Free A Spy Unmasked (Entangled Scandalous) by Tina Gabrielle Page B

and found him watching her with an intent expression.
    For a brief moment she imagined them truly engaged and a shiver rippled down her spine.
    Stop this nonsense, Sophia! Such an attraction is perilous!
    She reminded herself that they were playing a role. Deception was what he did best, what he was paid to do for King and Country. She’d be a fool to lose her heart and fall victim to a man like him.

Chapter Nine
    The morning of their journey to the Delmont’s house party arrived a fortnight later. Sophia followed two footmen as they carried her valises outside her town house and set them upon the steps. Jane had arrived earlier and was waiting beside her own baggage.
    “He’s coming,” Jane said, drawing Sophia’s attention to the street. A magnificent coach bearing the Kirkland crest with matching bays pulled up before them.
    The door opened and Robert stepped down. Dressed in a deep blue coat that matched the exact shade of his eyes and form-hugging trousers, he looked striking. His fair hair was combed in the à la Brutus style currently popular with the dandies of the ton, but Sophia wasn’t fooled. Robert Ware wasn’t a fop, but a cunning spy.
    He smiled charmingly. “Good morning, ladies. Are you prepared for our journey?”
    With Jane acting as their chaperone, they would travel to the Delmont’s country property in Hatfield, twenty miles north of London.
    “We’re ready, my lord,” Sophia said.
    He nodded and turned to oversee the loading of the baggage, until Jane’s voice halted him.
    “Is Mr. Ramsey attending the house party?” she asked.
    Robert arched an eyebrow. “Not that I’m aware, Lady Stanwell. Why do you ask?”
    She shrugged. “You are friends and I assumed he had petitioned for membership as well.”
    “While we are school friends, I studied engineering and have an interest in inventing. Gareth, on the other hand, became a barrister whose interests and legal practice focuses on…on other matters.”
    Jane’s lips parted as if to ask Robert to elaborate, but then she nodded, apparently satisfied with his answer, and turned away.
    Sophia waited until he resumed his task with the baggage before drawing Jane aside. “What was that about?” she whispered.
    “Nothing,” Jane said.
    “It sounded very much like something to me.”
    “Don’t concern yourself, Sophia. As a newly engaged woman, you should be thinking only of Lord Kirkland.”
    Sophia felt her face grow warm. “I hope the upcoming week will allay your concerns about us.”
    “Meaning?”
    “You need not watch us like a hawk,” she said.
    “That’s my job as your chaperone.”
    Sophia clasped her hand. “Please don’t worry so much. I want you to enjoy yourself as well.”
    Robert came over and opened the carriage door. Holding out a hand, he assisted the women into the coach and settled himself on the bench across from them. His knees brushed Sophia’s skirts, and a tingle of awareness crept down her spine. He was a tall man with broad shoulders—a too-big, too-lithe male whose presence seemed to fill every square inch of the vehicle.
    The driver whistled. The coach lurched forward with a jingle of harness, and the bays set off at a brisk pace through the city streets.
    They engaged in polite conversation to pass the time, and after an hour there was a lull.
    Robert stifled a yawn. “Traveling always makes me tired,” he said. “If you ladies will excuse me, I’d like to take a brief nap.”
    “Of course,” Jane said.
    He leaned back, shut his eyes, and folded his hands in his lap. Minutes later, he appeared to be sleeping, but Sophia wasn’t convinced. There was a coiled tension in his sinewy frame that hinted of alertness.
    Jane continued to talk and attempted to pick topics that she believed would interest Sophia, but Sophia found herself distracted. She continually stole glimpses at Robert, and more than once she stirred uneasily on her seat.
    The problem was that despite her assurances to him, she