The time for seductive wiles was over. She had to confront Pendleton and back it up with a show of force. She'd give him no choice but to admit the truth.
"You cannot meet Pendleton alone," Lugo insisted.
"I won't go unaccompanied." Going to the armoire, she removed the wooden carrying case tucked beneath her undergarments. She flipped the lid and removed the pearl-handled pistol. "I'll be bringing a companion."
Lugo shook his dark head. "And if the earl doesn't tell you what you want to know? Will you use it, then? Shoot a peer of the realm?"
"I'll do what needs to be done," she said evenly.
"Oh, my lady," Tilda said, wringing her hands, "you could hang for that!"
"I have no choice." Marianne slid the pistol into the hidden pocket of her cerise skirts. Seven years she'd spent grieving, and she couldn't stand a minute more. Her life wasn't worth ashes without Primrose…
And Ambrose.
The unbidden addition perforated her defenses, released a hot, raw feeling beneath her breastbone.Do not go there. Do. Not.
"Actually, you do, my lady. Have a choice, I mean." Shifting on his feet, Lugo coughed into his fist. "There is something I should tell you."
She had a feeling she wasn't going to like it, whatever it was. She raised a brow, waited.
The manservant blew out a breath. "You could wait for Mr. Kent. He will help you."
"We've been through this before. I cannot trust—" Something in Lugo's shifting stance cut her off. A pounding started in her ears. "What do you meanwaitfor Kent?"
"I sent him word," Lugo muttered.
"You didwhat?"
"After the incident in Pendleton's study, I saw no choice. You are not yourself—not of a clear mind." He crossed his burly arms. "You need assistance, my lady, whether you like it or not. I sent the message two days ago. Mr. Kent should be arriving at any moment."
Bloody hell. Et tu, Lugo?
"And how exactly does your disloyalty serve me?" she said with furious disbelief.
"Lugo was only trying to help—" Tilda began.
"I serve you to the best of my ability," Lugo said, his gaze narrowed, "and that is why I contacted Mr. Kent. In my eyes, the man has proved himself. Whatever your current misunderstanding, he has protected you time and again. Yet you swear him off so easily."
That stung. "He was the one who betrayedme, the one who was lying—"
"Mr. Kent does not seem to me a man to lie without reason. Why do you not stop to think why he might have done so?"
Despite the faithless flutter in her chest, she steeled herself. She had an excellent reason not to mull over Kent's myriad possible defenses: she did not trust herself. The humiliating, reprehensible truth was that her judgment concerning men had proven her downfall. She'd been lied to, betrayed by the opposite sex too many times to count, and she had no one to blame but herself. 'Twas her weakness, her Achilles' heel—the very failing that had cost her Primrose.
And it would be so easy to succumb to Kent once again. To listen to his explanations, to open her weak and traitorous heart to him...
"There is no excuse for deception," she said, her jaw clenching.
Lugo's gaze remained steady. "Because you have been burned before, you run at any sign of smoke. Your fear threatens your judgment in this instance. You do not ask who sent you the note about Kent's connection to Bow Street, nor do you stop to wonder why. What motive—"
"Whoever sent that note did me a favor! The fact is Kentwasspying on me for Bow Street. Sir Coyner confirmed it."
How could she have let herself trust again? Shame clawed at her, her head throbbing with the effort to keep her failures caged. To keep the beasts of the past at bay. Yet their talons sliced into her anyway, the truth trickling darkly through.
You stupid doxy!Her father's florid face, his heavy fist.You've made your bed, and you will damn well sleep in it …Draven's sneering features, his fingernails digging into her scalp.You're nothing but a worthless whore. Your daughter is paying for your sins.And the deal with the devil himself, Bartholomew Black:One day soon I'll come lookin' for my due… Her head whirled as Skinner's, other male faces bled into one…Stupid cunt, you'll do as I say—submit to me…
Never.Her breath serrated her lungs.Never again.
