Page 30 of Dukes Are Forever
"Is his interest in Devoncourt or his wife?"
"Difficult to say." Dido tossed the cloak from her shoulders. "Perhaps he's interested in the wife because of Devoncourt's sudden attentions to her."
This was why he'd sent her.
Jelena wouldn't have noticed the difference. Nor would she have cared.
"Definitely a situation to watch." He couldn't dare hope Malloryn would fall for the girl. That would be a gift from the gods. "And how did your meeting go?"
A faint sneer graced Dido's lip. "He'll be difficult to control but he has the influence of his peers. They prefer him to the other candidate you proposed."
"Then remove Darlington from the equation and give Sir George my encouragement."
"He wants to know how you intend to bring the queen down."
Balfour paused. "My, my, he has grown big for his boots. Tell him that if he wants to know my final plans for the queen, then he needs to prove his loyalty. The latest shipment of explosives is due to arrive. Sir George owns three warehouses down by the docks. Tell him I'll be using those warehouses."
"I'll enjoy that," Dido said. "He thinks I'm beneath him because I'm a woman."
"Most of the older Echelon does." More fool them. Balfour had long since learned women could be the most dangerous of species. "Excellent. While Devoncourt and his wife divert Malloryn's attention, why don't we see if we can push forward with the Prometheus project?"
"And me?" Jelena demanded, like an overeager puppy.
"It's time to send Malloryn another message," he said, turning to her. "Would you like to spill some blood, my dearest?"
* * *
"Anything to report?"
Malloryn slung his coat off his shoulders and draped it over the back of his chair as Gemma followed him inside his study at Hardcastle Lane. He poured the pair of them a drink.
Gemma tossed her mask down on the desk. "She met with him again."
Malloryn froze, the brandy halfway to his lips as he tried to sort through the implications of her statement. "My wife?"
"With Devoncourt." Gemma slumped into the chair opposite him in a spill of bronze taffeta. "Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps she is working for Balfour. They seemed quite intimate as they withdrew to a small alcove. I couldn't get close enough to hear what they were saying, alas, but it was shortly after she returned from the gardens."
Where Adele had practically challenged him to seduce her.
Malloryn set the brandy down on his desk and tugged at his cravat to loosen it.Well.And here I thought matters were proceeding according to—if not quite the plan, then certainly proceeding.
A hundred questions circled through his mind, but what came out was, "Did he kiss her again?"
An uneasy expression crossed Gemma's face. "I don't know if it was precisely a kiss. Strands of ivy hung over the alcove and I couldn't get too close. But he grabbed her face and leaned in, and... something happened."
Son of a bitch."Devoncourt's starting to irritate me."
"He may have just been whispering in her ear."
I may just strangle him with my bare hands.
"Don't even think about it. He's our only lead to the remnants of the SOG," Gemma pointed out, interpreting his expression accurately. Her blue eyes narrowed. "You're not actually jealous, are you?"
"Of course not." Malloryn threw back the entire glass of brandy. The burn of it cleared his mind. "But it's one thing to challenge me, quite another to try and blatantly seduce my wife in front of me."
"Oh, of course." Her eyes twinkled as she sipped at her glass. "We can't have that, can we? You only have yourself to blame. You told her—"
"I know what I told her. We have reached a new agreement."
