Maria swiped furiously at her tears, hating that she was unable to see his face as he said this to her. “You knew of my agreement with Eddington . . . and you were still prepared to go?”
“Of course,” he said simply.
“Why?”
“For the same reason you knew of Sedgewick and attempted your sacrifice regardless. I love you, Maria. More than my life.” His smile was bittersweet. “Today I believed I loved you as much as I was able. Now, however, I love you many times more than that.”
Maria reached back for the doorknob to support her weakening knees, but it was not enough. She sank to the floor in a puddle of lavender skirts and white underskirts, her foil across her lap.
“That’s it?” she whispered. “That is all you have to say?”
“Teasing wench.” He crouched before her and cupped her face in his large hands. He pressed his smiling lips to hers with heartbreaking reverence. She clutched his wrists and kissed him back with near desperation.
“I love you.” The raw emotion in his voice made her push up to her knees and surge into his arms. His returning embrace was so tight, it crushed the breath from her.
“They have set us against each other,” she said. “Must we allow them to break us apart?”
“No.” He pulled back to look at her. “Do you have a suggestion? Until we have Amelia, we are weakened.”
“We need to limit the number of players in this game. We have too many annoyances, and they are distracting us from our goals.”
Christopher nodded, his mind lost in thought. “Together we should be clever enough to find a way . . . Welton, Sedgewick, and Eddington. Eddington may have Amelia, so we tolerate him . . . but Welton and Sedgewick . . .”
A possibility entered Maria’s head and she quickly tried to discredit it. When the odds remained in their favor, she smiled.
“I love it when you look wicked,” Christopher said.
“Shall we change the rules, my love? Shall we reverse our positions and set them against one another?”
“Devious and audacious.” He grinned. “Whatever it is, I like it.”
“We need parchment and ink, and three of your fastest and most obstinate riders. These notes must be delivered, regardless of where the recipients are.”
“Done.” Christopher stood and pulled her to her feet. “Who would have thought that setting the two most wanted individuals in England against each other would lead to a collaboration on so many levels?”
“We might have thought of it”—she winked—“had we been orchestrating the matter.”
He laughed and hugged her close. “I pity the world now that we act as one.”
“Save your pity for yourself,” Maria said. “You have me for the rest of your life.”
“Never a dull moment, love.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I would not have it any other way.”
Chapter 22
To the unsuspecting eye, the occupants of a single unmarked carriage and multiple outriders were the only persons at the darkened wharf.
Maria stepped down from the coach and walked in plain view, the footman at her side holding a lamp aloft to draw all attention to her. Behind her, in the darkness, Christopher was slipping down through a hidden trapdoor in his carriage. He would see to his part of their plan while she saw to hers.
“Damn it, Maria!”
Welton’s harsh voice made her jump, but then a slow inner smile warmed her. As she turned around, she kept her face mildly disdainful.
“What the devil is this?” he muttered, striding toward her with his greatcoat flaring around his long legs. “Why so dramatic a location? And with damnable short notice? I was busy.”
“‘Busy’ to you means gaming or whoring,” she said scornfully. “Forgive me if I feel little regret for the inconvenience.”
He stepped into the circle of light, and as always, Maria was taken aback by the masculine beauty of his features. She supposed she would never cease expecting to see some outer evidence of his inner rot, yet he appeared to neither age nor suffer the ill effects of remorse.
“It is not safe to meet with you anywhere else,” she said, stepping back when he came too close so that he would be forced to speak loudly. “Eddington did not wish to bed me, as you assumed. He suspects me of the deaths of Winter and Dayton. He means to see me hang for your crimes.”
The viscount cursed viciously. “He can prove nothing.”
“He says he has found the person who concocted the poisons you used.”
“Impossible. I killed that crone myself when she became greedy. A blade in the heart permanently silenced her.”