Dark Deceptions: A Regency and Medieval Collection of Dark Romances(78)

A chill wracked her frame as she remembered the day Adam had escaped and the beating she’d received.

“Your father is a traitor, Miss Wilcox, and he knows the date and location of the planned event,” the duke said quietly, having correctly interpreted the reasons for her hesitancy.

The pit in her stomach grew. All her life she’d known someday she would have to make a decision, that secret notes handed off to the butcher’s son were not enough to right Father’s wrongs. The time to make that decision had finally come.

“What will you require of me?” she asked, the question flat to her own ears.

The duke exchanged a look with Stone.

Stone spoke. “Hunter recently contacted you, asking for your support.”

She tried to conceal a flash of surprise. “How do you—?”

“It is our responsibility to know. The next time you are contacted, meet them. We will provide you with papers containing information. I want you to pass them along to your father. That should solidify your reconciliation.”

The muscles in her body strained. Leaning forward, she rested her elbows on her knees and buried her head in her hands. She’d not seen her father since the day she’d freed Blakely. She picked her head up. “This will never work,” she said finally.

The duke frowned.

She recalled her father’s earliest suspicions and then the moment he’d discovered her role in freeing Adam. “My father will never confide in me. I betrayed him for a second time.”

“He will,” the duke insisted.

“You don’t know,” she lashed out. “You don’t know that my father never trusted me, that he abandoned me to my own devices. Why should he take me back?”

The duke dusted his hands together. “Because he believes you are an angry, jealous wife. Everyone knows of your discontent from the papers and mention of your husband’s former love.”

Georgina blanched and dug her fingers into the palms of her hand until she left crescent moons of silent hurt.

The duke seemed immune to her pain. “And you forget. Your father is in desperate need of the information in your possession. The ton has already done a remarkable job brandishing about the recent scandal with Markham. Therefore, your father will see what he wants to see. That is your weapon.”

He fell silent.

Georgina broke the quiet. “How do you presume I obtain Emmet’s plans?”

He inclined his head. “Why, the same way you did in the past, my dear.”

She nibbled on her lip. “My husband—”

“Can’t know.”

A lock of hair fell across her eye. She brushed it back. She couldn’t keep this from him. Not when secrets and lies had already destroyed their fragile happiness.

Georgina shook her head. “I can’t lie to him, Your Grace.”

Archer cleared his throat.

Georgina looked at him.

“Your husband will not let you take on this role,” he pointed out gently.

Bitterness coated her mouth with a filmy layer of regret. She saw herself bent over Lord Ashton’s balcony while Adam took her with punishing strokes then coldly walked away. “You are wrong. My husband will not care.”

“He is angry, but he cares a great deal for you. I’m sure of it. If your husband were to know what we proposed, he’d not allow you take on this mission. No man would,” Archer concluded.

They’d not seen the black hatred in Adam’s eyes, or heard the vile things he’d said.

“When you are done, when your father has been brought to justice, your husband will forgive you,” the duke said.

Georgina managed a small smile. Adam would never forgive her.

But mayhap if I do this, I can prove to him that I am loyal.

Hope stirred within her breast.

“I’d ask that I be able to write my husband a note,” she said, her words a faint whisper.

The duke frowned.

Stone interjected. “What kind of note?”

“An explanation. If anything happens to me, I’d want him to know that I was not disloyal in this. I’d want him to know that I was loyal to the Crown.”

Archer’s mouth flattened. “Nothing will happen to you.”

Georgina waited for the duke to speak.

The nobleman’s eyes were uncharacteristically somber. “I will see that it reaches him.”

Georgina leaned back, sucking in a breath. “How will I be in contact with you? How will I know what information to give? How—”

He held up a finger, silencing her barrage of questions. “Suzanne is to be trusted.”

Her brow wrinkled. “My maid?”

“The very same. All correspondences will go through Suzanne. She will serve as your emissary. When you receive your summons from Fox and Hunter, she will accompany you.”

It would appear the duke had thought out every detail.

He rapped on the ceiling and the conveyance came to a fluid stop.

She reached for the window curtain. This time no one stopped her and she peered outside. “Where are we?”

Stone answered her question. “The Dials.”

She drew in a shuddery breath. No member of the nobility would find himself in the Seven Dials, or if he did…well, then whatever had brought him here would be less than reputable.