Page 69 of The Duke's Mysterious Lover
Thorne’s denial was immediate. “Absolutely no’.”
Bull, on the other hand, was eyeing her speculatively. “That…aye, that would work.”
“Nay,” Thorne bit out, closing his hand around her knee. “I’ll no’ have ye put in danger. It’s bad enough Bull’s going, but I cannae allow—”
Kit straightened, her pale eyes narrowing. “You’re my employer, Your Grace,notmy father or my husband.”
Thorne winced at her icy tone.Husband.“Kit, be reasonable. Ye think ye ken what this bastard is capable of, but I havenae told ye everything. Bull might be a smarmy little shite—”
“Thank ye!” said little shite quipped.
“—but he kens how to handle himself in a fight.”
Kit slid her arm from around his shoulders, pulling herself apart from Thorne, and he hated it. “There won’tbea fight. We’re just there to sneak into the study, right? Then we let you in to do the actual investigating. You just need us to let you in.”
“Right,” agreed Bull. “We dinnae even have to meet Blackrose.”
“No,” she disagreed grimly, her mouth set stubbornly. “I believe we need to.”
Bull shrugged. “Well, our disguises will be good enough.” He nodded to her be-trousered legs, still thrown across Thorne’s lap. “I will, of course, be dressing ye. Kit Pastorino, yeshallgo to the ball!” He waved his hand as if he held a magic wand. “Bibbity-bobbity—”
“What are ye going on about?” Thorne interrupted.
Bull shrugged and smiled at Kit. “I’m just saying ye cannaego to a ball in broadcloth. Ye’ll look smashing in teal silk.”
“Something subdued,” Kit cautioned him. “Not brown, but something quieter. We can’t be memorable. I just want to meet the man without him knowing me.”
As Bull pretended to pout, Thorne cleared his throat. “Are the two of ye going to payanyattention to me? Or should I just list the reasons this cannae happen—”
“You can list them,” Kit interrupted, turning pale eyes glittering with determination his way. “But I’m going to ignore them. I’m attending that ball as Bull’s escort, and if you don’t want to meet us—”
“Fook, Kit, that’s no’ the issue.” His hold on her tightened unconsciously before he forced himself to exhale and not push her.Ye’re trying to be less self-centered, ye dobber, remember? He tried again. “The thought of ye in danger…”
“I’m not going to be in danger. We’re just going to observe the man.”
It was the way she saidobserve. That determined, angry way.
Thorne stilled, focusing on what she meant. “And why does it have to beye, love?” he asked quietly.
Kit swallowed, no longer meeting his eyes, and leaned forward. She snagged the whisky from the table and downed it in one gulp.
The heat of the alcohol caused her to gasp, and tears came to her eyes as she held the glass in one hand and stared down at it.
“Because, don’t you know? I came to London to learn what kind of man my father is.” She lifted her gaze to her violin case, sitting beside the cold hearth. Her tone was equally cold as she confessed, “I never told you his name. He’s William Stoughton, the current Earl of Bonkinbone.”
Across the way, Bull sucked in a breath. “Blackrose.”
And Kit finally turned her gaze to Thorne, her pale eyes tortured. “Blackrose, apparently. My father is Blackrose.”
Chapter 14
“You know,”hissed Kit, tugging at the new waistcoat as they waited in the receiving line, “when this plan was proposed,somepeople might’ve thought it’d bemein the gown.”
“Dinnae be silly,” fluttered Bull from behind his fan. “I doubt evenyewould look as fabulous as I do tonight.”
Unable to stop herself, Kit snorted, a smile twisting one corner of her lips. “If this were played upon a stage now, I would condemn it as improbably fiction.”
“What?” Bull sent her a scowl.
