Sinfully Yours (Hellions of High Street 2)

“Caro!” Anna shot out of her seat as her sister stepped out from the shadows of the corridor.

McClellan let out a heated oath in Gaelic.

Not that he could understand a word, but it certainly sounded like an oath to Devlin.

Caro fixed the baron with a defiant scowl. “I don’t know why I bother defending you, you odious man, but my sense of honor demands that I tell the truth.”

Devlin restrained the urge to take his head in his hands. This was fast descending from drama into farce. “Which is?” he asked, hoping Anna wasn’t making notes of the scene for her next book.

“Lord McClellan met with two of his Scottish revolutionary friends late last night in one of the side parlors. They wished for him to help them raise arms and gunpowder for an ambush of a visiting English military commander.” She darted a sidelong look at the baron, who was staring out the window. “He refused, saying violence was not the way to achieve their goals. When the meeting was over and they took their leave, he followed and saw them stealing weapons from the Gun Room. After trailing the pair into the gardens, he confronted them and demanded that they give the rifles back to him.”

“How do you know all this?” he asked.

Caro blew out her breath. “Because I had been listening at the door, and then crept after them and heard all that was said outside.”

“Ye gods,” exclaimed Anna. “That was foolish beyond belief! What if they had, in fact, been bloodthirsty murderers?”

Caro lips twitched. “I should have run like a banshee I suppose. Or figured out some suitably impressive heroics, just like a storybook heroine.”

McClellan made a rude sound. “Ladies ought not be allowed to read. It addles their wits.”

“On at least one thing we are in agreement,” murmured Devlin.

Anna spared a moment to spear him with a glare before turning back to her sister. “That’s not amusing.”

“Neither is the fact that you have been keeping secrets from me.” Caro’s eyes sparked with indignation. “Talk about dangerous doings! You have been involved in smoking out a dastardly assassin and didn’t think I could be trusted with the information.”

“I…um…” Anna’s voice faltered.

Caro didn’t wait for her to go on. Her ire was now focused on him.

“And you, Lord Davenport, I wouldn’t have thought you to be such a spineless mawworm as to conspire with my sister behind my back.” Setting her hands on her hips, she ended with an oath that made Devlin’s ears turn red.

McClellan was laughing again, though the sound was hardly louder than a zephyr. “You may be a Sassenach lady, but you’ve got the temper of a Highland warrior.”

She whirled on him. “As for you, you big lummox—your brain must be thicker than porridge. Only a bloody sapskull would keep mum about the real reason for the rifles.”

The baron’s mouth thinned to a razored line. “And why—”

Caro cut him off. “Because if my sister and Lord Davenport are busy dealing you, that means the real culprit is free to carry out the nefarious deed.”

Devlin decided to sit. Dealing with not one but two of the Sloane sisters was a little overwhelming.

“An excellent point,” murmured Anna.

“Thank you.” Her sister responded with a mock curtsey. “Now that we’ve eliminated Lord McClellan from your list, who is the most likely suspect?”

Anna looked to Devlin.

As did McClellan.

Devlin lifted his gaze to the ceiling, wishing some words of wisdom might be found in the spidery cobwebs clinging to the carved rosettes.

“Ah, well.” He sighed. “The more the merrier.”

Chapter Nineteen

A council of war.” Caro quickly took a seat and propped her elbows on the table. “How exciting.”