you right now.”
Caroline froze, looked up, and was caught in Roe’s glance.
Chapter Three
The brown eyes staring back at him were rounded in surprise. Roe cocked one eyebrow. Reggie was doing her best to tempt the boy into some sort of reaction, but Grey sat stone still.
“Reggie, I don’t think the boy is interested,” Roe said.
She laughed, a throaty sound that usually had men lining up for her favors, despite the cost. Roe had never bedded the woman, but he’d heard tales that she was worth every penny.
“He’s merely getting warmed up. Aren’t you, love?” she asked.
She leaned close to the boy’s ear and whispered something. If it was anything like what she’d previously whispered in Roe’s ear, it had to do with smoking his cock. The boy’s eyes widened even further and he shook his head. Reggie wasn’t deterred, though. She moved herself to the boy’s side and somehow managed to wiggle herself onto his lap. Her breasts were dangerously close to the boy’s face and Reggie stretched herself so that they thrust forward even more.
She reached up to the boy’s hat, but she was no match for his quick reflexes. Grey’s hands were smaller than Reggie’s, but the force of his movement stopped the woman cold. Reggie’s gaze sharpened and narrowed in on Grey, then she relaxed a bit and smiled.
Once more, Reggie whispered something in Grey’s ear. This time a pink stain crept up the boy’s throat, neck, and into his cheeks. He was blushing. Peculiar, that, even if he was an innocent; most boys were not much for blushing. Roe’s eyes went back to the boy’s throat, where his shirt was buttoned close to his neck, the jacket held tight. It was quite evident he was missing something decidedly masculine—an Adams apple.
Roe sat back, surprise bursting through him. Well, wasn’t that something.
It took a lot to catch him off guard. A lot to surprise him. And yet, Grey had managed to do both.
Roe knew one thing for certain: that was not a boy.
That was most assuredly a woman.
The following day, Roe was roused by a scratch at his door. He rolled over and spears of light penetrated his eyes. He squeezed them shut again. “What time is it?”
“It’s a quarter of eleven, Your Grace,” Harris, his valet, said as he stepped into the room.
“Who is here?” He sat up in the bed and rubbed at his temples. Not enough damn sleep. But then again, when did he get enough? He hadn’t slept an entire night since before Christopher had died.
“Mr. Toomey is here to see you. He’s in your study,” Harris said.
“Indeed. Worthless bastard.”
“Beg your pardon?” Harris asked while laying out Roe’s clothes.
“Nothing.” He came to his feet and stretched his arms, then rolled his neck, trying to work out the knots in his body. He allowed his man to dress him, but waved him away when he came at Roe with the cravat. “Too bloody early for one of those.”
Harris’s lips twitched, but the man did not smile.
“See that coffee is brought into my study immediately.” Roe left his room and made his way down the staircase to the corridor that led to his study. The damned room still hosted all of his father’s abacuses. Clearly, Roe should donate the collection to a museum. He sure as hell didn’t want them. Odd that he hadn’t yet rid himself of their presence.
My Toomey stood in the study, holding one said abacus in his hands. “Great piece,” he said as Roe entered the room.
“Do you have news for me?” Roe went to his desk and sat.
His butler entered the room with a tray of coffee and set it on the desk next to Roe. “Anything else, Your Grace?”
Roe didn’t bother asking for anything for his guest. Toomey was a paid employee just like any of his others. “No, that will be all.” He poured himself a cup as the butler left the room, closing the doors behind him.
Toomey came and sat in a chair opposite Roe’s. Roe had hired the man several months before based on several recommendations. He was a noted archeologist, not as skilled as Cabot, but still accomplished in his own right, though he had yet to prove particularly useful regarding Roe’s quest.
“I have some news, but not the news you’ve been waiting for. The excavation of that temple is complete and the shield is nowhere to be found. It must be in a different location all together,” Toomey said.
It was an obvious assumption that