Page 60 of His Wicked Secret
Jonathan,
This last week has been wonderful and I don’t wish to let go of any of it, but something important has come up and I must leave at once for London. Please know that if you still want me when I return, then I am yours.
Audrey
Love and marriage,if they were even possible, would have to wait.
18
“Gone? What do you mean she’sgone?”
Jonathan was fuming. Lucien and Charles both sat in the morning room, Lucien with his copy of theMorning Postand Charles with a novel and a cup of tea. The pair of them looked so blastedly silly and domestic it made Jonathan want to bellow like a bear. Audrey had run off, and neither man seemed to care one whit. What was the matter with them?
“She told Horatia a friend wrote to her, someone seeking advice on her trousseau, and Audrey’s fashion sense was direly needed.” Lucien reached into his waistcoat and pulled out a letter. “She left this for you.”
Jonathan took the paper, unfolding it to read. It said she’d left for London, but she hadn’t given a reason. And he was expected to believe what Lucien was saying? Well, he didn’t believe it. Yes, the little sprite loved her clothes, but to run away from a house party,from him, to see to some silly wedding dress? He’d grown so close to her in the last few days. Their shared intimacy was more than just kisses and heated looks; they were talking about life, about what they wanted in their futures. He’d fallen even harder for the woman, and to lose her now…
Did she run from me?
Had he moved too fast? Pushed too hard? He hadn’t demanded they make love fully, nor had she offered it. They were still playing a hesitant game, but now she’d left.
Jonathan paced the length of the floor. “You know full well she didn’t go back to London for some dress.”
Lucien raised a dark brow. “Careful, you’ll wear a path in the carpets if you keep on like that. Horatia likes that carpet too much. Red happens to be our favorite color these days.” Lucien chuckled at some private joke.
Jonathan halted and faced them both. “What is the matter with you? Both of you have become so bloody…boring. The old Lucien and Charles would have dashed off to discover what trouble Audrey was in and fight to save her.”
Both of his friends stared at him, their gazes taking an angry and offended turn. But then Charles set his cup of tea down and sighed. “As much as it pains to me to admit it, Lucien, he isn’t wrong. We are getting soft. My afternoon is free. Let’s go rescue the little hellion.” He stood and waited for Lucien to do the same.
“Asboringas it makes me sound, I’m afraid I won’t be able to go with you.” Lucien set aside his paper. “I wish you luck, but I cannot leave Horatia or the baby. I would any other time, but Evan is still too fragile.”
For a second no one spoke, and Jonathan again had that sense that the League was fracturing, that the bonds that had once gripped them tight were starting to crumble. With it came a sense of pending doom that chilled his blood.
If we cannot stand together, we will all fall.
The door to Lucien’s study creaked open, and Horatia appeared in the doorway, her chin held high, a bundled baby in her arms.
“Evan is not fragile, my love, he’s growing stronger every day. And you are going to go after Audrey.” She patted the bottom of her bundle gently, walking deeper into the room and bouncing him.
Lucien stood up, his face reddening with a blush. “I’m not leaving you, not so soon.” He came over to her, curling his arms around her and the baby.
“Evan is fine, as am I. Audrey, on the other hand, almost certainly isn’t.” Horatia seemed to hesitate, and then she cleared her throat. “I didn’t believe her story. She’s been trying to play the part of the spy, and I fear the letter she received had to do with those desires. She burned the letter right afterward, something she never does. And that look on her face, fear and excitement. That was not the look of one about to go shopping.”
“A spy?” Lucien’s hazel eyes darkened, and Jonathan saw the building storm there, but Lucien wasn’t angry with his wife. He was angry at himself.
“I thought the lessons were harmless enough,” said Horatia. “But if Jonathan is worried, then that has me worried as well. I need you to go after her. Be the man I married, the rogue who faces danger no matter the risks.”
Lucien’s face grew hard, and Jonathan saw there the man he’d once been, the man who had dueled his own friend on Christmas Day in the name of love. The man who’d risked his life running into a burning gardener’s cottage to save Horatia and Cedric’s lives. That spirit was why the League of Rogues had once been unstoppable. The fine hairs rose on the back of Jonathan’s neck as he was filled with hope again.
“Who the devil ever put those silly notions in her head?” Lucien muttered.
“I regrettably have been encouraging her,” Charles confessed. “But she and Avery had already been in contact for the past year. I thought it would keep her entertained and out of trouble, little more than the gossip gathering she was already accustomed to.”
“Avery? So that’s what she’s been doing with him for the last year when the three of you would go out to dinners and balls. I will kill him!”
“You will not,” said, Horatia cutting him off. “If Audrey is hurt,Iwill kill him.”
Lucien sighed and sank back into his seat. “Audrey is trouble no matter what she’s doing. But if he’s turning her into a spy… No. She isn’t ready for such things. She will likely never be ready. She’s not the right sort of woman to…” He struggled for words.
