An Extraordinary Lord by Anna Harrington

Author:Anna Harrington
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2021-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

Merritt steeled himself as Veronica wheeled to gape at him. “Lord Rivers?”

“I’m a baron,” he answered grimly and took her arm to lead her into the ballroom.

“You’re a lord?” she repeated as if she couldn’t fathom what that was. “A lord?”

“Stunned the daylights out of me, too, I daresay,” he muttered and guided her forward toward the dance floor.

“A baron—”

“It wasn’t my idea to become one.”

“—who sits in the House of Lords.”

“Unwillingly.” He grimaced. “If it helps, it’s only a title without any land.”

She stopped him with a sharp tug to his arm. “No, that doesn’t help.”

Damnation. He supposed he deserved this, but why did she have to keep staring at him as if he’d just attempted to kill the king? “If you’ll remember, I told you the night we met that I was a peer of the realm.”

She arched an accusing brow. “You also told me that you were Mrs. Fitzherbert.”

True. He was beginning to dislike that sharp mind of hers. “There was no reason to tell you about the barony that night.”

“So you waited until right now?”

“It gave us entree to the ball and an opportunity to question Lady Malmesbury.”

Her brow eased down at that bit of far-fetched logic as her lips hardened into a tight line. God help him, he wanted to kiss her mouth until it softened.

“Until a month ago, I was nothing but an ordinary barrister.” He gave a frustrated roll of his tight shoulders beneath his jacket. “Believe me, if I could have refused the title, I would have.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because it means a great deal to my father.” And he would do anything for the people he loved. Even become a goddamned peer.

She blinked, not quite able to understand all he was revealing. God knew he barely understood it himself. “But—but how can you work as a barrister and be a baron?”

“Very carefully.” He’d never spoken truer words in his life.

“And one who prowls the city streets at night with a sword?”

He fixed her with a grave look. “Very carefully.”

When she opened her mouth to challenge him, he took her arm and led her around the perimeter of the room.

“Baron, barrister, King’s Counsel—none of it matters, don’t you understand?” He leaned down to speak privately into her ear, as if they were just another flirtatious couple among the crowd, trying to decide whether to dance or sit out. “When people are dying in the streets, what does any of that nonsense matter if innocents can’t be saved?”

She didn’t look at him, even though he felt her tense on his arm. In her heart, he knew she agreed with him.

“That’s why you’re working with Clayton Elliott and me to learn about the riots,” he explained, “and why we’re here tonight—to stop innocent victims from being hurt. That’s all that matters. The rest of it is merely costume.”

She nodded tightly but kept her gaze straight ahead as she asked, “Is that what I am tonight—a convict in a costume?”

“No.” What she was tonight…simply breathtaking.

But he didn’t dare let himself go there.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.