Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover: Number 4 in series (The Rules of Scoundrels series) (41 page)

“The gentlemen stay.” The words brooked no refusal. “Though if you refer to them with disrespect again, I shall not.”

“Let’s dispense with the trivial, Anna,” he said, as though they’d met a thousand times before. “I don’t care what happens to the men. Or to you, for that matter. Or to my wife, whom I have no doubt is somewhere else in this massive building. Save her life, don’t save her life. It does not matter to me. I am only sorry she ran before I could kill her.”

“If we are dispensing with the trivial, my lord, I would be very careful about how you threaten the lady. Need I remind you what the Angel knows about you?” Georgiana wondered if London would miss the disgusting man if he were disappeared. “I should not have to tell you that we are more than willing to release it.”

“I am well aware of what you have on me.”

“To be clear, we are speaking of proof of your treason?” she asked, wanting to see him flinch. Enjoying it immensely when he did. When his perfect teeth clenched, she smiled. “It’s widely known among the staff of the Angel. A lovely file, filled with a great deal of proof. You, sir, are a traitor to the crown.”

He leaned back. “You have discovered my dark secret.”

“I am certain there are darker ones.”

The smile was back, cold and grotesque. “No doubt.”

She released a sigh. “Lord Tremley, now it is you wasting our time. What precisely do you wish?”

He raised his brows. “I want Chase’s identity.”

She laughed. “I think it is amusing that you think I would ever dream of giving that to you.”

He smirked. “Oh, I think you will give me precisely that for which I ask, because I am prepared to take from you something that you hold very dear.”

“I cannot imagine what it is you think that might be.”

He leaned in again. “I am told that you and Duncan West have an arrangement.” She did nothing to acknowledge the words, her heart pounding at Tremley’s mention of Duncan. Were they friends or foes?

“At first, I thought it was the way things are here at The Fallen Angel. He’s handsome, rich, and powerful – a tremendous catch if you like the common man.”

She narrowed her gaze on him. “These days, I prefer them to aristocrats.”

He laughed, the sound cold and unsettling. “Clever girl. Smart mouth.”

Her lips twisted in a smile. “My time, my lord. You consume it.”

“But you’ll want to hear this bit,” he said casually, pulling out a chair and sitting, leaning back, enjoying holding court over them all. “At any rate, I thought you were simply a plaything for him. But then I spoke to him. And he seemed rather… committed to you. It was all very chivalrous.”

She wanted to believe it. But there was a connection between these men – one she did not understand. One she did not trust.

Tremley went on. “Not being a member, how was I to know that you did not whore yourself out to the highest bidder?”

Bruno and Asriel stiffened behind her, but she did not look to them. “What are you trying to say?”

The earl waved a hand. “I hear that you and West have an arrangement. You were seen together here, apparently caught in a scandalous act by the Duke of Lamont. You were seen in an unmarked carriage at his office, and again at his home. I was told you appeared significantly more… used, shall we say? On the way out than on the way in.”

Her heart began to pound.

“And he was quite put out when I referred to you by your profession instead of your name.” He paused. “Though, to be honest, I’m not certain I’ve ever heard your name in full. You’re usually simply referred to as Chase’s whore. But now you’re West’s whore. So… there is that.”

She’d heard the word a hundred times over the years, as she rollicked and reigned over the club floor. A thousand but now, here, tonight, it stung in ways she had never imagined it could.

Somehow, in all of this, she had become the mask. She’d become Anna. She would give herself to Langley for the most obvious of reasons. For the title. And she would resist giving herself to West, because he could not pay her price.

But it did not make her care for him less.

“I will ask you one more time. What is it you are attempting to say?”

“This is the bit where it would be better to speak without your sentry,” he said. “Because it’s the part where I convince you to betray your employer.”

“As it will never happen, there is no need for them to leave.”

His brows rose in surprise at the insolence in her tone. “You give me Chase’s name and I will leave this place and never return. Consider it collateral against any… future engagement.”

“We keep your secrets, you keep ours.”

He grinned. “What they say is true, you are not just a pretty face.”

She did not return the expression. “You, sadly, appear to only have a pretty face, Lord Tremley. You see, the arrangement you suggest only works if both parties have information the other wants protected.” She leaned forward and spoke to him as though he was a child. “We have your secrets. You don’t have ours.”

“No, but I have West’s.”

She stilled. “Mr. West is no longer a member. We have no need for his secrets.”

“Nonsense,” he said. “I am not a member, and you took information on me. Besides, even if Chase does not want these secrets, you will. They are legion.”

She met his gaze. “I do not believe you.”

If West’s secrets were big enough to be worth a trade for Chase’s identity, she would know them already. He would have told her, wouldn’t he?

As she had told her secrets?
 

She met Tremley’s gaze, saw the humor there, as though he read her thoughts. “There is
my
proof,” he crowed. “You care for him. You care for him, and he hasn’t told you, has he?” His tone turned falsely sympathetic. “Poor girl.”

She feigned disinterest, ignoring his words. “If he had secrets worth knowing, the club would know them.”

He met her gaze. “Shall I tell you? Would you like to know who your love is? Really?”

She ignored the questions, the way they baited her.

The way they made her want to scream,
Yes.

He leaned forward and whispered, “I shall give you a hint. He’s a criminal.”

Her gaze flew to his. “We are all criminals in one way or another.”

He smiled. “Yes, but you have no illusions about me.” He stood. “I think you should ask him yourself. Ask him about Suffolk. Ask him about the grey stallion. Ask him about the girl he kidnapped.” He paused. “Ask him his real name. Ask him about the boy from whom he stole it.”

Her heart pounded at the words, as she struggled to believe them. As she struggled not to believe them. As she fought the twin emotions of feeling that she was betraying Duncan by even listening to the earl, and feeling as though Duncan had betrayed her bitterly by not telling her his truths before he tempted her into his arms and his life and his damn swimming pool.

Before he made her love him.

Who was he?
 

“Get out,” she said to the earl, low and quiet and full of threat.

“You think I won’t hurt him? You think I wouldn’t wreck him? He means nothing to me … but he seems to mean quite a bit to you. Are you sure you want me to leave? Without giving me what I ask?”

“I am sure that I do not wish to breathe your air ever again.”

He smirked. “Shouldn’t you end that sentence with ‘my lord’? You really are too comfortable with your betters, aren’t you?”

She looked to Asriel. “Get him out. He is no longer welcome here.”

“I shall give you three days,” the earl said. “Three days to confirm that everything I have said is true.”

She shook her head, turning away. She did not need three days. She knew it was true.

She did not even know his real name.
 

She knew about secrets. Had built a life on them.

Who was he? Why hadn’t he told her?

Why didn’t he trust her?

What is your relationship with Tremley?
 

What is your relationship with Chase?
 

The irony of her questions was not lost on her. They held too many secrets between them.

It was best, likely. Honesty made one dream.

“Anna.” She turned back to look at the earl from the open doorway as he repeated, “Three days to decide where your loyalty lies… with Chase, or with West.”

Chapter 19

… Lady G— was a vision in white at the R— Ball, it makes one wonder: If she is so beautiful at a workaday event, how will she stun at an event devoted entirely to her? It will be a lucky man who gets the closest look…

… Known as perhaps the Rogue Extraordinaire of Society’s rakes, Lord B— appears to be at risk of losing his rakish title. He was spotted climbing the steps to the home he now shares with his Lady and their three children, arms loaded with parcels and packages and something that looked suspiciously like a Christmas pudding – in April!…

Pearls & Pelisses Ladies Magazine
, late-May 1833

Duncan stood in the dark gardens of Ralston House, the annual Ralston Ball beautiful and raucous behind him, waiting for Georgiana to appear.

He wanted to see her. Quite desperately.

He had meant to find her the previous day, after he’d resolved to get her out from under Chase’s thumb, but it wasn’t easy to find a woman who played two vastly different, secret roles in Society. Lady Georgiana had not been at Leighton House when West had seen Caroline home, and West no longer had access to The Fallen Angel to search for Anna, as his membership had been rescinded.

So, he’d spent the evening making arrangements for his return salvo in his war with Chase, a war that would decide any number of futures – Georgiana’s, Caroline’s, his sister’s, his own.

But he was no fool, and if all went well, his carefully laid plans would deliver him and Cynthia safety, and Georgiana and Caroline everything they wished. She would keep her secrets and get her husband. She would get the life she desired.

She’d danced every dance tonight, been partnered by some of the best and brightest in Britain. War heroes, earls, a duke known for his impressive work in the House of Lords. Every one would be a good match.

His papers – and he – had secured her a future. Secured her daughter a future. Georgiana would marry well – someone with a clean history, an unsullied title.

Perhaps even someone she could love.

He hated the bitterness that rose in him at the thought, the desperate desire to stop her from being with another. From loving anyone but him.

But he could not give her what she wished – even if he had a title… he could not promise her a future. Not one without fear.

And he would not wish that on this woman whom he loved so much.

If all went well, she would be returned to Society without a care in the world, without the shadows of her past looming, without the threat of a future without security. If his plan worked, she would be married within two weeks.

Two weeks
.

The words echoed through him, the little agreement they’d made what felt like a lifetime ago. They were intelligent people. They should have known that their lives were too complicated for even two weeks of simplicity. Not that he would ever dream of calling their time together simple.

She was the most complex woman he’d ever known.

And he adored her for it.

And tonight, he would show her that, one last time – stealing one final moment with her to help her find happiness, whatever that might be.

But first, he would tell her his truths.
 

He heard her before he saw her – the rustling of her skirts like cannonfire in the darkness as she approached. He turned toward her, loving the way she was silhouetted by the ballroom behind. The light cast a pale golden glow over her white gown, cut dangerously, decadently low, revealing the swell of her breasts, and making him want to steal her away from this place, forever.

She stopped several feet from him, and he hated the distance between them. He stepped toward her, hoping to close it, but she stepped back. She lifted a gloved hand and brandished a small ecru square. “You left me yesterday,” she said, and the pout in her voice made him want her even more. “You cannot simply decide to summon me out of a ballroom into a dark garden.”