of the servants fled, but many of them, along with Mama and me, my tante Justine and her little boys, and my tante Louisa, who was just two years older than I, were taken into the cellars of the chateau and imprisoned. Mama's maid, however, had escaped the chateau. She fled directly to the coast, found pa.s.sage to England, and hurried to Chetwyn to tell Papa what had happened."

His arms tightened about her, and he kissed her brow. "You need not speak of it again if it disturbs you, Caro," he murmured.

"No, Justin, you must understand why I do what I do," she told him. "The servants were terrorized into telling the most awful lies. A footman was made to say he was the father of my tante Justine's sons. They were taken from her. They were only three and five. Several weeks later she was allowed to see them. They spit on her and called her a dirty aristo. She never saw them again. Nor her husband, who had been in Paris with the new government, attempting to make order of chaos.

"But that was not the worst. The men in charge began taking the women servants in the night. Some returned; some didn't. They were being raped, of course. Then one day they came for me. My mother begged the man in charge to take her instead. She told them she was the wife of an Englishman, and that her daughter was English. That my father would pay a goodly ransom for my safe return, but only if I was returned untouched. They took us both, and I was forced to watch while my mother was raped over and over again. And then they brought my tante Justine to be raped. Each time I tried to look away they beat me. My mother and aunt both died, and I was dragged back to the cellars to weep with my tante Louisa. They came for her several days later, and I was again forced to watch their brutality. My youngest aunt was a virgin. When they learned that, nothing was too b.e.s.t.i.a.l for them. She too died at the hands of the Revolution.

"Several more days pa.s.sed, and at last they came for me again. I thought surely this time it would be my turn to be raped until I died. But instead my father was there with the revolutionary captain who held grandfather's chateau. I was a fortunate little aristo, he told me. My father had paid a great deal of money for my safe return, and because I was English-and he spit after the word-I would be permitted to leave. Captain Ar-naud. I will always remember him, and his toady, Citizen Leon. And I will not rest until I have revenged my grandfather, my mother, her sisters, and all our family on these wretches. Rescuing others from them is the only way I can, Justin. You must let me continue! You must! They threw the bodies of those they slew into a common pit. There is not even a marker to remember them. My mother's house was a great and n.o.ble one, and now it is gone. They are gone. All gone." And the d.u.c.h.ess began to weep bitterly.

"I will help you have your revenge," Justin Trahern promised, "but this must end."

Chapter 6.

Michael Devlin put down the pages he had just been reading. "This is great stuff, Emily," he said. "Caro's backstory is particularly poignant. But she should have a little eighteenth-century survivor's grief," he suggested. "It will make her more likable."

"I agree. The coldness is, of course, a shield she uses to hide her grief behind," Emily said. "I need to show some of that grief to make the reader sympathetic toward her. Do you like the duke?

"Yes. He's different from your other heroes. More masculine. He's got a bit of a hard edge, except where his wife is concerned. It's a weakness I find endearing, and so will your readers. How do you know so much about love?" He smiled warmly at her, and Emily felt herself melting, as she always did when Devlin smiled that particular smile.

"I don't know," Emily admitted. "I guess I just try to make my characters the way I wish people really were."

"Haven't you ever been in love?" he queried her.