were. “And I’m not up for it tonight. You don’t need me. Go and do your jobs. You can surely think of some kind of excuse, can’t you?”
Noah opened his mouth as if to protest, but something in Griffin’s demeanor made Audrey leap in front of her brother to stop him.
“Yes, Griffin,” she said softly, praying he would see her understanding her eyes. “These past few weeks have been trying for us all, most of all for you, as you aren’t accustomed to this lifestyle. Go home and try to rest.”
“See here…” Noah began, but Audrey lifted her hand to cut him off.
“We’ll make your excuses,” she promised, nodding as Griffin tapped on the carriage wall and disappeared back down the street.
“What did you just do?” Noah turned her toward him. “Won’t it seem strange when our host doesn’t accompany us?”
With a shrug of one shoulder, Audrey took her brother’s arm and began dragging him toward Burlington’s House’s open double doors. The circular courtyard brimmed with people and animals as coach after coach passed in and out of the wide gateway.
“It doesn’t matter, Noah. It will ease Douglas’s mind not to have Griffin here. And didn’t you see his face?” She shivered as she remembered it, so empty and cold. Not at all like the man she knew and loved. He almost seemed… defeated. “He’s having a difficult time with… with all of this.”
Noah frowned, but took her lead and continued to move toward the crowd in the foyer. “I suppose and yet I feel like I’m being locked out of something very important.”
Audrey shrugged. She knew how her brother felt. After all, tonight she had been locked out of Griffin’s life. This time, for good.
Chapter Nineteen
“I must say, I’m glad your host decided to stay home,” Douglas Ellison said, as he spun Audrey around the crowded dance floor. “I do get tired of having to anticipate his interruptions all evening.”
“Grif…” She could only pray Douglas hadn’t heard that slip. “
She bit back a bark of laughter as the comment left her lips. Griffin was anything but harmless. He was like a lion stalking through his territory and clearing out any interlopers. If Douglas Ellison couldn’t see that himself, he was a greater fool than she had ever imagined.
Ellison seemed to consider her comment for a moment, then shrugged one shoulder. “You
“Exactly.” She gave him a flirtatious look she only now understood the full power of. Before she made love with Griffin she hadn’t really grasped the control her femininity could hold over a man. She’d never understood the long stares from men, the way they leaned closer when a woman talked. Now she did and was forced to use those wiles on Douglas Ellison. A disgusting thought to say the least.
She shook off her private musings to refocus on matters at hand. “We should talk about more pleasant things. Have you seen the Prince yet this evening?”
Ellison’s gray eyes suddenly glittered with emotion. His thin smile turned to a frown.
“Of course. Who can help but look at him as soon as he enters the room? Surrounded by people, dressed like a peacock on parade. The man is a buffoon.”
“Hmmm.” She hoped to sound noncommittal as well as encouraging. “I suppose he does stand out. His guards alone make him a spectacle.”
She smiled as she caught a glimpse of one of the guards. She and Noah had worked so hard to make sure the Prince and his guests had a large duty to protect them. The Prince had argued, but eventually had caved in to Lord Golding’s convincing words.
“Guards?” Ellison scoffed. “As if they make any difference.”
“What do you mean?”
She slowly turned back to Ellison. His face was unreadable, stoic. Yet the way he’d made his statement, so certain, made her heart lodge in her throat. It was almost as if he already had a plan.
“If someone really wants to assassinate a leader,” Ellison said with a cool smile. “A few guards won’t stop him. Nothing will.”
Audrey shivered despite the heat of the crowded ballroom. What she saw in Ellison’s eyes was so angry, so full of hatred that she could hardly bear to look at it.
“You sound very sure of that,” she managed to stammer out. “I wonder, though, why so many people seem to hate His Royal Highness?”
Douglas’s eyes refocused on her as he gave her a condescending grin. Again she was happy most men assumed women didn’t understand politics. It gave her the upper hand with Ellison. After all, there was no harm giving away secrets to a person he didn’t believe could do anything with them.
“Aside from his stupidity and his propensity to cling to the opinions of others like the weakling he is, many people were invested heavily in the war with France. And with Napoleon.”
Drawing back slightly, Audrey observed Ellison’s face. He was entirely focused on the paunchy man across the room, his gray eyes boring into him with an intensity that was as frightening as it was unwavering.
She batted her eyelashes in a pretend show of naivety. “I didn’t know anyone could profit from a war.”
Again, he glanced back at her. “Well, people buy and sell commissions in the Army and Navy every day. And there are more nefarious businesses, as well. Those who trade arms and secrets with the enemy.”
She found herself holding her breath and had to force herself to draw in air. Was he about to admit he was a traitor?
“You sound as if you know this from personal experience.”
She chose her words with great care. The last thing she wanted to do was frighten him away from the subject now that they were getting to the meat of the issue. Close to the whole reason she was in London in the first place.
His pompous smile fell. “I don’t know if I’d go that far. I do have…
“Really?” She tamped down her eagerness to demand a list of names. “I find it difficult to believe I might live and walk amongst men involved in such dangerous business.”
Arching an eyebrow, he gave her an appraising stare. With a quick breath, she decided to take a chance and press further.
“It’s a bit… thrilling,” she added, watching his pupils dilate with what she now knew to be desire. Her stomach lurched in response but she managed to keep the nausea at bay and give him a stunning smile. The opportunity to hear him say even one contact’s name was worth any price.
“Truly?” His voice was full of sudden admiration. “You find it to be thrilling?”
She bowed her head with a forced blush. “There is a certain adventure to it all.”
His smiled widened. “I never thought you had it in you, Audrey. I must say, this is a side to you I’d never imagined, but I quite like it.”
“I’d never dare tell anyone I felt that way.” Drawing a deep breath, she leaned forward. “Unless I truly trusted them.” She dropped her voice. “But my feelings about our Regent aren’t exactly tender, either.”
She was pleased when Ellison’s eyes narrowed as he glanced around the room. “There are too many people here to discuss this,” he whispered. “If you were overheard you could be called a traitor and hung for treason. But would you accompany me to the gardens?”
“Of course.” She was breathless not because of the deep feelings she had for the man beside her, but because she felt so close to the secrets she needed to unveil.
As Douglas led her through the crowd on the floor and the parameter, Audrey scanned the room for her brother. She wanted to catch Noah’s eye so he’d know she was leaving so her brother could follow at a safe
