Free Perilous Risk by Natasha Blackthorne Page B

but how close he’d come to getting up her skirts. In fact, it had driven him mad yet been the one thing that had proved his salvation in some particularly dark times. The desire to live and come home to England. To her.
    And to get up her skirts.
    However, this wasn’t the time and place. He blinked at her, indignant.
    “You think this is why I am offering my help, that I would take advantage of an obviously distraught woman?”
    “Listening to your incredible boasting, I do now.”
    “It wasn’t a boast, Rebecca. It is a simple fact.”
    All her customary kindness suddenly stripped away from her expression. She curled her lip. “You are just a commoner—I don’t even know what you do now for your living.”
    “I am Baron Drake now.”
    Her expression hardened even more. “It’s true, Rebecca.”
    “You’ve become a baron.” She gave a sharp, stilted laugh. “Just like that.” She snapped her fingers.
    “Yes, that’s just about the whole of it.”
    “You were an equerry last I heard. And not a particularly important one.”
    Certainly not as important as the almighty Earl of Ruel. A flare of pain burnt in his stomach. He took a slow yet shallow breath as it passed. Then he pushed his bitterness down. There was no time for jealousy. He must convince her to trust him. Her safety depended on it.
    “I have made some lucky connections and done some valuable services for powerful gentlemen, especially at the Congress of Vienna and during the latest Congress at Verona. I was an exceptional equerry and I have been well-rewarded.”
    And he’d engaged in some travel during the past few years. Seen some of the world. Italy. Peru. India. He’d also taken care of some clandestine business whilst there. Business quite valuable to certain powerful gentlemen.
    She stared back at him, less angry but more wary than a moment ago. “They don‘t just bestow titles on secretaries, no matter how valuable their service.”
    There was nothing to say to that. Most people simply assumed his service had been transacted on his knees, beneath a desk. And that he had been very, very skilled. It brought the most awkward of propositions. But he’d grown weary of the current conversation and so he brought up the one point that was sure to distress her. But it would also facilitate the best conclusion to their discussion. “Jonathon Lloyd left town this morning with his countess.”
    “Oh.” Her shoulders dropped and her expression crumbled.
    The most peculiar ache centred in his chest. He hated seeing the depth of her continued emotional attachment to Ruel. But he also hated causing her pain. “I believe they intend to spend a fortnight in Devon before the opening of Parliament.”
    “Then I shall have to send him a message and wait for his reply.”
    “I wouldn’t send that message.”
    “Why not?”
    “Things are rather…sensitive between the earl and his countess. It is said that he is not happy that she has insisted on their daughters and resulting nursery staff accompanying them to Devon. Bringing the infant Midhurst could not be avoided, as the countess is nursing the heir herself. However, the presence of the toddling daughters and their nannies will change the whole atmosphere in their house in Devon.
    “One feels much sympathy for Ruel for surely he had intended this trip away as a time to recommence their connubial activities. But Lady Ruel is a most devoted mother. She has always refused to leave their children in the sole care of their servants.”
    “Oh…” Rebecca’s softly arched golden brown brows drew together. “Yes, the time since the countess’ lying in…I hadn’t thought of that.”
    “And then there was the whole matter of the countess’ delicate condition whilst carrying this latest child. She must have been unavailable to her lord a good many months.”
    Her frown deepened. “Oh, dear me. Yes, that would be in very poor taste for me to send a message.”
    It said a great deal about