Wicked Temptation (Regency Sinners 6)(14)

“You said eight ladies,” Pru spoke abruptly. “Five have been cleared, one is now dead, I know I am not guilty, so surely that must mean it is the eighth lady who is guilty. Who, in all probability, is responsible for Cilla’s and Worthington’s deaths and Jocey being shot?” She narrowed her gaze on him.

Yet another conclusion Titus should have known the intelligent Pru would make.

“Who is she?”

And demand to know the answer to.

He released her to step back. “I am not at liberty—”

“You will tell me.” Pru reached out to grasp his sleeve-covered arm. “You will tell me now.”

Titus stared down at her. The color had come back into Pru’s cheeks, her eyes glittered with angry determination, and her stubborn little chin was raised in challenge.

She had never looked more beautiful to him.

Well, apart from that spectacular view of her bared bottom cheeks earlier as she bent over the table. And the even lovelier sight of how red those cheeks had become after he had spanked them.

A totally inappropriate thought for him to be having at this moment. Pru had no interest in his desire, was demanding an answer to something of much more importance to her. “I cannot allow you to—”

“I might have allowed you to dominate me physically a short time ago, but in this, I will not be gainsaid.” Her chin rose. “You will tell me this woman’s name.”

A nerve twitched in Titus’s tightly clenched jaw. “She may be as innocent as you are.”

“Her name.”

He scowled. “Damn you for your stubbornness, Pru!”

Her smile was humorless. “Considering the contrariness of your own nature, no doubt it is one of the things you most admire about me.”

There was no point in denying it. Pru’s beauty and intelligence were two of the things Titus had first been drawn to, but her stubborn determination was a very close third. It made her character so different from her more amiable sister and added a certain whimsical charm.

Titus’s position as Viscount Romney, heir to his father, the Earl of Chelmsford, meant that, apart from the other Sinners, any decision he made was rarely if ever questioned. Least of all by a woman. Pru felt no such compunction and had been a constant challenge to him since they had deepened their acquaintance three months ago.

Nevertheless… “First I will have your promise that you will not go near nor confront this lady with any accusations.” After today, Titus knew Pru’s well-being had become of even more importance to him. Quite what that meant, he would decide later. At this moment, it was her continued safety he was most concerned with. “Well?”

She gave a dismissive snort. “I am not lying prostrate across that table with my skirts raised and my bottom bared now, Romney.”

More’s the pity. “That can easily be arranged,” he warned.

She gave him a mocking smile. “I would not advise you to try it, because no matter what you might think to the contrary, I did allow it, Titus.”

“And feel better for it?”

“I am no longer quite so removed from my environment as I was,” she conceded. “But the next time that it happens—if it happens,” she derided as he raised dark brows, “it will again be my decision to make and not your own.”

Was it wrong of Titus to feel heartened, even aroused, by that statement? Whether it was or not, there was no denying his cock was once again standing at attention inside his pantaloons in anticipation of the event.

“Her name, Titus.” Pru was determined she would know the whole truth now. She had every intention of ensuring she was involved in the capture of this traitor.

Romney breathed in deeply before exhaling just as strongly. “The eighth lady is the Duchess of Stonewell.”

Pru released him to stumble back a step. Only his hurried grasp of her wrist prevented her from falling.

Angelique Sinclair, the Duchess of Stonewell, was that eighth lady suspected and in all probability guilty of committing treason?

Pru did now know the beautiful, red-haired duchess particularly well, that lady being a few years older than her and married for several years to the arrogant and disdainful Duke of Stonewell. But Pru had always found Angelique Sinclair to be a vivacious and sociable lady whenever the two of them had chanced to meet socially.

And none of those things, the beauty, being married to a duke, or Angelique Sinclair’s vivacity of nature, precluded the other woman from also being a traitor to the Crown.

Pru also found it suspect that the lovely Angelique was the wife of the same gentleman whom Romney said was in charge of this investigation.

Pru shook off Romney’s grasp on her arm. “You will see that lady is arrested and questioned immediately.”

Titus had known this would be Pru’s response, as clearly as he knew he could not do as she asked.

Stonewell was one of his closest friends, and he had known Angelique too for the three years of their marriage. He was often invited to dine with the married couple, as were the other Sinners. To openly accuse Nik’s wife of treason would be to cause a serious rift in that friendship.

One that might never heal.

Just as not pursuing that lady’s guilt or innocence might result in an irretrievable rift between himself and Pru, something Titus also refused to allow to happen now that they were at least speaking to each other again.