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  Felix felt as though he had failed her. Or perhaps he’d been a fool to think he could catch a diamond thief in the first place. “If either Saif or Newman is the thief, we’ve tipped our hand. They’ll know we suspect them now.”

  “If I were either one of them, I would return home or leave the country with all due haste,” Rufus agreed.

  “We should have told Rebecca what we were going to do,” Josephine said. “That way, she could have asked Nigel how we should go about doing it.”

  “I’m beginning to think it would have been wise to approach the Bow Street Runners with what we know to begin with,” Rufus agreed.

  Felix ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “They suspect us, you know,” he said.

  “But you’re not guilty,” Josephine insisted. “And I can prove it.” Felix eyed her sideways, warmed by her faith in him but uncertain she would be considered a strong enough witness to vouch for his innocence, until she went on with, “You don’t have the birthmark, remember?”

  “The birthmark,” Lady Caroline exclaimed. “I’d almost forgotten.”

  “What birthmark?” Rufus asked.

  “The thief bears a birthmark in the shape of a half-moon on his backside,” Lady Caroline said, sending a sly grin Rufus’s way. “Rebecca witnessed it herself. Any man without said birthmark can be automatically ruled out as a suspect.”

  “Is that so?” Rufus asked, his eyebrow twitching as he sent her a saucy smile. “My lady, would you care to witness my innocence in this theft? I feel it only right to reassure you that you have not thrown your lot in with a notorious jewel thief.”

  Lady Caroline bit her lip, her eyes dancing with eagerness. Felix was fairly certain she would have taken Rufus up on his offer instantly if the door to the school hadn’t flown open at precisely that moment. All four of them turned in time to see Miss Dobson, poorly concealed with a cloak around her shoulders, its hood up, dashing down the stairs with a clumsy bag under one arm. She stumbled at the bottom of the stairs, but recovered fast enough to take off in the direction of Oxford Street.

  “Stop,” Josephine shouted. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Felix was forced to follow, Rufus with him, as Josephine and Lady Caroline chased after Miss Dobson. Miss Dobson yelped when she realized she was being chased and picked up her pace. Felix and Rufus outpaced the ladies within a few yards, and Felix was certain they would catch Miss Dobson easily, but she surprised them by cutting between two parked carriages and into the street.

  “Stop her,” Josephine shouted again.

  Her cry was in vain. A third carriage was waiting on the other side of the two parked ones. Its door was open, and with a swift and surprisingly agile movement, Miss Dobson threw her bag inside, then leapt toward the door as the carriage lurched into motion. A pair of masculine arms reached out to drag her all the way inside as the carriage picked up speed. Felix and Rufus dashed between the two parked carriages and into the street, but it was too late. The carriage door snapped shut, and the driver whipped the horses into top speed. The carriage disappeared around Hinde Street and was gone.

  “What the devil just happened?” Rufus asked as he and Felix stood in the street, panting and in shock.

  A passing carriage driver whistled for the two of them to make way, and they jogged back to the sidewalk, where Josephine and Lady Caroline were standing, looking utterly baffled.

  “She got away,” Lady Caroline said, clearly frustrated.

  “She left.” Josephine shook her head. “She simply left.”

  “How involved in the diamond plot was she?” Rufus asked.

  “She was the one who arranged for the thief to sell the diamond,” Lady Caroline said, wincing in frustration. “We heard her the other day. She said a friend of her father’s, a collector, was interested in purchasing it.”

  “I’m certain that’s what the meeting we happened upon was about,” Josephine said. “And now it’s too late. All three of them have escaped.”

  “The thief, the buyer, and Miss Dobson,” Felix said, raking a hand through his hair, irritated enough to pull it out.

  “So who was who?” Rufus asked. “Miss Dobson, we know. But is Newman the thief or is it Saif?”

  “Neither have the money to buy something of that price,” Felix thought aloud. “So the buyer must be someone else, someone who hadn’t arrived before it fell apart.”

  “That still doesn’t answer the question of who stole the diamond and who may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Rufus said.

  “And it certainly doesn’t explain where the diamond is at present,” Lady Caroline answered.

  The four of them stood there in disappointed silence for a moment, until Josephine asked, “What do we do next?”

  “I’m afraid we’ll have to do what we should have done from the start,” Felix said. “We’ll have to contact Mr. Kent and the Bow Street Runners to apprise them of the situation.”

  “And what about the school?” Josephine asked on.

  Felix blinked. “The school?”

  Josephine shrugged. “Miss Dobson is gone. The school has been abandoned. But there are at least twenty young ladies still in its care, without any place to go.”

  “I’ll take care of them,” Lady Caroline said, stepping closer to Josephine. “Most of us are old enough to fend for ourselves, though some organization is in order, I’m certain. And if our families fail to be notified of the situation, all the better. You go with Lord Lichfield.” Mischief was bright in the young noblewoman’s face.

  Josephine turned to Felix. “Would you mind?” she asked in a small voice.

  “Mind?” he laughed. “That would be the one thing that could turn this misery of an evening into something good.”

  Josephine blushed, then handed the candelabra to Lady Caroline. “I won’t be needing this,” she said before skipping to Felix’s side and taking his arm.

  “My lady,” Felix told her, resting his hand over hers with a tired smile. “From now on, I will see to it that you do not need anything. It will all be yours.”

  Chapter 10

  Jo should have been disappointed at the way the events of the evening had unfolded, but that was impossible to do when Felix whisked her into the carriage he had waiting down the road and carried her off to his home. His proper home, not the secret address designed for clandestine assignations.

  “Let the gossip-mongers talk,” he told her, lifting her across his lap and wrapping his arms around her as the carriage jostled through the night. “They’ve said more than enough about me already. And if word gets out that I brought my countess home to bed a few days before the wedding, well, all I can say to that is that money and a title go a long way towards hushing rumors.”

  Jo giggled, but that quickly turned into a sigh. “It’s a shame that it is so,” she said. “Too many of the young ladies at Miss Dobson’s school—or do you suppose it’s Caro’s school now—have been shunted off into obscurity because they have either a title or money but not both?”

  “If your friend, Lady Caroline, continues on with the school, I pledge to support it and its pupils to the best of my ability and to ensure the young ladies there are given the introduction to society they deserve,” he said.

  Jo’s heart filled with sunshine that felt as though it would lift her through the roof of the carriage and into the starry sky above. “Oh, Felix, you are wonderful.”

  She leaned into him, kissing him with a boldness that surprised her before he could say anything self-effacing. It felt wonderful to be so free with him and to give full vent to the passion she felt without having him judge her or assume she was of low moral character. As she teased her tongue tentatively into his mouth, she began to understand that there was a world of difference between sharing her favors with any man who wanted them and being sensual and alive with a man she loved.

  As soon as the thought struck her, she gasped and jerked back.

  “What?” Felix a
sked, his eyes heavy-lidded and his voice distracted. “What is it?”

  “I’ve just realized,” Jo said, blinking in amazement. “I love you.”

  Felix’s eyes went wide as well. “You love me?” he asked, seemingly baffled.

  “Yes, I believe I do.” It was so unexpected and so delightfully convenient that she burst into a laugh. “What a wonderful thing to discover on a night such as this.”

  “I’ll say,” Felix said, his smile turning downright wolfish. He pulled her back into his arms and twisted in such a way that left her wedged against the side of the seat with one leg lifted over his hip. “One can do any number of horrifically wicked things to a woman when she loves you.”

  Jo’s laughter turned into giddy giggles and gasps as Felix set out to prove his point. He kissed her hard, leaving her breathless and panting for more. All the while, his free hand roamed her body, tugging her skirts up well above her waist and circling her backside. That only lasted a moment before he reached up to tug the front of her gown down, exposing her breasts to his hungry mouth. How he managed to contort into just the right position to kiss and suckle her heavy, sensitive breasts was a mystery to her, but within seconds, she was hot and aching and could think of nothing more but freeing his erection so that he could join with her.

  She had just worked up the courage and coordination to unfasten his breeches when the carriage lurched to a stop.

  “We’ve arrived, my lord,” the driver’s muffled voice came from above.

  “Excellent,” Felix said, righting himself and tugging at his jacket, as if that could make him look presentable. He gazed down at Jo, her skirt bunched high enough to reveal more than a teasing glimpse of her sex and her breasts straining over the neck of her gown, their nipples hard and pink. Lust filled his gaze. “I want you naked and in my bed immediately.”

  Jo could only moan in response. Felix had to help her to sit and attempt to make herself presentable. Her breasts were still out when the driver opened the door. The poor one man took one look, eyes wide, then turned away, red growing on his cheeks. Felix met Jo’s eyes with a guilty grin and helped her to tuck everything away before stepping down from the carriage and lifting her after him.

  The dour butler was waiting at the door to let them in. Jo spent all of three seconds trying to remember his name before giving up and hurrying through the front hall toward the stairs with Felix.

  They almost made it before a call of, “What is the meaning of this?” sounded from the doorway to a sitting room on the right.

  Jo felt as though she had been struck by lightning as every nerve and muscle in her body tensed. She turned to find Lady Lichfield, Felix’s mother, frowning at them. Worse still, her own mother walked up behind Lady Lichfield, her mouth dropped in shock.

  “Josephine? Why aren’t you at school? And what in heaven’s name are you wearing?”

  Jo peeked down at her gown. Outside of the exotic setting of the East India Company’s house, it looked wickedly scandalous. The fabric was almost diaphanous, and try though she and Felix had, one of her nipples still popped above the neckline. Worse still, her hair was in disarray, and her lips felt swollen and red from kissing.

  Her mother seemed to take in the same details. She grimaced, shaking her head, “Oh, Josephine. I should have known you were a whore.”

  Jo’s heart began to sink, but before she could do more than let her shoulders droop, Felix took a firm, commanding step toward the mothers.

  “I will not hear another word from either of you about my beloved,” he said, his voice laced with fury. “You connived to marry me off without consulting me in the matter, but the fates appear to have been conspiring with you. Josephine is everything I could desire in a woman. She is clever and witty—”

  “Josephine?” Jo’s mother interrupted, incredulous.

  Felix took a step toward her, finger pointed, and she yelped and backpedaled, grabbing Lady Lichfield’s arm as she went. The two, older women huddled together.

  “Not another word from either of you,” Felix warned them, his voice raised. “That you chose well for me is entirely coincidental. I thank you for that, but that is all. Mother—” he turned to Lady Lichfield. “The moment Josephine and I are married—and I intend for that to be tomorrow—you will retire to the dower house at Lichfield Hall.”

  “But I have friends,” Lady Lichfield protested, “I have social responsibilities.”

  “You will no longer be the countess,” Felix reminded her. “If you wish to stay in London, it will not be under this roof, do I make myself clear?”

  “But…you cannot…after all I’ve done for you?”

  “All you have done for me is look down your nose at me in distaste, condemn me for things you don’t understand, and, I suspect, furthered the ruination of my reputation with your gossip,” he said. “If you had ever shown me one ounce of maternal affection, we would not be in this situation.”

  Lady Lichfield shrank from the accusation, looking both guilty and sullen, but more than anything, defeated.

  “And as for you,” Felix went on, turning to Jo’s mother once more. “As of tomorrow, your daughter will be a countess, which is far more than you will ever be able to say for yourself. I suggest you begin treating her with the respect she will command immediately. That means leaving this house without further comment on her appearance or character.” Felix turned to Jo. “My wife-to-be is an angel in both beauty and kindness of heart. I have never met a woman as compassionate as her or as lovely. I’ll have her portrait painted and placed in every room of each of my homes. I never want to be without her again.”

  “Oh, Felix,” Jo said, blinking rapidly to fight back the tears that welled up from her heart. “You are my hero.”

  And right there, with both mothers looking on, he swept her into his arms and kissed her soundly. Jo molded against him, ignoring all else but the way her insides melted for him.

  All too soon, he broke their kiss to say to the mothers, “Now, if you will excuse me, I am taking my wife to bed.”

  He clasped Jo’s hand and started up the stairs even as Lady Lichfield started to say, “She’s not your wife yet.” She only made it through two words before giving up her efforts.

  Jo didn’t bother to glance over her shoulder to see what Lady Lichfield did next or if her mother left. In no time, they reached the top of the stairs and Felix picked up his pace as they raced to his bedroom.

  Once they reached it and shut themselves inside, Felix backed Jo against the wall, pinning her body with his and slanting his mouth over hers with punishing force. Jo groaned at his show of dominance, lifting a leg over his hip and gripping his sides. He rewarded her efforts by jerking against her in imitation of what they would soon be doing. The hard length of his staff rubbed against her hip, making her burn in anticipation.

  “I need you,” she panted as he seared a trail of kisses along her neck. “I want you inside me.”

  “I want to make you scream when you come,” he growled against her ear.

  It was such an exciting comment that she wriggled against him, paradoxically pushing him away so that she could shed her clothes. He seemed to sense what she was after and stepped back, frantically working the buttons of his jacket and waistcoat as she did her best to pull at the ties to loosen her gown.

  As always, infuriatingly, the complicated and all too lengthy process of disrobing cooled the intensity of their ardor. But stepping back had its benefits.

  “I was a fool to rush into our plan tonight,” Felix said with a spark of naughtiness in his eyes as he pulled off his boot. He was already shirtless, the sight of him stoking the flames within Jo once more.

  “We all should have planned better,” she panted, stepping out of her gown and petticoats and going to work on her stays. “You were right. We should have spoken to Rebecca and Mr. Kent first.”

  “My over-eagerness to catch the thief led to poor decisions,” he went on. As soon as he tossed his second boot aside and
stood from where he’d been sitting against the bed to loosen his breeches, he added, “I deserve to be punished.”

  Jo had just dropped her stays to the floor and reached for the hem of her chemise, but a shiver of wicked anticipation swirled through her, making her hands shake. She met Felix’s saucy stare with a fiery look of her own. “Bad boys deserve a spanking,” she said.

  “They do,” he agreed, pushing his breeches down over his hips and legs and kicking them aside. When he straightened, his massive staff stood solidly at attention, the tip already glistening. Jo caught her breath, then moaned when he said, “I think you should spank me hard.”

  He turned toward the bed and braced himself against it, like he had the other day. Faint traces of the licks she’d landed on his near perfect backside still stood out against his pale flesh. Liquid heat filled Jo’s sex with such intensity that she worried it would slip down her thighs. She peeled her chemise off over her head, then strode slowly up to his side.

  “Have you been bad?” she asked, knowing what he would say but understanding that the more she teased and taunted him, the more intense their pleasure would be.

  “So bad,” he growled. “So very—”

  She smacked his backside before he could finish. The blow wasn’t much, though it did make her hand sting a little. She would never have the strength to cause true pain, but she wasn’t sure that was what mattered.

  “Bad, Felix, bad,” she scolded him, spanking him hard again. “Naughty, Felix, failing to plan properly.”

  She rained blows across his backside, and soon enough, bright red spots shone on his flesh. He jerked and flexed with each smack, making sounds of pleasure that drove Jo to distraction. It was so overwhelming that she had to stop.

  She flopped onto the bed instead, spreading her legs. “You may pleasure me now, naughty boy,” she said with as superior a tone as she could manage.

  Her intention was to be silly, but Felix’s reaction was powerful. “Yes, mistress,” he said, dropping to his knees on the floor.