Stone had just returned home from White’s after having lunch with Cooper and Flint. He left early when his stomach became upset, and now that he was home, he was glad he’d departed. As he went to sit behind his desk, his arms and legs trembled like a leaf in the wind, and when he took his seat, a clammy sweat broke out on his forehead while a chill skittered down his spine. Deciding he needed to lie down, he tried to rise again, but his stomach chose that moment to revolt. He barely made it to his feet before tossing up his accounts in a nearby planter.

After a short while, he was able to make his way back to his desk, where he rang the servant’s bell. Mrs. Beats appeared, and upon seeing he did not feel well, she immediately marshaled the staff. Before long, Stone found himself ensconced in his bed with Evers and his wife fussing over him.

“Theo, this is simple food poisoning. Please, stop fretting. I will be fine by morning.” Stone was certain his worrying wife might drive him mad. And, most importantly, he needed to sort through events in his head. When he considered all the various accidents and near misses he’d escaped of late, it was getting harder and harder to deny that something foul was afoot.

“Do you recall what you had to eat today?” She stood next to his bed, her hands clamping tight only to shift and repeat the motion.

“I had halibut for lunch. I am sure it was simply a bad piece of fish. Do go on and eat your own dinner. Evers and Mrs. Beats will see that I am cared for, and then I plan to sleep. All this has taken quite a toll.” He yawned, his energy waning with each passing moment.

His wife looked mutinous. “Absolutely not. I am your wife, and I shall see to your care.”

“Theo—” He yawned again.

“Stone, sleep for now. I shall be here when you awaken, and we may argue about your care then.”

Exhausted and unable to argue further, he drifted off to sleep.

The next morning when Stone awoke, he found a sleeping Theo perched in a chair, fully dressed with multiple locks of hair hanging about her face. He moved to sit up but found himself still feeling poorly.

Theo sat up and yawned as she stretched. She looked delightfully rumpled, and, if he were honest, it touched him deeply that she cared enough to linger at his bedside. She glanced over at him and, upon realizing he was awake, turned a concerned gaze upon him. “How are you feeling this morning, Stone?”

“Better.” He fibbed because she looked as exhausted as he still felt.

“Excellent. Why don’t I go see about a breakfast tray for you?” Her eyes sparkled with a desire to help.

He wanted to groan at the idea of food, but decided to agree with her. “That would be excellent. If you’d send in Evers, I will clean up a bit so I can…eat.”

“I am so glad you are feeling better. I must say, you scared me terribly yesterday.” Theo rose and came over to the bed. With a gentleness that suggested she did not fully believe his story of feeling better, she leaned over and kissed his still-damp forehead. She departed, and as she opened his chamber door, Evers slipped in as though he knew his presence was required.

Alone with his valet, he quickly dashed off a note to Cooper alerting him to his predicament. Perhaps a trip to Scotland Yard was in order after too many coincidences. Then again, he and Cooper could look into a few things first. Possibly substantiate his thoughts before filing a report.

Besides, it seemed this incident would fall into the same failed category as all the others. Whether it was by luck or some other factor, he seemed to have survived what appeared to be an intentional poisoning. After all, Cooper had had the same lunch and had not been feeling poorly when they parted.

Exhausted from the correspondence and the effort expended with Evers’s assistance to set himself to some rights, he fell asleep again before his wife returned with breakfast.

---

Two weeks spent caring for her recovering husband slipped past before Theo realized it, and she had yet to visit the orphanage. It still concerned her that food poisoning could have laid him so low, but in the end, he had recovered with some rest and her own careful ministrations. Of course, in that time she had begun experiencing her own upset stomach, which had at first worried her that he was sick with something contagious. But, determined to complete her visit to the orphanage despite the regular morning queasiness, she stopped by the library, where she often found Stone after breakfast. Some days they would sit companionably and each deal with their correspondence. Other days he locked himself away with his man of business and took care of pressing matters.

This morning, he sat hunched over the desk, scratching out a letter to someone, his head bent in concentration. The morning sun shone through the giant window behind him, framing Curzon Street and even catching a bit of Curzon Chapel, and shot sparks through his dark hair. Little glints of gold and flame danced about what were normally very sedate, dark strands of hair.

Smiling, Theo stepped in the room and drew Stone’s attention. “Do you have a moment to discuss a few invitations?”

He looked up and grinned at her. “Certainly. What entertainments do you have at hand?”

Theo sat down and sifted through those she knew were coming up soon. “We have an invite to the Hawksbury house party.”

Stone groaned. “I detest house parties. How long is this one?”

Theo shared the sentiment heartily. For all that she enjoyed the country, she much preferred Stonemere Abbey to most of the modern, overly adorned country homes of the Ton. “A week, but I daresay we can go for the weekend festivities in a fortnight and not stay the full week. I’ll let Lady Hawksbury know that business keeps you from arriving sooner.”

“Very well. If you believe we should attend.” Stone’s deferral to her wishes socially boosted her confidence and reminded her that she was, in fact, his partner in many aspects of their marriage. In all the important ones, she preferred to be his pet, submissive to him in a far more traditional sense than she ever imagined.

“I do. I heard yesterday that Lord Townsend will be in attendance for the ball, and I believe you were working on securing an investment from him for the railroad.”

Stone chuckled. “Indeed, my perceptive wife, I am. And you are right, it is a wonderful opportunity to mention our endeavor once more.”

“I shall reply this morning before I go out. We also have an invitation for a musicale at Lady Devon’s that I shall be making our excuses for, but the Marquess of Downing is holding a ball next weekend. It should be a frightfully stuffy event, but Mother and Father will take note if we do not attend.”

“Then, by all means, add it to our calendar. Any further mandatory entertainments?”

“That should be all. Since we are so newly married, we can escape many of the lesser invitations. Have you anything for me?”

“I am afraid not. Once I finish this correspondence, I shall be off to White’s. But I shall return home in time for dinner as usual.”

“Excellent. I believe Mrs. Beats is planning roast pork for dinner.” Theo rose and headed toward the door.

“Wife, I believe you have forgotten something.” Stone rose from his seat and rounded the desk.

Theo wanted to ignore the nerves fluttering in her belly as he approached. Then he leaned over and pointed to his cheek. “I believe a kiss on the cheek is a customary sign of affection.”

Theo flushed, thrilled that he wished to observe such customs. With a grin, she stretched up and placed a peck on his cheek. But before she could sidle away, he wrapped an arm about her waist and hauled her into his chest.

Then he tipped her face up to his and kissed her gently on the lips. “But I think I prefer a kiss on the lips to one on my cheek. Do remember in future, pet.”

“Yes, Master.” Her breathless reply slipped out as he released her from his arms.

With a lightness to her steps she could only credit to her husband’s attention, she headed up to her writing room to reply to the various invitations before her visit to the orphanage.

As it happened, it was afternoon before she was able to escape the house and visit her children. She watched as they ran about the desperately tiny square of green adjacent to the large house they lived in. It was impossible not to look at the larger square of green on the other side of a fence that divided what had once been a single estate into two separate plots of land. One brother had been eager to sell, the other not at all. And so she bided her time until the day the holdout changed his mind.

“Lady Stonemere, ’tis always lovely to have you join us.” Mrs. Richter greeted her as warmly as she always did, even before her marriage to Stonemere.

“I do enjoy seeing the children flourish. It reminds me that all is not horrible in the world, though perhaps it would be a little cheerier if I could pry that plot of land from that obstinate man’s hands.”

Mrs. Richter snorted. “Curmudgeonly old sod. He chased little Bell out of his yard after their ball flew over the fence and refused to return it.” She shook her head. “I do hope whoever bought the property is kinder to the children.”

“Bought the property? Whatever do you mean?” Despair stabbed right through her corset and into her heart. She had been waiting for years for an opportunity to buy the remaining piece of land.

“I heard from the old man himself that someone came to him and offered an outrageous sum, far more than it was worth, to buy the land. The man looked positively gleeful as he acknowledged how he gouged the new owner.”

Theo harrumphed. “Well, if they pressed the old man, it serves them right to overpay for the land. Why, it’s barely big enough to build a house on, certainly nothing ostentatious. And this neighborhood is not exactly an address of note. I wonder who could have afforded to purchase the land without regard for their future investment.” Theo’s curiosity had her bidding Mrs. Richter farewell as she headed off to Mr. Harrington’s office to set him on the trail to discover who’d stolen her property right out from under her nose.

---

Stone sat contentedly in the library and sipped a glass of scotch as he waited for his wife to return home from her outing. She was always in an excellent mood after she visited her orphans, and he hoped to capitalize on that mood this evening. He looked forward to a night of sexy fun with a woman who matched his own appetites perfectly.

The front door slammed shut with a resounding boom that echoed through the house as though a portent of doom. A moment later, Theo stalked into the library, pulled her adorable top-hat-styled bonnet off and slammed the poor confection down on the table, absolutely crushing it beyond repair.

Stone sighed. It seemed as though someone or something had his wife’s tail feathers in a ruffle. And that was never a good thing, as he had come to learn. “Good evening, Theo. I take it your day did not go as you intended?”

“I am simply furious.” She practically vibrated with her emotions.

“Come, my dear, sit and tell me what has you so up in the boughs.” Stone’s gut clenched. Could she have discovered what he had done?

She flopped onto the settee across from him. “It’s the orphanage.” She clenched her fist and banged it against the arm of the small couch. “That old man who refused to sell me both pieces of property to spite his brother has had the audacity to sell the parcel to someone else after I have made multiple offers over the last few years.”

“I do hate to point out the obvious, Theo. But it is his property, and he has the right to sell to whomever he chooses.” Stone gulped, having to swallow past the lump in his throat. He had no idea she would be so upset if she found out about the sale of the property, and damn it, just how did she discover it? He’d made the old geezer promise to keep it quiet.

“Yes, but you know I want that land for my orphanage. The children need room to play, and as of yet, I have been unable to convince the old curmudgeon to sell. It pains me they have so little room.” Theo sniffled.

The tears gathered in his wife’s eyes almost broke his resolve to hold the truth back. He had planned it as a belated wedding gift for her, but his man of affairs was coordinating some necessary changes to make the land suitable for the orphanage before he presented his gift. What he needed now was time to finish preparations for the full surprise. “I do hate to see you so disappointed. Perhaps we can find some way to cheer you up?”

“It is a lost cause. I am simply devastated.”

“Come now, Theo.” Stone rose and switched to the space next to his wife on the settee. “Perhaps something good will come of all this? One can never be sure of what the future holds.” He reached out and gathered her into a gentle embrace. She leaned into him, snuggling in his arms as though she could find no better haven for comfort.

“I cannot imagine how this might turn about.” She sat up and looked at him with eyes full of emotion. Disappointment swirled with hope as she considered how she might best adapt to her new circumstances. “Perchance I shall simply have to set about finding a new location for my orphans?”

“I daresay you should not jump to action so quickly. Some unexpected boon may present itself if you bide your time. Not unlike our fortuitous marriage.” He leaned in and snared her pursed lips in a kiss meant to tempt, tantalize, and, most importantly, distract.

She sank into the kiss, letting her form melt against his as they sprawled on the settee in a heap of fabric and limbs. While it had been a last-ditch effort, kissing his wife seemed to accomplish his primary goal. And, lucky sod that he was, the bonus was proving to be an ardent embrace from his lovely wife.

But then she broke their entanglement and drew back to stare him directly in the eyes. “I know what you are about, husband.”

That blasted lump of guilt was back. “You do?” he all but croaked in reply.

“Indeed. You are distracting me with your very fine amorous skills. And while normally I would abhor such tactics, today I shall allow it. But do not think this will work in future.”

He considered her serious tone and the slight lift at the corner of her mouth, which suggested she repressed the urge to grin at him. “I shall keep that in mind, wife.”

“Very well, then, I daresay this is where you should sweep me upstairs and take me to bed if your plan is to be certain of success.”

“I see. You have this all thought out. Perhaps, instead, I shall take you upstairs and paddle you to distraction, pet.” He had to dig deep to find his stern, disciplinarian tone.

Instantly, her lashes drooped and a dash of pink bloomed on her cheeks. “If that is what you wish, Master.”

He groaned. The woman knew just how to twist him in knots. Whereas before he’d been thinking of a little fun in their bedroom, now she had turned his head toward much more dominant thoughts. Thoughts of bending her over the bench and spanking her arse red as he fucked her deep. And despite the early afternoon hour, he would follow through on the images in his mind, because he strongly suspected his lusty wife was thinking of a similar distraction. “Upstairs, in our private room, naked. I shall be along shortly.”

She stood up and, with a nod, dashed off to do his bidding. Almost all was right with his world. His wife was both spirited and submissive, the railroad had settled back into normal business routines, and his nightmares had greatly receded. The only concern now lay in the frequent accidents he’d had of late. He needed to address the issues soon, but for now, his wife awaited him. Needed him. He carried a strange sense of satisfaction with him as he headed upstairs.