A Lady's Revenge by Tracey Devlyn Read Free Book Online Page A

His fingers curled into a tight fist. “Just when did my sister’s role turn from observation to whoring?”
    Guy stepped forward and clasped his friend’s shoulder in a show of comfort and to prevent him from doing anything stupid. No matter the provocation.
    Somerton’s voice lowered to a lethally low level. “When I received word of our enemy placing Carib women and children in holds of ships and gassing them with sulfur for no other reason than the color of their skin.” Somerton’s normally cold gray eyes now burned with a volatile intensity, revealing more emotion than Guy could ever recall observing in their leader.
    “Good God,” Danforth said.
    “Napoleon, I presume,” Guy said.
    Somerton gave him one sharp nod without taking his gaze off Cora’s brother.
    “Where?” Guy asked in an attempt to remove Somerton’s focus from Danforth.
    The older man’s eyes glazed with a sadness so profound that Guy felt the effect slam into his chest. “Guadeloupe.” Somerton turned away, silent as he stared into the fireplace.
    The tension in Danforth’s shoulder eased, and Guy released his restraining grip.
    “Like Napoleon,” Somerton said, “I will pay for my sins in the afterlife.” When he faced them again, the ice had returned to his gaze. “But I’ll be damned if I let that French upstart do to more innocents what he did to the people in the West Indies.”
    For several seconds, Guy’s heart beat in time with the gilt bronze mantel clock. “Did Cora fully understand the complexities of her mission? The dangers involved?”
    Somerton aimed his reproachful gaze at Guy. “Of course.”
    Guy released a slow breath. Although he would have preferred a different agent on the case, he had to admit that Cora had the greatest chance of success of any female agent in the Nexus.
    The situation surrounding the agent Raven had plagued him for days. With this new information about Cora, more pieces about their recent attempt to rescue the female agent fell into place.
    Somerton’s insistence that he and Danforth take the mission, the limited details on the subject’s appearance, and the chief’s inability to mask the underlying urgency in his every word. One detail had been clear. Rescue the female agent who had appeared on the Continent several months ago, saving hundreds of British lives by gathering crucial information for the Nexus.
    For Somerton, to be exact.
    “You don’t seem concerned that we failed our original assignment, sir,” Guy tested.
    Somerton’s crystalline gaze met Guy’s. “You saved Cora. I can hardly call it a botched mission.”
    Danforth said, “Any word where Valère stashed the elusive Raven?”
    Without breaking eye contact with Guy, Somerton answered, “I’ve heard nothing new.”
    Guy pressed, “Raven’s a rather valuable agent for us to have left behind. I take it a reprimand will be forthcoming?”
    Something in Guy’s tone must have alerted Danforth to the growing tension. “What’s going on?”
    “Nothing, Danforth,” Somerton said. “Your friend concerns himself with a trivial matter.”
    “Trivial?” Guy said.
    “Yes,” Somerton agreed. “It’s best to think no more on it.”
    “Helsford, what the hell is going on?” Danforth growled.
    Guy’s teeth ground together. He was tired of the game. “Tell him, sir.”
    Somerton remained unmoved. “Tell him what?”
    Danforth looked from one man to the other, his lips pressed together in a thin line.
    “Why do you continue with this pretense?” Guy asked, unable to read his mentor’s features.
    “Goddammit, man,” Danforth said. “I’ve had enough of your bloody innuendos. If you have something to say, just say it.”
    When Somerton remained silent, Guy came close to hating his mentor in that moment. He understood the chief’s caution, shared it, even. If the French ever uncovered and seized the leader of the Nexus, many agents’ lives would be in peril.
    To Guy’s knowledge, Somerton alone held the