Page 34 of The Rogue

“There now, just bite ye lips a little, make ‘em nice and rosy.”

Rolling her eyes Henri did as she was bid, for there was really no point in arguing.

“Perfect.” Annie picked up her dirty linens and packed her other belongings away before heading for the door. “I’ll tell his lordship ye wish to see ‘im as soon as ‘e may.”

With annoyance, Henri watched her maid hustle out of the door and wondered where exactly the fates would take them, and if she’d get there with Lawrence.

***

She didn’t have long to wait before his lordship deigned to wait upon her. He strode into the room and as always she was left feeling insignificant as he seemed to take up all the available space.

The similarities between the two men were becoming ever clearer, and she took a moment to appreciate the powerful shoulders and arms, and the long, strong legs that showed to such advantage in those tight breeches and black boots they were encased in. But where Lawrence was all devilish smiles and laughing blue eyes, this man still made her shiver. His cool grey eyes cast over her with no apparent reaction as he nodded to her, polite but distant. She curtsied and sat, waiting for him to address her.

“Well, Miss Morton, what is it I can do for you?”

“Have you seen Law ...” she paused, blushing a little at her all too familiar use of his first name and correcting herself, avoiding his eye. “I mean to enquire if you have seen your brother this morning?”

He snorted, apparently amused by her discomfort. “I have seen Lawrence this morning, yes. Yes he is quite well, he has broken his fast and I have made some progress with a plan to free him from the tangle we seem to be in.”

“How?” she asked, heart thudding with anticipation.

“I have an estate in Bordeaux, on the southwest coast of France, it was in fact our mother’s, the Comtesse de Longueville. As it happens, I had plans to visit and see what, if anything, was left after our friend Bonaparte has ravaged the country. I had people there I could trust, we can both still trust,” he amended, adding, “Assuming that any of them still live.” This was said lightly, almost callous in tone and she wondered if there was anyone besides his brother that he cared for?

“Once there, I will have Lawrence installed in the cellars beneath the Château. He played there as a boy, there are many tunnels and secret ways in and out of the place. I’ve no doubt he will make good use of them.”

He stood, turned slightly away from her as he spoke, his hands clasped lightly behind his back. He looked every inch an English aristocrat and an extremely forbidding character. She realised she was a little afraid of him and sat up straighter.

“And what then?” she asked, her tone a little more forceful than she had intended, but if the extent of his help was to let Lawrence loose in the French countryside then she was going to have words for his lordship, strong ones.

“And there, Miss Morton, we seem to be at something of an impasse.”

“How so?” She turned in her seat, following his movement as he began to walk the room, his face severe with displeasure, his footsteps muted by the thick rug beneath his feet.

“How so?” he repeated. “Because my brother is a stubborn fool, that is why.”

He spoke with no little heat, and she felt her temper rise on Lawrence’s behalf, whatever they had disagreed on, no doubt Lawrence had his reasons.

The earl walked around to his side of the desk and sat down, looking her in the eyes properly for the first time since he’d entered. She quailed a little under that cold grey gaze, but she didn’t look away.

“I have suggested that Lawrence be found locally by someone who would remember him, that we spread the story he lost his memory as the result of some injury. His scars ought to back that up well enough, and then he would say that he somehow ended up a prisoner of the French. That he has only recently recovered, and now that the war is over, has made his way back to our estate.”

She blinked at him.

“B-but, that’s perfect!” she exclaimed, excitement bubbling up inside her. “What a marvellous idea!”

Alex nodded, folding one long leg over the other and sighing. “I agree. It is simple enough to be believed but because of the war, hard enough to prove either true or false to be unsurprising if none are able to corroborate. And I know there are those locally loyal to both our family, and most certainly to Lawrence, should the need arise.”

“Oh?”

Although Henri was pleased to hear that, a small tremor of doubt assailed her as she wondered who exactly would be so unswervingly loyal to Lawrence and why? She shook herself. That was of no matter, Lawrence needed to be safe, no matter who it took to achieve that. She just hoped it was an old, toothless man and not some pretty young thing who had been in love with him as a child or something horribly romantic of the sort.

“However,” Alex said, breaking into her thoughts. “Lawrence is being remarkably stubborn about the whole thing. He refuses to co-operate.”

“But why?” she demanded, putting her earlier defence of Lawrence’s reasons far aside and wholeheartedly agreeing with the earl.

“Because he believes he is too well known that someone, somewhere will recognise him as The Rogue and the discovery will destroy the family name.”

“And what does he propose as an alternative?” she demanded, feeling quite as furious as Alex had sounded moments before.

“Oh, my brother is full of plans,” Alex said, his expression dark. He folded his arms and once more turned the full force of his cold grey eyes on her person. She swallowed. “He has made me promise, upon my honour, to marry you, despite the lengths to which you were apparently willing to go to in order to escape such an unpleasant fate,” he said with a sneer as Henri blushed with some force and fervently wished she could join Lawrence in the hold. “He then intends to disappear, never to be seen again.”

“No!” she gasped and then shook her head, crossing her arms and meeting his gaze with defiance and not caring a button whether he believed her an ungrateful wretch. “I won’t have it. I won’t marry you, and I won’t let him go!”

For the first time since Lawrence had left the room last night she saw the earl smile, and this time there seemed to be some frail glimmer of warmth in the expression.

“Well, my dear, it appears that finally we have found something on which we can agree. All that remains to be done now is to find a way to persuade my brother of his folly.”