Page 48 of The Captain Claims His Temptress
“Are you watching me?”
“I am trying not to since people surround us.”
He chuckled softly. “I meant, in general.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She turned to gawk at him, then looked away quickly. “I like to look at things I find beautiful.”
From beside him, Gracey called across the table to Miller, “I am of the opinion that carriages will never fly.”
Surely no one was paying attention to him during a heated debate over winged vehicles. Still, Stephen leaned close enough to make sure that he was not overheard, but not so close as to be indecent.
“Are you spying on me for your uncle?”
Madalene swallowed. “Yes.”
What the devil?
“It is the only way he will allow me to spend time with you. I have learned you love your siblings. You are highly intelligent and fiercely loyal. You strive to always be a gentleman and….” She leaned scandalously close. Her breathy words blew across his cheek. “You know how to make a woman lose herself.”
He attempted to stifle his moan. However, it came out in a throaty gasp.
Waiting until Gracey and Miller’s conversation again increased in volume, he tapped his finger on the table in front of Madalene. “I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything,” she said.
“Do you trust me?”
“With all my heart.”
“Can you get the key to the prisoner’s cell? The last I saw it, ’twas in your uncle’s pocket?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Black. Iron. About two inches long.”
She nodded.
“Can you keep it a secret?”
“Yes.”
“Can you meet me with it? Midnight at the fountain?”
“Yes.”
Stephen caught the Frenchman’s gaze, thereupon lifting his glass in a mock toast.
Dupont grinned at him before casting a lecherous gaze at Madalene’sdécolletage.“Mademoiselle Spencer,” he called across the table, “forgive my boldness. But weFrançaiseare like youAméricaines.Forthright, honest, and to the point. I hope you will accompany me for a walk after dinner. Or do you plan to escape into the gardens with ourbeaucapitaine?”
Madalene’s pink cheeks flushed red, and her mouth dropped open. The other guests bristled uncomfortably. The man knew how to leave a group shocked and silent.
Certainly, the baroness would not mind if he told an untruth considering the circumstances. “Dupont, you are correct. Mademoiselle Spencer and I plan to take a turn in the gardens. Lady Saxton is to be our chaperone.”
Another slippery potato flew from Hugo Adam’s direction, landing in the center of the table with asplat.“I am sorry,” he murmured.
