The Mech Who Loved Me(43)

"Excellent." Malloryn snapped his pocket watch shut, and headed for the door. "Keep me apprised of the situation. Or... keep the baroness apprised. She'll pass on what she deems relevant to me, and if Ulbricht does rear his pale head, I'll take over."

"You're not going to be overseeing the operation?" Last month, Malloryn had had his fingers in every pie.

Malloryn shot her a raised-brow look. "I forget how distracted you can be, Ava. Kincaid, what is happening in my personal life this month? Since you're all so terribly interested in it?"

"You're getting married, Your Grace," Kincaid replied. "Every single Rogue in the Company-excluding Ava-is wagering on whether you'll get the lucky bride to the altar or not."

"Correct. I would much rather be overseeing this case. But apparently I have flowers to peruse, and cakes to taste, and places to be seen...." Malloryn grimaced. "One month and then I can forget this ever happened, and return to my regularly scheduled duties."

Forget he was married? Ava blinked. She knew the duke and his fiancée were forging a marriage of convenience in the wake of a scandal where the duke had been caught in the gardens of some ball with Miss Hamilton, but she'd thought relations between them might have thawed by now. "Isn't it time to forgive Miss Hamilton?"

"Forgive her?" Malloryn shook his head. "Miss McLaren, I know you're a kind soul, but one doesn't forgive being trapped into marriage by a manipulative young woman. Ever."

"That sounds like a very sad state of affairs to me," she said quietly.

"Quite the opposite. Sadness indicates one cares. Marriage is going to be a formality, a distant affair Miss Hamilton and I shall navigate with the utmost ease. If I'm lucky, I doubt I'll see my wife more than once a week. If she's lucky, she won't protest this fact." Malloryn tipped his head to her, "And if we're quite finished here, I'd best be on my way. There's a garden party this afternoon, apparently. I'm the guest of honor. I can hardly wait." 

"Good luck," Kincaid called as the duke exited the building. He glanced down at her, his hands in his pockets. "I'd make some pithy comment about enjoying the idea of Malloryn choking down samples of wedding cake, but you have that look in your eye."

"This proves nothing. Weddings are a happy event in most cases. Of course Malloryn must be the exception, but not all marriages are unhappy affairs."

"I beg to differ," Kincaid began. "I think this proves my point quite perfectly...."

But she wasn't truly listening to him.Carriage wheels turned, and she waited until the horses clopped away before kicking a pile of tumbled timbers.

"Damn it," she whispered. "He's taken my case away from me. I knew he'd do this the second Gemma and Charlie returned."

"He's merely getting the others to do the legwork. Be patient, Ava. Neither Gemma nor Charlie know how to examine the evidence, so let them fetch it like errand runners. You're the one who can draw the conclusions."

He was right. "Well, what are we going to do in the meantime? If I sit around at the safe house I'll go mad, and there's no point pacing the Nighthawks guild while I wait for them to confiscate all the vaccine samples."

A wicked, wicked smile dawned on Kincaid's lips. "Well, I have something we could do to pass the time."

Ava paused, the breath rushing out of her. He looked so devilishly assured all of a sudden. "You do?"

"We have an hour or two to spare. Come with me," he said, taking her hand and tucking it inside the crook of his elbow. "I can almost guarantee I can distract you."

She was quite certain he could too. "Where are we going?"

"I am considering how best to go about our compromise," he muttered, leading her out of the burned clinic. "You want me to bed you. But first, I want you to be aware of what, precisely, you are committing yourself to. Consider it a way to take your mind off the waiting for a few hours, at least...."

Ava swallowed.





Eleven





"THE HAMDEN GALLERY?" Ava demanded as she stared up the marble steps to the Corinthian entrance of a very subdued building. Only the brass plaque on the stone wall gave any hint to what was within. "I've never even heard of it."

"I daresay you haven't. It's not widely advertised, and it's not the sort of place innocent young ladies are aware of."

"I don't really appreciate art," Ava muttered, though she could admit she sometimes admired the skill it took. Art seemed a little drab and dull, from her limited experience.

"You'll appreciate this." He guided her up the stairs, his hand on the small of her back. "I can almost guarantee it."