by Amanda Quick
“Bloody hell.” He disengaged himself from the woman’s arms in a single swift motion. “Come in and close the door behind you. I want you to meet someone.”
“Oh, dear.” The woman stepped away from Tobias and surveyed Lavinia with cool amusement. “I do believe that we have shocked poor Minerva.”
Tobias, looking very grim and dangerous, crossed to a small, round table and picked up a cut-glass decanter. “Lavinia, allow me to introduce you to Mrs. Gray.” He poured himself some brandy. “She came here tonight to see me in regard to a professional matter. Aspasia, this is my, uh, associate, Mrs. Lake.”
Lavinia recognized the cold, uninflected tones. Something was very wrong in this room. She turned back to Aspasia. “I assume that you are one of Tobias’s clients, Mrs. Gray?”
I believe I have recently become one.” She gave Tobias an unreadable glance. “But, please, you must call me Aspasia.”
Lavinia could see that she was very sure of herself and of her place in Tobias’s life. These two had formed a connection long ago, she thought. There was a bond between them that excluded her.
“I see.” A chill went through her. She turned back to Tobias, fighting to keep her voice even. “Will you be needing my assistance on this case?”
“No,” Tobias said. He took a swallow of the brandy. “I will handle this matter by myself.”
That flattened her spirits as nothing else could have done. Perhaps she had presumed too much, she thought. After the successful completion of the affair of the mad mesmerist a few weeks ago, she had found herself slipping more and more often into the habit of thinking of herself as Tobias’s full-time business partner. But that was not how things stood and she would do well not to forget that fact, she thought.
In truth, their business arrangements more or less mirrored their personal relationship. They sometimes worked together, just as they sometimes made love together. But they each maintained separate careers, just as they maintained separate households.
Nevertheless, Tobias had not hesitated to involve himself in her last two cases, and it came as a decidedly painful surprise to discover that he did not welcome her assistance in this one.
“Very well.” She pulled herself together, summoned up what she hoped was a polished, businesslike smile, and opened the door. “In that case, I will bid you both good evening and allow the two of you to return to your private affairs.”
Tobias’s jaw hardened in a telltale warning sign that she had come to recognize. He was not in a good mood. Fair enough, she thought. Her own mood at the moment was not what anyone would describe as sunny.
His powerful hand tightened around the neck of the brandy decanter. For an instant she thought he might change his mind and ask her to stay. But in the end he made no move to keep her from leaving. Anger replaced the hurt his words had caused. What was the matter with him? It was obvious to her that he needed her assistance.
“I will come to see you later,” Tobias said deliberately, “after Aspasia and I have concluded our business.”
He had practically ordered her back to her bedchamber and told her to wait upon his convenience. Outrage leaped within her. Did he really believe that she would open her door to him tonight after he had ejected her from this room in such a summary fashion?
“Do not trouble yourself, sir.” She was pleased that her smile did not waver so much as a fraction of an inch. “It is late, and as we had to endure that very tedious carriage ride as well as the various entertainments here at the castle earlier this evening, I’m sure you’ll be quite exhausted after you and Mrs. Gray finish your discussion. I would not dream of allowing you to go to the effort of climbing that extremely long flight of stairs. I will see you at breakfast.”
Anger burned in Tobias’s ice-and-fog eyes.
Satisfied that she had made an impression, Lavinia stepped smoothly out into hall and closed the door with a good deal more force than was necessary.
Halfway up the stairs she decided that she did not like Aspasia Gray.
About the Author
AMANDA QUICK, a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, is a New York Times best-selling, award-winning author of contemporary and historical romances. There are nearly thirty million copies of her books in print, including Seduction, Surrender, Scandal, Rendezvous, Ravished, Reckless, Dangerous, Deception, Desire, Mistress, Mystique, Mischief, Affair, With This Ring, I Thee Wed, and Wicked Widow. She is also the author of Slightly Shady, the debut novel featuring Lavinia Lake and Tobias March, and Late for the Wedding, available in hardcover from Bantam Books in May. She makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, Frank.
Visit her website at www.amandaquick.com.
BANTAM BOOKS BY Amanda Quick
Affair
Dangerous
Deception
Desire
Don’t Look Back
I Thee Wed
Mischief
Mistress
Mystique
Ravished
Reckless
Rendezvous
Scandal
Seduction
Slightly Shady
Surrender
Wicked Widow
With This Ring
DON’T LOOK BACK
A Bantam Book
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Bantam hardcover edition published June 2002
Bantam mass market edition / April 2003
Published by Bantam Dell
A Division of Random House, Inc.
New York, New York
All rights reserved
Copyright © 2002 by Jayne A. Krentz
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2001049960
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law. For information address:
Bantam Books, New York, New York.
Visit our website at www.bantamdell.com
Bantam Books and the rooster colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
eISBN: 978-0-553-89718-0
v3.0
