His Compromised Countess. Deborah Hale

called him back from the edge of the bottomless abyss into which he’d been staring.

      His gaze flew towards the sound of it and he saw her standing near the house clutching Wyn.

      In a daze of joy and relief more profound than any he’d ever experienced, Bennett ran towards them and caught up with Caroline as she reached the kitchen door.

      She looked like a half-drowned angel with her golden hair hanging drenched around her shoulders and her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. Yet, never in all the years he’d known her had she looked so beautiful. Not swathed in the finest silk and decked with sapphires, nor gloriously naked in the throes of newlywed desire. For now she held their son in her arms, safe from dangers Bennett could not bear to contemplate.

      He longed to wrap his arms around them both and clutch them tight to his heart. But if he did, he feared he might lose control of his tightly bound emotions. Instead he channelled his overwhelming relief and concern into practical action.

      Throwing open the door, he ushered Caroline into the kitchen. The disagreeable smells he’d noticed upon first entering the house overwhelmed him, but he had more important things to worry about.

      ‘We need to get you both into dry clothes. Are there any here?’ He addressed the question to Parker, who swooped toward her mistress the moment they entered.

      In answer to his abrupt question, Caroline’s maid bobbed a nod. ‘That fellow with the cart fetched them from the inn when he brought Albert and the young master.’

      ‘Good. Then attend your mistress while I see to my son.’ Turning to Caroline, Bennett opened his arms. ‘I can take Wyn now.’

      But the child tightened his hold around Caroline’s neck and hid his face against her shoulder. ‘Papa will be angry with me for running away, like he was with you, Mama!’

      Wyn began to shiver. Was it from the cold, Bennett wondered with a pang, or was the child trembling with fear?

      ‘No, son.’ He tried to pitch his voice in a way that would reassure the child, but he was not certain he’d succeeded. ‘I’m not angry. I was worried about you, that’s all.’

      ‘We both were very worried, dearest.’ Caroline nuzzled the crown of Wyn’s head with her cheek. ‘But it’s all right, now. Go to your papa. He’ll take good care of you.’

      Did she mean that? After the insults and accusations they had hurled at one another such a short time ago, Bennett had his doubts. Yet when he scrutinised her tone for any barb of derision, he detected none.

      ‘Your mama is right, Wyn. You need not be afraid of me.’

      Their efforts to transfer the child from Caroline’s arms to his brought them into unsettlingly close contact. The back of his hand rubbed over the bosom of her sodden dress. The soft flesh beneath yielded to his touch. His leg brushed against hers. Her lips issued a silent but insistent call to his. It took little to rouse his gnawing hunger.

      Was that what Caroline wanted—to make him captive to his desires and slave to her whims? The mistrust Bennett had put aside came roaring back. Now that his wife had got a bitter foretaste of the life that awaited her outside the gilded bubble of their marriage, he would not put it past her to employ any means necessary to regain her position of privilege.

      That included seducing the husband she despised.