Page 45 of Once a Rogue
“Being cleaned,” Wesley lied easily. “Dashed nuisance, the timing. I thought you were staying at the Waldorf?”
“I was told to find somewhere cheaper. Figured this place must be all right if it meets your viscount standards.” Langford’s gaze went to Sebastian, sharp-eyed and fully awake. “Your advisor got caught out here too?” His gaze flicked to the bare skin Sebastian knew would be visible under the robe’s collar. “Mr. de Leon. I thoughtyousaid you were staying upstairs. They only evacuated the second floor.”
Sebastian tightened his arms over the monogram on his chest. “Um—”
“Christ, major, have a bit of subtlety,” Wesley said, dry and unruffled. “Obviously he was in someone else’s room. No need to be crass about it when, as you say, there are ladies present.”
Langford’s gaze flicked down the street to the group of flappers and landed on Matilda. “Oh. I see.” Some of his suspicion cleared up, although the eyes on Sebastian were still unfriendly. He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his robe, jerking his head toward Wesley. “Couldn’t wait to escape his company, eh? Not a bad job for you, is it, chasing skirts on his dime?”
Sebastian clenched his jaw.I like his company, he wanted to say.And you’re an asshole, he wanted to say even more. But he was already risking revealing Wesley’s secrets just by standing there, so he kept his mouth shut. Langford could think whatever he wanted about Sebastian if it kept him from wondering about Wesley.
Langford lit up and passed the pack and matches to Wesley in a reflexive way, like it was an old habit he’d fallen back into. “Fine, now. Never seen him meet a bird he likes.”
“As if I would condemn a woman to my presence.” Wesley had pulled out his own cigarette and handed the pack back to Langford.
“Not gentle enough for the gentler sex, Fine here,” Langford said, gesturing with the cigarette.
Sebastian took a breath through his nose. Blew it out.
“But it’d be a shame to see you married,” Langford went on. “So manybetter usesfor a man with your talents.”
“Yes, there are.” Wesley lit his own smoke. “Imports, for example.”
Langford smiled around his cigarette with no humor in it. “We really do need to have that chat, Fine. You have no idea how much we need a man as bad as you.”
“He’s not.”
Sebastian hadn’t realized he’d spoken aloud until Langford and Wesley had both turned his way. Shit.
“You don’t think so?” Langford said lightly.
Sebastian’s eyes darted up to Wesley, whose face was unreadable. “No.” Sebastian swallowed. “No. I don’t.”
A new voice suddenly said, “Lord Fine?” A man in a hotel staff uniform was addressing Wesley. He had a clipboard and pencil in his hands. “If I could have just a moment to confirm any valuables in your rooms?”
Wesley blew out smoke in an irritated stream and turned to the man.
Langford took the cigarette out of his mouth, eying Sebastian. “American army, you said? Medical?”
Sebastian didn’t answer, just kept his eyes on Langford and his arms tight over the monogram.
“All right, medic.” Langford made the title an insult. “You think you know bad men better than me?”
Sebastian stayed still.
Langford tilted his head. “You ever see combat? Real violence?”
Sebastian took another breath through his nose. Even after the rooftop with Wesley, his magic was now simmering too close to the surface again, anger at Langford making it hard to keep the reins. He had too many bad memories from New York, had seen too much violence, been full of helpless anger then too.
“Not clean up the aftermath,” said Langford, “but all that blood and gore happening right in front of your face—or at your own hands?”
Don’t listen to him. You can’t snap back and make him wonder about Wesley. You can’t let him take you back to February.
“You ever had no choice but to do things civilians could never stomach?”
Sebastian bit down on his tongue, hard.
Langford leaned in. “I promise, nothing you can think of compares to Fine and I in the war,” he said. “So you don’t know shit. I know bad men, while a man like you will never know what men like us have been through or what we’re capable of.”
