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Sylvia lifted her chin, refusing to be cowed by him. And as angry as he was, Rafe couldn’t deny that he bloody loved that about her.
“Now tell me what you were doing.”
Sylvia gave him her cheek. “I think you’ve already deduced that.”
Rafe dragged his nails against the patterned wallpaper. “Please don’t mistake me for a patient man, Sylvia. I’ll have the truth from you one way or another.”
That seemed to reach her. Sylvia faced him again, but she looked at him with new eyes. And Rafe didn’t particularly like whatever it was she saw. “You’re working for Wardale, aren’t you?” He was momentarily stunned and stepped back. It was technically true, of course, but there was no possible way she could know that. “That was all this ever was, wasn’t it? A way to keep track of me,” she added, so softly he nearly missed it over the pounding of his blood in his ears.
Rafe swallowed hard. “No. I’ve been harboring suspicions of our host for some time now. I came here to find answers. I had no idea you would be here.”
There. That was close enough to the truth.
Sylvia stared at him for an endless moment. “Prove it.”
“As you noted last night, I haven’t exactly been discreet when it came to my interest in you, have I? And if my objective was to simply watch your movements, I could do that without us ever having to speak.” Let alone make love. Her frown deepened as she considered this. “Please, Sylvia,” he added, rather more desperately than he would have liked.
Her eyes softened. “I suppose that’s true,” she acknowledged.
“Of course it is,” he said, ignoring the guilt that thundered through him over all he hadn’t said. But he must remain silent. “Now tell me why you’re here.”
Sylvia let out a sigh. “I’m being blackmailed.” The shock Rafe felt must have been clear on his face, for her caginess faded. “That was why I was in the woods yesterday. I was delivering something, but now I think…I think Mr. Wardale has been behind it all.”
An icy pit formed in the bottom of his stomach.The envelope.But why would Wardale want to blackmail an innocent lady’s companion?
Or perhaps she is not so innocent after all.
Rafe ignored the voice and took her by the shoulders. “Sylvia, you must tell meexactlywhat happened from the very beginning. So I can help you.”
“First I need to get into that study,” she burst out. “Then I can know for certain.”
“All right. I’ll do it,” he grumbled. “Butonlyif you promise to answer every question I ask afterward.”
She reached down and gripped his hand. “Promise me the same.”
He stared into her eyes, but the earlier fear had been replaced by a familiar determination that centered him. Hadn’t he wanted this? To be unmasked before her?
Rafe ran the back of his finger against her cheek, where the skin was impossibly soft. “Just know that no matter what happens after this, every moment I spent with you was real.”
He then bent down to pick the lock, unable to watch the tangle of emotions playing across her face at his cryptic words, but Sylvia squeezed his shoulder.
“Someone’s coming,” she hissed just as Rafe noted the heavy footfalls coming down the hallway. There wasn’t enough time to close the sitting room’s door without drawing notice. And if it was Wardale, there would be no explaining this.
A surge of adrenaline pumped through his veins.Thiswas the bit he had conveniently forgotten about. The absolute thrill of the game. The part that reminded him he was alive. And gave him a sense of purpose he hadn’t found elsewhere.
Rafe retrieved the pocketknife from the floor and strained to listen more closely. Whoever was approaching kept stumbling every few steps, as if they were foxed. There were several bedrooms nearby, so it was entirely possible that they were on their way to bed. He leaned closer to Sylvia, and her soft inhalation shot straight to his groin. “I think it’s another guest,” he whispered by her ear as her scent filled the scant air between them. “But they can’t have any idea why we’re really here.”
There was only one thing Rafe could think of, but he wouldn’t voice it. Not first, anyhow.
Sylvia slowly tilted her head up to meet his gaze. “Well, then,” she murmured as her eyes warmed. “I suppose we’ll need to create a distraction.”
Rafe’s hands immediately went to her waist as he pressed her firmly against the wall. It was the height of madness, but they didn’t have many choices, and his cock was already straining toward her. “I believe I can manage that.” Before she could say another word, he took her mouth in a hungry kiss, and her hands plunged into his hair. Then Rafe was utterly lost, reveling in the feel of her curves pressed against him, the now familiar taste of her lips, and the low sounds of pleasure she made.
Everything he had ever learned over the course of his career warned that she shouldn’t be trusted, that he was making a dangerous mistake, but his instincts screamed louder.
This is right. This is real.
After a few moments someone cleared their throat behind them. Loudly. As if they had done it several times already. Rafe slowly pulled away, and Sylvia blinked up at him, dazed. He flashed her a smile, then tucked her head to his chest and glanced back. “Oh. I didn’t see you there, Templeton.”
