Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“What?” Arbor gasped. “Why would you think that?”
“You were being followed,” Corinna said. “We have you at no less than three Red Masks meetings.”
Arbor’s face went deathly pale. Then, a thought occurred to her. “I have information. Information about the Red Masks. I will tell you everything that I know about them.”
“So you don’t deny that you were at the meetings?” Corinna demanded.
Arbor realized her slip too late. But she couldn’t back down now. She lifted her chin. “Do you want the information or not?”
Bastian’s eyes hardened. “And what do you want out of this?”
“Let me out of here. Pardon my crimes and my brother’s crimes. I’ll help you.” When neither Corinna nor Bastian seemed to jump at the chance, she threw out her trump card. “I met the Father.”
Corinna’s eyes widened at that. “The Father? The leader of the Red Masks?”
“Yes.”
“And you could identify him?” Bastian asked deathly low.
Arbor looked him in the eyes and smiled dangerously. She had them. Hook, line, and sinker. “Absolutely I could identify him.”
It didn’t matter that it was a lie. It didn’t matter what this Master Bastian thought. If it got her out of this cell, then she would tell them everything they wanted to know and more. She’d lie through her teeth to survive the day. She knew what the penalty was for treason.
Then, Bastian smiled. It was a cold, deadly thing. It sent shivers down Arbor’s back. No one had ever looked at her like that. As if she had issued her own death sentence.
“I think I’ve heard all that I need,” Bastian said. “She’s yours, Corinna. Get everything out of her that you can.”
“I intend to do just that,” Corinna said.
Then, Bastian ambled away. Arbor followed his gait with interest. She had never paid much attention to the way the man moved, but it was so familiar. Shockingly familiar. Why did it tickle at the back of her mind?
“Arbor, let’s begin,” Corinna said.
She let the thought pass.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
And Arbor divulged every scrap of information she had. Anything to save herself and Prescott from hanging. Anything to get ahead.
43
THE SPY
Kerrigan woke the next morning in a feather cloud. Her arm was thrown over a muscled chest. Her head pillowed against his shoulder. Her body encased in the down of their bed.
Their bed.
The bed she shared with her mate.
She listened to his heart beat a staccato in his chest as she slowly came back to herself. She certainly could get used to waking up like this every morning. The mountain was nice. It had everything she could ever need … except privacy. This townhouse was their own microcosm, where no one and nothing could interfere.
“Morning,” he groaned, rolling toward her.
“Morning yourself.”
He kissed across her shoulders and down over her breasts. “I hate to say it, but we need to get back.”
They were both still naked, and Kerrigan had other ideas about what they could do other than return to the mountain.
“Later,” she pleaded.
He stopped at her navel and looked up at her with those mercurial eyes. She read every line of devotion in them.
“Your wish is my command.”
She pushed him aside, rolling her hips over his and straddling him.
He smirked. “What are you going to do up there?”
“You said that next time was my turn.”
His eyes lit up as she lowered herself down his body. She’d never done this before, but she didn’t care. As soon as she took him in her mouth, the sounds of his pleasure filled the room, and nothing else seemed to matter. He came apart under her ministrations, emptying into her mouth. Then, he flipped her back over and brought her to climax as well.
Both lay sprawled across the bed in the lull after, momentarily sated, hearts racing as one.
Then, a knock sounded on the front door.
Kerrigan glanced at Fordham. “Who knows that you bought this?”
“No one,” he said.
“Should we answer?”
The knock came again, more urgently.
Fordham growled deep in the back of his throat. He reached for his clothes, tugging breeches and a shirt on. It took precious minutes to get the shirt tucked in and the jacket back on. He gave up on the cravat and marched downstairs.
There was no hope of Kerrigan getting back into her dress alone. She gave up and yanked the sheet around her body, letting it trail behind her as she followed him down the stairs to listen to their intruder.
“I know she’s here,” Valia declared. “Let me in, or I will get past you.”
Fordham growled, all primal male. Kerrigan was uncertain what exactly he would do after the night they’d had. She rushed off the stairs to intercept him.
“Let her pass, Ford,” Kerrigan said.
Fordham caught sight of her, and relief flickered across his features. “Fine.”
Valia bypassed him and stepped inside. She didn’t seem surprised to find Kerrigan in nothing but a sheet. Fordham slammed the door shut with force, rattling the sconces.