Dark Deceptions: A Regency and Medieval Collection of Dark Romances(84)

She managed a jerky nod, praying he’d release her.

He tugged her glove all the way free and continued to hold on to her. He stroked a path over her palm with the pad of his thumb. “And you want to hurt him, don’t you?” Jamie didn’t allow her to respond, just lowered his head and kissed her.

Georgina gasped at the absolute shock of his assault, but he took her mouth falling open as assent. He raped her mouth, sullying her tongue with his assault. He cupped her buttocks in a hard, unrelenting grip and squeezed the soft flesh.

This time it couldn’t be helped—she gagged.

She jerked back, colliding with the shelving. A lone book tumbled to the floor, landing with an almost soundless thump.

Jamie’s pale blue eyes were glassy with desire.

“We can’t. Not…not here,” she managed, praying he believed that to be the true reason for her denial. She fought the urge to wipe her mouth, to scrub away the taste of him. “I don’t have much time.”

That seemed to sober him. He nodded. “We’re looking for names of those men and women assisting the Crown.”

“Women?” she squeaked.

Jamie patted her head as if she were a small girl. “Yes, my love. Men and women form part of this organization. We’ve already identified three members of the society. We need the others.”

“Will you hurt them?” she couldn’t keep from asking.

His lips twisted in a chilling rendition of a smile. “Do not worry about them.”

Georgina bit down hard on her lip and, fearing he could read the lies in her eyes, forced her gaze to the floor. “I found a list.” Not wishing to appear too obvious in her deception, she sought to cast doubt. “But it had nothing on it aside from several names. There was nothing else on it.”

Stop repeating yourself, Georgina.

A glimmer blazed to life in his eyes. “What were the names?”

She shook her head. “Surely this isn’t the information you seek.”

He took her hard by the shoulders, his fingers biting into the smooth flesh of her arms until tears stung her eyes. “Give me the bloody names and I’ll determine if it is information useful to us.”

“Marcus, Roberts, and…” Her mind spun.

Think. Think, Georgina. What is the name? What is it?

“And?” Jamie insisted.

“Uh…Mooring.”

Yes, it is Mooring.

Jamie grinned and, for a moment, looked like the same young boy who’d come to live with her and her family. When she’d learned he would be living with them, Georgina had twirled in circles with the excitement of having a brother. Until he slapped her. She’d been just seven and still remembered her fat, bloodied lip. She had stared back at him with fear before running off to hide. She’d been hiding ever since.

Jamie’s next words brought her back from the distant memory. “You have done well, my dear.”

“I can’t do any more, Jamie. This is the last time I can help you.”

He trailed the tip of one finger along her lower lip. “Do you know, Georgie? I don’t believe you.”

Terror zigzagged through her like a bolt of lightning. She opened her mouth to plead her innocence, but he tapped her lips to keep her silent. “I believe you want to help the Cause. I believe you want to punish your husband.”

She closed her eyes and prayed he would believe her lies. “I loved him so much. I gave up everything for him.”

“And he’s repaid you by f*cking his former lover.”

Georgina gasped with pain at the image his words evoked.

“Will you continue to help us?”

She tamped down the agonizing regret threatening to shred her to pieces. “He is still my husband.” Jamie was cruel, evil, and conniving but he was not a simpleton. He would be suspicious if she were to capitulate too easily.

“And you still have your father to appease.”

Odd, how for the first time in her life he was uttering those words as if they meant something.

Georgina hesitated and then gave a curt nod. “I will.”

He patted her cheek as if she were one of the queen’s terriers. “Good girl.”

Georgina couldn’t let him leave, not without finding out something, anything that might be of use to the duke. “Does it ever feel hopeless to you?”

Jamie raised a brow.

“The plan for Irish independence?” she said hurriedly.

“We’re not alone. There are those with great wealth and power who support the Cause, Georgina.”

Her heart kicked up an exited rhythm and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from asking for names.

Her silence was rewarded.

“If you need to find me or are in need of support, Lord Ackerly can be trusted.”

Georgina blinked, certain her ears had deceived her. Excitement made her giddy. How easily he’d handed over a name! It gave her a heady sense of power.

He grabbed her, wrapping a vise-like grip around her wrist. “If you deceive us again, Georgina, there will be no forgiveness. Do you understand what I am saying to you?”

Moisture dampened her palms. She’d known the moment the duke had enlisted her help that what was really at stake was more than her happiness; it was her life. Her throat constricted and she struggled to force any words out.