His Lady Mistress

Elizabeth Rolls95She had known perfectly well that she could trust him. Shehad known who he was from the start. Perhaps even beforeshe tumbled into his arms the other night. He had to acknowledgethat she’d stalked her quarry brilliantly. She’d cast herlure and played the fish with consummate skill. He’d beenlanded so neatly he hadn’t even felt the hook.A startled gasp brought him around, lifting his gaze fromthe chest. Even now that he knew the truth, it was impossiblenot to admire her acting as she stared in apparent horror atthe painted accusation. His mouth twisted at the blanchedcheeks. Perhaps she was genuinely horrified. She couldn’thave meant to spring her trap quite this soon.Wide grey eyes lifted to his. Pain stabbed at him, swiftlyburied in icy rage.‘Good morning. I came up to see if there was anything youwished to take with you.’Her mouth trembled and he fought down a surge of heatas he remembered that same mouth held captive beneath his,open and vulnerable. Pain flared again. He’d thought whatthey had found special. Damn it! He’d thought her special.That he would be able to... No! He wouldn’t think of it. Allthe time it had been no more than a honeyed trap.‘I—’He cut her off. ‘Just the campaign chest, then. I’ll askHarding—you do remember Harding?—to bring it with himon the mail. We’d best hurry. Explanations are so awkward,are they not, Miss Scott?’Miss Scott...The chilly words lashed her. He knew then. His contemptflayed her. An implacable judge had replaced the tender, impassionedlover. And she had been found wanting.‘You...you don’t understand...’ She had not lied. Not really.Her name changed nothing. Her situation remained thesame whether she was Selina or Verity. Or did it? Who hadgone to him? Selina, or Verity?