Page 16 of Dukes Are Forever
The bloody woman drove him insane.
"And if she'snotinvolved in this plot? What then? Adele might have expectations in regards to your sudden change of heart."
She'd better not."I'll deal with such a matter if it arises."
Gemma cut him a chastising look. "I just find it difficult to believe your wife is a spy owned by Lord Balfour. Hedidtry to have her killed on your wedding day."
"And if I wanted to plant an operative in my enemy's house without having him doubt her, the first thing I'd do is stage an incident to make her appear a target. If Balfour truly wanted Adele dead, I'd have found her lying in the middle of her bed with her throat slit. Instead, his assassin kidnapped her and led you a merry chase, where we justhappenedto rescue her in time. Convenient, in my opinion."
"She saved your life in the Ivory Tower."
"All the better to worm her way into my trust."
"Well, for someone who's supposedly an enemy agent in your bed, she doesn't appear to have made much progress getting in there."
Malloryn peered down his nose at her. "Have you been examining my sheets every morning?"
Gemma shot him a sweet smile. "I don't have to. I know what a man looks like when he's only had his hand for company for several months."
My God. "We are noteverdiscussing the contents of my bed." It came out as a faint growl.
"Why not? It might do you some good to get a little action. You've been so tense even Byrnes is tiptoeing around you, and Obsidian—of all people—said you need a good f—"
"Gemma."
She was outright grinning at him. "Prude. It might do you good. Ease a little bit of that pressure. You've been wound tighter than a corkscrew ever since you married her."
"My tension has nothing to do with Adele and everything to do with Balfour."
"Of course." Her drawl contained entire syllables of sarcasm. "It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact your very beautiful wife gets your back up in a way no woman ever has."
"Because I want to throttle her?"
"Because you very clearly want to do more than throttle her, and it drives you crazy. Because you can't control her. Because she challenges you. Because the second you get your hands on her I will place good coin on the fact the results are going to be... explosive."
"If I get wind of even a single bet placed on the outcome of this situation—"
"You won't," she promised. "Get wind of it, that is."
This was what he got for putting together a group of spies. Malloryn pinched the bridge of his nose. There'd been a flurry of wagers about whether he'd even get Adele to the altar or not.
"Don't you have something more important to attend to?" he growled. "Rather than interrogating me about my wife?"
Silence filled the study.
Gemma wet her lips and produced an envelope. "Actually, I was trying to ease my way into this conversation. A letter arrived for you several hours ago."
He stared at it.
The abrupt change in subject was somewhat jarring, which meant Gemma was nervous.
Even before he reached for the letter, an odd sense of foreboding filled him. Gemma had been trained as a child assassin. It was rare to ever see a sign of nerves about her.
He turned the envelope over. "You did an excellent job of replacing the seal. This almost looks untouched."
"That's because it is."
Malloryn looked up, all of his senses coming to high alert. He had few qualms about the state of any personal correspondence that came into this house. If Byrnes wasn't somehow listening in to his conversations, then Gemma was probably rifling through his mail.
