Free Daring the Duke by Anne Mallory

dictates. You left his note open on the desk for anyone in the household to read."

    "I told you not to sass me, girl." He was having more trouble keeping his cockney from springing up. Her mother hadn’t been able to see what lurked beneath the carefully cultivated facade. She had married him in grief and under false pretenses.

    Audrey balled her fists and clenched her jaw so tightly it hurt. "And I told you not to speak to me unless it was important. Do you have something of import to say?"

    Maddox’s face reddened, and his large fists were clenched as well, but he remained silent.

    "Good, then get out of my way. I have to change."

    She stepped around him and walked steadily up the stairs. Maddox cursed and slammed the study door. Gone to drown his rage in some cheap liquor. She hoped he choked on it.

    She stripped her garments and pulled on her favorite shirt, coat, and trousers. Men's garb. Fitting, what with four different men trying to dictate her life. Her only freedom came with donning their clothes.

    She finished dressing and slipped her knives into place. She gripped the steel covered by the fabric at her wrists. Tonight was like any other.

    The door to the study remained closed as she walked past and onto the street. Good. One man down, three to go.

    Flanagan said he would leave her alone, that she A had earned her freedom. But no one was ever truly freed from Olympus. She would always run into old acquaintances or someone looking to use her. Now that her identity was common knowledge, she would never find peace in London. Only new borders would provide that for her. America.

    She picked up her pace.

    Travers needed to be dealt with and Faye freed. Everything hinged on the plan she had set in motion. After completing the last set of tasks, which should
    give her enough time to locate Faye, she would take care of Travers.
    Perhaps with a nice large boulder tied to his feet as she pushed him into the river.

    And then there was Chalmers. Where he was going to fit was anyone’s guess. Every preservation instinct told her to carry out Travers’s orders without involving Chalmers. lf she wasn’t careful, she would have an even more dangerous enemy. His reach was longer and stronger than Travers’s. Although Travers aspired for more, he was still a middleman, whereas Chalmers had been at the top prior to gaining a dukedom. Now the Duke of Marston was
    nearly untouchable. And his calculated charm and lazy air hid the formidable man beneath.

    People passed her on the street, men and women leaving for various pursuits. As she neared the more commercial area, the houses diminished in size and grandeur.

    She made her way to the Green Man Tavern, a perfect place to meet. Not in the fashionable district, but not far enough away to be in the dregs.
    There were enough unsavory types to give the place flavor, but the aura of danger was designed more for the young bucks deciding to spend a night on the "wild side" of town.

    There was considerable coin to be made taking the naive men of the town around the city on faux adventures. She had trafficked in it herself for a short time before quickly becoming bored. Fleecing innocents offered no sport, and she had always felt slightly dirty the short time she had engaged in
    it. The richer and tougher meat of the ton tasted infinitely better and paid more handsomely. ,

    And besting Chalmers would taste the best.

    She pushed the tavern door open and through the smoke located Travers in the back corner. She walked to him, skirting two men on the verge of a brawl and around tavern gals carrying trays and plying their wares.

    She sat next to Travers, choosing the lesser of two evils--sitting next to him rather than exposing her back.

    "So, what am I doing here?"

    "I’m wounded, Audrey dear. Isn’t my pleasant company reward enough?"

    "No." She wasn’t going to play Travers’s games. A voice in her head said she was playing Chahners’s, but that was different. He