...Romance Author...

The Devil Rogue ...

The Devil Rogue

Chapter One

ANGELA HAD PLAYED here as a child. She’d hidden from pretend monsters, feeling safe in the belief there were no such things as real monsters.

But right now her heart was pounding. Her legs were shaking. Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead, her temples, between her shoulder blades.

The air was stifling in the small attic room where she’d fled, where she now faced her attacker – a real life monster, as it were. The accumulation of the day’s summer heat made the air thick and hot and heavy in the uppermost floor of the mansion.

She only had seconds to live, unless by something akin to divine intervention prevented her from being murdered.

Blood oozed from a wound on her forearm where he had already cut her. It dripped in a slow, steady rhythm, hitting the wood floor like little splotches of red paint. Her bottom lip was split and swollen, the metallic taste in her mouth telling her that it, too, was bleeding. She swayed unsteadily on her feet, her right eye throbbing from the blow she’d received from his powerful fist.

She was determined not to show any weakness. It would only serve to enrage him further. He was a cruel and bitter man who believed females should be meek and subservient. But her pride was the one thing she could never hide from him. To her everlasting grief.

This was it. She was going to die and she was prepared to face it with courage. He was a full head taller than her and outweighed her by at least seven stone. She knew she was no match for him, but there was no going back. She had to hold her ground.

“You only had to do one simple thing, girl. Just this one thing. One night and all my troubles would be over, all my debts paid.”

“I’m not responsible for the payment of your debts,” she said. Her chest rose and fell as she gasped for breath in the heavy air. Her body tensed, ready for his attack.

“All you had to do was lay with him for one night.”

“I’ll not let you use my body for barter. I’m not for sale, nor shall I ever be.” His face turned scarlet with rage. His temper could not be reckoned with this time. Not like before, when she had always been able to reason with him. This time was different. This time he was desperate beyond all reason. She knew this because he usually made sure not to leave any visible marks.

“He holds all my markers. I’ll be ruined if he calls them in. But he’s agreed to pay them off for just one night with you. Please.” Suddenly he fell to his knees, dropping the knife. He covered his face with his hands and wept.

She’d never seen him cry before and the sight of it made her falter. She hated him with every fiber of her being, and yet his display of emotion tugged at her softer nature. It was that small weakness he always seemed able to exploit.

Perhaps there was a way to salvage the situation. She had no use for her virginity at the age of six and twenty and no dowry to speak of. Maybe there was a way she could use this bargain as a means of escape.

Apparently, she was for sale, for the right price.

“I’ll agree on one condition.”

He raised his head, his eyes hopeful. “What condition?”
“I want twenty thousand pounds beyond whatever your original agreement was.”

“Twenty thousand pounds!  He’ll never agree to it.”

“I agree to your terms,” said a deep voice from the stairwell. “But I have a condition of my own in exchange for such a large sum.”

How long had he been standing there?

“What is your condition?” she asked, staying in the shadows. She wasn’t sure how much he’d witnessed, but she didn’t want him to see her, bruised and bleeding. He might even rescind his offer if he were to get a good look at her face now.

“You are to live with me as my mistress for three months, beginning this very moment. Tomorrow, I’ll have my solicitors deposit the funds into an account in your name. Of course, it won’t be accessible until the end of the three month period.”

Now? “I have arrangements to make first. Surely, you understand that I just cannot walk out the door without packing.”

“It’s your decision,” the stranger said. “Make it now, or you get nothing.”

Live with him – for three months? But then what were a few months of her time compared to what she would gain in the end? It would mean she could be free to live her life as she wished. Who was this man? Obviously he was extremely wealthy, and for some reason she could not discern, he wanted her.

She had never met him, never even seen his face. In the darkness of the stairwell, he was large and imposing. His broad shoulders filled the space, the top of his head brushing the ceiling, even though he was standing several steps down.

Making her decision quickly, she said, “All right, I agree to your terms. If you would wait for me downstairs, I’ll join you shortly.”

“You have fifteen minutes.” He retreated back down the narrow steps as quietly as he’d appeared.

“My dear, I don’t know how to thank you. You’ve saved my life.”

“I didn’t do it for you. I did it for me, so I could be free of you at last.” She brushed past him with the last shred of dignity she possessed. Her arm throbbed and her head hurt. Her eye seemed to pulse with its own rhythm, and her bottom lip was sore, but she held herself erect with a new determination to forge her own destiny.

Fate had intervened, but rather than being divine, she felt more like she’d just made a deal with the devil.

“Then I suppose you have me to thank, girl,” he shot at her with a cruel twist of his lips.

She turned slowly to face him. “Goodbye, father – may you rot in hell.”

 

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