Dangerous Passions by Kat Martin

Author:Kat Martin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-11-08T19:27:13+00:00

Jamison sat across from Adrian in the study of the town house. They had spoken briefly of what happened between Elissa and Steigler, then Adrian had fallen unaccountably silent. Jamison knew there was more to the story. He wondered when his friend would tell him. It was well past midnight, yet Adrian seemed not the least bit ready for sleep. Instead he stared into the brandy glass in his hand as if it held the secrets of his existence.

"You're brooding again, Ace."

Adrian's head came up. He sighed across the distance between them. "I'm sorry. My mind is elsewhere, I guess."

"Perhaps on the lady upstairs?"

He took a sip of his brandy, swirled the amber liquid around in the bowl of the glass. "I told you what happened. I didn't tell you the rest." He shook his head, then a muscle flexed in his cheek. "She wasn't a spy, Jamie. She was trying to catch one."

So his instincts had been right after all. "Well, that's a relief."

"To some extent, yes." Adrian went on to relate Elissa's story, a tale that little by little fit together in Jamison's mind like the final pieces in a heretofore-unsolved puzzle.

"I should have known she wasn't involved," Adrian said. "I should have seen it as you did, but I didn't want to. I wanted her, Jamie. I wanted an excuse to have her and she gave me one. I blackmailed her, Jamie. I told her I'd go to Pettigru if she didn't do what I said. God, I behaved little better than that foul beast Steigler."

Jamie swirled the port in the glass he was sipping. "I daresay, you weren't exactly the model of gentlemanly behavior. On the other hand, I've seen the way she looks at you. Did it ever occur to you she might have cared for you enough to agree to your advances, that perhaps you simply gave her an excuse to do what she wanted to do all along?"

Adrian scoffed as Jamison had known he would. "She was an innocent," he said.

"She is a woman. A lady of courage and fire. I find it hard to believe you could have forced her to do anything she didn't want to no matter what you did. Steigler couldn't manage it. Perhaps her caring for you was the reason you were able to succeed where he could not."

But the look on his face said Adrian didn't believe it. In his thirty-two years, his friend had never believed himself worthy of that sort of love. His parents hadn't loved him. Why should anyone else?

Jamison took a drink of his port, set it down on the piecrust table. "If you feel so guilty, there is a way to ease your conscience."

Adrian scoffed. "You're speaking of marriage again."

"What if I am? Your ten-year enlistment was up years ago. 'Twould seem you could do far worse than Lady Elissa."

Adrian grunted. "I started down that road once before, if you will recall. It was an utter disaster. I don't intend to engage in that folly again—not now, not ever.

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