Read Online A Rogue of My Own by Johanna Lindsey - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Johanna Lindsey
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would no doubt have her dismissed in the morning, which was going to so disappoint Lilly…
Rebecca sighed and said, “What you have just witnessed is my reaction to feeling like a criminal tonight. I apologize. But if you need to enlist spies for the kingdom, you will have to find someone more heroic next time.”
“I see,” Sarah said, and pursed her thin lips. “Useless as well as incompetent, but what more can one expect of someone barely out of the schoolroom.”
“Precisely,” Rebecca replied stiffly. Good grief, making peace merely invited more insults? “By the by, if you should be asked if you sent someone after a scarf tonight, I would suggest you say yes.”
Sarah gasped. “My God, you didn’t really use my name, did you?”
“The only excuse I had for being in a room I had no business being in was to take umbrage with the fellow who found me there and demand to know what he was doing in your room. I forced him to convince me that I was in the wrong room. So my presence there appeared to be no more than a mistake.”
“He actually believed you?”
“I’m rather good at taking umbrage.”
Sarah almost laughed, having just come under the fire of that umbrage herself. “Very well, perhaps you’re not so incompetent after all. But next time—”
Rebecca abruptly cut in, “There isn’t going to be a next time, not unless you provide me with a good reason to run one of your errands. Perhaps if you told me more about what tonight’s errand was about? Is the queen’s life in danger? Is there some plot afoot that requires these unusual measures? I cannot believe that our kingdom doesn’t have people trained for this sort of mission.”
“Certainly there are such people, but they can’t be used for such trivial matters as this.”
“Trivial?” Rebecca frowned. “You said this was important, gravely important to be precise.”
“Important to me,” Sarah snapped, and marched off.
Rebecca was left dumbfounded. So her main assumption tonight had been false, too? There was nothing even remotely heroic about what she’d done? She was beginning to not like living in the palace.
Chapter Ten
R EBECCA WAS ON HER way back to the front of the ballroom where she’d left Evelyn when a bright powder-blue satin jacket caught her eye. She quickly wound her way through the crowd for a better view.
It was indeed Rupert St. John in his dandy costume. He must have arrived while she’d been talking to Sarah. Even with his back turned to her while he leaned with one arm against the wall, she caught a glimpse of the side of his handsome face. He was with a woman. She could see a wide skirt pressed against his knees as he hovered over the lady. Though his shoulder blocked the woman’s face from view, the woman was apparently leaning back against the wall, no doubt looking up at Rupert with rapt attention.
He laughed, then leaned down to whisper something to the woman. Rebecca thought she heard a girlish giggle. He was obviously flirting with the woman. Well, she had heard vague allusions to his being a renowned skirt-chaser. It didn’t look vague to her, looked quite obvious. Rebecca told herself it was no concern of hers if his halo got a little tarnished in her mind.
She started to turn away, but Rupert straightened up, taking his hand off the wall. That gave her an unobstructed view of the woman he was flirting with. Rebecca just had trouble believing her eyes. Elizabeth Marly? Good God, he was flirting with her roommate?
Rebecca turned about with a huff, feeling—she wasn’t sure how she felt. Angry? Certainly not. Indignant? Whatever for? But she couldn’t for the life of her think what Rupert St. John could find attractive in such a mean, petty girl. He probably didn’t know what she was like. And Elizabeth had looked rather pretty with her adoring expression. Well, more fool him!
Rebecca went back to where she’d left Evelyn, but her new friend wasn’t there. She was on the floor
Rebecca sighed and said, “What you have just witnessed is my reaction to feeling like a criminal tonight. I apologize. But if you need to enlist spies for the kingdom, you will have to find someone more heroic next time.”
“I see,” Sarah said, and pursed her thin lips. “Useless as well as incompetent, but what more can one expect of someone barely out of the schoolroom.”
“Precisely,” Rebecca replied stiffly. Good grief, making peace merely invited more insults? “By the by, if you should be asked if you sent someone after a scarf tonight, I would suggest you say yes.”
Sarah gasped. “My God, you didn’t really use my name, did you?”
“The only excuse I had for being in a room I had no business being in was to take umbrage with the fellow who found me there and demand to know what he was doing in your room. I forced him to convince me that I was in the wrong room. So my presence there appeared to be no more than a mistake.”
“He actually believed you?”
“I’m rather good at taking umbrage.”
Sarah almost laughed, having just come under the fire of that umbrage herself. “Very well, perhaps you’re not so incompetent after all. But next time—”
Rebecca abruptly cut in, “There isn’t going to be a next time, not unless you provide me with a good reason to run one of your errands. Perhaps if you told me more about what tonight’s errand was about? Is the queen’s life in danger? Is there some plot afoot that requires these unusual measures? I cannot believe that our kingdom doesn’t have people trained for this sort of mission.”
“Certainly there are such people, but they can’t be used for such trivial matters as this.”
“Trivial?” Rebecca frowned. “You said this was important, gravely important to be precise.”
“Important to me,” Sarah snapped, and marched off.
Rebecca was left dumbfounded. So her main assumption tonight had been false, too? There was nothing even remotely heroic about what she’d done? She was beginning to not like living in the palace.
Chapter Ten
R EBECCA WAS ON HER way back to the front of the ballroom where she’d left Evelyn when a bright powder-blue satin jacket caught her eye. She quickly wound her way through the crowd for a better view.
It was indeed Rupert St. John in his dandy costume. He must have arrived while she’d been talking to Sarah. Even with his back turned to her while he leaned with one arm against the wall, she caught a glimpse of the side of his handsome face. He was with a woman. She could see a wide skirt pressed against his knees as he hovered over the lady. Though his shoulder blocked the woman’s face from view, the woman was apparently leaning back against the wall, no doubt looking up at Rupert with rapt attention.
He laughed, then leaned down to whisper something to the woman. Rebecca thought she heard a girlish giggle. He was obviously flirting with the woman. Well, she had heard vague allusions to his being a renowned skirt-chaser. It didn’t look vague to her, looked quite obvious. Rebecca told herself it was no concern of hers if his halo got a little tarnished in her mind.
She started to turn away, but Rupert straightened up, taking his hand off the wall. That gave her an unobstructed view of the woman he was flirting with. Rebecca just had trouble believing her eyes. Elizabeth Marly? Good God, he was flirting with her roommate?
Rebecca turned about with a huff, feeling—she wasn’t sure how she felt. Angry? Certainly not. Indignant? Whatever for? But she couldn’t for the life of her think what Rupert St. John could find attractive in such a mean, petty girl. He probably didn’t know what she was like. And Elizabeth had looked rather pretty with her adoring expression. Well, more fool him!
Rebecca went back to where she’d left Evelyn, but her new friend wasn’t there. She was on the floor
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