The Earl of Morrey (The League of Rogues #13) - Lauren Smith Page 0,2
to regret it,” he warned in a harsh whisper. The woman in his arms gasped and went stiff with terror.
“What?”Lady Edwards spun around. Her hands flew to her mouth.“Lord Morrey, what are you doing?” Her blue eyes were wide with fear.
He gave the spy in his hold a tighter squeeze, and she wriggled in his arms.“Saving you, my lady.”
“She’s not a spy!” Lady Edwards insisted in a frantic whisper.
“She had you at her mercy—I heard her,” Adam said.
“Don’t be silly. My hair came undone. She was putting the pins back.” Lady Edwards held a pair of jeweled hairpins up for him to see. Diamond-studded pins glittered in muted lamplight as the reality of the situation sank in.
He’d made a grave error.
Still holding the woman captive in his arms, Adam slowly lowered the blade. Her breath quickened as though she’d been too afraid to breathe the last few seconds. As he released her, he caught her wrist to keep the woman from fleeing until this matter was settled, and she was sworn to secrecy. She turned to face him, and this time he was the one who forgot to breathe.
Letty Fordyce, James’s little sister, a beauty he had admired—desired—from afar these last few months, was his frightened captive. He released her wrist,and she pulled free. She retreated to the safety of Lady Edwards.
“Lady Leticia,” he greeted in a gruff rumble barely above a whisper.
The dark-haired beauty held a hand up to her neck and gazed at him in terror.
“Oh, Letty, I’m so sorry.” Lady Edwards grasped the young woman’s shoulders and tried to soothe her.
“What . . . ?” Letty stared at him. “Why?”
“We haven’t time,” Lady Edwards said to her. “Morrey, have you seen Mr. Russell?”
“I haven’t. I fear something may have happened to him.”
“I must give you the message, then,” Lady Edwards murmured.
“No, not me. I am no messenger,” he reminded her.“I was only meant to protect you.”
He was not one of those spies who played with coded messages and costumes on missions. He was a harbinger of doom, a hand of death for those who tried to harm his country.
“He must be told tonight, Morrey,” Lady Edwards said.
“What are you talking about?” Letty had finally found her voice. “Why did he hold a knife to my throat?”
“I’m sorry, Letty, dear—not now. We haven’t time—”
A creak on the wood floor outside the retiring room made Adam spin around. A pistol barrel, half-illuminated, was aimed straight at them.
He launched himself at the two women, tackling them to the ground.
The crack of the pistol made him flinch as he hit the floor with the women beneath him. A moment later, he rolled off them and leapt to his feet, blade at the ready, but whoever had fired upon them had fled.He charged into the corridor, seeking any sign of where the assailant had gone.
The crowd in the distant ballroom soon turned to chaos as someone screamed about a pistol being fired. Half a dozen men ranin his direction, and Adam ducked back into the retiring room. Lettyseemed to have collected herselfand was assisting Lady Edwards up off the floor. Letty was pale,but she wasn’t weeping or fainting dead away. She was no wilting rose, and for that he was glad.
“Did you catch them?” Lady Edwards asked as she brushed out the wrinkles in her gown.
He shook his head. “A crowd is gathering, searching for whoever fired that pistol. You must go at once, my lady. We cannot be seen together.”
The lady spy nodded and rushed to the open window that led into the gardens outside. Thankfully, they were on the first floor, and Lady Edwards could drop three feet onto the grass outside. She gathered her skirts and slipped through the opening, vanishing into the darkness beyond.
“Godspeed, my lady,” Adam said as he closed the window behind her. Then he turned toward Letty.
“Lord Morrey, what—?”
“Lady Leticia, I’m sorry about this.”
“About what? What just happened? Why did you hold a knife to my throat?”
“I’m sorry about the fact that I have to kiss you now.I cannot be seen in here alone, not if I wish to avoid being connected to that pistol.”
Letty’s eyes widened as the sounds of the men in the corridor grew louder.“Why can’t you be seen alone? Wait . . . kiss?”
He swept Letty into his arms, holding her tightly to him. And he claimed her parted lips with his. She drew in a shocked breath as he kissed her soundly.