“If you are not here for pleasure, what do you want, MR? Your note was most ambiguous.”
“I was in earnest about the apology,” he began. “I was a cad, and I should never have said those things.”
At the time he ended their affair, he had accused her of attempting to unmask him, but he later discovered that she was innocent. Now, Minerva grinned in response to his words.
“I never dared to imagine the day the Masked Rogue would apologize for anything.”
He raised one shoulder. “Well, it likely will never happen again.” He took a small sip of his gin before deciding to have a large gulp.
“Then I accept your apology.” She leaned back in her seat. “How may I serve you tonight?”
“I want you to be the Comtesse De Villepin.”
Minerva sat up and stared at him, her lips parted in surprise. “Why ever would you make such a request?”
“It does not matter why but I am obligated to protect the actual Comtesse.” Jasper believed Minerva’s red hair and slight figure were enough to trick society.
“Why do you think me capable, MR?”
“You have the appearance, and you speak French.” Her mother had been a French actress, and Minerva was raised in a theater. “You also possess the skill to fool society.”
She laughed. “Those are quaint compliments, MR, and because you are socharming, I will oblige you.”
“Good.” He finished the gin and set the glass down, reaching into his coat to retrieve a mask. “You will require this.”
“This Comtesse, she is important to you, is she not?” she asked as she took the mask, admiring the craftsmanship. When Jasper did not respond, she went on. “I have been reading The Londoner.”
“The Londoner is often wrong.”
“Yes, but you have never kept a woman for long. I have cause to think that your heart might have been captured.”
Jasper had no wish to discuss Natalie, and he decided not to say anything more on the subject.
“Are we going somewhere tonight?” Minerva asked when she felt his resistance.
“Yes,” he drawled.
A devilish smile curved her lips. “Then we better leave. The night is short.”
“Natalie!”
The needle she was running through lace pricked her finger and she dropped both the tool and fabric, wincing. Then her head snapped up as Hannah appeared in the doorway of the sitting room upstairs. The gleam in her eyes was telling of the discovery she made.
What did Jasper do?“What did The Rogue do now?” she asked, feigning disinterest.
“The Comtesse. She made an appearance at Dale’s last night.” Her cousin showed her the page of The Londoner that mentioned both the Comtesse and the Rogue together.
Natalie stiffened, and it took a great measure of willpower to not react. Natalie did not go out last night. Who was with Jasper? “How interesting,” she murmured, handing the sheet back to Hannah without reading the rest. She recognized the ill feeling forming inside her to be jealousy.
Why had Jasper taken another woman who had stolen her alter ego to the same place he took her? Did he pleasure her in his private room, too? She clenched her teeth and forced the thoughts out of her mind.
“That is all I came to show you,” Hannah said as she folded the sheet. There was a knowing look in her eyes, and Natalie thought she would tell her that she knew who the Rogue was, or that she believed Natalie was the Comtesse and had snuck out of the house last night.
George walked into the room before Natalie could respond, and the instant he closed the door, her stomach clenched in dismay.
“I have something to tell you,” he announced, looking from Hannah to Natalie, his expression betraying nothing.
"Is something the matter, Brother?" Hannah asked immediately, looking as uneasy as Natalie was feeling.
