Anne glanced at Rook, and he smiled. Gentle, accepting. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I have nothing to fear about Ellis, and I know it.”
She nodded slowly, relief coming across her features. “I didn’t care for Harcourt, and Ellis used that against me. But I didn’t lovehimeither—just saw him as a better alternative. After all, he can show himself as…passionate, engaged…fun. That is the game he plays, and he plays it well. But as for a true connection, there was never that, and I realized it the moment I made the foolish decision to run away with him.”
Juliana hated to be relieved by those words, which dismissed what had been between Anne and Ellis as swiftly as those he’d spoken a few hours before. She also hated to be concerned about theotherwords. That Ellis couldpretendto be passionate.Pretendto be engaged. That he could see what a person wanted and become it, if only to obtain what he desired.
If he were doing that with her, playing a game with her…did that mean the kiss wasn’t real?
“Is heevergenuine?” she found herself whispering.
Rook nodded. “When he loves, he does it completely and wholeheartedly. That is genuine.Thatis true.”
Anne smiled up at him. “I’m glad you can remember that. I know he’s important to you, no matter what barriers have come between you.”
“We’ve been through a great deal together,” Rook agreed. He sighed and looked troubled. “Will you ladies excuse me? I’ve much to think about and I don’t believe I’ll be very good company while I do so.”
He inclined his head as he stepped from the room. Anne watched him go, her face crumpled with worry.
Juliana shook her head. “You want to go after him,” she said with a squeeze of her sister’s hand. “You should. I’ll be fine.”
Anne nodded. “Thank you.”
Without another word, she hurried from the room, leaving Juliana alone. And perhaps that was for the best. After all, she had a great deal to consider.
The picture of Ellis Maitland was beginning to become clearer to her. A man who had two sides. The carefree swindler and the loving family member. A man who would risk all for those he loved, a man who used his passions against those he could benefit from.
And he might be using her. She wasn’t so foolish as to think he wasn’t. But if hewas, she had to believe his motives were, in a strange way, pure. To find Winston Leonard, to protect his brother and cousin, to atone for all he’d done wrong.
If she accepted those ulterior motives, couldn’t they come to some kind of accord where theybothgot what they wanted? She could have the passion she desired, the passion she felt so strongly whenever he touched her. He, the conduit to the information she could provide.
It would be a bargain. One gone into with open eyes and strict rules and regulations. That was the only way to protect herself.
Now she just had to find a way to become bold enough to suggest it. And hope Ellis Maitland would take the suggestion without laughing her out of the Donville Masquerade.
Ellis leaned back in the chair in Marcus Rivers’ office and watched as his old friend poured him a drink from the sideboard. He hadn’t imbibed this much in months, but who could refuse a friend? Especially one with such high-quality stocks. He took the drink and sipped, savoring the expensive whisky as Rivers retook his place behind the desk. He remembered this man as a wild, unwashed pickpocket, but here he was, every inch the polished businessman.
His business was sex, so hardly respectable, but he no longer looked like an urchin. Ellis wondered if he still felt like one. If the bite of the past still stung him like it did Ellis. If men like them could ever be free of what they’d seen and done.
“I’m surprised you aren’t knocking the room over in your haste to know about Winston Leonard,” Rivers said with a chuckle as he set aside his drink and steepled his fingers.
Ellis shifted. “You asked me here to give me news, and I’ve no reason to believe you’re lying or playing with me. You’ll tell me in your own time.”
Rivers nodded toward Ellis’s leg. Ellis followed the gaze and found his foot was bouncing. A tell. God’s teeth, when was the last time he’d allowed himself a tell? He was getting soft, weak. Playing from a position where there was so much to lose rather than his usual higher ground of never risking anything he cared about.
It was a dangerous game.
“I won’t torture you any longer.” Rivers moved a pile of papers on his desk and came up with a sheet. “The message to Winston Leonard that his case had been reviewed and the club has decided to honor the remainder of his membership term was delivered. We chose to send it to the London estate he keeps first, as that seemed the least suspicious choice to make.”
Ellis nodded. “I agree. Sending a note out to his country home or trying to find him with more verve would only serve to perk up his ears. They’re high enough already after the problems we’ve encountered with the man. He’d be a fool not to be suspicious.”
Rivers shook his head. “I’d still like to know more about that, but my place is not to push.”
Ellis smiled. “Except you will, I know that. You’ll just do it in your own way.”
“My way is the right way,” Rivers said with great certainty. “At any rate, because one doesn’t send a pup to deal with a volatile tiger, I sent my man Abbot to deal with the situation personally. He had a few observations.”
“Which were?”
Rivers didn’t answer, for at that moment there was a light knock on the door. “We’re ready for you,” he called out.
