Chapter Eleven

The sensation of his lips against hers was hot, hard, and so deliciously wanton that Kat automatically wrapped her hands around his neck and urged herself closer against him.

Since last night, she’d been able to think of little else but the feel of his mouth against her own. Images of him, and the sensations his touch had evoked, were always in the back of her mind. It had taken a great deal of effort to push them to the side this evening for the mission, but she’d managed to do so, or at least she had until he kissed her again.

Now, it was as if her body craved him and couldn’t get close enough as his mouth created a delicious sensation of heat and energy that curled within her. She moaned softly, surprised at the gentleness yet thoroughness of his onslaught.

The only other time she’d allowed a man to kiss her was when she was eighteen and she’d all but dared his brother Nathaniel to. That had been after Nathaniel told her news of Marcus’s engagement, which for some reason had bothered her greatly. Nathaniel’s kiss had been nothing memorable, and it completely paled in comparison to the kisses Marcus had given her last night and was pleasuring her with now.

These kisses were leaving her completely breathless and wanting more, so much more. They were sweet yet so sensual and she was certain no man would ever live up to the kisses Marcus was enthralling her with.

For a second, Kat thought about trying to resist and putting some space between them, so she could calm down and compose herself, but she was so tired of fighting everyone and everything, that for this one moment she was going to allow herself to let go and simply feel.

“So delicious,” he murmured in a breathless whisper before he coaxingly teased her mouth open and his tongue flicked inside her depths, caressing and stroking her. Then his hands went from encircling her wrists to curling around her waist, pulling her firmly to him.

The action emboldened her, and she pressed her chest to his while her tongue began to explore his own.

When one of his hands slid from her waist up to her chest and began flicking open the buttons at the front of her footman’s coat, Kat thought she would combust then and there. Marcus scattered kisses down her neck while his hand was busy peeling back her jacket to reveal the white cotton shirt she wore underneath, then with nimble fingers he unbuttoned her shirt, too.

He pulled back from her slightly, staring down at the binding covering her chest. “That looks uncomfortable.”

For a moment she felt self-conscious, but then with sudden clarity she realized this might be as close as she ever got to truly bending the rules and experiencing some passion. She’d never really believed in the emotion before, but now, after Marcus and his touch, she wanted more of it. And she wasn’t getting any younger at six-and-twenty. What was one more risk, in a life of so many? “It is.” And then she reached behind her and began to unwrap the binding.

Marcus drew in a harsh breath and his eyes flared with desire. “Kat, we shouldn’t be doing this…” There wasn’t a great deal of conviction in his voice as he continued to stare hungrily at her, as bit by bit the material unraveled.

“I want to do this.” Her voice was much more confident than the nerves running rampant in her belly. She’d never exposed herself to any man before, and then her chest was bared to his view.

She almost covered herself up again, but when she saw the unadulterated desire pulsing in his eyes, a heady sense of womanly confidence swept through her.

“So perfect,” he mumbled, reverently reaching up to caress first one breast and then the other.

The pads of his fingers were slightly rough, which only increased the waves of pleasure careening down to her center. Her nipples peaked into hard buds, and she arched her back, pushing more of her breasts into his eager hands.

“So soft,” he murmured, his mouth beginning to trail kisses down the side of her neck once again and going lower down her chest.

She saw the heat in his eyes as he gazed at her a moment before he lowered his head and covered her nipple with his mouth. Kat nearly bolted from his lap at the feeling of his mouth feasting upon her breast, sucking and licking the nipple until she didn’t think she’d be able to stand it.

With his other hand, he stroked down the side of her hips and then her thighs, until it skimmed across her trousers and settled between the junction of her legs. Kat couldn’t help but moan as he began to softly rub his hand against her. It was thrilling and completely wanton, and she didn’t understand the increasing sense of urgency building within her. Urging herself even closer against his hand, Kat instinctively began rocking her hips back and forth.

Marcus brought his lips back up to hers and kissed her hungrily, the stubble along his jaw making Kat feel deliciously feminine. Suddenly, Marcus swore and tore his mouth from hers as the carriage door swung open. He quickly pulled her jacket across her breasts and pulled her off his lap, onto the seat next to him.

Kat hastily began to button the jacket, belatedly realizing the carriage was stationary and must have been for a minute or so. Oh, good lord, what had come over her! She’d lost control of herself. Swiftly, she pushed herself further away from Marcus, across onto the corner of the opposite seat. She finished doing up the buttons on her top, thankful the darkness of the night hid what had to be the absolute mortification currently adorning her face.

“Really, Cantfield, could it not have waited?” Marcus’s voice was abrupt.

“I did not wish to interrupt…” Cantfield’s normally amused voice sounded shocked as he looked from the darkened corner of the carriage where Kat now sat, back to Westwood. “But you were taking a rather long time in here, so I was wondering if something was amiss. I didn’t realize you were…um…occupied?”

Marcus threw back his head and laughed. “The dissolute bounder is shocked for once. I can’t believe it. How amusing.”

Cantfield screwed up his face. “You could have at least warned me you would need some privacy. Not like you’ve ever carried on like this before… And with a footman, too. Rather unexpected behavior for you, actually.”

Marcus laughed harder.

“Oh, for goodness sakes!” Kat declared as she leaned forward into the light shining into the carriage from the gas lamps lining the street. “I’m no footman, Lord Cantfield.”

A look of recognition swamped the man’s face. “Lady Kaitlyn. Well, that makes more sense. Uh, it is…um…so good to see you again. Why are you dressed as a footman?”

Kat was profoundly grateful that that was the topic he chose to ask about. She peeked her head out past Lord Cantfield and recognized they were indeed stopped in the laneway at the rear of her residence. “I have been assisting Lord Westwood, to ensure he did the job correctly.”

Behind her, Marcus scoffed, then he leaned over her. “Give us a minute, would you, old chap?” He reached across her and closed the carriage door in Cantfield’s face.

Kat sat back against the seat and regarded him steadily. The man appeared to be calm, except for the knowing expression lurking in those far too handsome eyes of his. The cad! Whereas she surely had the bright stain of mortification plastered across her cheeks over the fact that Cantfield had essentially caught them in a compromising position. Again. She was hoping the man would keep that fact to himself.

“He won’t tell anyone,” Marcus stated, almost as if he was reading her mind.

“I hope he does not, otherwise you can let him know he will regret doing so.” Etta was itching to have Cantfield listed in the Gazette, having taken an extreme disliking to the fellow after their dance the other evening. “What are we to do now?”

“I shall take the ledger to the War Office tomorrow and see if it can be decoded.” Marcus shrugged. “Hopefully, we will learn something relating to the Chameleon and not just the club itself.”

“Jerome Fullbrink should be the one to decipher it.” He was, after all, the only man fit for the task, as he could decipher it swiftly and accurately. It also helped that he was smitten with her, so he did tend to ensure work for her was done with extra speed and accuracy.

Marcus narrowed his eyes. “You know Fullbrink?”

Kat smiled. “Of course. He’s the best cryptologist in England and has helped me and Victor on many past occasions. An accommodating man. You could take lessons from him.”

“Accommodating?” Marcus raised a brow. “Falls all over himself trying to please you by saying yes all the time, does he?”

“Indeed, he does.” Kat shrugged. “Like I said, you could learn from him.”

“Please,” he scoffed. “The man is a ninny when it comes to women. But he is the best when it comes to cryptology, so yes, I shall get him to look at it.”

“Excellent! I will accompany you on the morrow, then,” Kat declared. “My presence will ensure the task is done with haste and eagerness.”

“No, you will not be accompanying me,” Marcus countered, crossing his arms across his chest.

“The same way you declared I couldn’t go to the club with you?” She arched an eyebrow. “That edict didn’t work too well, now did it?”

“Unauthorized personnel are not permitted in the War Office,” Marcus ground out, the patience sapping from his face like quicksand. Not that he’d had much to begin with, Kat imagined. She was doubtful that the Earl of Westwood was at all used to being disobeyed by anyone.

Kat grinned, relishing what his expression was about to change to. “Isn’t it fortunate then, that I already have the proper security clearances with full authorization to enter the building.”

“The devil you do…” Marcus all but roared. “Who would give you access?”

“Who do you think?” What was he trying to suggest? That she’d stolen access, or had tricked someone into giving it to her? “Sir William gave me authorization, of course.”

“But he can’t have given you that.” Marcus appeared baffled. “Only those working for the War Office can ent—” He stopped short, his eyes staring at her in accusation. “Bloody hell… You’re an agent for him, too?”

Kat raised her chin a few notches. “On occasion. Sir William at least appreciates my skills and does not care what my gender is. So, yes, I do take assignments from him.”

“What the devil was he thinking recruiting you?” He raked a hand through his hair. “You are an earl’s daughter, for goodness sakes. A lady. Not some bloody spy, as much as you may wish to be.”

A rage unlike any she’d known started to rise up through her. She’d had enough of everyone thinking she wasn’t capable of carrying on in Victor’s footsteps because she was a woman. “How dare you!” she growled at him, leaning forward in her seat and poking him in the chest with her finger. “After all you’ve seen me do, you still think I’m not capable? Are you narrow-minded? Or simply unable to see beyond the dictates of Society and your own limited concepts of what a woman can and can’t do?”

They sat there glowering at each other, their breathing heavy, neither prepared to give an inch.

“Your uncle was murdered, Kaitlyn,” Marcus said, his voice suddenly soft. “And he was one of the best trained men I’ve ever known, but the Chameleon still got to him. Anyone can be killed, no matter how skilled.”

“I know that, intimately,” she replied, matching his whisper with her own. “I was there when Victor was stabbed. I was the one trying to stem the blood gushing from his chest. I was the one who saw death take him from me.”

“Victor would not want the same fate for you.” Marcus’s face softened. “You meant everything to him.”

“You know nothing about what I meant to Victor.” Kat felt her heart constrict with the pain of knowing that if she had truly meant anything to him, he never would have lied to her for her entire life and he would have told her the truth, that she was his daughter. But Marcus had no idea of what Victor had done. She alone bore that burden and always would. “Victor has nothing to do with your unwillingness to accept that I am far more capable of hunting the Chameleon than anyone else.”

“Victor has everything to do with it!” Marcus grabbed ahold of her upper arms. “He was like a second father to me and I can’t in all good conscience allow the person he loved above everyone to place herself in danger, all in some quest for vengeance. I am duty bound to protect you.”

“What a load of nonsense. You men and your honor. You happily brandish it about when it suits you, and when it doesn’t, you pretend not to notice it.” Kat shook off his hands. “I’ve managed to survive well enough up until now without you to protect me. And you have no say in what I do or do not do in my life. No say whatsoever.”

His eyes shuttered. “Tell me this, what is it you intend to do when we find the Chameleon?”

Kat glanced beyond him to stare out the window. “I think you know perfectly well what I intend to do.” She’d known ever since Victor had died in front of her what she had to do. What she must do to avenge him and lay his ghost to rest. “I intend to kill the Chameleon. It will be an eye for an eye.”

Marcus was silent for a while. “You don’t know what it’s like to take a life. To have their blood on your hands.”

“Actually, I do.” Kat laughed without humor. “You see, the Chameleon will not be the first life I take, Marcus. My hands are already dirty with the blood of others. They have been for years.” She swiveled back to face him, her eyes holding his own. “I know exactly what it feels like.”

His body stiffened with the nearly imperceptible tightening of his jaw and the rigid brace of his shoulders. “Then you know that taking a life stays with you, always.”

“I do.” Memories of the small cabin on the ship she and Victor had commissioned in the South China sea brimmed to life in her mind’s eye, so vivid in texture and color, no matter how she’d tried to bury the memory over the years. “And I’m fully prepared to kill again when I find the Chameleon. What is it you intend to do when you find him? Have a tea party?”

“I intend to bring him to justice, and for him to be tried for his crimes.”

“Is justice truly all you intend to seek?” Kat asked. “The Chameleon murdered your wife and was partly responsible for framing your brother as a traitor. I would think if anyone intended to exact an eye for an eye, it would be you.”

“I know what he did.” Marcus was unflinching. “But I will not stoop to his level to have my revenge, and Victor would not want you to either.”

“Please, that’s exactly what Victor would have done himself if I had been the one killed instead of him.” Kat paused for a moment and then sighed. “This is a pointless conversation, Marcus. You can’t change who and what I am. And you can’t change what I intend to do. I can go to the War Office, with or without you, at any time. I had hoped we could work together. But if we can’t, then we had best part ways now.”

Marcus peered down at her for what seemed an eternity, before he appeared to come to some internal decision. “You are right, I cannot stop you.”

“So, we are to part ways then.” Kat couldn’t account for the sense of disappointment that surged through her.

“No. We shall work together and find the Chameleon.” He shook his head decisively. “In doing so, I shall accept all of your rather unusual talents for a female.”

“My, how generous of you.”

He merely raised a brow and continued, “We do need to trust each other, though, to work effectively together to catch him.”

She could appreciate the logic in that. “Very well.”

“I would have you promise me two things, though.”

“Two things? Asking rather a lot aren’t you?” she countered. “Well, what are they?”

“Firstly, I must have your word you will not lie to me. Ever. Elizabeth constantly lied to me, to the point I started questioning everyone’s truth. If I am to truly trust you, I need to have your word.”

“I am no liar. Marcus,” she said. “You have my word. And what is the second promise you seek from me?”

“Promise me that when we catch the Chameleon, you won’t kill him.”

“My whole purpose in finding the assassin is to avenge Victor.” How could she let the man behind Victor’s death live? She would never have closure knowing the assassin was still alive and could potentially escape at any time. “You ask something of me that I can’t give.”

“You must. I need to find out who the true traitor was that framed my brother and sold the government intelligence to the Russians. Information that only the Chameleon knows, as he was the one to broker the deal. Do you see why I need him alive?”

Unfortunately, she could, as much as she didn’t like the fact. “I want justice for Nathaniel, too. He was a good friend to me.”

“So, you agree then?”

“No.” She shook her head. “But I will promise not to kill the man until you obtain the information you need. Unless, of course, I have no other option. Will that suffice?”

Marcus nodded. “Very well. Perhaps, in the meantime, I can convince you that justice can be served without blood on your hands.”

“Blood is already on my hands.” She shrugged one shoulder. “Your efforts would be futile.”

A grim smile spread over his mouth. “I’m a stubborn man, Kaitlyn, and I intend to save you.”

“I don’t need saving from the Chameleon.”

“It’s not the Chameleon I intend to save you from.” His expression was fierce. “It’s yourself.”