Page 96 of To Catch A Rogue
Lark caught his eye and slipped from the ball.
Glancing around to see if anyone was watching, he followed her, only to be ambushed halfway down the hallway.
"What were—?"
She pressed three fingers over his mouth and dragged him into a small sitting room before closing the door behind them.
He could still hear the strains of a waltz in the distance, yet there was a muted sensation to it, as if they were the only two people in the world right now. The pulse of it throbbed in time to his heartbeat.
"Care to explain?"
"Don't be jealous."
"I'm not jealous," he growled. She belonged to him. She had to. What had happened between them today had to mean something. "But the pair of you seemed absorbed in each other. I cannot help feeling as though you know him."
Lark's hands slid up his chest. "You don't understand."
"Then enlighten me."
Her mouth sought his in the dark, hungry and desperate. She wrapped her arms around his neck, wilting against him. Silk slithered against his thighs, and somehow his hands were traveling down her narrow spine and cupping her by the ass. He hauled her against him, grinding his burgeoning erection into her.
As sweet and tempting as her mouth was, it wasn't enough.
Charlie drew back, gasping for breath.
"Who is he?"
Lark's shoulders stiffened. "He.... I...."
Charlie reared back. "You cannot tell me?"
"No! It's not like that!" She came after him, all swishing silk as she shoved her mask onto her forehead. "I've never told a soul what I've told you in the past twenty-four hours. I trust you implicitly, you know that. But this is.... It's new to me." Gloved fingers slid through his. "Please, just give me a chance to collect my thoughts."
Charlie forced himself to still, his fingers beating a ragged rhythm on his thigh.
"I'm almost certain he's my brother," she whispered.
He's... "What?"
Lark hurriedly explained.
"Then why the hell is he working for Sergey?"
Lark shot him a pinched-lip look. "I don't know. Nikolai wasn't.... He wasn't there at the palace that night. He was attacked in the carriage on the way home from the opera with my father and Dmitri. He claims Dmitri arranged it all, but Dima would never have betrayed his family. All these years, I never knew what truly happened to them. I knew they 'died.' I thought Sergey must have found them and killed him too. But what if...?"
What if he hadn't?Charlie's gut twisted. "Would your brother have suspected Sergey had a hand in your parents’ deaths?"
She shook her head. "No. He was family. He was our cousin. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes."
"And Sergey became prince in the wake of their 'deaths.' It seems awfully convenient to lay the blame upon Dmitri."
"That thought did occur to me."
"And now Nikolai knows who you are."
Lark's mouth parted, but no words came out.
Charlie held up a hand. "No. I understand why you said what you said. You were in shock. You'd never expected to see him again. But...."
