What A Rogue Wants (35 page)

Disbelief held Grey immobilized in the
shadowy corner of Stratmore’s cellar. His blood rushed violently
through his veins. He’d risked his career as a spy, his
relationship with his brother and his honor by placing Madelaine
above the king, and he’d judged her wrongly. He’d risked his heart,
a foolishness he’d sworn never to do after a lifetime of building
defenses around it. And what had he exposed himself for? Not the
angel he’d imagined but a clever viper.

She stood with the wide-eyed stare he
imagined most traitors would have when caught red-handed. Except
she was the most beautiful traitor he would probably ever come up
against. Her gaze swept over the darkness as her hand moved and her
skirts fell back down around her ankles. His fingers tingled in
remembrance of just how silky her skin was. He gritted his
teeth.

She hadn’t seen him yet. He saw the
king’s paper. She’d known exactly where to find it. Invisible bands
wrapped around his heart and squeezed what was left of the useless
thing. She’d played him for a fool with her innocent smiles and
clear brown eyes, and he’d nearly killed himself to get here and
protect her, even after she’d stolen away like a guilty person
would. He hadn’t wanted to believe it possible.

White hot fury rose inside
him, but even in the midst of his anger the idea of harm coming to
her sat like a lead ball in the pit of his stomach. Foolish as hell
considering he was going to have to deliver her to the tower to
await punishment for treason, which would likely be her death.
Jesus God. He’d not really considered it until now. Could he do it?
He thought instantly of his vow to the king and to her.
Damn
her
. Her actions left him no
choice.

“
Who’s there?” Her voice
was strong and clear and reminded him why he’d fallen for her. Her
bravery when she sensed danger made pride swell up in him.
Misplaced pride he couldn’t afford to have.

He stepped from the shadows and into
the soft glow of light from her taper. “It’s Grey. Not who you were
expecting, I suppose.”

He tensed, thinking she might try to
run, or gasp, or even play the fool and try to hide the list and
convince him she had no idea what he was talking about. Stark
relief lit her face. His mind reeled. Was this a game she played or
genuine?

Damn it. He curled his hands into
fists. It didn’t matter whether she was glad to see him or not. He
could not allow himself to be stupid. He stepped toward her to grab
her in case she tried to run, but before he touched her, she flung
herself into his arms.

Calling on a will he wasn’t sure he
possessed, he stood like stone as she ran her hands over his face,
neck and chest then clutched his arms. The paper fluttered in the
clutch of her fingers.

“
Grey,” she cried out
before kissing him. He tried not to respond, but her taste and her
tongue mingling with his sent lust and want surging through him.
The desire to ravish her and forget that she was just as likely to
bury a nice sharp dagger in his back as rake her nails in her
pleasure down his sensitive skin consumed him. He pulled away from
the kiss, but she pressed close to him, laying her head against his
chest.

His blood rushed thickly in his ears,
and he turned his head away from hers, so that every time he
inhaled he would not get a whiff of her delectable scent. His
stomach turned. Now he had to do what he had never wanted, had
fought against.

“
Grey, I’m so sorry I left
you like I did.” She pressed her lips to his chest, his heart
lurching despite his best efforts to remain unmoved by whatever she
might say. The rustle of the king’s paper in her hand was the thing
he needed to make him rein in his galloping heart.

He eyed the paper with contempt, but
when he met her gaze he smiled, careful not to show how he truly
felt. “What do you have there?”

She quickly folded the paper and
slipped it into her boot. “A goodbye letter from my
father.”

“
Hidden in a bottle?” He
couldn’t help the sarcasm in his tone.

“
He d―didn’t want your
brother or another of the k―king’s men to take it if they found it,
so he hid it.”

He clenched his jaw. Had she forgotten
her stutter gave her lying away? “How very deceptive of
him.”

“
Deceptive?” She bit her
lip. “I suppose you could see it that way, but he felt he had to do
what he did. Grey, I’m so happy to see you.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You’ll
understand if I find that hard to believe since you fled without
waking me, stole my horse―”

“
Borrowed,” she
interrupted.

“
Fine. Borrowed my horse
and made sure the other horse ran off.”

She dropped her hands from his arms
and stepped away. “It was for your own good. I’m a sinking
ship.”

“
I’m an expert swimmer, my
sweet.”

“
Please.” Her voice
hitched. “You have to let me go. I―I don’t want you to be hurt by
me.”

“
Too late for that.”
Damnation. He ground his teeth. He’d meant to never let her know
she’d hurt him.

“
Grey.” His name was a
strangled word from her lips. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. Lying
with you was selfish. But I wanted a memory of you. A memory to
last me. But now I want you to let me go.”

“
Why the hurry?” He
snapped the question out harsher than he’d intended, but his damned
aching heart made him surly.

She let out a shaky sigh. “I’ve
somewhere I need to go.”

Like the
tower
. His nostrils flared as he struggled
to control himself. “Then I’ll take you.”

“
No.”

He’d had enough of this back and forth
banter. Time was ticking away and taking his control of his temper
with it. “You don’t want to marry me. All right. I’m a grown man. I
can take rejection. But what I can’t take is the thought of you
being accosted, raped or worse because you stupidly traveled
without a chaperone.”

“
I can’t let you come.
It’s t―too d―d―dangerous for y―you.” Her face reddened with the
effort to choke out her lies. He wanted to shake her silly. She’d
be dead before the next dawn if she tried to lie to anyone who had
half a brain.

His head pounded. He didn’t want to be
her punisher. He wanted to be her protector, but what he wanted
didn’t matter one damn bit. “I’m afraid we are at an impasse. I
won’t let you go anywhere without me. I will deliver you safely to
someone who I deem trustworthy.” The lies left him feeling as if
he’d swallowed a mouthful of ashes. “Where is it you need to
go?”

Her shoulders slumped and the breath
rushed out of her lungs in an exasperated sigh. He hated to see her
look so defeated. Yet knowing how determined she was she might see
his stipulation as a temporary setback; try to run again the first
chance she got. Or would she try to kill him? He had to make
certain she didn’t get her hands on a weapon. His patience snapped
under the long, silent moment. “Either tell me now where you want
me to take you or I’m going to deliver you back to the
castle.”

“
No!” The word was swift
and strident. “I need to go to the prince.”

“
The prince?” Grey
couldn’t fathom what the prince had to do with any of this, unless
Madelaine’s father had fallen into the camp of men who believed the
prince should be regent. Fury, like he’d never known coursed
through him as he struggled to fit all the pieces together. But the
damned pieces didn’t fit. The prince wouldn’t kill the king’s spies
to gain the throne, would he?

“
If your father is
innocent surely he would want you to go to the king.”

She inhaled as if to speak, but then
said nothing. Likely she had no idea what to say. It would have
been a perverted pleasure to point out what a lousy traitor she was
making, but instead he clamped his teeth together. Leading someone
to her own doom was not nearly as fun as he’d presumed when he’d
imagined what being a spy would be like. But then again, he’d never
considered he’d be leading the only woman he’d ever loved to her
death.

His brother had been very specific
with his orders. If Grey found proof of Madelaine’s guilt he was to
first try to learn who she and her father were working with, and
once he had the information, he was to destroy the king’s paper if
it was in her possession and bring her to the tower. The king
didn’t want the paper kept, even as proof of Stratmore’s guilt,
since it also confirmed the king fell into spells of
madness.

He itched to snatch off the boot she’d
stuffed the paper in. Hell. Really he wanted to take off all her
clothes, ravish her and then burn the paper in front of her. Part
of him wanted to show her he could be just as cold and calculating
as she could, and part of him wanted to shelter her from her own
folly, convince her to pretend she knew nothing about what her
father had done, and cover up her part in this whole sordid mess.
Common sense and duty barely won out. Grey swallowed convulsively,
his mouth dry as paper. “Why do you want to go to the
prince?”

SHE WAS TRAPPED. IN ORDER to get to
the prince, she was going to have to allow Grey to take her there,
or take her most of the way. Without any money for traveling with
and based on Grey’s steely-eyed look of determination, there didn’t
seem to be another choice but to capitulate.

Guilt immediately ate at her. Grey was
risking his reputation, possibly his life for her, and she was
repaying him by lying to him and leading him straight into the mess
her father had created. This is exactly what she hadn’t wanted.
Grey’s loyalty to the king would come under question by his
association with her. She’d simply have to escape him once they
were close enough to the prince for her to reach him on her
own.

“
Madelaine.” Grey’s voice
vibrated with impatience. Not that she blamed him. She prayed she’d
manage to lie without stuttering. “With the king in one of his dark
spells, the prince is my father’s best hope for a
pardon.”

“
How do you know about the
king’s dark spells?” Grey demanded.

“
Same as you, I imagine.
The whispers in the Court are rampant, and when he left so suddenly
for Kew…” she shrugged. “People talked, and I couldn’t help but
overhear.”

He scrutinized her with flinty eyes.
“What makes you think the prince will pardon your father for
stealing the king’s paper and for killing a man?”

Anger flared in her breast. “Because
there is no proof! My father i―i―is―” Damnation! She could not
choke out the words “―is loyal to the king.” She took a deep
breath. “My father is loyal to England. The prince will know he
would never do anything to harm the king.” Father did think he was
doing what was best, after all. “And I vow on my honor Father did
not kill anyone.”

“
If you say so.” Grey
reached across the space that had widened between them. “Come to
me.”

She shouldn’t. She should keep her
distance. But it was impossible. She walked to him, and he folded
her in his arms. The linen of his shirt tickled her cheek, and his
smell of woods, horse and sweat filled her nose. She pressed her
head to his chest, listening to his strong heartbeat as his hand
stroked gently through her hair. A rattling sigh escaped her. His
gentle touch made her want to spill the whole truth to him about
his father, his brother, and her father. But if she did, she had no
doubt he’d promptly drag her back to his brother and the tower, and
then there’d be no one to save her father.

She couldn’t expect Grey
to understand why her father had done what he had because she
wasn’t sure she understood herself. But he was her father. And she
owed him her loyalty.
Even if he’s wrong
about the king?
A voice whispered in her
head. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the voice away. She’d
made terrible choices that had driven her mother and father to
argue over her, but Father had stood by her side and it had cost
him his wife. Besides, how could she ever learn if her father was
wrong about the king? It wasn’t as if she could seek an audience
with His Majesty and study his condition to determine just how much
these spells affected him.

Grey pressed a kiss to the top of her
head. “We’d better get going.”

She pulled back enough to see his
expression. Was that disgust flickering in his eyes? She blinked,
and whatever she’d seen was gone. She rubbed her burning eyes. “I’m
exhausted.”

“
You can sleep while I
drive the coach to Kew.”

“
Kew?” Her throat
constricted with fear. Had he changed his mind? “I need to see the
prince, not the king.”

“
I know.” Grey took her
hand and led her toward the stairs. “The prince is in
Kew.”

That couldn’t be right. Her father had
said the prince was on a trip. “How do you know?”

Grey paused at the top of the stairs
and looked down at her. “My brother told me at Court.”

Her heart raced at his words. Now was
a perfect opportunity to try to ease some of his suffering over
thinking his father never cared for him. “Your brother knows a
great deal about politics. I imagine your father knew a great deal
as well.”