"No, Your Grace," several of the Rogues chorused.
"Right, then let's go over the plan," Malloryn announced, unrolling a map that appeared to be of the gaming club in question.
Adele didn't ask how he'd gotten it.
Chapter 16
"Allowing you to do this goes against all my better instincts," Malloryn murmured as he fitted a small brass device inside Adele's jeweled hairpin. A tracking beacon, he'd explained. Just in case something went wrong.
"I didn't know you had better instincts."
Silver eyes met hers, and then a rare smile touched his mouth. "There she is."
"She?"
"My tart-tongued bride. The one who gives as good as she gets."
"I wasn't aware I'd ever been anything else?"
"You've been a little quieter the last couple of days." He tilted her head, settling several blonde curls over her ear to hide the pin.
She'd never seen anything like it, but Malloryn had produced an entire array of gadgets and devices to assist in her endeavors. He'd clipped a listening device just inside her bodice, through which he—and several of his so-called Rogues—could hear everything that was said in her vicinity, even if they were a hundred yards away.
She wouldn't be able to communicate with them, but they'd know if she found herself in trouble.
"I was angry with you," she replied, glancing to where his Rogues were fitting themselves out for a stealth mission.
They'd set up their surveillance base on a rooftop several houses over from Angel's Fall. He'd even brought the butler, who was tuning the radio phonograph through which they'd be able to listen.
"You weren't angry," Malloryn murmured. "I've seen you angry before. You throw things."
"That was one time."
"It was memorable." His eyes crinkled with humor.
"You're going to remind me of that frequently, aren't you?"
"Forever."
If we have forever.
She bit her lip as she examined his face. His concentration was absolute, allowing her unrestricted access to his thoughts and emotions.
"About what I said yesterday in front of everyone—"
"You don't have to explain." Adele cut him off swiftly. "We were barely on speaking terms a week ago, so I never…. Love is not something I've ever anticipated. People of our class generally don't find it, and marriages are built on far less presumptive measures."
"Like honesty?" he murmured, looking down into her upturned face. "I shouldn't have said it. I haven't been sleeping well of late, but that's no excuse. Sometimes.... They push me too far. There was a bet leading up to our wedding about whether we would make it to the altar or not."
"Who won?"
Malloryn suddenly looked tired. "I did. Considering our aborted first attempt, nobody knows the precise time and location of the actual ceremony."
"Should I expect to be interrogated about it?" she murmured.
"I don't think anyone would have the balls."
"I think your friend Byrnes would."
"He's not my friend."
Adele arched a brow. He seemed a different man around his Company of Rogues, and though the banter clearly drove him crazy, it also seemed to anchor him somehow. "If he does ask, I'll lie."
"You'd do that? For me?" The barest of smiles touched his mouth.
"You did just apologize."
"Truce?" Malloryn murmured.
Adele gave a careless shrug, but he stopped it with the faintest brush of his fingers against your cheek. "There is one last thing I wanted to talk to you about. I saw your expression when I introduced Mrs. Herbert."
"Well, yes. I wasn't expecting my maid to be spying on me."
"If it's any consolation, I put her into place to protect you," he pointed out.
"And you haven't used her services to keep an eye on me in the last week, when you thought me working for the enemy?"
He didn't bother to reply.
She knew the answer, and his face said it all.
Adele breathed out a laugh. "Look at the pair of us. How are we going to make this marriage work?"
"I don't know, Adele. I don't know. I cannot even promise you complete honesty," he admitted. "I know too many dangerous things—things that could get you killed if someone thought you knew them too."
"I don't expect you to blather in my ear about council secrets and the state of the realm," she said crossly. "I understand you cannot. But… I would appreciate it if you would not outright lie to me. If you cannot tell me something, then simply say that. And warn me the next time you intend to produce some spy in my household. Please."
"My apologies. I'm not used to this."
"This?"
"Being married," he admitted, "in anything other than name. Or sharing my thoughts with others."
Adele looked him directly in the eye. "Your Rogues all jump to attention when you bark at them, but I am not a Rogue, Malloryn. I expect—"
"Technically…." He trailed off.
"Technically, what?"
"They voted you in yesterday."
Oh. The idea took her aback, and she felt a flush of what could possibly be described as joy. "But you…. I thought you didn't want me involved?"
"Did you think I had any sort of say on things around here?"
"I think you're trying to distract me," she pointed out.
"Adele." Malloryn straightened, looking decidedly deadly tonight in black leather. There was no sign of the icily controlled duke she'd thought she'd married. "I'm sorry for the way this played out. I'm sorry I deceived you. If I hadn't thought you were working for my enemy I would never have—"
"Touched me," she whispered.
Something flickered through the depths of his gray eyes, though she'd always had trouble deciphering which precise emotion he felt.
If he felt anything at all.