The Taming of the Rogue. Amanda McCabe

a tray of flower posies.

      What a terrible intelligencer I would be, she thought, holding her breath as she prayed he would leave now, that he hadn’t seen her.

      Her prayers were in vain.

      At his words, she turned to him and tried to give him a smile. If only she could hear above the pounding of her heart in her ears!

      ‘Why, Robert Alden,’ she said. ‘I could ask the same of you. Do you have business at the Tower, mayhap? It does seem strangely appropriate …’

      He suddenly reached out and caught her arm in a hard clasp. It wasn’t painful, but it was as implacable as a chain, and Anna found she couldn’t break away. He leaned close to her, his face hard and blank as he studied her.

      He seemed like a complete stranger, not at all the tender, passionate lover who had kissed her in the garden. It made her feel cold, despite the warm breeze that swept down the river.

      ‘You saw where I went,’ he said. His voice was as fearsomely blank as his face.

      Anna tried to tug her arm free, but he wouldn’t let go. He held her so easily, so effortlessly. She swallowed past the sudden dry knot in her throat and said, ‘I don’t know what you mean, Robert. I care not where you go.’

      ‘I tell lies for my profession, Mistress Barrett,’ he said. ‘You can’t out-deceive an actor—especially with eyes like yours.’

      ‘Eyes like mine?’

      ‘So green and pretty—so transparent, like a clear country pool. You can’t hide from me.’

      ‘I have naught to hide.’ Anna stiffened her shoulders and threw her head back to look at him directly. She wouldn’t cower, no matter how frightened she might feel. ‘Not like you, it seems.’

      ‘Come with me.’ Still holding on to her arm, Rob steered her back to the walkway. Once again the crowd seemed to make way for him, and he moved quickly, so easily, though Anna had to almost run to keep up with him.

      She wanted to break away, to run—not to know whatever secrets he held. But something deep in her heart, the spark of some long-lost sense of adventure she had worked so hard to erase after her marriage, did want to know. She had long thought there were many things Rob hid—angles and shadows he dwelt behind, where no one could follow.

      Was she about to discover what they were? She felt as if she stood on a stony windswept ledge, peering down into a roiling sea. One small shove and she would topple over and be lost.