Secrets of a Covert Lord by Hartwell Jenny

Author:Hartwell, Jenny
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Historical
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2023-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Dev hummed under his breath as he sorted documents into stacks on top of the desk.

“What’s that tune?” Parth called from the other side of the study.

“And can you make it stop?” Meera asked from the sofa where she was thumbing through an old estate ledger. Her bright sari was spread out on the cushions around her like a queen’s robe.

“Sorry,” Dev said, sheepish. He hadn’t realized they could hear him. He hadn’t consciously been humming, come to think of it. It was the old Italian song he remembered his mother singing to him when he’d been a little boy. He barely knew the words, but the tune was as familiar to him as his own face.

“You do seem extra cheerful today.” Parth shot him a look over the sheaf of papers in his hands. “Did you spend more time with a certain pretty lady?”

Parth batted his eyelashes.

Dev contemplated throwing a book at his head.

His skin tingled at the memory of last night. Of how they’d kissed. How she’d bared herself, giving instead of allowing him to take. He’d stayed up for hours last night, pondering the inherent power of her actions. The bravery of it. The strength.

Jane was powerful, brave, and strong.

And he couldn’t wait to see her again.

“Ah,” Meera said, interrupting his thoughts. She closed the ledger, her finger marking the page. “Is this Miss Jane you speak of? Parth mentioned she’s been helping you search for clues. I like that lady, but her office always smelled.”

“It was the fertilizer for her plants,” Dev said, “and it didn’t always smell.”

Meera wrinkled her nose. “If you say so.” She looked to the side and then asked, “Does she know?”

Dev inhaled sharply. “Know about the robbery? Yes.”

Meera raised one dark eyebrow. “You know that I know that it’s perfectly clear that’s not what I’m asking if she knows.”

Parth made a choking sound from the corner of the room where he sat next to a side table covered in documents. “Meera, you know the first rule of the LCA is that we don’t talk about the LCA.”

She huffed. “I’m not talking about the LCA. You boys, always thinking you’re so funny and clever. I’m talking about Dev’s real identity, of course.”

Dev cleared his throat. “Meera,” he said, his voice a warning.

She held up one hand, palm out. “Fine, fine. I won’t ask if the pretty aristocratic lady knows that you’re not a simple servant like the rest of us.”

“Meera,” he gritted out.

She made a show of covering her mouth with her free hand before flicking open the ledger and returning to her perusal.

Dev tried to sort the stacks of documents on the desk, but his mind was in a whirl. Thoughts of what he and Jane had done together last night mixed with feelings of guilt. But he couldn’t tell her who he really was. No one outside their retinue from India could know the truth. It was too dangerous. Lady Rowling had been most clear on that.

“Your life is in danger,” she had said, her pale eyes flashing sternly.

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