Free His Mistress by Monica Burns

wasn’t about to change her mind. The woman was as stubborn as Caleb. He’d never met two people more hardheaded. Silence settled between them for a moment, before Angélique tilted her head toward him.
    “You seem distracted, tonight, mon ami .” The Frenchwoman eyed him with curiosity, and Tobias turned his attention to the chamber below.
    “Do I?” The response was a casual rejection of her comment.
    “Perhaps you are hoping a certain Lady will visit the club tonight.”
    Amusement filled the Frenchwoman’s voice. For not the first time, he regretted having asked Angélique about Mystère . When he didn’t look at her, Angélique laughed again then patted his arm. “I shall not tease you any longer, Tobias. Instead, I shall leave you to enjoy the play.”
    “I shall call on you tomorrow at eleven o’clock then,” he said with a large measure of relief surging its way through him as he rose to his feet.
    “ Tres bon , mon cher ,” Angélique said in an affectionate tone of voice as she stood and Tobias bent to kiss her hand. About to turn away from him, she suddenly stopped. “Oh, forgive me, Tobias, but I failed to mention I’ve heard a rumor that Lady Mystère will be here this evening. I thought it would please you to know.”
    When he glared at her, she didn’t bother to hide her amusement. Her eyes twinkling with mischief, she leaned forward to peck his cheek. As Angélique walked away, her soft laughter floated over her shoulder and into his ears. With a growl of annoyance, Tobias flung himself back into his chair. Damn the woman. She found his predicament amusing, and it was anything but.
    In fact, his life had suddenly become a rope of knots the most skilled Lady might tie him up with. Tobias rubbed his forehead in a gesture of resignation. The fact that he was here in hopes of seeing Mystère again troubled him. Although he wasn’t officially engaged to Jane, a part of him was uncomfortable even being at La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres .
    While the two of them had agreed to lead separate lives after they were married, as Jane’s husband, her safety and well-being was still his concern. That made it all the more imperative he find the bastard who’d given him up to Culverstone. The thought of Jane discovering one of his secrets, or her being exposed to scandal, made him wince.
    Despite the situation forced on them, he cared what Jane thought of him. He could care less about Culverstone’s demands, but Tobias wanted to shield Jane as much as he could. Tobias didn’t want her to be scorned by her friends because of him. Worse, he didn’t want to consider what would happen if she learned how dark his needs were. He muttered an oath as he remembered the primal reaction his fiancée had aroused in him.
    Still, the few private moments he experienced in Jane’s company had been pleasant ones. She expressed a clear interest in his work, and her questions had revealed an intelligent awareness of the plight of those living in the East End. It was obvious from her comments that she was unlike other members of the peerage who, in the latest trend called slumming, visited the more destitute quarters of the city simply out of curiosity. Jane’s concerns for the poor were genuine, and he found himself liking her more with each passing hour he spent in her company.
    The soft rustle of silk and the murmur of voices made him glance toward the sound. He stiffened as he watched Mystère take a front row seat in the balcony. It didn’t surprise him to see several men surrounding her, but his violent need to rend each of her suitors limb from limb did. Tobias quickly suppressed the fury tightening every one of his muscles. In doing so, he managed to stifle the urge to join the woman’s entourage. Hell would freeze over before he became a beggar at her feet.
    “ Fuck ,” he muttered as he returned his gaze to the stage below. “You need to cut your losses and go home, Lynsted.”
    For at least five minutes,