Page 110 of Dukes Are Forever
"Careful," Devoncourt chided, his fingers digging into the nerves in Malloryn's wrist. "You wouldn't want anyone to know I struck a nerve."
Malloryn made a great show of glancing around, before he let him go and stepped back, straightening the rumples in his own coat, as if the altercation hadn't even occurred.
"And you're right," Devoncourt conceded with a smile. "She likes to play her own games. She's an elusive creature."
"Which seems to have worked to my favor. You may have offered her flattery, but Adele's quite good at baiting her own hook."
The faintest flicker of darkness flashed through Devoncourt's blue eyes. "I would never have guessed her to be working foryou. Her animosity was quite convincing."
"Perhaps because it is." He couldn't afford to betray his feelings, and sometimes there were benefits to playing the Duke of Malloryn. Everyone knew he was made of polished steel. Ruthless. Indifferent.Cold. It was like slipping into another skin; one he'd mastered years ago. "You think her loyalty belongs to me? She has other buttons to push, beyond her father's indifference to her." His voice lowered. "It's just a matter of pushing the right ones to get what I want."
Devoncourt swallowed the lie. "You played the both of us."
He merely smiled. "I needed a weapon you'd never see coming."
"Yes. It's strange how Adele vanished from Angel's Fall at the precise moment Corvus did."
There was no point prevaricating.
"He sends his regards," Malloryn replied. "Or he would if he could speak."
Devoncourt's lips thinned. "I hope he suffered. There's no love lost between Corvus and me, so your barb draws no blood."
"It wasn't intended to. Do you have anything of interest to say to me? Or are you merely tilting at windmills, when there's nothing either of us can do?"
"Too public," Devoncourt agreed.
"It's going to be private, one day."
"It will."
Their eyes locked on each other.
"Actually, I was merely meant to draw your attention," Devoncourt said, brushing lint from his sleeve. This time, it was he who held the upper hand.
Malloryn's gaze jerked to the ballroom.
Too late.
There was no raspberry pink anywhere to be found. He spotted Barrons immediately, laughing at something Mina said.
But Adele wasn't there.
"How interesting. You appear to have your own blind spot. You may not want her, but you do not want anyone else to have her either. Distractions are dangerous, Your Grace," Devoncourt said, with a faint smile. "Idohope you can find her in time."
Malloryn shot the man one last murderous look, teeth gnashing at the thought he may have bought into the game just a littletoowell, before he stalked along the balcony, hunting through the crowd.
Where would she have gone? She knew better than to leave the ballroom.
Slipping down the stairs, he found himself in a crush of people all looking to speak to him. Something about his face must have warned them, for suddenly his path opened up.
And then he paused as a prickling sensation ran down his spine.
And not just from Adele's disappearance.
Something had roused the predator within him and sent it hissing like a cat arching its back when another tom walked into its territory.
What had set off his darker side?
