The Rogue's Proposal (31 page)
Read The Rogue's Proposal Online
Authors: Jennifer Haymore
Because, of course, she’d been in league with him.
She wasn’t supposed to be here tonight. She’d been visiting friends in Brighton and
wasn’t due back for another week. The house had been under surveillance for days,
and no one had reported her entering or exiting the building.
Bloody. Hell.
“Get up,” he told her brusquely.
Her eyes flicked toward Dunthorpe, who lay on the floor, blood seeping across his
chest and turning his gray coat black.
He considered his options. Killing her with Dunthorpe’s pistol was the first that
came to mind. She was as guilty as he was.
But Sam had never killed a woman. Killing a woman would be crossing one of his lines,
and they were all he had left—all he had to use as the threads by which he grasped
on to the unraveling spool of his humanity.
Out of the question.
He could leave her here.
But she knew too much. Just from the short conversation he’d had with Dunthorpe, she
would have learned enough to put everything at risk.
That left the only other option, one that was almost as unpalatable as the other two.
He had to bring her with him.
“Get up,” he repeated. His voice sounded harsh even to his own ears.
“I…don’t…please, I…” she moaned, appearing to make a valiant effort to follow his
command but failing, her limbs trembling too violently to support her.
He jammed his pistol back into his coat and crouched down beside her, aware that his
time was already up. They needed to leave this place.
Now.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he told her, and he prayed that it was true. “But I need
you to come with me.”
She made a little moaning sound of despair. With a sigh, Sam scooped her into his
arms and rose. God, she was a little thing. Light as a feather. But she was stiff
in his arms.
“I won’t hurt you,” he said again. Although he didn’t blame her for not believing
him. How could he? She’d just witnessed him kill her husband in cold blood.
He turned to the door, to the only escape from this room, and froze, clutching Lady
Dunthorpe’s rigid, shaking body tightly against him.
Running footsteps resounded on the wooden floor of the outside corridor, and then
the door flew open.
Damn it. He’d run out of time.
Where Authors Give You the Inside Scoop
Dear Reader,
When Mrs. Emma Curtis, the heroine of THE ROGUE’S PROPOSAL, came to see me, I’d just
finished writing
The Duchess Hunt
, the story of the Duke of Trent and his new wife, Sarah, who’d crossed the deep chasm
from maid to duchess, and I was feeling very satisfied in their happily ever after.
Mrs. Curtis, however, had no interest in romance.
“I need you to write my story,” she told me. “It’s urgent.”
I encouraged her to sit down and tell me more.
“I’m on a mission of vengeance,” she began. “You see, I need to find my husband’s
murderer—”
I lifted my hand right away to stop her. “Mrs. Curtis, I don’t think this is going
to work out. You see, I don’t write thrillers or mysteries. I am a romance writer.”
“I know, but I think you can help me. I really do.”
“How’s that?”
“You’ve met the Duke of Trent, haven’t you? And his brother, Lord Lukas?” She leaned
forward, dark eyes serious and intent. “You see, I’m searching for the same man they
are.”
My brows rose. “Really? You’re looking for Roger Morton?”
“Yes! Roger Morton is the man who murdered my husband. Please—Lord Lukas is here in
Bristol. If you could only arrange an introduction … I know his lordship could help
me to find him.”
She was right—I did know Lord Lukas. In fact…
I looked over the dark-haired woman sitting in front of me. Mrs. Curtis was a young,
beautiful widow. She seemed intelligent and focused.
My mind started working furiously.
Mrs. Curtis and Lord Luke? Could it work?
Maybe …
Luke would require a
lot
of effort. He was a rake of the first order, brash, undisciplined, prone to all manner
of excess. But something told me that maybe, just maybe, Mrs. Curtis would be a good
influence on him … If I could join them on the mission to find Roger Morton, it just
might work out.
(I am a
romance
writer, after all.)
“Are you
sure
you want to meet Lord Lukas?” I asked her. “Have you heard the rumors about him?”
Her lips firmed. “I have heard he is a rake.” Her eyes met mine, steady and serious.
“I can manage rakes.”
There was a steel behind her voice. A steel I approved of.
Yes
. This could work.
My lips curved into a smile. “All right, Mrs. Curtis. I might be able to manage an
introduction …”
And that was how I arranged the first meeting between Emma Curtis and Lord Lukas Hawkins,
the second brother of the House of Trent. Their relationship proved to be a rocky
one—I wasn’t joking when I said Luke was a rake, and in fact, “rake” might be too
mild a term. But Emma proved to be a worthy adversary for him, and they ended up traveling
a dangerous and emotional but
ultimately sweetly satisfying path in THE ROGUE’S PROPOSAL.
Come visit me at my website, www.jenniferhaymore.com, where you can share your thoughts
about my books, sign up for some fun freebies and contests, and read more about THE
ROGUE’S PROPOSAL and the House of Trent Series. I’d also love to see you on Twitter
(@ jenniferhaymore) or on Facebook (www.facebook.com/jenniferhaymore-author).
Sincerely,
Dear Reader,
My mother was a prodigious knitter. If she was watching TV or traveling in the car
or just relaxing, she would always have a pair of knitting needles in her hand. So,
of course, she needed a steady supply of yarn.
We lived in a medium-sized town on Long Island. It had a downtown area not too far
from the train station, and tucked in between an interior design place and a quick
lunch stand was a yarn shop.
I vividly remember that wonderful place. Floor-to-ceiling shelves occupied the wall
space. The cubbies were filled with yarn of amazing hues and cardboard boxes of incredibly
beautiful buttons. The place had a few cozy chairs and a table strewn with knitting
magazines.
Mom visited that yarn store a lot. She would take her knitting with her sometimes,
especially if she was having trouble with a pattern. There was a woman there—I don’t
remember her name—but I do remember the half-moon glasses that rode her neck on a
chain. She was a yarn whiz, and Mom consulted her often. Women gathered there to knit
and talk. And little girls tagged along and learned how to knit on big, plastic needles.
I went back in my mind to that old yarn store when I created the Knit & Stitch, and
I have to say that writing about it was almost like spending a little time with Mom,
even though she’s no longer with us. There is something truly wonderful about a circle
of women sharing stories while making garments out of luxurious yarn.
I remember some of the yarn Mom bought at that yarn store, too, especially the brown
and baby blue tweed alpaca that became a cable knit cardigan. I wore that sweater
all through high school until the elbows became threadbare. Wearing it was like being
wrapped up in Mom’s arms.
There is nothing like the love a knitter puts into a garment. And writing about women
who knit proved to be equally joyful for me. I hope you enjoy spending some time with
the girls at the Knit & Stitch. They are a great bunch of warm-hearted knitters.
Dear Reader,
So here we are. Back in Trouble, Wyoming, catching up with those crazy McDermotts.
In case you didn’t know, these men have a way of sending the ladies of Trouble all
into a tizzy by just existing. At the same time there was a collective breaking of
hearts when the two older McDermotts, Noah and Chase, surreptitiously removed themselves
from the dating scene by getting married.
But what about the other McDermott brother, you ask? Brody is special in many ways,
but no less harrowing on those predictable female hormones. And, even though Brody
has sworn off dating for good, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have it coming. The love
bug, I mean. And he gets bitten, big time. Sorry, ladies. But this dark-haired heartbreaker
with the piercing gray eyes is about to fall hard.
Happy Reading!
