Page 26 of The Duke on Her List
He smirked. “Very well. Jack it shall be.”
“But when we aren’t in a gentlemen’s club,” she added, “then you may drop the formality and call me Agnes. It seems only fair that you should address me as casually as I’m going to be addressing you, don’t you think?”
The duke nodded slowly. “I can agree to that,” he said. “It’s very improper. But then…everything we’re doing is extremely improper, and there’s no point in pretending otherwise. Very well. If it’s what you would prefer from me, then Agnes you shall be. For as long as you and I are in one another’s company.”
Agnes nodded, something loosening within her.
It felt as if they had reached a new degree of comfort with one another, and she had to admit, she liked that very much.
If only she had some idea of where it was all going to lead them.
CHAPTER 13
“This is madness,” Gabriel murmured.
Agnes looked over at him. “I thought you said you wanted to be a part of it?”
“That wasn’t what I said at all,” he corrected her. “What I told you was that I wanted to stand by our agreement. That doesn’t mean I think this is a good idea. Are you sure there isn’t anything you’d rather be doing? There are plenty of improper ideas that we could explore without entering a place like this.”
“You speaking that way is making me want to do it more.” She adjusted the cap on her head. Her hair was tucked beneath it. She also wore a waistcoat and trousers. There had been nothing to be done about her smooth cheeks and angular face, so Gabriel had decided that he would pass her off as a young cousin.
“Of course it’s making you want to do it more,” he grumbled. “Of course you couldn’t ever just be sensible. I can hardly waitto learn what else is on that list of yours…breaking into the chambers of Parliament, no doubt.”
“Oh, don’t be silly,” she said. “Of course that isn’t on the list.”
All right—maybe it wasn’t. But whatwason that list? He had been wondering about it ever since she had described her desire to come to this club. That wasn’t anything he would ever have guessed she would want…so what else would she have come up with?
Eventually, he was going to have to find out.
But he put that off. He would ask another time. Right now, he had other things to focus on.
“You need to stay close to me while we’re in there,” he said firmly. “It might be dangerous, and if anyone finds out who you are it will be even more dangerous.”
“No one is going to find out,” she said. “No one will be looking at me that closely.”
Gabriel was less than confident. “I hope you’re right about that,” he told her. “But we can’t be sure. If we’re going to do this, you have to follow my lead. You have to do as I tell you. Otherwise—if you won’t agree to that—I won’t take you in there at all. It wouldn’t be safe to try it.”
“I’ll do as you tell me,” she said. “But youaretoo worried about this. You act as if I’m a gazelle going into a room full of lions.”
His mood darkened. “Just stay close,” he warned her.
Gabriel had no faith in his own ability to be deceptive. He was a terrible liar and always had been, but that had always been all right in the past because there had been no need to lie. This was different. Her safety depended on their ability to sell the story they had come up with. It would be very bad if anyone realized a lady was in the gentlemen’s club. The best-case scenario would be that they would be thrown out in disgrace, but something much worse might also happen.
He would keep very close to her.
Once inside, they looked around. He had deliberately suggested a weekday afternoon, knowing that it wouldn’t be overly crowded. But if she realized that, she didn’t comment on it. “What do we do first?”
“This is your list item,” he said. “I assume it isn’t enough for you to simply come in and look around.”
“I want to get a drink,” she decided.
“There’s the bar. Shall I order for us?”
She bit her lip. “Will it be all right if you do? That won’t give us away?”
“No, not since you’re pretending to be my younger cousin. It won’t be hard to convince people that this is your first time in a club like this.”
She smirked at him.
