Page 41 of A Remarkable Rogue

“No, you won’t.” He shifted away from her, and his back drew up ramrod straight. A coldness settled over him as he carefully pulled the satin ribbons back into place over her shoulders and signaled an end to his kisses. “I won’t let you put yourself at risk.”

Disappointment panged inside her. Well, wasn’t that just like the Nate Reed she’d come to know—still protecting her even as he pushed her away?

She did her best to keep the frustration of this new rejection from registering on her face. “If you are correct that it’s Scepter who’s been blackmailing me, then its men are waiting for me to deliver that message. If I don’t approach the general tonight, they’ll know something’s wrong. They’ll think I’ve betrayed them.”

“I’ll protect you.”

A tormented laugh tore from her. “You can’t! They’ve already warned me to keep away from you. If they discover that I told you about this, that you didn’t let me deliver the message—” She forced out past the knot of fear choking her throat, “They’ll kill you, too.”

With a reassuring smile that did little to put her at ease, he lifted her hand to his lips and placed a kiss on her palm. “I won’t let them.” Then he set her onto her feet and stood. “I want you to go home where you’ll be safe. I’ll have my men waiting in St Giles to arrest Scepter when they come to collect the explosives from Braxton. There’s no need for you to speak to the general.”

Her fingers closed around her gold locket, and she drew from it the strength to defy him. “Have your men waiting, but Iwilldeliver that message to Braxton tonight. If I don’t, Scepter will kill Robert just as they killed Henry Everett. I will never put him at risk.”

With shaking fingers, she picked up his discarded mask and handed it to him.

“As soon as I deliver this last message, then I’ll be useless to them.”And to you…“They’ll have no reason to involve me again, and General Braxton will provide your next link in finding their leaders.” Her voice trembled even as she assured him, “After tonight, you won’t have to worry about me again.”

Twelve

Sydney waited in the darkness at the rear of the gardens and did her best to ignore the dome-shaped rose bower at the end of the path under which General Braxton had disappeared about twenty minutes ago. Its wooden frame and thick growth that cascaded to the ground shook violently, yet the rustling leaves weren’t loud enough to drown out the grunts and groans of sex coming from beneath its innocent flowers.

Thank God Nate wasn’t here to overhear this. She couldn’t have survived the embarrassment.

No, he was waiting in the ballroom where she’d left him. He would be less conspicuous there while she slipped into the garden to find the general and deliver the message. But the women there leered at him as if hunting season were underway and he was their game.

Sydney twisted her mouth with a grimace and tapped her foot in impatient irritation, both at the shaking bower and at Nate. Certainly, a man that handsome would catch the attention of women, but she hadn’t expected the way he’d turned so many female heads throughout the ballroom. Or the jealousy that pricked her when he nodded toward a foxed ginger-haired woman as if they were old friends.

She’d have to be a crazy goose to be jealous over Nate Reed, but she was exactly that.

She knew he wasn’t hers. He’d only entered her life because he was determined to stop Scepter, and when that danger ended and his mission finished, he would leave her life just as easily as he’d entered it. Yet she found herself not wanting him to go.

A sharp, masculine curse of triumph bellowed from the bower. The branches and leaves shook violently, then suddenly fell still.

Two minutes later, a woman dressed as a swan emerged from beneath the bower. She paused to straighten her feathered bodice and beaked mask, then swept her hands over her mussed white gown. With a sashay in her step, she walked toward the house and the amusements inside. Her playtime in the garden was over.

Sydney’s heart thudded as she waited unseen in the shadows for General Braxton’s distinctly robust figure to duck out from beneath the cover of the bower. Wrinkles marred his bright blue-and-green waistcoat, his cravat hung loose around his neck, and the orange beak on his mask was askew. But he had more immediate concerns on his hands as he fumbled at his groin to fasten up the fall of his green trousers.

She pulled in a deep breath. The time to deliver her message had arrived.Finally.She stepped into the path and blocked Braxton’s way.

The general halted. A quick curse crossed his lips before he glanced up and saw her. Then his mouth pulled into a lecherous grin as his eyes dropped blatantly to her breasts.

Sydney felt soiled from that look.

“My lady, good evening.” He cast a glance up the path behind her into the darkness. “A beautiful woman shouldn’t wander through this garden by herself. Good thing you found me to protect you.” He licked his lips. “Or to entertain you in other ways.”

Soiled…and sickened. She ignored the chill that shuddered down her spine and clung to her resolve to get through this as quickly as possible and to flee back to the ballroom and Nate’s protection.

“I came looking for you, General.”

“Lord Peacock,” he corrected, his voice a low warning to keep his identity secret even though everyone knew exactly who he was.

“My lord.” She gave a shallow curtsy of apology and loathed that she had to show him this undeserved deference. “Forgive my thoughtlessness.”

He sniffed at her apology and stepped toward her to close the shadowy distance between them. “So you were searching for me, were you? And what service can I provide to you tonight, pretty?” He sent her a wide, greasy smile. “I am at your pleasure.”

She wouldneverbe at his. “I have a note for you.”

His eyes followed as she reached beneath her skirt to remove the folded paper and handed it to him. She was careful not to let his fingers brush against hers.