The Rogue by Arpan B Read Free Book Online

card room and was stepping into the front hall when
Collis caught his arm.
    Ethan
pulled away angrily. "You won't convince me to stay and listen
for one more bloody minute, Tremayne."
    Collis
shook his head. "I'm not trying to. Come to me if you have any
questions, won't you, Ethan? It wouldn't do to be seen around the
club again. You might not get another chance to walk out."
    "Is
that a threat?"
    Collis
sighed. "Ethan, my former valet knew about the club. He sold
some newsy tidbits to the Voice of Society."
    Ethan
swallowed. Already he could see where that would be a very bad idea.
"Did the Liars kill him?"
    Collis
shook his head.
    That
was a relief. Ethan breathed a bit easier until Collis shrugged and
said, "We haven't found him yet."
    Bloody
hell. Ethan stared at the man he'd thought was his friend. "Whose
side are you on?"
    Collis
sighed. "I'm a Liar, Ethan. My loyalties lie here. I'm asking
you to think seriously about this. I'm hoping for an outcome that
won't force me to choose."
    "You
recall that 'better nature' he mentioned?" Ethan shook his head.
"I just remembered—I don't have one."
    With
that, he took his hat and coat from the doorman and left the club.
     
    Jane
dipped her quill tip into the inkwell and daubed it absently on the
side. She put pen to paper.
    "Dear
Mother…"
    There
she stopped. Normally, she blithely reported every tiny detail of
life here with her relations, right down to naming every caller and
delivery. Mother wanted to know everything, so Jane did her best to
serve.
    So
why could she not bring herself to tell Mother about the fellow Ethan
Damont?
    She
was afraid that Mother might misunderstand, for one thing. How could
she describe the way Mr. Damont had been skulking about the dark
garden during the ball without making him sound much worse than he
was?
    Of
course, she didn't know that he wasn't…
    Frustrated
with her own indecision, Jane gave up on her letter and cleaned her
quill. As she stoppered the ink bottle, she resolved to find out for
herself what sort of man Mr. Damont was.
    She
would see him again this evening when he came for supper and cards
with her uncle, provided he responded to the invitation.
    Jane
absently brushed the feather tip of the quill down one cheek. She
didn't know what to do about the locked room either. It bothered her
no end that someone had been in there. Of course, it could have been
a servant dusting—but during the peak of the ball? Unlikely.
    It
really wouldn't be appropriate for her to let herself into a room her
uncle had expressly forbidden them all to enter—but Jane was
full up to her eyebrows with "appropriate." She'd never
realized how much freedom she'd had living in seclusion at the
Dowager House until she'd come here to London and taken on the life
of the pampered Society lady.
    Despite
the rigors of country living on a tiny stipend, she now recalled
fondly those days when she'd had all the fields and moors to roam
freely.
    Here,
she could not even set foot out into the street— or into a
locked room of the house—without permission.
    She
never would have let that stop her before. But Mother had done so
much for her, and she owed Mother complete obedience.
    Then
again…
    Mother
would want to know what was in the locked room, wouldn't she? Wasn't
Jane supposed to be including every detail of her life here? And
finding out that curious little tidbit for Mother would make Jane
feel better about keeping her encounter with Mr. Damont a secret.
    Even
knowing that she was rationalizing without restraint, Jane smiled
eagerly to herself. Finally, a bit of action!

Chapter
Five
    « ^ »

    Back
in his house—his freely owned house, by God!— Ethan went
over that morning's stunning disclosure in his mind again and again.
    Collis
Tremayne was a spy for the Crown. In the midst of pouring himself a
drink to wash down that bit of news, another development struck
Ethan, stopping him cold with the decanter still tilted in his hand.
"Well, I'm damned," he