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

deserved a set down.  She never got the chance last time.  I have no idea what occurred but, hopefully, she feels a little morsel of vindication now. Have to admit I was a bit worried until I saw how angry you were,” David smiled.
    “I offered her the carte blanche,” Sebastian found himself muttering.
    “Excuse me?! What was that you said?” David’s voice came out overly loud with shock.
    “I said I offered her the position as my mistress,” he ground out.
    David couldn’t help himself, he went off into peals of laughter.  When he finally got himself under control again he couldn’t help but ask, “Weren’t you engaged in some kind of intelligence work in the kingdom?  At least, that is what I surmised from the very little you’ve told me.”
    “Yes,” Sebastian admitted reluctantly.
    “Well, my friend.  No wonder you finally came home.  You must have been an abysmal failure. You just offered the role of mistress to the woman the Duke of Tamworth is reported to have asked to marry him not once, but three times!  She is expected to say yes on the fourth try.  The betting book at
    White’s has the odds heavily in the Duke’s favor.”
    “Thank you for that information.” Sebastian’s moment of good humor had fast deserted him.
    “Don’t mention it.  What else is a friend for but to point out when you’ve been an idiot,” David smiled.
    The carriage swung to a halt in Jermyn Street in front of David’s lodgings.
    “I think we both need a restorative.  I have a bottle of brandy I’ve been saving for a special occasion.  We might as well have it now.” He clapped an arm companionably around Sebastian’s shoulders as they made their way inside.
    David settled into his favorite oversized leather chair in front of the fire, Hercules, his mastiff laying his head and drool dripping jowls on one shiny shoe.  He watched Sebastian as he stood by the mantle swirling the brandy and staring into its depths.  The shadows cast by the candlelight and fire across Sebastian’s face made him look even more demonic than usual, but David knew him too well to be put off by appearances.
    “So why don’t you tell me everything I should have known before you let me go back there and make an ass of myself,” Sebastian looked David straight in the eye.
    “First, let me just say, I still can’t believe you offered to make her your mistress.  You do recall that the last time you saw each other you were engaged?  Did this somehow slip your mind?” David didn’t even try to keep the incredulity out his voice.
    “When a woman as beautiful as Jessy is practically naked in front of you and acting the ultimate Cyprian, you don’t tend to do much thinking David,” he said ruefully.
    “Cyprian?  That doesn’t sound like Jessy at all.  Just what the hell went on in that room Seb?” David asked in some alarm.
    “What went on is that the little minx showed me exactly what I was expecting to see and led me right into a trap of my own making.  I never would have expected such skill at manipulation from her.”
    “The problem is that you went in there angry and resentful.  I happen to know how you act when you feel guilty and you have every reason to feel guilty when it comes to Jessy.  You have always hated to feel bad about anything you do to anyone.  Remember the time you knocked me out of that tree when we were twelve and I broke my arm?  Entirely your fault and yet you didn’t speak to me for a week when I was the one in a sling for two months.  What a terrible summer that was.  I almost went to live with ancient and awful Aunt Winifred I got so tired of you.”
    “By the by,” David continued, “I thought your mother was able to send letters to you while you were gone.  With her connections to Ulrich she could send mail the rest of us couldn’t.  Didn’t she tell you anything at all about Jessy?”
    Sebastian took a long drink of brandy and felt it burn in his gut, “Oh she wrote all