Storm of Bells

26. Greymail

'Hm.' The corner of his mouth quirked. It was a cruel curve, like the tip of a scimitar, ready to strike. 'Do you really think I care?'

Good point.

He stepped towards me, and his hand slammed against the stone wall, right next to my head. I couldn't suppress the tiniest of flinches.

'Now listen here, Mister Linton, and listen closely. I have to admit, it took me a while to figure out the game you're playing, and when I did, well...' He laughed. 'I could hardly believe it at first. I mean, who could ever think that he'd be so easy to hoodwink?'

Huh?

What was he babbling about?

'For a mere girl to fool the mighty Rikkard Ambrose...' He shook his head, almost admiringly. 'For her to dupe him into marriage, while the entire time dressing up as a man and getting the job of his private secretary...'

Oh.

Oh my.

Did he think...

I just barely managed to keep a grin of my face. He did! He actually did!

'As I said, I don't know what your endgame is, Mister Linton. And, to be honest for a change, I don't really care. Do you want to steal from him? Do you get off on the thrill? Or were you just plotting to get him to the altar like any other breathing woman in England? I am not the slightest bit interested in what your goals are.' He leaned closer until his face was only inches away from mine. I could feel his breath on my face and was almost disappointed it wasn't a foul stench. 'I don't care, because your goals don't matter anymore. From now on, your goals are my goals.'

Oh, they are, are they?

I quirked an eyebrow. 'What exactly does that mean?'

I already had a pretty good idea. But if this truly was what I thought it was...

Once again, I had to suppress the insane urge to giggle.

'Very simple, Miss Linton.' His steely eyes bored into mine. 'From this moment onward, you are mine. From this moment onward, you will do exactly what I say, when I say it.'

'And if I don't?'

'Do I really have to spell it out for you? Dear me, you are more stupid than I believed.'

Ditto, Lord Dogleash.

'Very well.' His eyes flashed, and he smirked, as if he had just won a triumphant victory. 'You're in my power now. Unless you want me to tell Mr Rikkard Ambrose what his beloved fiancée gets up to in her spare time, you will be my eyes and ears from now on!'

You are in my power now? Dear me, he really was putting the melodrama on thick. Well...the least I could do was reciprocate.

'F-find out?' I did my very best to inject a healthy dose of terror into my voice. After all, I did have an Opera prima donna for a friend. She'd be really pissed off if I didn't deliver a good performance. Giving a dramatic sigh, I pressed a hand to my heart. 'You...you don't mean...you're blackmailing me?'

Or whitemailing? Greymailing? Mailing-that-used-to-be-black-but-faded-in-the-wash? What exactly did you call blackmail that didn't work?

Whatever the name for it was, I was loving it! I could hardly keep the grin from my face. 'You blaggard!' I proclaimed experimentally. 'You dastardly villain!'

His wicked smile widened. The stupid little female had finally gotten the hang of things, and now he was going to enjoy tearing her down.

But not nearly as much the stupid little girl was going to enjoy this.