It was far more common than Evan had ever expected. Even though he’d never revealed his identity, rumours abounded, and he’d heard plenty of chatter about himself. There were a lot of people, men and women both, who fantasised about being the one to discover the identity of the mystery man—and then being thoroughly debauched by said mystery man. The logic seemed to be that anyone as competent and dashing as the Rogue must surely be an outstanding cocksman. Evanwasan outstanding cocksman, but that had nothing to do with being a spy and everything to do with plenty of experience and some excellent teachers along the way.
But it wasn’t something he’d expected from his strait-laced, sensible captain.
Thomas was still watching him, eyes dark, and Evan was sorely tempted just for a second to try and coax him into his bed right now. But then Thomas let out a jaw-cracking yawn that hadEvanyawning, and really, if he was going to seducethe man, wouldn’t it be better to do it when they were both fresh and well rested? He got the impression he’d get exactly one chance to impress Thomas, and he didn’t want to waste it. He’d rather avoid the embarrassing possibility of falling asleep with someone’s cock in his mouth.
Once had been enough.
“You’re right, of course,” he said, giving Thomas a warm smile. “We don’t want to tip anyone off. But perhaps you can call me Evan when we’re alone.”
And you can use my name when I finally straddle those thick thighs and ride you, he didn’t add.
There would be time for that once they’d discovered who was behind the threat to the king.
“Did you really have to kill Calthrope?” Leopold asked, arms folded as he rested his arse against the edge of the kitchen table in the deserted cottage.
“I really did. He had a vial of hemlock and refused to give me any information about who it was for. And given the circumstances, I needed to shut him up immediately.”
“Circumstances?” Felix asked, his head snapping up from where he’d been resting it on the tabletop. “What circumstances?”
Evan blew out a long breath. He’d hoped to sort of… glide past the part where he’d been caught, but obviously that was a vain hope. Not much got past Felix. “I was caught out while I was interrogating him, if you must know. And since I wasn’t sure how that was going to turn out, I thought it best to kill him so that if it went badly for me, at least the job was done.”
Leo straightened up. “What do youmean, you got caught out? You don’t get caught. That’s the whole point of you.”
Evan flapped a hand at him. “In my defence, that captain of yours is very light on his feet for a big man. I was busy trying to make sure you didn’t get killed when he snuck up on me and put a knife to my throat.”
“Excuse me?” Leo’s eyes widened. “Thomasgot the drop on you? What did you do?”
“Well, I snapped the viscount’s neck, obviously, and then when the captain saw it was me, he sort of… figured it out from there.”
Leo sat suddenly in a rickety chair and rested his head in his hands and groaned. “Please tell me you didn’t kill Thomas? Or tie him up somewhere and leave him there?”
“What? No.” Evan sat opposite him. “I gave him the choice of keeping his mouth shut and helping with the body or having his throat cut. He chose to help with the body. He’s incredibly strong and very good in a crisis, did you know?”
Leo lifted his head and glared at Evan. “Of course I know. That’s why I put him in charge. Tell me what happened next.”
“Well, long story short, Thomas threw the viscount’s body down the stairs for me. It was very impressive. Later I went and found my poor dear friend Stephen, who tragically fell to his death on the back staircase.”
“And did you search his room?”
Evan rolled his eyes. “Please. Of course I searched his room. And the body. But I didn’t find anything except a drawing. So now we’re trying to figure out who else was involved. We suspect the ambassador for Falsmark.”
“We?” Leo asked.
“Well, since Thomas knows what’s going on, I’ve asked him to help me keep an eye out for suspicious activity. He’s already proven rather useful. Nobody will give him a second look sincehe’s the captain and he’s always around the place, and people assume that because he’s big he’s not all that smart, when nothing could be further from the truth. He’s very clever.”
Felix raised an eyebrow. “Not to mention handsome.”
“Is he?” Evan said airily. “I hadn’t noticed.”
Felix snorted. “Liar. You’ve been watching him for weeks.”
Damn. Evan had thought he’d been subtle. Then again, this was Felix. “Fine,” he huffed. “He’s a strapping great draught horse of a man and I want to ride him into the sunset. Happy?”
Felix grinned. “Very. I like seeing you smitten.”
“I’m not smitten. I’m attracted. There’s a difference.” Evan wasn’t sure why he felt the need to defend himself.
“Stop meddling, sweetheart. I’m sure Evan can take care of his own affairs,” Leo said.
