Free Susan Johnson by To Please a Lady (Carre) Page B

court’s anointed. Once their work was accomplished, however, the English ministers would decide whether the rewards they’d promised would actually be granted. 6
    It was a dirty game—completely without honor.

Chapter 7
     

     
    D INNER HAD BEEN ESPECIALLY TEDIOUS, ROXANE thought, riding back from Catherine’s, but at least Queensberry had been apprised of Argyll’s degree of protection. Argyll had importuned, of course, the moment they’d settled into the carriage, and it had taken considerable finesse to curtail his eagerness. He was a large man.
    Only Roxane’s reminder of his given word as a Campbell finally caused him to release her.
    Shifting away, he lounged in the corner, his half smile a flash of white in the flicker of the carriage lamp. “It was a tactical mistake to give you my word.”
    “But then I wouldn’t have gone to dinner with you,” Roxane pleasantly replied, readjusting the lace on her decolletage.
    “I can see this is going to require a degree of wooing,” he drawled, his smile teasing.
    “Why bother, when Catherine will oblige without cavil? I’m sure she’s still up.”
    “I’m sure she is. She asked me to come back.”
    “There, you see—all your carnal urges neatly fulfilled, no wooing required.”
    “Like any of the servant girls at my headquarters.”
    He was called Big Red John by all the local maids,with giggles of delight, she knew. “If You’re so well supplied with amorous partners, you don’t need my company.”
    “But I particularly
wish
your company. What is it going to take to entice you?”
    She was tired. Catherine’s venom had been enervating, her previous night sleepless, Argyll’s pursuit unflagging as she’d known it would be. So she spoke more plainly than she might have under different circumstances. “Why don’t we say independence for Scotland, reversing the false charges of treason against the Carres, curbing Queensberry’s interest in my personal life. None of which you can do.”
    “Scotland aside, I can do the rest,” he said as plainly. “Is that the price for your passion? Tell me—for if it is, we have a bargain.”
    She was stunned. He’d offered an enormous payment for her amorous friendship, and could he be compelled to perform first on her requirements, the possibilities were astonishing.
    “The treason charges are the grossest distortion anyway,” he casually noted. “Everyone knows that.”
    “And yet you’d let Queensberry have their lands.”
    “His dispute doesn’t impinge on my undertakings.” He shrugged. “I can’t involve myself in every property disagreement in Scotland.” Sliding upright from his lounging pose, he moved closer to her. “Why don’t I send Agnes away first, as indication of my intense … interest,” he suggested, his strawberry blond hair pale in the lamplight. “And we’ll negotiate the terms of our involvement from there.” His smile was close, gratified. “I’ve been doing this for months, darling, withdeal-makers of such wiliness and guile, our bargain will be in contrast the height of benevolence. I see no need to quibble when I want you.” He’d spoken to the queen the same way, rumor had it—his demands plain, his wishes unequivocal. He wasn’t like Queensberry, who was enigmatic and sly.
    He went on. “And if you wish your lover’s family safe from prosecution and restored to their titles and lands, well, we’re both adults. I don’t expect your heart and soul.” A faint smile underscored his level of accommodation. “Once our bargain is made, I expect only your loyalty.”
    “You’ve been doing this much longer than I,” Roxane declared, still astonished. He’d made the offer for her companionship so extravagant he knew she couldn’t refuse. But she needed time to digest the tumultuous events, and she needed proof as well of his pledge. Anyone who dealt with the English couldn’t be trusted. “I’ll have to consider your offer.”
    “Why don’t I see that