Page 21 of Obsession: The Unspoken Sin
The younger earl continued with his advantage over an off-balance Denbigh. “And I know who you are. I know yourhistorytogether.”
Dynevor leveled him with an all-knowing death stare. “Just as I know what brought you here, Denbigh. I’m aware of what’s going on between you and Wakefield.”
The tall, athletically built younger man took a swaggering step closer. “Now, let me share some helpful information withyou. Alice has made a life here. And if you ruin it, you’ll not only have her wrath, you’ll have mine as well.”
Denbigh sharpened his gaze on the ruthless proprietor. The street-raised nobleman’s devotion to Alice sent that dark serpent of jealousy slithering down Denbigh’s spine. “You strike me as especially devoted toLadyAlice.”
“I am.” Lord Dynevor flashed a smug grin and Denbigh’s fingers twitched with the hungering to haul back and plant him a bloody facer. That false expression of amusement faded as quick as it’d come. “Make no mistake, Denbigh, I ensure my people are safe…and Alice is one of my people.”
“The hell she is, Dynevor,” he said on an icy whisper.
Dynevor drew his jacket back enough to reveal the jewel-studded dagger sheathed there along with a gun.
“You think I’m afraid of you?” Denbigh sneered. “Because I am not.”
“You should be,” Dynevor snarled. “If you knew what was good for you.”
“I’m here for Alice. I’m here because I care about her, and her family cares about her.”
“If you cared about her, you’d respect and honor her decision. But you know that it’s not about what Alice wants. It’s about what you want and what her family wants.”
And with that unerringly accurate barb leveled, the Earl of Dynevor saw himself out.
Chapter 8
“Yer sure this is a good idea?”
As Alice examined her reflection in the mirror in the room, she shared with Addien, Alice wasn’t really sure of anything anymore. It had been five days since she’d been reunited with Laurence. And every one of those five days, he’d come around. No, not really come around. He lived here. She found a strange kind of peace in sharing a residence with him—even if it was a debauched gaming hell.
“The gents who come here don’t come to take tea with a lady,” Addien pointed out from just beyond her shoulder.
With that, a vicious twinge pulled, a biting, sharp, jagged-tooth-like jealousy got a hold, squeezed, and held tight.
No, her friend was right. That was one very important detail Alice couldn’t ignore but had forced herself to. The only reason men came to this place, as the maid pointed out, was for sinning. Laurence had never been a wagering man. But he had kept mistresses. Oh, discreetly. But she’d been pathetic enough to have kept her ears open for any hint of information exchanged between he and Winchester when they thought they were in private.
No doubt he’d come for the same reason all the other gentlemen came here. To take part in carnal sinning. But a gentleman such as Laurence, the Earl of Denbigh, would never dare pursue such wickedness as long as his best friend’s sister was near. Nor could he simply walk away. No, his conscience wouldn’t allow that. And so, he kept company with her.
“Alice?”
“We don’t take tea,” Alice said out of absolute necessity. “You make it sound like I get into my day’s finest and we sit at a tea table across from one another.”
“No,” Addien drawled. “Having a light repast on the floor in his rooms, while he keeps you company as you work, is entirely different. Definitely less intimate,” Addien said with such dryness, heat slapped Alice’s cheeks.
“You make it sound as though it is something forbidden,” she muttered.
Her friend’s pixie-like features grew deadly serious. It was her usual state for everyone, with the exception of Alice.
“It’s because it is more dangerous,” Addien said, emphasizing that mention of peril. “You’ve got the look of a lady in—”
“Don’t say it,” she exploded.
Breathlessly, her heart pounded because the moment her friend spoke that word, there’d be no escaping it.
Addien’s expression became shuttered. “Oi was going to saylots of trouble.”
No, she hadn’t. Alice knew as much and so did Addien. One thing sisters in this place never did was to mention one another’s weaknesses. Female survivors stuck together.
“I just want you to be careful, Alice,” Addien said. “Men don’t bring ye nothing but heartache.”
