The Wolf's Pursuit (27 page)

But she'd discovered that, next to Stefan and
Dominique, he was alongside some of the richest men in England.

But riches did not warm her at night.

She sighed and watched the flames
flicker.

"I thought I'd find you here," came a voice
from behind her. Instinctively, she grabbed the knife from her
bodice and held it out in warning, as Hunter sat down next to
her.

"Ah, Gwen, always prepared." He chuckled and
handed her a glass of wine. "We have a few things to discuss."

Here it was. Her heart ached as she watched
Hunter — her Hunter, the man she loved — curse and run his free
hand through his hair.

"Wilkins had been smuggling for a few years.
When he got desperate, he began smuggling weapons to the French.
The ciphers he left at my house were an attempt to implicate me for
smuggling for the past nine years. The codes had documentation of
my records. Who had paid me, and so forth. The idea, it seemed, or
from what Hollins was willing to say, was that he would decipher
the codes for the War Office, they would find me a traitor, and I
would be put in prison or die."

Gwen closed her eyes as a tear ran down her
cheek. "But why? Why you? I do not understand! He could have placed
it on Redding's shoulders. He could have done anything. Was he
truly that jealous of you? Or that angry at Ash? I'm sorry, Hunter,
I just do not understand."

"And that is what I have to talk to you
about." Hunter placed his wine on the table between them and turned
his golden eyes upon her. "Ash and I have just been informed. Know
that I had no idea of this woman's existence until now."

Gwen felt as if she had just lost all the air
in the room as it whooshed out of her lungs. Woman, did he say
woman? She felt tears form in her eyes as she watched him struggle
to put into words what he was trying to say.

"Just say it," Gwen blurted. "Tell me there
is someone else, that you do not love me, but please hurry! I
cannot take the silence. I cannot do this! I love you!" Her chest
heaved with the exertion of yelling at him.

Hunter's head perked up, and then his lips
quirked into a smile before he threw back his head and laughed.

"I'm leaving." She rose from the chair and
bolted for the door, but Hunter grabbed her by the wrist and flung
her back against his body so she was sitting on him. "I have a
knife."

"Then use it," he growled into her ear. "But
please be sure to be naked like last time. I found it quite
distracting."

She struggled to get free of his grasp, but
he held her firmly and chuckled. "Yes, and please with your naughty
foreplay."

Gwen huffed and stopped struggling. "Are you
finished making fun of me?"

Hunter lifted her off the chair, and while
holding her in his arms, kissed her firmly across the mouth,
plunging his tongue into its depths. This was no invitation of a
kiss. This was not polite — it was hot and needy. He groaned as he
knelt down and laid her across the rug, then began slowly
undressing her as he kissed her neck.

"I love you, Gwen. I will always love you. I
have to admit to being the worst sort of husband these past three
days, but there were things that needed to be settled, and finally
I realized something."

Gwen gasped as he bit her lip, then swirled
his tongue with hers, and pulled back again. "What is that?"

"It is not my job anymore." He sighed against
her chest and began kissing across her neck.

"Because, oh…" She arched her back. "Because
you retired?"

"Yes, and because Ash has taken
responsibility for… what must be done. I was worried about having
to take care of a situation and trying to find a way out of it, but
now it seems — You are absolutely…" He ripped at the sleeves of her
dress, exposing her corset. "Fully…" He growled as he bit her neck.
"Completely…" He moaned as he exposed the top half of her body.
"Mine."

"But what about what you needed to talk to me
about?" Gwen gasped again as Hunter licked the inside of her wrist
and then wickedly began sucking on her fingers.

"It can wait."

"Wait? Until?"

But Hunter had stopped talking and was doing
exceedingly well in making her forget what she'd been so worried
about in the first place.

Two hours later, they lay in each other's
arms. Hunter rose and stoked the fire.

"I am suddenly thankful we do not have a full
staff." Gwen giggled. "I can only imagine what a stiff old butler
would say to the duke and duchess of the house frolicking around in
the ballroom."

"Frolicking?" Hunter paused, his smile making
her stomach clench with desire. "Is that what we were doing?"

Gwen laughed as Hunter pounced on her again
and whispered, "I thought I was making love to my beautiful wife,
but if a good frolic is what you desire, who am I to stand in your
way?"

Another hour later and Gwen finally had a new
definition for the word frolic, and found that she would never be
able to hear it without blushing profusely.

Wolf—

That was one time! And the pigeon terrified
me! I thought it was an intruder! What do you expect me to do? Swat
it with my hand? All I had was a pistol. I cannot believe you would
hold one tiny indiscretion against me! And no, I refuse to stay
locked indoors. And yes, you are an animal. A complete and utter
animal, in and out of the bedroom, you scoundrel!

—
Red

Hunter nudged Gwen awake as the sun was
beginning to rise over the horizon. He had taken her to bed without
having a much-needed discussion with her, but the moment he saw the
life die in her eyes, he knew he needed to remedy the situation
immediately. For it had nothing to do with them, though it had
looked that way. He was just so terrified of losing her again and
exhausted over the most recent news that he found all he could do
was hold her and pray it would fix itself.

For he had been asked to complete a task,
something that he could not say no to. Dominique was his best
friend. He would die for him, do anything to protect him. And
though he wanted to say no, the delicate situation made it hard to.
But he could not leave Gwen, so Ash had stepped in, said it was a
way for him to redeem his many sins.

Not only had Ash changed from the easygoing
brother Hunter had always loved, but he was unpredictable. He would
be perfect, that is, if the woman did not kill him first.

"Love," Hunter murmured in Gwen's ear. "Love,
you need to wake up. We should talk."

"This early?" Gwen stretched across the bed
and moaned. Saints alive, how he wished he could possess his wife
instead of having to have such a conversation, but it was
necessary.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." He pulled her into his
arms and leaned against the headboard while he played with her soft
hair.

"What is it?" She yawned again.

"You asked before, why me? Why would Wilkins
target me? When he could have set up Trehmont or Hollins, even
Redding."

Gwen nodded in his arms. He took a deep
breath and continued. "It seems, my love, that Wilkins had somewhat
of a grudge against my family, against me."

He grinned and began his story, trying to
make it sound as lighthearted as possible. "Once upon a time, there
was a beautiful woman. Everyone loved her. Obviously she had the
face of a goddess. After all, she was my grandmother by blood."

Gwen laughed in his arms, and he kissed her
head. "A man, an untitled man, wanted her for himself. But she
refused him. You see, she loved him desperately, but her parents
would never approve of the match. So he ran away with her. But her
parents intercepted them before they made their marriage
legal."

"What happened?" Gwen sat up.

"She married another, and they had beautiful
children. Handsome, strapping men, who then had even more handsome
sons." He grinned as Gwen swatted him.

"Wilkins was the man?"

He nodded. This was the part he hated, the
part that made him sick. "Wilkins was so angry, so bitter over what
had taken place, merely because he did not have the station or the
money in order to provide for her, that he developed a strong
hatred for the gentry, for royalty, anyone in a higher
station."

Hunter closed his eyes. "He never stopped
loving my grandmother. She would be hard to forget. She often
entertained royalty from other countries and on the night of a
party, she entertained some of Russia's royalty. Wilkins snuck in
uninvited. Grandmother and he had another fight and my grandfather,
bless his heart, tried to kick Wilkins out, but Wilkins was drunk.
He had a pistol. He shot my grandfather and then shot my
grandmother."

"Hunter!" Gwen wrapped her arms around his
neck and kissed his cheeks. "So he decided to kill off your entire
family."

"No, I do not believe so, though his hatred
was strong. I always knew my grandparents had been shot by a
madman. I just hadn't known who had done it until now."

"Then how do you know this information? I
guess I don't understand. It is horrible, truly horrible, Hunter,
but how do you know?"

"He left a book of conquests, people he'd
killed, things he'd done. Hollins offered it as a peace offering in
order to lessen his sentence."

Gwen held him for a long time before sighing
into his chest. "Are you happier, now that you know how your
grandparents died?"

"Yes and no. It saddens me to think of their
lives cut short, merely because of a man's jealousy and hatred. I'm
surprised he was able to look at me, let alone stand in the same
room as me." Hunter swallowed the dryness in his throat. "There is
one other thing."

Gwen tensed. "The woman you spoke of
earlier?"

"Love, it is not what you think. Calm down
before I am forced to frolic with you again."

Gwen blushed bright red and pushed at his
chest. He tightened his hold around her and sighed. "Dominique has
asked me to go on a mission. A private one."

"No." Gwen shook her head. "We've just been
through a mission, and you know I would not let you go alone."

"Don't I know it?" Hunter kissed her pouted
lips. "Ash has it in his mind that he needs to do a penance for
disappearing for so long, even though he saved our lives.
Apparently it will never be enough."

"So he is to find a woman?"

Hunter kissed Gwen's neck. "Not just any
woman, Dominique's cousin. I do not know the specifics, but she was
forced into hiding. It is Dominique's wish to bring her here and
give her a Season, thereby marrying her off and offering her his
protection."

"Where is she now?"

"She was brought into Scotland a day or so
ago and has been waiting for communication from Dominique, but
considering everything that has recently taken place, it hasn't
been a smooth transition."

Gwen said nothing for a minute and then
turned to him and kissed him firmly across the mouth. "So you are
staying?"

"As long as you want me."

"Forever," Gwen whispered across his
lips.

"That, my dear, is a long time to live with a
wolf."

Gwen leaned back and winked. "I'll be sure to
keep my pistol loaded."

Hunter kissed her chin. "Good. You know how I
like violence before frolicking."

Another blush stained Gwen's cheeks. "Stop
using that word!"

"Frolic, frolic, frolic."

"Sheep, sheep, sheep, sheep," Gwen taunted.
"Wasn't that your choice word before?"

"No." Hunter shook his head seriously. "I
believe I also talked a great deal about nuts and breadcrumbs. And
squirrels."

"You are a strange man." Gwen sighed and then
giggled.

"It is why you love me so much. Life is too
predictable with other fellows. With me you'll always be
guessing."

With that Hunter pulled her into his arms and
dove under the blankets.

Another hour later, Gwen rubbed Hunter's back
and whispered, "I love you."

"And I you…"

"Good." She sat up in the bed. "Because we
have to attend Dominique and Isabelle's house for dinner
tonight."

"Will Montmouth be there?"

"Oh, I hope so." Gwen winked. "Perhaps he
will get his wish and finally get to shoot you."

"One can only dream," Hunter said dryly, and
then attacked his insatiable wife for the third, fourth, perhaps it
was the fifth time that morning.

One month later, following the battle of Waterloo

Hunter glared as Montmouth placed his pistol
atop the table, as was his custom every time Hunter and Gwen came
to visit. He was convinced Hunter was going to slip up at least
once, giving him the pleasure of being able to steal Hunter's life
from him. At least now it was a joke, or at least Hunter told
himself that so he wouldn't strangle the man. They had come to an
agreement of sorts. Hunter kept his flirtatious comments to his own
wife, which of course had been his intention all along, and
Montmouth would keep his gun out of reach.

Dominique shook his head and rolled his eyes
at Hunter as Montmouth polished the gun and then began clearing his
throat.

It had been one month since Ash had left in
search of Dominique's cousin Sofia, and none of them had heard word
about their whereabouts.

"Something has happened," Dominique said
quietly to Hunter. "I am not being paranoid. Shouldn't he have
contacted us by now? To at least say she was safe? That he had
her?"

Dominique wasn't one to worry, but Hunter had
the same fears. After all, they had just discovered not but two
days ago what Ash had been doing for the past nine years, and it
hadn't been taking up the arts of painting or poetry.

No, his twin, his own flesh and blood, had
been a gun for hire. To be exact, an assassin for hire. Hunter had
even heard of the famous Grimm, for they said every time a mark of
ash was found anywhere near a person, they would die three days
later, and the Grimm Reaper, or Grimm, would be responsible.