Taming the Wicked Wulfe (The Rogue Agents) (55 page)

“Have you heard from the physician yet?”

“Yes, my lord.
 
He sent the lad back with word ten minutes ago.
 
He will be at least another half hour.”

“Damn,” he paused and rested his head against the hand tightly gripping the door.
 
“Send the lad for Hawkescliffe.
 
Tell him it is an emergency,” Derek barked the order.
 
“Give me the keys to the manacles,” he held out his hand and his tone brooked no argument.
 
The guard handed over the keys reluctantly and Derek slammed the door in his face, having to take his frustration out on someone.

He limped back over to the bed and released the prisoner from her restraints.
 
The chains dropped to the floor with a loud metallic clank.
 
He sat and stared at her, his thoughts chasing each other.
 
How could it be?
 
He had been told everyone perished, except the handful that had been severely wounded.
 
Nearly an entire village had been wiped out.
 
He heard a disturbance outside the door before it flew open.
 

“All right Blackburn, what’s so damned important that it could not wait until morning?” Hawkescliffe demanded as he strode into the room.
 
Derek had been unaware of the passage of time while he watched her and contemplated the various scenarios.
 
The doctor had not yet arrived, so surely not much time had passed.
 
Derek shushed Hawkescliffe when the woman winced.
 
“Did you just ‘shush’ me?” he asked incredulously.

“As my friend, shut the hell up,” Derek whispered.
 
“Follow me,” he led Gabe to the fireplace.

“Well, what is it?
 
What is so important that I had to leave my conference with the Prime Minister?”

“This woman is not a traitor,” Derek spoke with conviction.

“What makes you so certain?
 
Tell me you have not let an attractive woman turn your head.
 
You are a better man than that.
 
This woman had incriminating evidence on her person.
 
Of course she is a traitor.”

“I swear to you she’s not.”

“Have you questioned her?
 
Did she give you reason to believe that she isn’t?”

“No, I have not had the opportunity to question her.”

“Then give me one good reason why she is not, and,” he cut him off before he spoke, “I assure you it had better be one bloody good reason.”

“Because she’s my wife, dammit!”

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A Traitorous Heart
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A Thin Line

The Reluctant Lords, Book 2

“Oh how dare he?” Kala questioned the empty room.
 
Her voice sounded raspy even to her own ears.
 
Most would think she had a cold or the ague, but no, this was her new voice courtesy of the villain who had been after her sister-in-law, Tessa.
 
Who knows?
she thought wryly.
 
Perhaps I will start a new trend among the
ton
.

Back to the matter at hand.
 
She had found Gabriel Hawke, the Duke of Hawkescliffe to be a traitor in the true sense of the word.
 
She had argued with herself for over a month that she had misunderstood what the voices on the other side of the door had been saying the night of Derek, her brother, and Tessa’s ball.
 
As many times as she tried to deny it, she could not deny overhearing him speak of troop movement, nor could she come up with a plausible answer for his actions.
 

The man had given away government secrets to a French whore.
 
What made the treason so much worse remained the fact that he was Derek’s best friend.
 
Her brother's best friend and a traitor to King and Country.
 
And to make matters worse, at one time she thought herself madly in love with him.
 
He had definitely ruined that possibility for both of them.
 
No way she could even stomach the idea of being married to him now.
 
She could barely look at him.
 
And to think, he had once stood alongside Admiral Nelson at Trafalgar.

She pushed herself out of the big bed, paced to the window and threw back the curtains.
 
The moonlight streamed into the room but did nothing to calm her.
 
The rare cloudless and fogless night in London showed off the true beauty of the city, but she failed to see it.
 
She had too many thoughts wrestling about in her mind for superiority.

“How could he?” she muttered helplessly, pressing her forehead against the cool pane of glass.
 
He had witnessed the heartache Derek had gone through when he believed his wife to be a traitor.
 
Thank goodness all that had turned out to be false.
 
So how could he, Derek’s best friend, do something like this?
 
The man must have lost all the good sense he had been born with.
 
Perhaps the stress of being one of the highest peers of the realm finally affected him.
 

She shook her head sadly replaying that awful night in her mind.
 
So many things had happened that night.
 
Tessa had been kidnapped for one.
 
But first she had heard Gabe giving information on troop landings to that exotically beautiful woman.
 
She had a French accent, claiming to be an émigré to all other members of the
ton
.
 
And there lie the real crux of the matter.
 
Not only did he divulge information to the enemy, but the enemy had been beautiful and seemed to have him firmly in her clutches, if the way the woman had been adjusting her dress been any indication.
 
She thumped her hands on the windowsill and let out a little growl of frustration.
 
She had to decide what to do about this matter and soon.
 

One thing had made itself abundantly clear though.
 
“She can have him.
 
I’m done with him.”

“Done with whom?”

Kala whirled around and clutched at her throat with one hand.
 
“Dru, you startled me.
 
I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“I couldn’t sleep.
 
Indigestion,” Kala’s aunt explained as an aside as she patted her swelling tummy.
 
“Now what has you in such an uproar?”

“Oh, I’m just excited over all the events of the last few weeks,” Kala stuck as close to the truth as possible.

“It has been quite an adventure, hasn’t it?”

“Yes.
 
Derek and Tessa will be leaving for the country once more.
 
Then we will all gather there for Christmas in a few months.”

“Now what are you so worked up about?”

“I can’t tell you, Dru,” Kala said, her shoulders drooping.

“What?
 
You used to tell me everything.
 
I am your favorite aunt, you know,” she waggled her brows for effect.

Kala giggled but shook her head adamantly.
 
“No.
 
This is something I must figure out and address on my own.”

“If you insist,” she reached into the pocket of her dressing robe and took out a deck of playing cards.
 
“What do you say we pass the time with a few games?”

“Yes, but no bets this time.
 
Derek yelled at me for an hour for losing my quarterly pin money to you,” she shook her head sadly.
 
“I had three queens and two tens.
 
I still don’t understand how you beat me,” she lamented.

“Derek is a spoilsport.”

“Derek is right,” a deep voice drawled from Kala’s doorway.

“Richard, I hope you didn’t miss me.”

“Of course I did, my love.”
 
He dropped a kiss on her lips and then covered her stomach with one of his large hands.
 
“Is she keeping you awake?”

“Yes.”
 
Kala watched the byplay unashamedly and with a great deal of envy.
 
She had been raised in a household like this one, with parents that adored one another and touched and kissed.
 
She had hoped that she and Gabriel could have had something like this, and perhaps they could have if he had never become the Duke of Hawkescliffe.
 
He had changed drastically in so many ways after receiving the title, a title he never should have had to don.
 
A large part of her mourned that fact.
 
Another part of her knew she must get on with the job of living.
 

“Richard, please stay and keep an eye on Dru.
 
I think she cheats,” she whispered loudly.

“Kala, I’ll let you in on a little secret,” Richard replied.

“What?”

“I
know
she cheats.”
 
The three stayed up until early morning playing, laughing, and talking.

***

The next morning, Kala quickly dressed in a plain, serviceable dress and scampered downstairs before anyone else arose.
 
She asked a footman to call for a carriage.
 
He performed the task reluctantly, seeing a dressing down in his future for letting her leave the house unescorted.
 
Miss Kala would be the death of them all in his lowly opinion.
 

The carriage arrived and Kala embarked on a journey across town to the Horse Guards.
 
She left the conveyance and paid the driver.
 
She paced back and forth in front of the building, chewing on her thumb as she tended to do when nervous.
 
She had let her sable hair fall in loose waves down her back, not wanting to waste any time in getting here.
 
Her thick, black lashes fluttered, hiding the mercurial changes of her hazel eyes.
 

She needed to speak to Director McKenzie as soon as possible and silently cursed the man for choosing this morning to not arrive before everyone else to the War Office, the central headquarters where plans were made to defeat Napoleon, and as she so recently found out where her brother and Gabe worked as well.
 
So caught up in practicing her speech, she did not hear the brisk footfalls until they were upon her.

“What do you think you are doing here?”

“Director McKenzie, the Duke of Hawkescliffe is a traitor,” she said as she turned around to look at the man.
 
Her mouth fell open in horror as she realized she had just told the information to the suspected traitor himself.

“Now that you know, what am I going to do to keep you silent, Pest?” Gabriel Hawke, the Duke of Hawkescliffe snarled as he pulled her close, the scar that slashed down his cheek made him appear piratical.
 
Kala did the only thing she knew to do, she raised her knee and in his moment of agony, she tore free of his hold and ran for her life.

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A Thin Line
, click
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To Love and Protect

The Reluctant Lords, Book 3

“John Coachman, please take me to Hyde Park.
 
I would like to go for a stroll before retiring for the evening.”

“My lady, is that wise?
 
It is getting rather late, and there is frost in the air.”

“Please,” she pleaded to the old man who had been more friend than employee many times.

“All right, miss,” he agreed reluctantly slipping into a more familiar address.
 
He shut the door and the carriage swayed as he took his spot on top.
 
They drove through the city before arriving at the nearly deserted Hyde Park.
 
The coach came to a stop and the old man opened the door.
 
“Are you sure, miss?”

“Absolutely.
 
Who could miss walking on an afternoon like this?
 
The sky is positively clear and how often does that feat occur in London, especially on a winter’s day?”

“I’ll be following behind you,” he said.

“No, you stay with the horses and carriage.
 
I’ll be fine.
 
I just want to take a stroll.”

“I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

“Everything will be fine.
 
Wait here.”
 
Clarissa took off at a brisk pace toward the flower gardens.
 
The groundskeepers for the park made certain that there were several types of flowers that bloomed every season.
 
The trees had only just lost their leaves due to a rather warm autumn and there were still a few flowers brave enough to peek their colorful petals out for all to see.

She found a bench and sat down to think and be by herself.
 
There was a time she used to be able to do this in her gardens at home, but now she feared her new step-uncle too much.
 
Since papa had been gone, she often took her meal in her rooms, never leaving her door unlocked for any reason.
 
Sometimes she would spend the evening with Aunt Gertie, but she did not dare do it too often for fear of worrying the dear woman.

How she wished for the peace of the country once more.
 
She also wished her father had never met that woman.
 
Woman!
 
Hah!
 
Lorraine was barely a few years older than herself.
 
The thought of that woman pretending to be her mother and so much wiser than her was a joke.
 
So lost in her thoughts, Clarissa failed to hear the footsteps that fell behind her.
 
A gloved hand covered her mouth and an arm pinned both of hers to her side.
 
She struggled to break free, but could barely move at all.