Free Seduced by a Spy by Andrea Pickens

continue,
golub
?”
    Shannon hesitated, but after a long moment sighed. “Very well. And I suppose I might as well tell you my name, if only to avoid being called
golub
for the entire trip. It is Shannon.”
    As he let the words wash over him, Orlov could not helping thinking that perhaps she was right. The narcotic was doing strange things to his brain. Not only had it dulled the pain of his wound, but it had also affected his usual sense of detachment. How else to account for the inexplicable allure of a feisty female Fury? One who would rather slice out his liver than read him a novel.
    He turned to the bulkhead, but even with his eyes closed, he could not put her out of his mind.
    Fire and ice.
By all conventional rules of chemistry, the combination should fizzle, rather than ignite an explosive attraction. Damn. As soon as the drug wore off, he would be back to his normal self.
    He wasn’t aware that he had drifted into a fitful half sleep, but when next he looked up, he found Shannon sitting on the edge of his berth, a glass in hand.
    “Drink this.” Her tone had softened to a note of concern. “You’ve been thrashing about for the last half hour.”
    “I’ve had enough of laudanum,” he growled. “I would rather leave off its use.”
    “Yet you are still in a great deal of pain.”
    “I’ve seen too many men become dependent on it. I would rather suffer through a bit of discomfort than become a slave to its power.”
    There appeared a brief flash of respect in her gaze as Shannon nodded. “I think I would make the same choice. But I imagine you will be in for a rough night.” Setting the medicine aside, she started to rise.
    He caught her sleeve. “There are other ways of taking one’s mind off of pain.”
    She was no longer looking quite so sympathetic. “Mr. Orlov—”
    “I was not referring to anything physical,” he hastened to add.
    “Hmmph.”
    He couldn’t resist. “Though I daresay a certain activity might relieve the tension between us, Shannon.”
    Her eyes narrowed.
    “But enough of my ill-advised humor. I see you are not amused.” Orlov shifted beneath his blanket. Sweat was beginning to bead on his brow, and his shoulder ached like the devil. “What I meant was, perhaps we might talk for a bit,” he continued. “About…”
    “About what?” she asked slowly. “Are you going to suggest again that we reveal something of ourselves?”
    “For a start.”
    “And what are you going to tell me? That you are a thief and a murderer?”
    He nodded. “That goes without saying.”
    “Indeed it does. You took my dagger, which I won…” She bit her lip. “And god knows what other crimes you are guilty of.”
    “You, of all people, are in a position to know the sordid secrets of the shadowy world in which we both work,” he replied. He meant to sound sardonic, but his voice had an odd edge to it that took him by surprise. “It’s one thing for a scoundrel like me to indulge in a life of skullduggery. But Lord Lynsley strikes me as a rather honorable chap. I wonder what possessed him to draw innocent females into such a dirty game as espionage.”
    “You have no right to criticize him,” she snapped, quick to come to the marquess’s defense. “In truth, he offered us a life far better than the ones we had.”
    He frowned. “You mean to say your families were unkind?”
    “None of us have families—” She bit her lip, looking aghast that she had let such a detail slip out.
    “Orphans.” It was more a musing than a question.
    “Yes, bloody orphans,” she said. The shadows rocked, light and dark playing over her fine-boned features.
    Orlov watched the flicker of coppery highlights in her hair. “Your parents were Irish?”
    “How the hell would I know?”
    “The name of Shannon must have some significance—”
    A harsh laugh cut him off. “None whatsoever. It was a mere spin of serendipity. A rite of passage. Our Academy has a large globe, a beautiful orb of