Chapter 4

I never knew such splendor existed until my husband claimed my body and made me his in name and body.

~The Duchess of A

T he following morning, seated at her violet and amaranth writing desk, Raina glared at the same empty ivory sheet of paper she'd been glaring at for the past thirty minutes.

If the Great Bard believed sleep to be Nature's soft nurse, then Severin Cadogan was that same soft nurse's assassin.

Last night, Mr. Cadogan pretended he genuinely cared about Raina's opinion on his being personally assigned to her. He'd made it seem like he wanted to allow her a voice in outlining her expectations for their time together. All the while, he'd been attempting to cozen out anything that would interfere with his and the duke's intentions for her.

Just as it had done while sleep eluded her, she and Mr. Cadogan's interaction continued to repeat in her mind.

She'd been so thrown off balance by his challenging Gregory, and then sending him out, so he could speak with Raina alone …

"…Perhaps we might sit and talk, Lady Raina…"

In a world where men and women weren't permitted those liberties, there'd been an added layer of intimacy to both his demand and their audience.

"…It is important for me to understand your expectations for our arrangement…"

Then, he'd spoken about her expectations for ‘his and Raina's arrangement'. Not: his arrangement with the Duke of Argyll.

No one cared what Raina thought. For a sliver of a moment, she'd been seduced by the illusion that this stranger capable of ordering a duke around did see her as a person with whom to speak as an equal.

How utterly mortifyingly na?ve she'd been. Why, he must take Raina for the world's greatest ninny and that she should care either way what Mr. Smooth-Smiling-When-He-Wanted-To-Be Cadogan, surely made her one.

A white-hot anger held her firm in its grip, and Raina embraced that rage.

Anger was good. That way, she didn't give in to thinking about how utterly humiliated she'd left that meeting with Mr. Cadogan.

Like a child. No, he'd treated her worse than a child. Forget the friend and confidante she'd hoped to have; he'd made it clear he didn't so much as view her as a person.

What was it he'd said? "…You are a job to me, and nothing more…"

Reflexively, her fingers curled tight around her pen.

Snap.

Ink went splattering all over the desk and exposed sheets of parchment.

Raina stared blankly at those blotches that dotted the page like black teardrops.

What do I care what a stranger thinks? I don't.

A swell of emotion formed in her throat, and Raina swallowed several times to clear that sensation.

She didn't give a jot that the person she'd be expected to spend her days with was yet another subservient to the duke. That'd always been the way and it would always be that way.

How then to account for this sharp twinge in her breast?

Stop.

She'd already allowed him more time in her head than he deserved. He wanted a detailed accounting of her day and where she intended to go, and not a thing more. She'd give him exactly what he wanted—the job Gregory had promised him—and everything that went with it.

"I dare not forget you want my daily plans, and nothing more," she said tersely into the quiet. "What was it you said? Ah, yes."

"…I am not your friend. We never will be. I'm not here as some confidante you can talk to about your hopes and dreams and wishes or gossip…"

This time, the echo of his blunt statement of facts brought her lips up in a tight smile.

Well, she'd give him precisely the assignment the Duke of Argyll assigned him—guarding a duke's unmarried sister.

Bringing her shoulders back, Raina fetched another pen out of her center desk drawer, along with clean sheets of paper.

She dipped the tip into the crystal inkpot. She tapped the excess ink gently against the edge, lightly tinkling the crystal.

Lady Raina's Plans

With the heading marked, Raina stared at her list for Mr. Cadogan.

"…Two, you are not to go anywhere alone. Three, I'm to accompany you at all times…"

With a hard smile, Raina began to write.

She poured herself into her task, including absolutely everything he'd requested—commanded—and more. She included such detail; filling up every single space to be had on the page and then setting it aside to dry, so she could go right on to the next.

"If you're thinking to burn a hole through those pages with the look you're giving them, might I suggest using the fireplace as I did last evening."

Gasping, Raina's hand slipped, and her pen went sliding off the top of the page.

She glanced to the entrance where her sister Millie who, with her sketchpad tucked under her left arm, had at some point let herself in.

"Millie," she greeted dumbly as the little girl kicked the door shut with the heel of her boot. "I didn't hear you."

"Mr. Gaoler, that bad, eh?"

"Worse," she mumbled as her sister hastened over.

"I'm listening." Millie slapped her sketchpad down on the desk, rattling the inkpot. "What is he like?"

What is he like?

Uninvited, another memory of her bodyguard slipped in—as he'd been when she'd first caught sight of him.

Darkly enigmatic. Provocative. Built and scarred like a warrior, and unlike the milksops of the ton , more handsome than any man had a right to be.

Provocative?

She buried a sound of disgust. More like provoking. How to describe crafty Mr. Cadogan who—if he wielded a weapon with the ease he did his charisma—was surely unsurpassed as far as guards went.

"He is rude," she finally supplied a child-suitable response.

Is he really rude or just brutally honest?

"Arrogant," Raina added.

Fine, she'd allow confident—and clearly for good reason.

"And…" She searched her mind.

"…As for the rules I expect you to follow…"

"And overbearing!" she exclaimed.

That, he absolutely was. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

"And cold-hearted!"

Why, because he flatly rejected her offer of potential friendship?

"I didn't even say ‘be friends'," Raina muttered, to herself. "I said, ‘possibly be friends'."

A low, drawn-out groan cut across her fuming and reminded her of Millie's presence. "Oh, saints in heaven, Raina. When I said ‘do not tell him too much until you know you can trust him', you took that to mean mention friendship ?"

"I know. I was…" Enthralled. Entranced. Bewitched. Brainless. "Not thinking."

Close enough.

"It does not bring me any comfort saying I was…" The girl's blonde eyebrows came together. " What is this?"

"…the people you intend to see. Everything. The hours you'll sleep. When you get up. I want your every routine laid out, and I want no deviation from what you submit…"

Raina set her mouth in a grim line.

"Mr. Cadogan demanded I provide him with a daily schedule, detailing my plans for the day."

Before Raina knew what she intended, her sister picked up the still-damp page.

The girl's eyes bulged. " Raina ? Egad, what are you th-thinking ? Surely, you've not allowed them to do—" With her little fingers, stained from playing in the gardens, she shook the page. " This to you."

"Would you have a care." Ever so gingerly, Raina slipped her notes for Mr. Cadogan from her horrified sister's fingers. "I know what I'm doing, Millie."

She went on to fetch her silver pounce pot. While her sister sputtered, Raina sprinkled powder upon the still-damp ink.

"Are you certain, Raina, because filling out that sheet for your gaoler and…and those places you…"

Millie finally caught the playful glimmer in Raina's eyes and her worrying trailed off. The girl's lips curled in a slow, puckish grin that dimpled her full cheeks. "Brava, big sister."

"I haven't done anything, yet ."

"Yes, well, if you do , well, there may be hope for you yet."

Popping up, Raina dropped a kiss on the top of Millie's head. "I need to try and reach Gregory so that I might ask him a few questions."

Questions about Mr. Cadogan. One needed to know one's opponent, after all.

Millie snatched up the sketchpad she'd arrived with. "I want to help. There has to be something I can do," she protested, following close at Raina's heels.

"I don't…" Raina's steps slowed.

"…I'll exist in the shadows, so much so you'll forget your brother assigned me to watch after you…"

She frowned.

She'd made one misstep where Mr. Cadogan was concerned, once. She'd not make another.

"There is something you can do…"

A short while later, Raina sailed into the breakfast room, just in time to catch Gregory as he was about to quit the table.

"Dear brother," she greeted, with a smile, enjoying herself even more this day.

Surprise filled her brother's classic features. "You are awake."

"Disappointed?"

When he didn't reply quickly enough, Raina playfully waggled her eyebrows.

Gregory slapped a hand against his chest in mock affrontery. "How could you ever believe I'd ever be disappointed by your company?"

Oh, only because he'd rather hand her over to a rude stranger than squire her about London. "How, indeed?" she drawled.

As Raina made her way to the buffet, she couldn't help the wave of poignancy.

Older and bigger than her, he'd loomed larger than life. He'd always entered every room with a wide smile and told jokes that left Raina, her sister, and their parents in stitches. When had he ceased trying?

Making herself a plate, Raina, from the corner of her eye, caught Gregory just as he pushed his chair back.

"And yet," she drawled, adding two pieces of toast to her plate, "for someone who is not disappointed to see your beloved sister, you certainly appear to be in quite the hurry to leave."

This time, a very real frown flashed across his countenance. Did his displeasure stem from his having been so transparent or because she'd prevented him from leaving a second time? Most likely, both.

His grin returned in an instant. "In a hurry to leave one of my favorite sisters? Never !" he scoffed.

With a snort, Raina helped herself to a scoop of eggs.

Dish in hand, she made her way over to the vacant chair on the right side of the head one which her brother stood behind. She placed her dish on the table and sat.

"You're still standing, devoted brother," she said dryly, giving her linen a light snap, Raina rested the white fabric upon her lap.

Like a troublesome lad who'd earned himself a knuckle rapping, Gregory plopped back down into his previously vacated seat. He motioned for a refill on his cup of coffee.

After the servant had gone, Gregory contemplated Raina over the steaming cup. "Forgive me, Raina. I understand I've not been as attentive as I should be. I've been preoccupied."

She gave him a look.

"More preoccupied than usual," he grudgingly conceded. "These times, however, are not ordinary ones."

Raina nibbled at the corner of her toast. "Are there new problems with Craven?" she asked after he'd taken a sip of his coffee.

Such hate blazed from Gregory's eyes; Raina shivered.

What did it say about her own brother's ruthlessness that he could so easily sever a lifelong bond?

"You needn't worry your head about it, Raina," he promised.

That condescending way in which he spoke to her, like she was a babe to be protected, set her teeth on edge. After all, Raina wasn't the one feuding with a good friend like two boys quarreling over spillikins.

"That wasn't an answer, Gregory."

He must have mistaken her terse response for worry.

"I promise you will be safe, Raina," Gregory added. "Especially with Mr. Cadogan to care for you."

With her napkin, she dusted at the corners of her mouth. "About Mr. Cadogan," she said, having adroitly shifted them to the real reason for catching him before he disappeared.

Gregory took another sip of coffee. "Yes?"

"He is not one of your usual guards." That much was clear. "Where exactly did he come from?"

Her brother's relaxed demeanor vanished. "Has he—?"

"Oh, do stop," she scoffed. "He's been here but a day or so and I've barely seen him."

But you were captivated when you first caught sight of him , the devil in her head taunted with that indecent reminder.

Raina's face went hot, and that same heat scorching her cheeks fanned her entire body.

Gregory pinned a calculating gaze on Raina. "Why all the questions about Mr. Cadogan?"

Oh, hell. Her brother was too perceptive by half. Perhaps it was actually for the best he wasn't underfoot.

"If our roles were reversed, and I assigned some stranger to follow you , would you not have questions about the man?" At that, one she now shared a roof with.

A frown played at his lips. "I…"

God, give me the strength, ego, and boldness of a man, accustomed to power.

"I trust you did not think about that, dearest brother," she ventured all false innocence.

Gregory set aside his drink. "Fine. I'll tell you all you need to know about the gentleman."

"You will?" she batted her lashes. He'd decide what she needed—or didn't need—to know about Mr. Severin Cadogan. "How very good of you, Gregory." The high-handed way in which everyone treated her, would never not grate.

"Do I detect sarcasm?"

"Likely only because you'd rather avoid talking to me about anything…" Important . "else." Something her brother said earlier, registered. "You referred to Mr. Cadogan as a gentleman ?"

"Cadogan is the son of a late marquess and Cadogan's eldest brother is the current Lord Carnell."

"How…absolutely…" Her heart dropped. "Reassuring." Horrible.

A gentleman who'd been born into the ton . No wonder he'd been so horrified at her mention of friendship.

"You are correct, Raina," her brother said somberly. "I've been remiss. I should have alleviated your worries long before this. As a genteel young lady, you deserved to know. He's known as Mr. Severin Cadogan but comes from quality."

From quality? He thought Raina cared about Mr. Cadogan's station?

Severin. Raina rolled that name around in her mind. Austere. Stern. Severe . It suited him perfectly.

"Certainly, knowing Mr. Cadogan comes from a noble family would have greatly eased my fears at having him, a stranger , residing under the same roof and accompanying me about," she remarked.

Unlike before, her brother completely failed at picking up Raina's sardonicism.

Her brother shook his head. "Cadogan was recognized for acts of service and bravery to the Crown. For his efforts, he was made the Earl of Killburn. The gentleman, however, does not go by his title."

Despising one's origins was an all too familiar state for Raina. As such, she found herself developing a kindred—but unwanted—connection with the enigmatic lord.

"What kind of acts of bravery?" she asked, all too happy to chip away at the aura of danger and mystery behind Mr. Cadogan.

"He did intelligence work for the Home Office."

Her stomach plummeted. "Intelligence work?"

Gregory nodded.

Bloody fabulous. A spy. Not only had Gregory hired a gentleman—a nobleman—to guard her, he'd stuck her with a blasted spy .

She fought the urge to groan.

Unbidden, Mr. Cadogan's visage whispered to the front of her mind; the opaque set to his angular features. The ragged scar that bisected his face. The incisiveness of his stare. The smooth, gentle way in which he spoke. That emotionless way in which he spoke.

It all made sense.

And here, had it not been for her ten-year-old sister, she'd have handed him over a list of the haunts she intended to visit.

All the pieces slowly began sliding into place.

Such a cold-blooded figure should terrify, rather than intrigue, and yet, the fact remained, something in him…roused her curiosity.

Curiosity.

That was all it was.

That was all it could be.

What else would it be?

Nothing.

"Is that all?"

Raina whipped her gaze over to her forgotten brother so quick she viciously wrenched her neck muscles. "Hmm?"

"About Cadogan?" Gregory said. "Are there any other concerns or questions you may have so that I can alleviate you of some of your worrying."

"No." She flashed a smile. "No. I believe that is all, at this time." At least by way of her brother's usefulness. "You've provided me with everything I needed to know."

Absolutely everything.

Raina smiled.