In Total Surrender by Mallory Anne

Author:Mallory, Anne [Mallory, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Avon
Published: 2011-09-27T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

He heard her all night. She wasn’t a loud sleeper, but he was well used to listening for every sound in his environment, especially in an environment that was not his own. The sound of movement on bare sheets or a dream-induced sigh made him . . . uncomfortable. Made him feel the urge to toss and shift.

She had touched him. She had looked at his repulsive scars and pressed her lips to them. Soothing and steady. Unfaltering and unshakable. That was Phoebe Pace.

He needed her gone more than he ever had. And yet his fingers clutched an invisible cord, fingernails gripping his palm, as if it would hold her to him.

He wasn’t feeling particularly charitable when the sky lightened. There was little on which to assuage his black mood, for she rose quickly at his knock against the open frame between them.

He didn’t watch her rise, unwilling to see her sleepy-eyed and rumpled.

“We need to be gone before the light takes hold,” he said, already turning to leave.

She was quick to pack her things and dress, and she stood patiently waiting, eyes looking through a crack in the drape to the courtyard beyond, when he walked through the connecting door five minutes later.

He stopped, watching her for a moment. She looked . . . wistful. Innocent.

What was he doing here? With her? There was the possibility that he would bring direct danger to her if he was spotted. Better for him to have sent someone else—or three—with her.

But he had known he was going to accompany her as soon as she voiced the request. Unavoidable. Inevitable.

Especially considering where she was going. Things were moving quickly, in another direction, away from him, and all he could hope to do was to control the casualties that would result.

He wouldn’t let Phoebe Pace be a casualty. And wasn’t that just a damn thing. He wondered when she would get around to asking him directly about her brother. She had to know he knew almost everything that happened in London, even with Roman absent from the city.

She had to suspect he knew exactly what had happened to her brother and what players had been involved.

He saw it sometimes. The trust in her eyes. Fragile and easily broken with just a few simple words. Warm lips pressed to his body would be exchanged for tears and betrayal.

“Ready?” she asked, drape closed again, cloak and hood drawn up as he’d been castigating himself.

He nodded, taking her case. He avoided contact with the two men lingering in the common room and strode to the waiting carriage, lifting her up and in. Their baggage was latched and secured by the driver.

They were clomping down the courtyard path a minute later. He watched through the window until they were well out of town. Not followed. It was possible someone had been posted ahead of them, though. Smarter. They wouldn’t exit the carriage until they finally reached Dover. Three more changes, and they would be there.

He glanced across the space.

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