Page 79 of Any Duke in a Storm

That and cheating.

Lisbeth saw the glint of steel in his hand much too late, right before Dubois darted in and slammed the tiny blade into his nephew’s thigh and twisted. The knife disappeared into the crowd with a quick flick of his wrist. Raphael roared, but his black trousers hid any evidence of a wound. He hopped back, watching his uncle. “Can’t win a fight fair, Dubois?”

The man eyed him with hostility. “You really shouldn’t fight with old injuries. They can reopen so easily.”

Lisbeth felt a wave of pure fury. That was anewinjury. She hadn’t realized she’d shouted it aloud until Dubois’s dark gaze slid in her direction and his smile widened. “Notto mention the pretty little sea-snake you invited into our midst,” he said. “How many secrets is she keeping from you? About who Bonnie Bess really is.”

Never one to bend to a bully, Lisbeth laughed mockingly from the sidelines and pulled off her hat, letting her hair tumble down. “Can’t get anything past you, can I?”

Some of the sailors she’d met before gaped in shock—trying to reconcile what they knew about the fearsome captain with the woman who’d drank with them at the bonfire. Madge’s mouth gaped.

“Why don’t you tell him who you are,Lisbeth,” Dubois goaded.

Clenching his fists, Raphael glared. “I already know she’s a countess.”

When Dubois’s smile grew fangs, Lisbeth frowned. “Ah, but did you know she’s a British spy working with the American government?”

All the air was sucked out of the room.

Raphael’s gaze swung to her and Dubois pounced, smashing into his nephew from the side and kicking his good leg out from under him. With a cry of pain as his wounded leg took all his weight, Raphael went down hard. “That’s four,” Dubois shouted. “You can’t beat me, boy.”

But Raphael wasn’t looking at him; he was looking ather.

As livid as she’d felt toward him about the ropes, nothing compared to the expression of utter betrayal spreading across his face. “You’re a spy?”

Her mouth opened but Dubois cackled before shecould answer. “Davy found letters to her from the Treasury. I’ve known all along that Bonnie Bess was an agent and intended to use that information for my own benefit.” He shook his head. “But you see, it was onlytodaythat I connected who she truly was…an English countess. Tricky, tricky little serpent.”

“Wait…”

“There’s more,” Dubois crooned with malicious pleasure. “Did you know that it was Bonnie Bess who blew up your ships in Tobago?”

Lisbeth’s stomach sank in a pool of guilt as Raphael’s eyes widened in realization. Bloody hell, she should have stayed on the ship. God, thelookof devastation on his face. She blinked. She hadn’t known they were his back then. “I didn’t know they were yours.”

A muscle flexed in his jaw. “And would it have made any difference? You lied to me.”

She flinched at the uncharacteristic vitriol in his tone. “And you didn’t?”

“No, I never lied to you. I was a sailing master in my earlier years. Dubois is my father’s half brother. I am a French duke with no lands to his name.” He exhaled hard. “Do you know how many families that cargo was meant to help?”

“I’m sorry.”

Dubois’s laugh was cruel. “My nephew and his misplaced philanthropy. Little did he know that I was tithing the very people he was helping. He was paying me, and he didn’t even know it.”

It took a second before his words sank in. Dubois’s men had destroyed Narina’s mother. They had been one of the poorer families who’d had to pay impossible protection taxes. She saw the moment Raphael understood the same, but it didn’t make him look at her any differently. His uncle might be the villain, but she had just proven she might be worse.

Dubois took that tense moment to attack again, but Raphael defended himself as if he hadn’t even been trying before. Even with his bleeding leg—a line of red was visible below the hem of the trousers and dripping down onto his boot—he moved like music. His fists flew, one smashing into Dubois’s chin and sending the man sprawling to the floor.

With a snarl, Dubois turned to where Madge stood. “Shoot him and I’ll give you half.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Lisbeth saw the captain obligingly lift his pistol and she didn’t think, she just reacted. A knife was yanked from her sheath and embedded in the man’s hand before he could even aim. “You fucking bitch!” Dubois screamed. “Hold her down,” he said to the two big men still crowding her.

But then pandemonium erupted as the first of the explosions went off.

Thank you, Estelle!

When the second detonated, everyone scattered. Lisbeth took advantage of men scurrying for cover, ducked out of reach, and ran through the melee. Just as she reached the door, her gaze connected with a blisteringgray one. He stared at her for an interminable moment before his jaw tightened and he looked away. It was clear.

He never wanted to see her again.

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