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Authors: Elizabeth Chance

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BOOK: Charming a Spy
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“Rafe?” she asked incredulously. “How do you know my brother?”

“We served together during the war,” he lied. “A capital fellow.”

“Yes, he is,” Jessica answered.

“Do you have any news from him? I haven’t heard from Rafe since Corunna.”

Jessica shifted in the phaeton seat. “Yes, he’s… away.” It did not escape Geoff this chatterbox was suddenly brief with her words.

“Did he go on holiday?” Geoff pried a little more, still attempting to sound casual.

“He went… to visit family.”

“In the countryside?”

“No, in, in, in… Germany.”

“Germany? Do you have some German in your lineage then?”

“No. No,” Jessica quickly denied his question as if she would prefer to have typhoid rather than be part German. “No, we have…” She was very obviously making this up as she went and not doing a great job at it. “No, a third cousin on my father’s side immigrated to Germany to… well who knows why, but regardless, Rafe is there.”

“I hope he won’t be gone long. I am so looking forward to catching up with him soon,” Geoff hinted.

“Oh, you know Rafe. He does as he pleases. There is really no telling when he will come back,” Jessica said.

A curious answer. This whole mission was getting more mysterious as the days went on. First the prime suspect, Luke Dubois, was missing. Then Geoff caught the suspect’s sister sneaking around his office and home. Now the accuser was also missing, or at least reportedly visiting family out of town somewhere. Something was definitely not as it seemed.

“Are you close with your brother?” He needed to get more information about this man if he had any chance of unearthing the truth.

“Yoo-hoo,” Jessica called out to some passersby, not so subtly creating a distraction to answering Geoff’s question. He followed the direction of her wave to see whom she was calling.

Dammit. It was Katherine Dubois and her aunt. What were the chances his other conquest would be out strolling at the same time he and Jessica went for a carriage ride? Fine, perhaps the chances weren’t so slim since all of London seemed to be riding through this bloody park.

After last night though, Katherine Dubois would not be happy about seeing him with another woman. He should have prepared for this. Geoff knew from the start he would somehow have to balance courting both of them at once, but hadn’t expected it would be a problem so soon.

“Good afternoon, ladies. Isn’t it a lovely day?” Jessica asked the women now approaching the carriage. “Have you met the Duke of Stamwell? Your Grace, this is Ms. Katherine Dubois and her aunt, Mrs. Ellie Seymour.”

Both women curtsied. He descended from the carriage to greet them, starting with Ms. Dubois. He took her gloved hand and pressed it to his lips, trying to impart words he couldn’t say aloud with his movements.
It’s nothing. I’m just on a ride with Jessica. Last night still meant something. You look lovely.

Katherine snatched her hand away and sniped, “We’ve been introduced.” His wordless communication was not received. Or at least had no impact. She was definitely angry with him.

“How wonderful to see you again, Your Grace,” Mrs. Seymour said. “The ball was incredible. Your home, the orchestra, the dancing… it was all like a dream,” she said.

“And what did you think, Ms. Dubois? Was it dreamlike for you, as well?” He couldn’t resist asking.

“If you mean not real at all, then yes. I can see very clearly now that last night was illusory,” she said, an icy expression crossing her lovely face. He would have to figure out a way to make amends with Katherine if he were going to get any further with her. Luckily, smoothing over ladies’ ruffled feathers was one of his best talents.

Mrs. Seymour stood, watching the banter and turning her head left and right with each volley.

“I found it trancelike myself,” he said. “Sometimes dreams seem so real you can almost taste them,” he said, hoping to evoke the memory of their kiss. By the blush of her cheeks, she obviously understood his meaning.

“Yes, yes, very dreamlike,” Jessica said loudly, bringing the attention back to her. “After all, I only met your Lordship for mere moments last night and now here we are riding in your fashionable carriage.” She was really enjoying this. Perhaps she and Katherine had some rivalry, maybe even connected to their brothers. It was also possible Jessica was the kind of woman who delighted in making others jealous to boost her own standing. He certainly wouldn’t put it past her.

“Yes, the Duke of Stamwell does seem to be fast when he sees something he wants,” Katherine said, daring him with her eyes to take up the bait.

“I can be speedy when the situation necessitates it. Although I much prefer to take my time,” he said slowly and holding her gaze. Katherine blushed again, obviously understanding his double meaning. He loved the delicious pink in her cheeks and was struck with an urgent desire to see where else he could make her blush.

“Unfortunately, time is altogether fleeting, like so many other intangibles. Take affection, for example,” Katherine answered. Despite her obvious reaction to his inuendos, she was not going to make this easy.

“True affection never fades,” Jessica said in a loud, obnoxious voice, anxiously pulling the attention back to her. “Don’t you agree, Your Grace?” This was a conversational trap he would rather not get stuck in.

“Have you been enjoying your stroll?” he asked Mrs. Seymour, hoping to draw a referee into the conversation.

Her aunt was about to answer when Katherine interrupted, “It was perfectly lovely until recently. Now it seems the weather is about to turn. If you’ll excuse us, we should be on our way.”

“Did you notice what Ms. Dubois was wearing?” Ms. Grier remarked when they were out of earshot. “I swear I’ve told her before that green really isn’t her color. I consider myself a very good friend. But as many times as you try to help some people, they don’t always listen.”

*

Later that day at White’s Club

“You are simply
out of practice, my friend,” Pennington said, putting down his billiards queue.

“Pennington, when I want your opinion, I will ask for it.” Geoff said. He took a seat in the club’s Lounge room.

“My, aren’t you cheery today? Does this have anything to do with a certain gorgeous brunette with startling green eyes, by any chance?” After all these years, Pennington’s intuition still caught him off guard.

“I started to plant a seed there to begin a courtship…”

“I believe you may have done more than plant a seed, Stamwell. Don’t give me that look. I am merely saying I saw the woman in question returning from a lengthy hiatus from the ballroom looking more than a little flustered. Her hair was mussed, lips slightly swollen. I saw her beg her aunt to leave a few minutes later.”

Pennington winked and sat next to his friend.

“Good to see your powers of deduction are still honed, good man. Don’t celebrate yet though. I think I messed it all up this morning, and I don’t mean her hair.”

“What did you do now?” Pennington asked.

“I took the other one, the Grier girl, to Hyde Park to go riding and ran into Ms. Dubois and her aunt out strolling. You could say she was less than pleased to see me taking another woman for a ride after our assignation last night.”

“Ouch.”

“Yes, quite. I don’t know how I’m supposed to conduct affairs with two ladies at the same time without being discovered. London isn’t so big, you know.”

“Or perhaps it is
too
big,” Pennington said.

Geoff crossed his legs and shifted back to study the expression on Pennington’s face.

“There you go with your riddles again, man. Just say what you mean.”

“You are a bear this morning,” he scolded.

Perhaps he was right, but the thought of Katherine thinking poorly of him got under his skin. Too much.

“What I’m saying is, instead of trying to court two women alongside one another in London, bring them both to the country for a house party.”

“I don’t see how that solves anything. Then I’m stuck with both of them at the same time,” Geoff answered.

“Precisely. The surest way to conduct an affair, or in this case, multiple affairs, is to strand yourself on an island with the young ladies in question. The island being your family seat. Think about it, you’ll be stuck in the country with lots of time to go for walks or play cards or simply disappear into the conservatory… with one of them at a time.”

“That would speed things along considerably, wouldn’t it?”

“Absolutely. We’ll invite some other families to give the appearance of a proper house party. All of the mothers will assume you’ve narrowed down your list of marriageable candidates and are throwing the soiree so other bachelors are out of the way until you’ve made your decision. Perhaps Rafe Grier might even come back from Germany for the event, especially once he hears that his sister may be in the running to become duchess.”

“Brilliant.”

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

“Pennington, you truly are a genius strategist.”

“Actually, it’s Sun Tzu from the Art of War,” Pennington said, taking a sip of his brandy, looking not at all surprised Geoff hadn’t ever heard of him.

Pennington’s plan might work. Seducing Ms. Dubois and Ms. Grier was the key to figuring out whether Luke Dubois really was the traitor who gave away the British position at the Battle of Corunna.

Almost a thousand men died on one day. And one man, perhaps Luke Dubois, gave France the information they needed to launch an offensive. The duke was so close to finding out the truth. He should feel relieved. But he didn’t.

It wasn’t guilt, he told himself. Kissing Katherine Dubois was part of the job he was sent to do, part of his mission. Besides, compromising innocents was expected in the line of duty.

The nagging annoyance he felt couldn’t be guilt. It was something much more concerning. If he was honest with himself, Geoff enjoyed everything about Katherine in a way he could not afford. She was the sister of one of his suspects and he was a spy. Spies did not have serious relations with women. Of course, they had plenty of frivolous ones, but only in the line of duty.

In his clandestine line of work, not only would a woman be inconvenient, it could be career ending, especially when Geoff’s best asset was his ability to seduce women. Having feelings for Katherine Dubois was simply not an option.

Chapter Nine


K
at never wanted
to see the bloody Duke of Stamwell again. She imagined several possibilities of how that might actually come to pass. Perhaps while out driving, Jessica Grier would actually talk Geoff’s ear straight off, not metaphorically, but literally, and he would be forced to stay confined to his home rather than be seen in public with a horribly mangled fleshy hole where his ear once was.

Or perhaps Stamwell would develop a rare form of leprosy requiring him to move to a colony and eat only maggots for the rest of his days. Or what if instead, Kat’s herself developed a new preternatural ability to make anyone of her choosing invisible. The Duke of Stamwell would be her first victim.

They were not especially kind thoughts, but he did not deserve kind thoughts. The blasted man had the nerve to kiss her senseless one night and then take Jessica Grier out driving the very next morning.

Not that Kat was not expecting a proposal after the kiss… even though it was actually their second kiss. Every time he touched her, the entire world seemed to shift, but still she didn’t expect him to get down on one knee. She was not so naïve to think Geoff was madly in love with her. She certainly was not in love with him. He was unfairly attractive compared to all other mortal men, and he created a stir within her she’d never felt before, but it wasn’t love. Besides, even if he did ask for her hand, she wasn’t likely to accept, not with Luke still missing.

But she’d trusted Geoff enough to tell him about Luke. He’d listened and seemed as though he believed her. For a moment she thought maybe he was different than everyone else. He didn’t treat her like she was crazy. Maybe he would even help her. She’d expected… she didn’t know what exactly… but whatever it was, it should be more from him.

BOOK: Charming a Spy
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