Page 52 of A Deal with the Devil

Chapter Thirteen

Devil stilled, suddenly a warrior alert on the battlefield. Searching for any hint of attack. For the enemy.

While she was still straddling him.

She did not want to regret this delicious moment outside of time and place. There were too many regrets already. She shifted to slide free, but his hands tightened on her hips, keeping her still. “Explain,” he said softly, darkly.

“It’s nothing to do with you.”

“What were you doing in the countess’s bedroom?”

“Why?”

“Because it’s not safe.”

Her head whipped up. “Don’t you dare suggest that I do not know the seriousness of…whatever this is. My sister’s life hangs in the balance.” Because she craved the feel of him between her thighs, she pushed back, away. “Let me go.”

“I don’t want to,” he grumbled, even as he released her.

She scooted back on to her seat, yanking her skirts down where they belonged. Her body was deeply, deeply confused. And rather irate that she had moved away instead of closer. He lounged like a king on his throne, not at all discomfited by the fact she had just come on his fingers. It made her want to kick him.

“I know that look.” He trapped her leg between his knees. “Last time you followed it with a facer. I don’t fancy being kicked either. Tell me about the message instead. Who wrote it? Where did you get it?”

She crossed her arms even though she knew it made her look petulant. She was starting to feel petulant, truth be told.

“Did you find it the countess’s bedchamber? Is that why you were there?”

“Yes.”

He cursed, low and vicious.

“Don’t you think it odd that Lady Portsmouth’s bedroom was so…empty? Nothing left of her at all. Not even a single portrait of her in the house.” She paused. “Of any of his previous wives, actually.”

“The earl is not exactly what you would call sentimental.”

“Not to mention the fact that he’s a murderer.”

“That too. He has always wiped away any trace of his wives. Claims it’s so as not to make his new bride uncomfortable.”

“Untimely death is uncomfortable,” Kitty muttered.

“Where did you find it, exactly?”

“Hidden behind her bed.” She rubbed at her breastbone. Portsmouth meant to make her sister just another woman he erased from the world.

Devil watched her steadily, every inch the man who held a hundred fortunes in the palm of his hand on a regular basis. “What else?”

She blinked. “Pardon?”

“There’s something else you’re not telling me.”

She tried not to wriggle in her seat. Willed herself not to flush nervously.

“Kitty,” he said, “this is serious.”

“There’s a chance Lady Caroline is not dead, only missing. Or on the run. If I find her, I can… I don’t know,” she acknowledged. Do something.”

“I thought the whole point of your blackmailing me was so I would do something.”