ROOK AND RAVEN: The Celtic Kingdom Trilogy Book One by Julie Harvey Delcourt Read Free Book Online

virtue.”  
    “He’ll be even angrier.  He hates to be wrong and utterly despises feeling guilty.  If he doesn’t feel guilty right now, he will when David is done with him,” she smiled cheekily. “I wish I could be a fly on the wall when he finds out I wasn’t lying about Tamworth,” and looking at each other they suddenly burst out laughing.  While it was not precisely how she had ever imagined the return of Sebastian St. Just, Act I had ended with her laughing and not crying.  She would enjoy her moment of victory while it lasted. She was uneasily aware that when dealing with Sebastian, Act II could bring almost anything…anything at all.    
     
     

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    Sebastian pounded down the hallway with murder in his eye.  Damn his mother and damn David too.  Between the two of them they had let him hang himself.  Well, to be fair, David hadn’t actively done anything but he hadn’t told him anything either. His mother had a lot to pay for, he just hadn’t figured out in his present circumstance how to exact that payment.  Whatever else Jessamy Grace, correction, Jessamy Powers , may be, it was not a typical actress.  She may have just played the harlot, but whore she was not.  If, she was telling the truth that is…
      Tamworth was a proud man well aware of his duty to his bloodline.  He would never make an offer for anyone not accepted by the ton .  One misstep or breath of scandal, especially by someone in Jessamy’s position, and the Duke would not be caught dead with her.  Oh Tamworth would have her as his mistress, but he certainly would not be escorting her to society engagements. 
    He would know soon enough.  David was about to do a lot of talking. 
    Sebastian had a few questions to ask of his lifelong friend.  He’d possibly relieve him of a few pounds of flesh as well for having let him walk into that trap back there.  David knew damn well what he would think Jessy had become, and the darling of the ton with a duke for a suitor was not it!
    David was lounging by the entrance clearly awaiting Sebastian’s return.  His winged eyebrows arched in a question at the thunderous countenance bearing down on him.  Several couples, late in leaving, scurried rather inelegantly out of his way.  He looked capable of trampling anyone in his path.
    “Isn’t that Redsayle?” he heard a whisper, “Obviously his time away from
    England had a poor effect on his manners.  He even looks quite deranged!”
    And just like that, his sense of the ridiculous came to his rescue.  He supposed he did look a bit mad.  How had one slip of a girl always managed to set his world in turmoil? He had become a master over the last years at controlling his emotions, hiding his true thoughts, and here he was making a spectacle of himself.  He wondered how long it would take Bishop to find out. 
    “Well, I’ve been practically biting my nails with worry during your absence,” David said with exaggerated concern as they exited the building.  “I wasn’t fully certain that a cry of “murder!” wouldn’t go up at any moment.  The only question being, which of you would be wearing the knife in their back?”
    “I suppose if I had thought about it better, I might have worried she had a pistol.  She always was a mean shot.  Now she’s just mean.  That woman doesn’t need a gun.  She has other weapons now.”
    “She certainly does,” David could not suppress the smile that tugged at his lips, “I take it she got the better of you since you looked so demented with rage just moments ago.”
    They stepped into the carriage that had pulled forward for them.
    “I don’t suppose that it ever occurred to you to tell me what to expect tonight? You only told me she was an actress,” Sebastian said accusingly from the darkness as he leaned back into his seat.
    “Oh, it flitted through my mind briefly, but I brushed it away.  This was surely much more entertaining and I believe you