In that moment, Constantine wished Callum were there. She would have kissed him on the lips. The more she learned, the more her certainty grew that he was not the devil he was trying to pretend to be, wanted her to believe he was. Callum was honorable, protective, and brave. And yes, he was broken and perhaps had been for a long time because of his strained relationship with his father, but weren’t they all a little broken?
“That scar on his face…” Lilias’s blue eyes were swimming with admiration. “Well, he got that scar defending me, and I was nothing to him but a woman he knew socially who had demanded, likely unreasonably, that he accompany her into the heart of a dangerous place. He risked his life for me. I can only imagine the lengths he would go to for the woman he loved.” Lilias stared at Constantine meaningfully.
Warmth swept over her body, filled her chest, her lungs, and made her stomach clench. He had loved her. He had not wed her for her money. He had wed her forher,and she had wed him for love. And she loved him still. She wanted to open her heart to him once more, and she wanted him to do the same to her. She would risk it all once again for that something wonderful.
She inhaled a long breath, her mind turning as her friends watched her patiently. “I love him, and I again will risk my heart for him, for love, but he’s hiding things. I vow he is trying to send me away to protect me, but from what? Himself? Ross?”
“Perhaps both,” Frederica said, to which Constantine absently nodded. Her thoughts were coming so fast and furious now that she’d admitted how she felt that she was having trouble keeping them orderly in her mind.
“I have a gut feeling that it will be almost impossible for him to move forward, to reveal what he is hiding or let me close to him, until he gains justice against Ross,” Constantine admitted.
“You know we will all do everything we can to help,” Frederica said.
“Of course, we will, darling, but what if it cannot be proven?” Guinevere asked. “What then?”
“I would hope,” Constantine said slowly, her thoughts falling into place, “that he could move on if it could not be proven after sincerely trying. But there will be no chance of his moving on, either, if I cannot get him to see that I will love him no matter what happened to him in the asylum, no matter what scars he now hides.”
“Tell us what we can do,” Guinevere said.
Constantine nibbled on her lip, thinking. “Well, there were three other people there the night Callum was taken, besides Ross—Ross’s coachman and the two men who overtook the coach. If I—”
“We,” Lilias corrected.
Constantine gave her friends a grateful look. “Yes, we. If we could get just one of those men to talk, to tell us the truth, then Callum could go to the authorities with the information. I don’t know the names of the men who were hired by Ross to attack the carriage—at least, I’m assuming Ross hired them—nor do I know what they look like, but I imagine Callum will know their descriptions and possibly have heard a name. He’s forbidden me from aiding him with proving what Ross did, so I must get the information out of him without him knowing it.”
“I’ve found the best time to extract information from an uncooperative husband is when he’s in the throes of doing something he’s more than willing to do,” Guinevere said, smirking.
“What?” Frederica asked. “Like hunting or riding?”
“No, Freddy!” Guinevere replied, bursting into laughter.
“Keep reading the Gothic romances, Freddy,” Lilias added, laughing as well.
Constantine knew instantly what Guinevere and Lilias were referring to. “I don’t know how willing Callum really is,” Constantine said dryly, “considering I had to make a deal with him to get him to agree to perform his husbandly duties in the first place. He desires me, to be certain, but he seems to be fighting it.”
“Kilgore always struck me as the sort of man who liked to be in complete control of his emotions,” Guinevere said. “Would you say that’s true?”
“Yes, most definitely,” Constantine agreed.
“Well then,” Guinevere said, “perhaps Kilgore wanted you out of the house immediately and did not want to perform his husbandly duties because he fears he’ll not be able to control how much he desires you and will be vulnerable. I say, you must take the upper hand and ensure that he does not keep his, er, time with you in his bed tame. Then he will forget to guard his words and give you the information you need.”
Constantine’s face was on fire, but still she said, “That doesn’t sound too terribly unpleasant.” Though, honestly, she didn’t know for certain what the actual act felt like since she and Callum had not consummated their marriage yet.
“Oh, it’s quite pleasant,” Lilias replied with a chuckle.
“How does one inflame a man’s desire?” Frederica asked, wide-eyed. Constantine wanted specifics, too, but she’d rather not admit it.
“Do unexpected things,” Guinevere said, a mischievous look in her eye.
“And be adventurous,” Lilias added with another chuckle.
“Oh, and you must visit Madame Toussant directly after you leave here,” Guinevere added.
“Who is Madame Toussant?” Constantine and Frederica asked at the same time.
“Plug your ears, Freddy,” Guinevere said. “You’re not wed yet.”
“I’ll do no such thing,” Frederica pronounced. “I think it very impractical that we ladies are kept in the dark about these things until we are wed.”
