Free Reckless in Pink by Lynne Connolly Page A

he’s out of this country.”
    “To plot again?” Dominic looked away from Claudia and addressed her brother. “To send messages to his partners in crime in London?”
    Val sighed. “He’s right. The more we know, the better we can deal with the situation.”
    Still tracing a line on the desk with his forefinger, Marcus lifted his head. “What concerns me is the coincidence. How did Claudia come into possession of one of the most notorious houses of sedition in the city? In the country, for that matter?”
    “Oh, I think we know the answer to that,” her father said steadily. The chair creaked as he leaned forward, resting his arms on the wood. “It screams ‘Dankworth’ from every pore.”

Chapter 6
     
    Jacobites lived by schemes and plots. Dominic studied the occupants of the room. As enemies, the Emperors would prove formidable, if this were any sample of what he had to deal with. But if he had to, he’d take them on.
    Ironic that of all people, he was dealing with spies and conspiracies. A lie had chased him abroad, and it remained with him still. One day he’d speak to his parents about the deception they perpetuated that sent him into the army. Then his life could change for good.
    However, at the moment, they were in agreement. At least they understood the sense of his plan.
    How could anyone think that holding a public trial would help anyone except the Stuarts? It would end nothing, just give the deluded fools who considered they had the right to claim the throne more fodder to stir up unrest.
    When General Court had outlined his plans, he’d known he wouldn’t be obeying his erstwhile superior to the letter. He would watch Stuart, but he would have no part in his capture.
    Aware of every movement he made, he lifted his hand from Claudia’s chair, brushing her silky hair as he walked away. He could not make his preference too obvious, could allow no weaknesses to show. Not yet, or the men here would take advantage.
    “What you do with the Dankworths is your affair,” he said. “It is none of mine, unless they are directly involved in this business. What makes you think they are involved in the house in Hart Street?”
    “Instinct,” Lord Strenshall said.
    In this confined space, the Shaws could be formidable. So could he. Strenshall was a formidable patriarch, and with his sons around him, he appeared like nothing so much as one of the leaders of a rookery gang. Except the Shaws had even more power, and the ears of the most influential people in the land.
    Although a viscount and the heir to an earl, Dominic had fewer than they did. He had spent most of his adult life abroad serving with the army. Although he’d met men from these families, he’d had no opportunity to form connections such as they had done. They would prove useful allies.
    “However, I may be able to help,” he said.
    “In what way?” Strenshall asked. The lines around his mouth tightened.
    “By letting you know what I see or hear,” he said easily.
    Was it his imagination or had the atmosphere in the room snapped taut? No, he had staked his life on sensing such subtleties before. He was not wrong. They knew something they were not telling him. A secret that could help him. “In return, I want your complete confidence.”
    Darius Shaw laughed, a sharp bark of laughter that echoed off the walls. “What makes you insist on that?”
    “It isn’t as if you’re family,” Valentinian put in.
    Dominic glanced down at Claudia. “I could be,” he said. The notion shot through him in an instant. “Shall we make a match of it, Lady Claudia? What do you say?”
    Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She closed her mouth with a snap before getting to her feet in a swirl of silk. “I will not be spoken to in such a way! I may have—” She flushed. “That is, I wish to choose my husband carefully. Not take a man because of convenience!”
    “You are four-and-twenty,” her father said mildly. “We have been extremely