Taming the Wicked Wulfe (The Rogue Agents) by Tammy Jo Burns Page B

floor and walls.   The trinkets rattled on the tables
    “Come on,” she nodded in the direction of her room.   The twins raced each other and jumped onto the bed.   The dogs followed.   “Down,” she instructed, pointing to the floor as she shut the door.   Whining, the dogs jumped off the bed.   After some situating, they were tucked in for the night, Rebekah with a child on each side.   The storm continued on and just as she began to drift off, she yelped before realizing the dogs had jumped back up on the bed.   They each circled several times, before settling with a snuffle at her feet.   Deciding it was too much effort to force them to get down and stay down, she finally fell asleep.
    ***
    Thorn had a footman hail a hack for him as he changed clothes.   Anger still shimmered under the surface after his and Rebekah’s exchange.   He gave a sigh of relief when he pulled on a pair of fresh Hessians.   He picked up one of his old boots and fingered the leather.  
    “They’re ruined,” he announced to the room at large.   “Just like my life.”   He threw the Hessian he held in his hand against the door that connected his room to his wife’s, relishing the thud that sounded.   His wife .   The reality was still foreign to him.   If his brother were alive today, he would pummel him.   “What the bloody hell had he been thinking?” he spoke the words aloud, needing to hear them.   Teddy had known what he was involved in.   He stood and turned slowly, studying the room.   This room belongs to the Duke of Wulfcrest , he thought, which I am not, and never will be , he fervently hoped.
    As he left his room, he stopped a maid in the hall.   “Please have my clothes moved to another room first thing tomorrow.”
    “Are you not pleased with your room, sir?”
    “It’s not that.   It belongs to the Duke of Wulfcrest.   I am merely his uncle.”
    “I understand, sir.   Should I move Lady Wulfe’s as well?”
    “Yes,” he said, thinking of the words they had just exchanged.   He did not care if she was really there whenever he finally arrived home, but just the inconvenience would be satisfying.   “Make certain our things are placed in the same room.”
    “Yes, sir,” the young maid said, blushing, before turning away and moving down the hallway.
    He maneuvered down the staircase to be greeted at the door by the butler.  
    “Should someone stay up to await you, sir?” the older man asked while handing Thorn his gloves, hat, and cane.
    “No, Grigsby.   I have business to catch up on and don’t know when I shall be back.”
    “Of course, sir.”
    “Grigsby,” Thorn said as a thought occurred to him.
    “Yes, sir?”
    “See that the stable lads and the footmen rotate throughout the night.”
    “Expecting trouble, sir?”
    “I just don’t want to take any chances.”
    “I agree, sir.   The children are precious, aren’t they?”
    “Yes, they are.   Goodnight, Grigsby.”
    “Goodnight, sir.”
    A footman held open the door to the hack.   Wulfe climbed in, settled himself, and called out directions to the driver.   Once the footman shut the door, the hack lurched into motion.   Wulfe enjoyed the country, but it felt good to be back in London.   He wondered what Glandingham had done to the Lady Luck since he had been away.   He also wondered if Glandingham had been behind the cut spokes on the carriage.   The man was as slippery as an eel, but he had all the right connections.   He would just need to keep his eye on him and make certain the man did what they wanted and needed him to do.
    The hack stopped in front of the Lady Luck , and Thorn disembarked just as lightning lit up the sky and thunder filled it.   Raucous noise filtered through the door, greeting him as well.   With it being mid summer, London was teeming with people who were in town for the season.   He paid the driver and spun his cane as he proceeded to the door.   He walked into his gaming hell