The Marquess by Patricia Rice

Author:Patricia Rice
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: England, regency romance
ISBN: 9781611381733
Publisher: Book View Café
Published: 2012-06-12T08:20:41+00:00

Chapter Twenty

“I’ll not make a bloody ass of myself flitting around ballrooms and salons and pretending I’m a damned aristocrat!” the marquess yelled loud enough to rattle the filthy chandelier of the salon, even though he and Michael were alone in the room and stood only yards apart.

“You’ll have Matilda up here looking to see if the ghosts have got you,” Michael reminded him. “I’d suggest you lower your bellows an octave or two.”

“I’ll damned well shout as loud as I choose, and to hell with the servants.” Even as he protested, Gavin lowered his voice, replacing shouts by pacing the salon. Protecting the women from discovery had almost become second nature.

“You’ll have Miss Whitnell with you. She can tell you who’s who and what. If the duke has the papers, then it shouldn’t take long at all. Someone may have burned a house down to obtain what’s in them. You wouldn’t want anyone else hurt, would you?”

Gavin sent his brother a malevolent glare. With the skin of his scarred cheek drawn up and white, the look would have terrified a lesser man. Michael leaned against the wall, unperturbed.

“You have no proof of that. You just want to be left alone with Lady Blanche. She’s not your type, you know. You might as well bang your head against the wall. You would fare better if I stayed here and you accompanied the dauntless Miss Whitnell.”

Michael gave his brother a knowing look. “I ought to at that. You would come flying after us within days. I’ve seen that proprietary look before. You’ve staked your claim, and you’ll cut the balls off any man daring to come between you. Don’t warn me about the Lady Blanche. You’ve grabbed a firebrand by the wrong end, and you’ll be lucky to escape with your flesh still attached. Abstinence has made mush of your brains.”

Gavin looked away. He didn’t dare confirm his brother’s opinion, but he felt the truth of it all the same. He had gone around in a state of near arousal all day, just thinking about the moments when he could pry Dillian away from the others.

Matilda had looked at him peculiarly when he’d included sponges on the list of supplies he wanted from the village. And he didn’t even care. He meant to bury himself deep inside Dillian’s welcoming heat and stay there all night. He needed that. He damned well deserved it after all this.

“Leave Miss Whitnell out of this,” he said harshly. “I’m not going to London. You’re much better at sneaking about than I am. You go. I’ll stay here with the ladies.”

“Sneaking is not what this is all about. We need information, information that only people at a high level can provide. The duke already recognizes me. He will make no connection between an eccentric marquess, Lady Blanche, and the papers he must have stolen from the vault. We have no other choice. You have to be the one who pries the papers out of him.”

“He’s probably

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