Lady Rogue

by Theresa Romain

  “But the anger and sadness were only waiting to come out again.”

  “How were you to stop that, if you didn’t know it existed?”

  “I don’t know.” She seemed transfixed by the bullet hole in the wall.

  “Did you do your best by her?” Callum pressed. “Would you have protected her if you knew what Morrow was doing?”

  “I hope so. I cannot be sure.” She folded her arms across her chest. “I did not always know how to protect myself.”

  He nodded, accepting. “With every case, there are what-ifs. Too many of them can break a person’s heart.”

  “I do not know which crime I ought to regret the most,” Isabel said. “She did wicked things, terrible things. But wicked things were done to her first.”

  “If there’s one thing I’ve learned well since knowing you, Isabel, it is that the law and justice part ways more often than the police realize. She protected herself; she counted on nothing else.”

  Isabel swayed on her feet, then took a step forward. Another, blessedly, until she stood right before Callum. He took her in his arms, wrapping up all that gold silk in his plain black-coated embrace.

  “She will be safe,” Callum assured her. “And others will be safe from her.”

  “Yes,” said Isabel. “I will see to it.” She pushed back, dashing a hand against her eyes. “Sorry. Thank you. You prevented a disaster, Callum. I can’t think what would have happened without you.”

  “Oh. Well.” He scuffed one of his boots against the floor. The warmth in her eyes was everything he wanted but never dared ask for.

  “Come, let’s get away from this grim place,” she said. He agreed, slipping the unwanted pistol into his pocket after making sure it was unloaded. They retraced the steps to the ballroom, the sound and heat multiplying like fireworks as they drew closer to the grand space.

  At the edge of the ballroom, they halted. “Do you need to make a report to your magistrate?” Isabel asked him, low under the noise of music and conversation.

  “I do.” Callum tilted his head, speaking near her ear. “Though he’s not my magistrate anymore. I’ve resigned my position with Bow Street. The Bentons and I were here as private security, as I said. Ardmore hired me. I hired them.”

  “But you resigned? You love that job!” She pulled back, sounding genuinely shocked.

  “No,” he said. “I love many things, but that job is not one of them. I love justice more than the law. I love seeing right done. And I love the woman who helped me realize all of that.”

  “You . . . love . . .” Isabel tipped her head. “You love her. You love her?” A smile spread across her features. “She must be marvelous.”

  “She is,” he said. “I was a fool to think I could do without her. But I don’t know how she’s doing without me. I’ve never wanted to impose on her good will or her wealth. There is so much that I cannot give her.”

  Isabel shone like gold guineas: her eyes, her gown, her smile. “No one but you, Callum Jenks, can give me your heart. I have all else that I want and need. Will you make me utterly spoiled and utterly happy?”

  “Spoiled, you could never be. Happy, I would that you’d be always.”

  “No more of that nonsense about us not suiting each other?”

  “I’m greedy,” he said. “You suit me, and if you say I suit you, I’ll never give you up.”

  She leaned against the wall, putting her hands behind her back. It was an enticing pose, pushing out her breasts. Her smile was flirtatious. “I have an idea about how we shall make our way in society. It will be rather like being an investigator.”

  “Oh? Do tell.”

  “We play the game, Callum. We follow the rules.” She grinned. “These people have manners, but they’re afraid. They don’t want to do anything wrong lest they topple. So we only have to show them that it’s not wrong to accept us. It’s quite right.”

  He considered. “Being accepted by the ton could be good for business. As a personal investigator, one could charge more.”

  She gave a determined nod. “There, an economic argument for tonnishness.”

  “A personal investigator wouldn’t work well alone, though,” he said. “I would need a partner.”

  “I’d be wonderful,” she said. “You ought to hire me.”

  “Done. And I already have a consulting office large enough for two. I took a lease using my savings.” He coughed. “It’s not far from Bedford Square.”

  She laughed. “You really do love me! I love you too, you know. I was trying to tell you that when I gave you the boots.”

  He looked down at his battered pair, rueful. “I wish I’d known. I wish I’d taken them, too.”

  “You can have them,” she said, “as a wedding gift. If you ever end up asking me to marry you. And in whatever we take on together, we shall succeed.”

  Was he wearing boots? No, he was flying. “I like a lady with ambition.” He sank to one knee, took her hand in his. “Lady Isabel, will you have me? I’m not a sentimental man, but I love you deeply. Dearly.” He smiled. “Irrevocably.”

  “Of course I will. And I love it when you smile.”

  “That’s good, because I can’t stop just now. Oh, you ought to have a ring. Let me see.” Releasing her hand, he stood and patted his pockets. “Ah, this will work.”

  “My thimble?” She held up her thumb, mystified, as he slipped the silver cap onto it. “You kept it all this time?”

  His face heated. “I might be a little bit of a sentimental man.”

  “You are an utter rogue, Callum Jenks.”

  “Then we are perfect for each other,” he said, and he kissed her soundly. So soundly that heads turned, whispers eddied, and the orchestra even missed a beat.

  It was one more scandal to add to the total at Lady Selina’s engagement ball, making it the pinnacle of the elite’s Season.

  Epilogue

  Lucy Wallace was sent to the country, to a farm run by a placid, sturdy widow. There Lucy sketched occasionally, but mainly cared for animals. These included Brinley, who loved no one so much as Lucy—with the possible exception of Callum’s old boots, which he got to have as toys in his new home.

  The farm was in Kent, on land owned by Isabel’s father. Martin knew that Lucy had been abused and was to be treated with care—and not approached. He saw to her security. If Lucy was not threatened, she would be a threat to no one.

  For saving the life of Lord Wexley, Callum Jenks became a hero. It was the most natural thing in the world that he should become fashionable. It was not even a surprise, not really, when Lady Isabel Morrow wed him.

  For Lady Isabel had become a bit of an eccentric. She’d always seemed so proper! But how roguish she was now. And yet it suited her.

  She and her new husband lived on the edges of society, not quite of it, not shunned by it. Just separate, in a category of their own. Like those dresses Lady Isabel wore. No one knew quite what to compare them to except themselves.

  The Jenkses lived in a house bought by the lady, but they set up a consulting practice in a set of rooms fitted out by the husband. And by the following year, life had taken on an intriguing new pattern.

  Despite running a busy investigative consulting practice, Isabel and Callum still occasionally had leisure enough to slip away during the day. The Summer Exhibition, set up for all London to admire in the great rooms of Somerset House, featured a number of paintings they were eager to see.

  More than one of them was by a talented artist named Ignatius Butler, who was making a name for himself in portraiture. As he stood proudly beside his work, dressed in his Sunday finest, he was applauded by a beautiful dark-skinned woman in blue, and by two rangy girls he was proud to introduce as his daughters Elizabeth and Margaret.

  Judging by the interest of the crowds, and the plum spot the pastel portrait of Angelica Butler received by being hung at eye level, Isabel suspected Butler would finish the exhibition with as many commissions as he could handle.

/>   “I’m glad we hired him before he became tonnish,” she told Callum as they joined the applause. The last bit of the money Butler needed to bring over his family had come from a portrait Isabel had ordered from him: the newly wed Mr. and Lady Isabel Jenks. It hung now in their consulting rooms.

  The butler, Selby, shuttled between the Bedford Square house and the consulting rooms. He was constantly offended by Callum’s informality—but unable to deny how happy her ladyship was in her second marriage.

  There was room enough to spare in the Bedford Square house, now that Lucy was no longer living with Isabel. Isabel had also opened up the previously locked bedchamber in which all of the paintings from the hidden room were stored. She had found a ready taker in a certain Mr. Gabriel, who accepted them all.

  “I should be glad to get rid of them,” said Isabel. “But you could never display them. Not without causing a scandal among society’s elite. Those who did business with Andrew Morrow think they own the original and only versions of their precious artwork.”

  Gabriel-Angelus laughed. “If any of society’s elite find their way into my private quarters, they will have more to worry about than what I have hanging on the walls.”

  So it was over at last, the whole affair that had drawn Callum and Isabel together. But they were knit tightly now by law and love, not by circumstance.

  Upon returning from Somerset House, Isabel asked, “Do you think your friend Cass would like to come work for us?”

  Callum sifted through correspondence atop their desk. “We’ve got business enough. Do you want the help?”

  “I just wondered. We might need it if our family begins to grow.”

  His head snapped up. “Why, Lady Isabel Jenks, are you trying to give me some news?”

  “It’s too early to be sure yet. I’m merely preparing you for the possibility.”

  He strode around the desk and caught her up in his arms. “Preparing me?” he teased. “To what end?”

  “Why, to happily ever after, my love,” she said, and pulled his face down for a kiss.

  Don’t miss the first two books in the

  Royal Rewards series by Theresa Romain,

  available now from Zebra!

  In the game of seduction, everyone wins . . .

  FORTUNE FAVORS

  THE WICKED

  “Richly rewarding.”

  —Booklist, starred review

  INDECENTLY LUCKY

  As a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, Benedict Frost

  had the respect of every man on board—

  and the adoration of the women in every port.

  When injury ends his naval career, the silver-tongued

  libertine can hardly stomach the boredom.

  Not after everything—and everyone—he’s experienced.

  Good thing a new adventure has just fallen into his lap . . .

  When courtesan Charlotte Perry learns the Royal Mint is

  offering a reward for finding a cache of stolen gold coins,

  she seizes the chance to build a new life for herself.

  As the treasure hunt begins, she realizes her tenacity is

  matched only by Benedict’s—and that sometimes

  adversaries can make the best allies. But when the search

  for treasure becomes a discovery of pleasure, they’ll be

  forced to decide if they can sacrifice the lives they’ve

  always dreamed of for a love they’ve never known . . .

  No risk, no reward . . .

  PASSION FAVORS THE BOLD

  “Rapier-sharp wit, dynamic characters,

  humor and action combine masterfully.”

  —RT Book Reviews, Top Pick

  DESPERATE MEASURES

  Georgette Frost’s time is almost up. On her twenty-first

  birthday, the protections outlined in her late parents’ will

  are set to expire. With prospects for employment or

  marriage unfavorable at best, she decides to leave London

  and join her brother, Benedict, on a treasure hunt

  for gold sovereigns stolen from the Royal Mint.

  DANGEROUS LIAISONS

  Lord Hugo Starling has always felt protective of his friend

  Benedict’s sister, Georgette. So when he discovers her

  dressed in ragged boy’s clothes, about to board a coach for

  parts unknown, he feels duty bound to join her search.

  But mystery piles upon mystery as they cross

  England together, not least of which is the confounded

  attraction between them. As Georgette leads him to a

  reward he never expected, Hugo realizes

  he’s embarked upon the adventure of a lifetime . . .

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Theresa Romain is the bestselling author of historical romances, including the Matchmaker trilogy, the Holiday Pleasures series, the Royal Rewards series, and the Romance of the Turf trilogy. Praised as “one of the rising stars of Regency historical romance” (Booklist), she has received starred reviews from Booklist and was a 2016 RITA® finalist. A member of Romance Writers of America® and its Regency specialty chapter The Beau Monde, Theresa is hard at work on her next novel from her home in the Midwest. To keep up with all her book-release news, please visit her online at theresaromain.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter.