Page 53 of The King's Man
She shook her head.
‘Never mind. Next time you will have something tangible for me.’
‘I like your confidence,’ she scoffed.
He leaned across the table and lowered his voice. ‘Youwillhave something for me.’
Her eyes widened at the order. ‘I can only do my best. I have limited access.’
‘It is de Baas I am interested in. I am sure you can find a way to … ingratiate yourself with him.’
She stared at him. His meaning was plain and she loathed him for it with every fibre of her being. She rose to her feet and looked at him contemptuously. ‘I hate you.’
‘Fine.’ Kit stood up and tied his cloak. ‘You can hate me. Now, do you wish to be escorted back to the Ship?’
She shook her head. ‘No. I can find my own way, Captain Lovell.’
A flicker of a smile twitched at Kit’s lips. ‘Very well, Mistress Granville. I will bid you good day until we meet again, which will be soon.’
Thamsine gathered herself together and walked away from him with every shred of dignity and outrage that she could muster, but as her steps took her further from him, her show of bravado began to ebb away from her.
She stopped and leaned against a mounting block outside an inn, her breath coming in short gasps as the extent of his duplicity sank in. The man she had considered her friend, had maybe considered to be slightlymorethan her friend, had betrayed her. He had taken her off the street for one reason only,and that was to use her as a card in his own private game with John Thurloe.
Thurloe had outplayed him. He had turned the game on Kit Lovell, making him her contact. If he had not done so, would she ever have known? Would Kit have gone on using her, lulling her with false blandishments?
She drew a heavy, uneven breath and walked on. She despised him for his deceit. The hurt he had caused her would probably never heal. She wanted to hate him, but as she turned her face to the leaden sky glimpsed between the crooked buildings and felt the rain on her face, she knew that what she felt for Kit Lovell was not hate. She had hated a man enough to kill him, and somewhere in these dark, narrow streets Ambrose Morton still stalked her.
Chapter 14
Kit stood at the door of the coffee house watching until Thamsine’s tall, slim figure had been swallowed up by the crowd. He turned and stormed up the Strand in a filthy temper. He didn’t know quite what put him in a rage – John Thurloe, Thamsine’s hurt and the truth of her allegations, or the thought that she would be teaching music to Lucy.
It hurt too much to consider the first two options, so he turned his mind to Lucy. If Lucy wanted music lessons it was hardly his concern. Thamsine would be a good teacher and she needed the money. Where was the problem?
The problem was that Thamsine Granville spent far more time in his thoughts than he felt she deserved, and he did not like the thought of her closeted with his mistress for any length of time. Women gossiped.
He had arranged to meet Fitzjames at the Saracen’s Head. He was coming to hate the secret assignations in corners of stinking alehouses. The smell of smoke, ale and unwashed bodies seemedto cling to him, tainting him in much the same way as his growing distaste for what he was doing. He pulled off his hat and stepped around the crowded tables. It was not a good time to be developing a conscience.
It did not improve his temper to find his friend in the company of Ambrose Morton. The sight of the arrogant, handsome face turned his stomach. He flung himself down on the stool opposite Fitz and acknowledged Morton with a grunt.
Fitz regarded him calmly. ‘Lucy do something to annoy you?’
Kit summoned the potboy and took out his cards, shuffling them to calm his nerves.
‘Lucy … women,’ he grumbled. ‘Damned if I’ll ever understand them. What about you, Morton? Is there a woman to plague your life?’
Morton’s lip curled into a vicious sneer. ‘Don’t talk to me of the perfidy of women,’ he said. ‘That is what brings me to London.’
‘Really?’ Kit dealt the cards.
‘My betrothed has run off.’
Fitz gave a snort of laughter. ‘With another man?’
Morton shrugged. ‘I can only presume so. Bloody woman was worth a fortune too, a fortune I need.’
‘I see.’ Kit picked up his hand and noted that the cards were not with him either. ‘Not a love match, then?’
‘Hardly. Her father promised her to me some ten years ago. Returned from the Continent to find the old fool had allowed her too much freedom and she had become headstrong and obdurate. Not what I look for in a woman, but she could be curbed. Women are like horses, Lovell. They can be broken to the saddle. When I find the bitch I will soon teach her compliance and duty.’
