Read Online The Earl With the Secret Tattoo by Kieran Kramer - Free Book Online Page A

nightdress.
    James paused to let the servant pass ahead of them. When they got to the library,
     the footman was already crouching at the hearth, fanning the embers and adding coal.
    Lady Eleanor sank into the depths of the most comfortable chair in the room and placed
     her reticule on a small table at her elbow.
    Michael left for the tea, and she looked up at James with those expressive brown eyes.
    “I’m all right now,” she said—his pulse picked up its tempo at the word now —“but a man came to my room tonight and held a knife to my throat—”
    “Good God.” James sank to his knees and gripped her hands. “Are you sure you’re all
     right?”
    She nodded. “I really am.”
    “Tell me what this man looked like.” A desire to kill filled him, hot and intense.
     “Perhaps he hasn’t gotten far. I’ll make sure he never hurts you again.”
    Her mouth tipped up in a small, grateful smile. “You’re very kind. But it’s too late
     for that. He looked like a black shadow to me, and he’s long gone.” She withdrew her
     hands from his, and it was like losing his favorite Christmas gift only moments after
     receiving it. “But there’s another way you can assist me.”
    “Tell me.” Spoiled by the feel of her palm in his, he dared to take her right hand
     again. When he raised it to his lips and kissed her knuckles, he lingered there far
     too long.
    Her face was flushed, her pupils wide and black. “I need answers, Lord Tumbridge,”
     she said in a breathy but determined voice. “I don’t know where else to turn. You
     have me at your mercy. It’s a place I never wanted to be, as you well know.”
    “You’ve nothing to fear from me, my lady. I’m at your service.” His tone was gruff,
     and it wasn’t simply desire that made it so.
    It was astonishment.
    His love for her wasn’t a feeling. It was a fact. The same way the sun’s rising, the
     blue of the sky, and the changing of the seasons were. He couldn’t wish it away, even
     had he’d wanted to.
    “You’re not the same Lord Tumbridge I usually know,” she whispered. “Right now you’re
     more like him —the man with the secret tattoo.”
    James dropped back onto the rug, his hands stretched out behind him. “Sometimes something
     feels fated,” he said. “I tried very hard not to let you know the truth, but the truth
     will out when it must out. And in our case, I think I’ve lost control of when that
     will be.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    He gave a soft laugh. “You trusted me tonight, and so now I’m going to trust you.”
     He paused a moment, wondering how it would feel to tell someone outside the Brotherhood
     the truth of his secret life. “I’m not that cold, aloof man you see, the one you believe
     delights in ruining your life.”
    Her eyes widened. “Who are you, then? I think I caught a glimpse of you on the steps
     at the Brady mansion. I hope you are that man. And I hope…you’re still the man who
     rode up and saved us from those robbers.”
    He stared at her a very long time. “I’m both,” he said, and prayed she believed him.
    But her eyes registered confusion. “Then why were you kissing Clare? Why do you present
     yourself as a useless man of leisure? And why have you meddled in my affairs so egregiously?”
    “That man,” he said quietly, “is an illusion necessary for my job—my mission, really.
     And Lady Eleanor, you must believe me when I say it’s an honorable one. That mission
     will end soon, I believe. And when it does, I’ll be ready to move on.”
    “This is all very hard to take in,” she whispered.
    “I’m sure it is.” He gave her an encouraging smile. “But it’s imperative we now talk
     about you. Tell me more of what happened tonight.”
    Slowly, haltingly, she related to him every harrowing detail of her evening.
    The fury in him grew more entrenched. “I can’t allow you to go back.”
    “Let’s not speak of that right now.” Her mouth was firm, her