as we wish to protect the ones we love from harm, we must allow them freedom to choose their own lives. We cannot wrap them in cotton wool and lock them away in a chest like a precious piece of porcelain.”
The duke gave her a baleful look and then blew out a harried sigh. “I wish you were not always right—but unfortunately you are, Charlotte.”
“How very wise of you to admit it, Edwin,” she said with a fond smile. “There is hope for you yet.”
“Aye, well, perhaps that is because I was such a fool in the past, letting my pride take precedence over my feelings. I wish you would not take such risks, Kate. But if it makes you happy, I shall learn to live with it.” He drew a handkerchief from his coat pocket and discreetly blew his nose. “If there is one lesson I have learned over my numerous years, it is that you must follow your heart.”
Charlotte smoothed his sleeve. “Well said.”
“You can trust me to look out for your granddaughter,” said Marco softly, his voice far more solemn than usual. Brushing back the long, dark strands of hair from his brow, he looked at Kate through the flickering flames. “I won’t allow anything to happen to her. She is the sun and I am the moon—without her, my life would be plunged back into darkness.”
Charlotte gave a little sniff. “How very romantic.”
“Speaking of romantic, I cannot help noticing that Cluyne calls you Charlotte and you call him Edwin,” murmured Kate. “Has something been blooming in the conservatory beside these hothouse tulips?”
Her friend turned a very beguiling shade of pink.
Cluyne coughed.
“Well?” pressed Kate.
“We old people are not as impetuous as you young ones,” answered the duke. “But by the time you return from Russia, I hope that I will have an interesting announcement to make.”
The pink now turned to poppy red.
“Assuming that she decides it’s not too late to start a new chapter in her life,” he added.
“After the last few weeks of murder and mayhem, perhaps it’s time to turn the page,” said Charlotte.
Repressing a smile, Lynsley refilled their glasses.
“At least we all survived the dangers.” Thinking over how much had changed in all of their lives, Kate murmured, “As the Bard would say, ‘all’s well that ends well.’ ”
“Ah, but it’s not the end, cara.” Marco’s topaz eyes glittered with the devil’s own mischief. “I would say that it’s just the beginning.”
An enchanting new historical romance series from the author who brought you the scandalous Circle of Sin trilogy.
Please turn this page for a preview of
Cara Elliott’s
next sizzling Regency romance!
Too Wicked to Wed
Available in November 2011.
Chapter One
So this is what a brothel looks like. It is not at all what I expected.”
“Dear Lord,” muttered Captain Harley Stiles as he blotted the sheen of sweat from his brow. “I would hope that you haven’t given the matter a great deal of thought.”
“Not a great deal,” replied Lady Alexa Hendrie. She turned for a closer look at the colored etching hanging above the curio cabinet. “But one can’t help being mildly curious, seeing as you gentlemen take such delight in discussing such places among yourselves.”
Her brother’s friend quickly edged himself between her and the offending print. “How the devil do you know that?” he demanded.
Despite the gravity of their mission, Alexa felt her mouth twitch in momentary amusement. “I take it you don’t have any sisters, Captain Stiles. Otherwise, you would not be asking such a naïve question.”
“No, by the grace of God, I do not.” Though a decorated veteran of the Peninsular Wars, he was still looking a little shell-shocked over the fact that she had outmaneuvered his objections to her accompanying him into the stews of Southwark. “Otherwise, I might have known better than to offer my help to Sebastian, no matter how dire the threat to his family.”
Alexa bit her lip….
“I, too, am curious.” A deep growl, as dark and smoky as the dimly lit corridor, broke the awkward silence. “Just what did you expect?”
She spun around. Within an instant of entering The Wolf’s Lair, she and Stiles had been sequestered in a small side parlor to await an answer to the captain’s whispered message. The door had now reopened, and though shadows obscured the figure who was leaning against its molding, the flickering wall sconce illuminated the highlights in his carelessly curling hair.
Steel on steel.
Alexa froze as a prickling, as sharp as dagger points, danced down her spine. “Oh, something a bit