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“Please…whatMiss Strange?” He was leaning toward her very closely, his mouth against her ear. He brushed his face along her jaw, skin on skin, until his eyes were level with hers. He stared into her eyes, so close that his lashes brushed against hers. He seemed to be waiting for her to speak but she was having trouble remembering how tobreathe.
“Cat got your tongue?” He caressed the words as if they were parts of her body and she shivered a little, wondering how he could scare her so thoroughly and yet have her aroused at the same time.
What a strange girl I am.
She arched into him. Her hands went around his neck and she pulled him down to kiss her, lips tingling in anticipation.
He stopped just short of her mouth, his hot breath brushing against it teasingly. “Ah, Miss Strange. You don’t get to distract me twice in one evening in the same way. Do you take me for a fool?”
She stiffened, staring in surprise. “Do you really want me to answer that?”
“I do. But only if you tell the truth,ma cherie.Parle vous français?”
Letty jerked in surprise, eyes widening as she stumbled backward, letting go of his neck.
His eyes narrowed. “From your reaction I would say thattu parles français.”He took a menacing step closer. “Es-tu un espion français?”
Letty shook her head vigorously. “I’m no spy.”
“Are you not? What other reasons would you have to look through my papers? You really do take me for a fool,” he said bitterly.
Letty’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “Very well, then,” she shrugged. “You’re right. I was sent here to obtain specific information about you and Wellington. And I’ve been trying to do that. I did read your letters. I didn’t understand them.” Her lips quirked sardonically. “I don’t suppose you would care to explain who the Third Man is and why he’s so important?”
He snorted, lips twisting in bitter amusement. “If you tell me the names of your employers and what you intend to do with the information.”
She laughed. “You do not know them. They are not men of your acquaintance.”
He cocked his eyebrow. “You do not know all the men of my acquaintance, so how can you be so sure?”
“I am but a lowly cog in a large wheel. The men who control me are bigger cogs, but not so powerful that they would move in the same circles as a Duke.”
“Especially when they are French cogs, eh?”
She lowered her eyes, lashes sweeping downward to hide them. “Oui.”
The Duke exhaled loudly as he began to pace the room. “And so, you were running away, were you not? Then what? You changed your mind?”
“I came to warn you.”
“Indeed. Of the plot to do away with me. But I have to ask myself why would you do that? Would my untimely demise not work well for you and your countrymen?”
“I am not a soulless monster who would let a man die just for an advantage.” Her voice was cold, angry.
He stopped pacing, to stare at her. “You have a conscience, you mean? So much so that you would come into my home, seduce my son with your cookies and make him fall in love with you, and then try to steal my secrets? That conscience?” He bit out the words like musket balls.
“Yes!” she hissed angrily. “We are at war, Your Grace, and both sides seek any advantage they can get. But there is a vast difference between trying to divine your plan for my people and watching you die.”
The Duke took a deep breath. “Very well, you have appeased your conscience with this warning. Am I to forgive you for your transgressions as a result? What do you want from me?” He sounded nothing so much as frustrated.
Letty covered the two steps that brought her right against him. She grabbed the lapels of his coat, and pulled him to her, pressing her mouth to his.
“I want you to becareful, Your Grace. I came back, of my own free will, to warn you. Do you not think I could escape you easily, if that was my desire? I am well trained. I knew you would have seen the letters, and drawn your own conclusions as to my intentions. Nonetheless, I returned. I came back to warn you. Please heed me.”
He stared into her eyes, his own wide and seeking the truth of her words. “Very well,” he whispered. “Consider me warned.”
He took a step back and moved out of her way so she had a way clear to the door. “I shall not detain you further. Whatever youthinkyou know, go and tell your masters. I will not stop you.”
Letty stood frozen, unable to believe his words. “You’re letting me go?”
“Yes,” he whispered. “Get out of my sight, and never return.”
