Mistress of Scandal (Greentree Sisters 3)
ke revenge, but he decided it was justice.
Chapter 15
Sebastian strode along briskly, barely registering his surroundings. His heart was still rattling in his chest, the blood pounding through his body. Francesca tended to do that to him.
Dobson let him into the club with a surprised frown. “Madame Aphrodite is tired, Mr. Thorne. Do you have to see her now?”
“I’m sorry. It’s important.”
Dobson hesitated and then gave a resigned nod. “You won’t keep her long?”
“Barely any time at all, Mr. Dobson.”
Once he was shown into her presence, Aphrodite seemed pleased to see him, but then she was a good actress. “Mr. Thorne, again!” She must have seen something in his face, and her smile wavered. “What has happened?”
Sebastian explained about Rosie and where she had come from.
“Then…this girl belongs to her?” She was obviously shocked; her hand trembled as she rested it against the chair back.
“Yes. And Mrs. Slater will want her back.”
“But why can’t she be arrested for such a thing? And the kidnapping all those years ago…Mr. Thorne, if you know where she is, then we must…we must…”
“I don’t know where she is, not yet. And if, when I do, I take her to the police, that means we probably won’t be able to find her master. She’ll keep her mouth shut in the hope he’ll help her out of her difficulty—which he probably will. Madame, you do still want to find the name of the man who arranged to kidnap your daughters?”
Aphrodite nodded.
“Then can you send Rosie somewhere else? Just to be on the safe side? I’m sure you don’t want Mrs. Slater knocking at your door.”
“My daughter has asked me to care for Rosie. She has asked me, Mr. Thorne. I will not break my promise to her, no matter what it costs me. And as for Mrs. Slater…if she comes to my door I will see her in hell.”
“Madame…”
Her gaze was firm and direct, and any arguments he had dried up unspoken. Aphrodite might have been slow to take action, but now she would not be swayed from her course, even if it meant she was heading into disaster.
It was Sebastian’s job to avert that disaster.
“You are protecting my daughter?” Aphrodite’s urgent question interrupted his thoughts.
“Yes, Madame, I am.”
“I am glad you were with her when she saved Rosie. It was a wonderful thing she did, but she must not be allowed to risk herself again.”
“I told her not to, but…” He shrugged. “Your daughter is headstrong, Madame.”
Aphrodite smiled. “She followed her heart. That isn’t bad, that is good. She should do it more often, instead of playing the part of Miss Respectability.”
He laughed. “I wish she would,” he said. If her heart led her into his arms and his bed, then he’d be very happy.
Perhaps something of his thoughts showed on his face, or perhaps Aphrodite was especially intuitive, because she reached out and pressed her fingertip to his chest. “Are you sure it’s not your heart we’re discussing, Mr. Thorne? My daughter is a beautiful young woman. It would be a shame if she lived her life alone because she was afraid to love.”
He smiled, but his eyes were bleak. “I have no heart, Madame. I cut it out years ago.”
“Then I pity you,” she said quietly. “Because without love, Mr. Thorne, we may as well be dead.”
Francesca awoke to the sounds of London. She’d been having a wonderful dream. Sebastian Thorne had climbed up the wall outside her window and in through the dusty panes. She had felt his hands on her, sure and strong, as his body moved with hers. Now she felt flushed and warm, tingling in places she hadn’t known could tingle.
She missed him, and that frightened her. There was a yearning within her to be in his company, to seek him out, to go to his rooms in Half Moon Street. Aphrodite would have done such a thing; she would have abandoned everything for love, and ended up with nothing. And that was why Francesca couldn’t.