Page 62 of A Relentless Rake

She stared at the paper as if she held a snake in her hands. “This is why you’ve been asking about Henry’s work, following him—followingme.”

“His name is the only one we have.”Had.Until tonight. But try as hard as he might, Alec simply couldn’t believe that Lady Rowland was working for Scepter. He nodded at the paper. He placed his palms flat on the desktop and leaned toward her, his eyes fixed on her face. “You recognize them, don’t you?”

“Not the equations.” Her face paled. “But the plans beneath.”

“What are they for?”

She didn’t look up as she whispered, “Renovation plans for the Admiralty Club.”

His chest squeezed as he asked carefully, “Your brother worked on the renovations?”

A stiff nod. “The club’s manager commissioned Henry to double-check the architect’s work.” Followed by a shake of her head. “But…”

“But?” he prompted, holding his breath.

“These equations are wrong.” Her eyes darted up to his. Confusion swirled in their blue depths. “These aren’t the ones for the renovations.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I…” She swallowed so hard that he could hear it, then admitted little louder than a breath, “Because I reworked those equations to make certain they were correct.”

His heart stuttered. “You worked on plans for the Admiralty Club? When?”

“Over two years ago.” She placed the paper on the desk and stepped back, as if certain that the snake would bite. “But I’ve never seen these equations before. They’re not any kind an architect would use.”

“What kind are they?”

“It looks as if…as if they’re the same type of equations Henry uses in his work with stresses and counter stresses.” She added in a whisper, “Not building but…demolition.”

At that, Alec’s heart stopped completely. “Are you sure?”

She parted her lips as if to answer, then decisively shook her head. “No—there aren’t enough equations here for me to be certain.”

But Alec was. He knew Henry Everett had reworked the building plans for the Admiralty Club, and he’d done so with the intention of causing as much death and destruction as possible. It was the definitive link he and Reed had been searching for between Everett and Scepter. The question now…who was Everett working for? The answer would lead them to Scepter.

“Where’s the rest of the sheet?” Her expression darkened as the realization settled over her. “That’s why you asked about copies of building plans, why you searched the school… You don’t have it.”

There was no point in dissembling. “No, I don’t.” He straightened to his full height. “But I’d hoped the copy would tell me who hired your brother.”

“You’re out of luck, then.” She placed a single finger on the charred slip and pushed it across the desktop toward him. “Thisis the copy. The equations penciled onto the original renovations have been erased and these new ones worked on top of them. You can see the rubbing, just there in the middle.”

His gaze dropped to the paper to confirm it for himself and stifled a curse. He’d been too busy hunting the copy to notice that he’d had it all along. And in all honesty, he’d been too distracted by her.

She shook her head. “Why go to all that trouble? Why not just question Henry directly?” Fear and frustration warred in her voice. “If you show him this, he’ll have no choice but to tell you what he knows.”

“He can’t.”

“If he’s in trouble, he’ll cooperate and—”

“Hecan’t,” Alec repeated firmly. “Either the leader of the group has told him nothing, so in case he’s caught he’ll be unable to give up any information, or he’ll be killed before he has the chance to.” Trying to ignore the way her face paled even whiter, he returned the charred paper to the desk drawer, then picked up his glass. “For his sake, I’m doing everything I can to keep it from coming to that.” There wasn’t enough liquor left in the tumbler to do any good, yet he tossed down a last blistering gulp to claim whatever relief he could. “Those plans were our best path to the identity of the men he’s working with.”

But his explanation did nothing to ease her visible distrust of him. “So you bothered with me only because of Henry…the visits to my room, the ball, the garden tea…” Raw pain rasped her voice. “And that’s why you left tonight, isn’t it? Because now that you have Lady Rowland to follow, you no longer have any need of me.”

He stifled a laugh. She couldn’t begin to fathom the need he still possessed for her. “That wasn’t it at all.”

“Then why?”

Damnation!“Because you’re not who I thought you were.”