Page 28 of Mistress of Sins

“Take off your gown.” When her jaw sagged, he took hold of her skirt and shook it, rustling the old silk. “It makes too much noise when you move. I will give you my shirt to wear.”

For a moment it looked as if she might argue the point, and then she turned and presented her back to him. “Unfasten me, please.”

Greystone used his dagger to slice through the fastenings, and then played lady’s maid as he helped her out of the old blue gown. He tried to avert his gaze while he removed his shirt, but the sight of her in her undergarments proved irresistible. With but a few layers of thin cotton and linen veiling her body, her long, elegant limbs and slight but shapely curves enticed him. The only improvement would be to strip her down to her skin so he could see the lamplight on her.

God, but she was lovely.

Jennet planted her hands on her hips. “This might have been your pleasure every night and morning, my lord, had you kept your promise to me,” she whispered fiercely. “Think on that as you ogle.”

“That I have.” More than he cared to admit to himself, in fact. Had a day passed that he had not thought of her? Greystone could not recall.

As he bared his chest she stared and then sighed. “And now I do the same to you. We are beyond all propriety, I suppose. Why must you go upstairs? We could climb out the window there, and run for the nearest neighbor’s house.”

“There may be more men outside on patrol, and I must retrieve what they have come to steal before the others find it. Also, the damned window has been nailed shut.” He draped her with his shirt, which hung down to her knees, and felt her shiver. “Do not be afraid.”

“You did not ignore your mother’s warnings to come here,” Jennet muttered. “If I live to see the morrow, I will never hear the end of it.”

“You will live,” Greystone said as he finished buttoning the placket, and then rested his hands on her shoulders. “Hide beneath the table, please. I will retrieve what I need and come back for you.”

“They have already caught you once, and bashed you on the head. If they return and find us gone, they will search and find me.” She sniffed. “Besides that, you are a terrible spy. I am not allowing you out of my sight.”

“If they catch us, they will try to use you to make me talk,” Greystone warned her. “To them we are the enemy, and they would do terrible things to us both, things worse than death.”

She paled. “Why?”

“They want something from me, and I cannot permit them to have it.” He stroked his hands down her arms. “I will not surrender you or myself to them. Death is kinder than what they intend. Do you understand me?”

“Of course.” Jennet swallowed hard and blinked quickly. “I have no desire to… You will be quick about it? So that it does not hurt?”

“If it comes to that, yes.” He thumbed a tear from her cheek before he kissed her brow. “Stay at my side now, and move as quietly as you can.”

Greystone took her hand in his. They walked out into the dining room, where he waited at the door and listened before stepping out. Sounds coming from the study told him they were searching that room; they likely presumed Pickering had kept the Raven’s delivery close to him. Only when they found nothing would they come back to the hidden library. He returned to the dining room, and went to the back wall to close the Pandora panel. Inserting his pick from the front, he bent and snapped off the tip of it inside the lock.

The broken piece of pick would prevent them from opening the panel with a key; they would assume he and Jennet had jammed it from the other side. Forcing it to get inside would take time and tools. It might be another hour before they discovered their captives had already escaped.

To her credit Jennet moved as surely and silently as Greystone did when he led her out to the stairs. When they reached the second floor he gestured for her to stop while he moved onto the landing. Once he determined no one else occupied the floor, he beckoned to her, and took her into his bed chamber. Once he closed the door Greystone quickly checked the safeguards he had left behind. The undisturbed markers told him no one had yet searched the room.

“In here,” he told her, picking up a lamp and walking into the dressing room.

* * *

Jennet had no notion of what Greystone had hidden in the small room, and wondered what could be so important that he would risk both their lives to retrieve it. She watched him as he picked up and moved aside the wash stand, and then knelt on the floor. After removing a cut section of floor board, he reached down and drew out a long, scuffed leather case with the most peculiar straps.

“We will have to wait before we try to leave the hall,” he told her. “Once they have finished searching the first floor, they will go to the hidden library to question us. That will be our chance.”

Her brows rose. “That is why you broke off that tool in the lock, to hamper their entry.”

Greystone nodded, and gave her a look of approval. “Such impediments are often the best distractions.”

From the case he took out a coil of wire, some vials filled with clouded liquid, and several palm-size blades that had no hilts. He put back the vials, but tucked the rest of the items into his belt and pockets. He then produced a pair of long-barreled pistols and a small sack, from which he drew a handful of heavy, sharp-studded brass rings.

Jennet had never seen so many weapons or such unattractive jewelry.

“Why would a spy need eight ugly rings?” she demanded in a whisper.

He made a fist and tapped the base of his knotted fingers. “When I wear them and hit someone, they do a great deal of damage.”

Appalled now, she drew back. “You said you played a merchant in France. Merchants do not beat people.”