Read I Kissed a Rogue (Covent Garden Cubs) for Free Online Page B

and women like the dowager countess, nothing trumped proper etiquette.
    “I’ll go to Bow Street and return with more information,” Brook said. “In the meantime, Lady Lillian-Anne needs rest. There’s time yet to discuss removing to the country.”
    “If you think that’s even a consideration, you don’t know the duchess,” the duke said with a wry smile.
    He didn’t know the Duchess of Lennox, Brook thought as he followed the butler to the front door. But he had met her young daughter. The girl had obviously been petted and spoiled. One word to the duchess that her daughter might be in jeopardy, and she would leave soon enough.
    But would that be enough to save Lila?
    * * *
    Lila woke in the middle of the night. She’d been dreaming of the cellar, of fighting and clawing her way out, of the darkness closing in and burying her underneath it. And then the dirt had turned to blood. Blood gushed over her like it had from the gentleman’s throat.
    She sat with a quick intake of breath and put a hand over her pounding heart.
    In the seat beside the bed, her lady’s maid, Lizzy, snored quietly. She was probably supposed to be keeping vigil, but Lila was glad she slept. She did not want reports of nightmares reaching her father. He frowned upon any sign of weakness, any sign of imperfection. Already she was such a disappointment to him. At five and twenty, she should have been married and a mother. Yet, here she was, still unclaimed.
    She was a duke’s daughter and therefore not subject to the same rules as other women. But even a duke’s daughter received raised eyebrows when she was unmarried past five and twenty. Her father had made it clear the upcoming Season was the one. She must marry and marry well.
    Prospective grooms—most of them old and titled—had been listed, plans made, new gowns for every occasion ordered. Only the most fashionable and most expensive fabrics for the eldest daughter of the Duke of Lennox. Thousands of pounds had been spent and thousands more would be spent still.
    She could not let her family down.
    The abduction had put a wrinkle in the plans. People had seen her where she oughtn’t have been, unchaperoned, and with a man who was not her blood relative. Lila did not worry that Brook might wag his tongue. If nothing else, Brook was a gentleman. He’d proved that years ago when he’d stayed silent, despite her abominable behavior toward him.
    But what about the man who’d taken her out of the cellar? What about the jarvey? Those prostitutes? Did they know who she was? Would they sell their stories to the press?
    Oh, wouldn’t the ton love a bit of malicious gossip about Lady Lila? She’d made her enemies among the upper ten thousand, right from her come out. She’d angered the women by stealing their beaux and demanding fealty from those gentlemen who courted her. They were to dance with no one else, call on no other young lady. Some of the older gentlemen scoffed at her little games, but she publicly snubbed them when they came to call. When she could stir up rumors, she always did, relishing in the power to damage a reputation with a mere hint of scandal. She had not been loved, but she’d been universally feared.
    Now she was the one who feared scandal.
    Lila took a deep breath and rose from her warm bed. The clock on the mantel told her it was still before midnight. She felt as though she’d slept a day and a night. Her body ached with weariness. She should have slept more, but she did not want the nightmare returning.
    Perhaps a quick walk to the kitchens for a cake or a piece of toast and tea might clear her head. She’d eaten soup and bread for dinner, but she was hungry again.
    Lila donned her wrap and pushed her feet into slippers, then, taking a candle and its holder, quietly opened her door. Lizzy didn’t wake, and Lila padded along the carpeted hallway until she reached the stairs. The house was quiet. Her father and mother had not gone out. They’d probably