Lara Temple - Lord Crayle's Secret World

Their shirtsleeves were rolled up and Sari could clearly see the muscles of the earl’s forearm tense and flex with each strike and parry. From watching the foil she found herself drawn to the dance of shadows along his arm. It glistened with perspiration, its firm lines cording as he drove his opponent back. It was as if she had never seen a man’s arm before, had never realised it must have a unique texture with the unyielding muscle, the smooth glide of warm skin and silky dark hair.

A peculiar heat rose in her, just skimming the inside of her skin and leaving her strangely cold outside. Her gaze was glued to the fluid, brutal moves as O’Brien was consistently destroyed, stroke by methodical stroke. She held her breath as Lord Crayle pushed O’Brien back almost to the edge of the strip. Then suddenly, with a slight flick of the earl’s wrist, O’Brien’s foil went flying and landed with a clatter at Antonelli’s feet.

O’Brien leaned over, resting his hands on his knees as he drew breath.

‘Damn you for a pitiless bastard, Major.’ He chuckled breathlessly as he straightened, pushing back a damp lock of hair from his forehead.

‘You asked for the meet, O’Brien,’ the earl pointed out with a smile, leaning the tip of his foil on the strip and flexing it.

‘So I did. Never did have an ounce of sense in this Irish brain of mine,’ O’Brien returned good-humouredly as he bent to pick up his foil. ‘Here, Jack, care to try your luck?’

‘No, thank you,’ Morton answered with a slow smile. ‘I’d rather go and swim in a peat bog.’

The two men had turned to Morton and noticed Sari.

‘What are you doing here?’ the earl asked, clearly surprised by her unexpected appearance, and Sari pushed herself away from the wall nervously.

‘Nothing. Just watching.’

‘Shouldn’t you be in some lesson or another?’ he asked, slipping his foil back into the rack.

‘I am between lessons, my lord,’ she answered, somewhat offended by his indifferent tones. ‘I am not playing truant if that is what concerns you.’

‘I see no harm in the signorina observing, Michael,’ Antonelli interjected mildly.

‘There is harm in her wandering around the Institute at will,’ Michael replied, a hint of impatience entering his voice. Sari felt strangely hurt.

‘I was not wandering around,’ she replied. ‘Signor Antonelli said I could watch the other men fence if I wished. There is nothing wrong with that.’

He didn’t even turn to acknowledge her comment, but continued to address Antonelli. ‘You shouldn’t encourage her to come in here at any time other than for her lessons. For her own protection.’

Sari felt a humiliated blush wash over her and tried to salvage some dignity.

‘If you have issue with anything I do, you may direct it to me, my lord.’

Michael turned to survey her.

‘May I, now?’ he asked with deceptive smoothness. ‘Very well, Miss Trevor. I have issue with you entering the salle at any time other than for your lessons. Or frankly going anywhere in the Institute except where you are expressly directed to go.’

Sari knew she should not react. The three other men were watching the exchange with interest and her sensible side told her the best thing to do would be to accept his rebuke and leave. But the gap between his behaviour towards her in the shooting gallery the previous week and his current dismissal hurt more than she could understand. Perversely, a wave of angry resentment bubbled up inside her.

‘I hadn’t realised I posed such a threat to the Institute’s well-being. Should I be flattered?’

She almost quailed under the sudden blast of anger that appeared in his eyes as he moved towards her but she stood her ground. As he drew closer she could see how his damp shirt adhered to the muscles of his broad shoulders. The same peculiar feeling licked at the edges of her stomach again. She really was not comfortable with him being this close.

‘I am not sure you quite understand the terms of your employment here, Miss Trevor,’ he said silkily as he stopped a mere couple of feet from her, forcing her to tilt her head back to meet his eyes. ‘I distinctly remember saying that you are here to follow whatever directives your superiors give you. That means when you are told to decamp, you decamp. Is that sufficiently clear?’

Sari squared her shoulders.

‘Quite clear, my lord. However, you did not tell me to decamp.’

‘Did I not? I would have thought the sentiment expressed with sufficient force. However, since you seem to require it made explicit, I am telling you to do so now.’

Sari raised her hand in mock salute.

‘Right, Major. One decampment coming up.’

She turned on her heel and made sure she closed the door very quietly behind her, despite the urge to slam it.

Michael turned back to the room and the three other men pulled back their grins.

‘You were trifle harsh on the signorina, Michael,’ Antonelli expostulated.

‘She can take it,’ Michael replied.

‘Sure and she can.’ O’Brien chuckled. ‘There must be some Irish blood in the lass. She gives as good as she gets, that one.’

‘You must be more forgiving with her, Michael. It takes time to adjust to this place,’ Antonelli said.

‘I make no demands on her above what any one of us would make for any other recruit,’ Michael retorted curtly, pulling another foil from the rack. ‘Antonelli?’

The old master shrugged and took his place on the strip opposite him.

‘As I understand it, the purpose of the Institute is to train our agents to be as effective as possible. I do not personally believe the best way of achieving that is browbeating a young woman into obedience.’

Michael flicked his foil through the air angrily. She had them all wrapped around her little finger. And in a mere couple of weeks. Why the hell was he the only one who realised this was a problem?

‘She is miles away from obedience, Antonelli. And without a more serious measure of it she will be of no use to us at all. En garde.’

Fencing with Antonelli always required all his attention and the session helped to clear Michael’s mind and focus it back on the most important matter facing the Institute at the moment. Their contacts at the ports had reported that both Frey and Junger had been sighted arriving in London, but discussions with the Foreign Office had yielded no more intelligence about the reason for the presence of the two Austrian mercenaries on English soil. There was some conjecture that they had been hired to protect the personal interests of an Austrian banker based in London, but Michael was unconvinced. He knew they had to intensify their efforts to find out what the two were doing in the city.

* * *

After the fencing match he went in search of Anderson and tracked him down outside Deakins’s office.

‘I want to update you on our two Austrians. Is Deakins in there?’

‘I... Uh, no... I just saw him upstairs with Morton. Why?’

‘Inside.’

Anderson followed him inside Deakins’s office and closed the door, his brows raised.

‘I met with Castlereagh and Wellington last night to discuss the business we just concluded up in Birmingham and we touched on Junger and Frey. They aren’t convinced the two are here for political purposes, but they agreed we should investigate them in case Metternich is using that Austrian bank business as a cover. I asked O’Brien to investigate and he tracked Frey to lodgings above the Black Dog in Southwark last night, but he couldn’t find Junger. I have put Morton on to tail Frey tonight while O’Brien goes down to the docks to dig for Junger. We need to know where he is and what he’s doing.’

Anderson nodded. ‘Fine. Let’s hope they’re right and this isn’t political. From what you told me about Paris, I’d rather their business isn’t ours.’