What A Rogue Wants (12 page)

The king smiled at him. “Your eyes
give me your answer. Put on the ring and say the vow.”

He quickly did as he was told, and
once the words of loyalty were spoken, and he was dismissed to
spend this one day as he wished, he knew exactly what he wanted to
do. He wanted to find Madelaine and make a fresh start. Maybe they
could take a stroll or a ride through the park.

He wanted to get to know her not as
the man he had been, but as the man he wanted to be―no longer an
unrepentant rake but a man of honor like his brother and
father.

IT TOOK HIM A GOOD hour to find Lady
Madelaine, but it was worth the effort and the coin he had to part
with to get her lady’s maid to reveal that Lady Madelaine had
slipped out of the castle to collect some flowers as a surprise for
the queen. Grey snorted at the thought. There weren’t any flowers
in bloom this time of year, and the maid had said Lady Madelaine
was carrying something wrapped in a cape.

He suspected she’d slipped away to get
in some target practice with her bow and arrow, and when he spotted
her close to the woods and hidden by several tall trees from the
view of anyone who chanced to look out the castle window his
suspicion was confirmed. He started to make his way toward her, but
stopped as she drew up her bow and arrow and aimed at a distant
tree she’d placed a circular target on.

He didn’t want to startle her or throw
off her aim with his approach. By the look of concentration on her
face, and from what he’d already seen of her archery skill, she
took her practice seriously. He leaned against a tree to watch her.
She pulled her bow taut, moved her face into and away from the
wind, and shifted her stance.

Desire made him shift his own
position. She fascinated him. He’d never seen a look of such
determination on a woman’s face unless she was determined to trap a
man into marriage. Lady Madelaine wanted marriage, an admission by
her own lips. He should be avoiding her at all cost yet he was
here. What would marriage to her be like? He’d never considered
marring anyone. A lady to tumble for pleasure and to annoy his
father with scandal was the closest he’d ever linked himself with
any woman.

He knelt down by the tree no longer
wanting to approach her. What better way to learn the real her than
to watch her. Her guard would be down. Every time she smiled, he
smiled. Her exclaims of frustration made him laugh. But the way she
threw her arms over her head in triumph when she made a good shot
was the best part of watching her. She was beautiful, and his lust
was stirred. Yet something else was awakened.

He’d been stirred to lust many times
in his life. It was her uniqueness that he found compelling. She
cared for things women were not supposed to. She loved these things
so much she’d chanced sneaking away and incurring the queen’s ire
or worse. Lady Madelaine was going to have a deuced hard time with
the marriage she was seeking if her future husband minded a wife
who wasn’t the typical female most men seemed to want.

Most men, except him. He smiled and
frowned in turn, but a stick breaking beside him interrupted his
musings. He reached for his dagger and glanced up at the shadowy
figure above him.

As he shielded his eyes from the sun’s
glare, Gravenhurst dropped to his haunches. “Spying?” he said,
looking between Madelaine and Grey.

“
Something like that.”
Grey shifted uncomfortably at being caught, Gravenhurst’s knowing
smirk, and his friend’s choice of words. Gravenhurst had been the
one person Grey had ever confided anything in, and it seemed
strange not to be able to tell his friend about becoming a spy for
the king.

“
Are you working out a
plan of attack?” Gravenhurst asked.

“
Not exactly.” Grey
watched Madelaine draw another arrow. He quickly told Gravenhurst
of his encounter with Lady Madelaine and Thorton, and their
enlightening conversation afterward.

Gravenhurst chuckled. “I’d say that’s
the worst misjudging of a lady you’ve ever done.”

“
I’ve never misjudged what
a lady wants, until now.”

“
And misjudging her makes
you smile?”

Did it? Grey quickly wiped the smile
from his face once he realized Gravenhurst was correct.

“
Who do you think she’s
imagining she’s shooting?” Gravenhurst sat on the ground and
crossed his legs out in front of him.

Grey ran a hand over the stubble on
his face. “Could be me or Thorton. It’s hard to say.”

“
Take heart, Grey. Your
character may be tarnished in her mind, but I doubt she thinks you
a bloody bastard, which is undoubtedly how she thinks of
Thorton.”

“
You’re helpful as
always,” Grey said, irritated his time alone to study her was being
interrupted. “Why are you here anyway? Bored?”

“
I came to find
you.”

“
And you have. Spit it out
and be gone.”

“
I’m under the king’s
orders.” Gravenhurst swatted at a bee buzzing around his face. The
sun glinted off his ring. Grey frowned, followed the path of his
friend’s hand and hissed low as he counted the six stones he’d
never paid heed to before. He stared at the man he’d considered
like another brother for as long as he could remember. He thought
he knew Gravenhurst as well as he knew himself, but doubt now
bombarded him. What did he really know of anyone?

What was certain and what was
fabrication? Gravenhurst’s parents had died when he was very young,
and he’d been raised by an uncaring, distant relative who’d let
Gravenhurst come and go as he pleased. His friend had spent more
time at Grey’s house than his own, and Grey had not even minded
when Gravenhurst and Edward had become good friends as well. Grey
had been glad that Gravenhurst had someone else who cared about his
welfare. These were facts.

Gravenhurst was gone a good many
months out of the year. Another fact. He claimed he loved to travel
and he would rather do it when he was young, in good health, and
unencumbered by a wife who wouldn’t be able to endure the
adventures he went on. This was likely fabrication. Gravenhurst had
never once asked Grey to go on one of his trips with him, and now
that Grey cast his mind back, he was certain his friend had been
gone many of the same times Edward or Father were gone. He
swallowed a knot of astonishment. “You work for the
king.”

Gravenhurst slapped Grey on the
shoulder. “That I do, my friend. And not, mind you, as an
equerry.”

“
You bloody bastard. Why
didn’t you tell me?” His words came out on an
exhalation.

“
I didn’t tell you because
I wasn’t able to. Just as you will never be able to talk of what
you do with anyone but the king or one of the other five spies who
are part of our circle. I took a vow to keep the secret, just as
you have. You cannot be angry with me for that.”

“
I’m not angry, just
shocked at the discovery. How long have you worked for the
king?”

“
Since I was
twenty-one.”

Grey whistled. “Eleven years. They
recruited you young.”

“
Come on. We’ll talk as we
walk.”

“
Walk?”

Gravenhurst nodded toward Lady
Madelaine. “Either we move or the lady catches us here.”

Grey scrambled to his feet and
followed Gravenhurst back toward the castle. “There’s much to
accomplish in the next couple of weeks,” Gravenhurst said. “The
king wants me to prepare you to track down Sutton’s killer with
me.”

“
Sutton was a spy, and he
was killed?”

“
Yes. He was captured
while on a mission in France with Stratmore several months ago. And
our contact in France confirms Sutton was killed by De La
Touche.”

“
Stratmore is a spy? Lady
Madelaine’s father?”

“
Try to keep up,
Grey.”

“
I’m keeping up, damn it.
That doesn’t mean I’m not surprised. Who is De La
Touche?”

“
Napoleon’s most favored
spy. And his deadliest one. Mostly we spies have a code. We lie, we
cheat, we steal, but normally we don’t kill, unless absolutely
necessary.”

Grey nodded, but his mind reeled.
Stratmore a spy. Pearson a spy. And Grey’s father had killed men.
His brother? How little he really knew about his own family. The
shame of all the jealousy he had felt swept through him again. He’d
assumed so much about his father, and it was all wrong. “I take it
this man De La Touche does not abide by the spy code of
conduct.”

“
No. He doesn’t. In the
last five years, he’s killed two of our spies. Sutton makes number
three.”

Grey walked into the courtyard of the
castle and stopped. He glanced back and waited until Lady Madelaine
came into view. All this talk of killing made him want to ensure
she got into the castle safely, though he knew she was safe here.
She trudged toward the castle, her sluggish steps making it obvious
she didn’t want to return to her mundane duties as a
lady-in-waiting. A smile tugged at his lips. Poor dove. He
understood her reluctance. He watched her for a moment, before
refocusing on Gravenhurst. “How can you be certain Sutton is
dead?”

“
Our contact has never
been wrong. Besides that, he identified Sutton’s body and retrieved
his ring, which you are now wearing.”

Revulsion swept through Grey. He had
to force himself not to yank off the dead man’s ring. It was only a
ring. It wasn’t as if he’d killed the man for it. But damnation, he
was bothered knowing his chance to be a spy had come from a man’s
death.

Gravenhurst clasped Grey’s shoulder.
“Don’t dwell on it. I don’t dwell on the man I replaced. Sorry I
had to lie. But I couldn’t very well tell you one of the king’s
personal spies was killed and you had been tapped to replace the
fallen man.”

“
No, I don’t suppose you
could. Why did my father recommend me now? After all these years? I
had thought, when the king told me the news yesterday, that Father
might have been waiting for me to mature, but if you were chosen so
young, why me now?”

“
You’ll have to ask your
father to be certain. I was a perfect candidate though. Orphaned
young. No living close relatives. No wish to ever marry or have
children. And you? I can only speculate, but I imagine your father
wanted to keep at least one son out of harm’s way. But bloody fool
that you are, you thrust yourself into danger daily. Might as well
be doing it for a noble cause.”

A sense of need swelled inside him. He
would make his father proud. He’d not acknowledged the desire to
want to in many years, but now he could. He was facing all sorts of
buried demons today. “Why hasn’t anyone tracked De La Touche down
before now?”

“
We have, but he got away
from us. Sutton was the lead for tracking him down, but now Sutton
is gone.”

“
Am I to be the one to
hunt De La Touche?”

“
No. You’re to help me.
Once our contacts trace De La Touche’s new hiding place we’ll go
together. You’ll be my backup.”

“
Excellent. I’m
ready.”

Gravenhurst chuckled. “You’re not even
close to ready, my friend. But when I’m through with you, you will
be.”

Retracing her steps, Madelaine plodded
up the hill. Her back screamed for relief from her hunched over
position, but if she stood she couldn’t see the grass near as well.
At the top, she straightened and rubbed her back. “It’s
hopeless.”

“
Nonsense,” Elizabeth
replied. “We
will
find the queen’s ring.”

“
I don’t see how.”
Madelaine waved a hand toward the lake. Up here it looked smaller
than it really was. “Look at all the ground we covered with our
morning stroll. She’s set me an impossible task. That ring could
have slipped off her finger anywhere. I think she wants me to
fail.” Madelaine slumped to the ground in defeat.

“
Don’t fret.” Elizabeth
sat down and patted Madelaine’s arm. “We’ll find it, and then
perhaps she’ll start to see how devoted you are to her.”

Madelaine snorted. “It was kind of you
to volunteer to help me, but you should go back to Frogmore and
join the others for lunch.”