The Vulgar Heart (The Unmarriageable Series Book 3) by Mary Lancaster & Dragonblade Publishing

Author:Mary Lancaster & Dragonblade Publishing [Lancaster, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Medieval, Romance
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2019-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

The coffee room at White’s Club was quiet at this time of the morning, so Charles Cromarty was able to converse with Lord Rudd in privacy.

“I’m not surprised you botched it,” Rudd said contemptuously. “What on earth made you do anything at the Hart? They were bound to warn him!”

“Because I knew I would find him there,” Charles argued. “You told me I would. And I could hardly bribe enough men all along the south coast! Besides, it was a brilliant idea. He would not only be dead as a common smuggler but his reputation tainted by smuggling links to Bonaparte. It was perfect.”

“Except it didn’t happen.”

“He was there,” Charles insisted. “He just didn’t come in close enough.”

“Well, it’s inconvenient. I was hoping to have him dead and discredited before I go back to Brighton. Now I must rely on the fair Lady Carew, who, as you might imagine, has a slightly different agenda to you and I.”

“But I can still rely on your help?” Charles said anxiously.

“For anything that benefits us both. What do you expect me to do? Hold him up for you to shoot?”

Charles flushed. “Hardly. If I can follow his movements, there will undoubtedly be other opportunities. All I ask—”

“Rather sooner than you imagine,” Rudd interrupted, drawling.

Charles followed his gaze to the coffee room door and saw none other than his cousin Sydney Cromarty stride in. His stomach lurched unpleasantly and he found himself shamefully glad of Rudd’s presence. On the other hand, the chances of him looking this way were remote.

Sydney nodded to a gentleman drinking coffee alone near the door. Then his eyes fell on Charles and Rudd and he walked straight toward them.

Oh damn…. Charles looked pointedly up at the elegant, curved ceiling.

“Good God,” Rudd drawled, “Are they accepting dashed bankers as members here, now? I might be forced to find another club.”

“There is no need for panic,” Sydney mocked them quite blatantly. “I am not a member, but no one objected in the slightest to my coming in search of you.”

“I don’t care to be bearded in my club,” Rudd said disdainfully.

Sydney didn’t look at him. “I wasn’t talking to you. Cousin Charles, a word, if you please.”

It went against the grain to jump to the bidding of the man whose existence he so detested. Besides which, fear still held him paralyzed. How much did Sydney know? Anything at all?

“You can have nothing to say to me that others may not hear,” Charles said grandly.

Sydney laughed. “Very well, then. Don’t send the revenue men after me. You’ll only come to grief. Consider it a friendly warning. Not a familial one, because you should know I have no sense of family at all. Good morning, gentlemen.”

Somehow, he managed to make the word gentlemen sound like an insult. Then he strolled away, exchanging nods once more with the fellow by the door.

“Insufferable!” Charles burst out. “How dare he threaten me in my own club?”

“There, I cannot disagree with you,” Rudd said. “Get the matter done, old chap.

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