The Devil Rogue

The

Devil Rogue

LORI VILLARREAL

This book is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, p
laces, and
incidents
in this story are purely fictional. Any resemblance to actual
events or locales or
persons, living or dead, is
entirely
coincidental.

THE DEVIL ROGUE

©
2011
by Lori Villarreal

All ri
ghts reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever
.

Cover design by Lori Villarreal

www.
lorivillarreal
.com

TITLES BY LORI VILLARREAL

Whispers in Time

Kissing Mr. Bellamy

Twelfth Moon, Legend of the Pantera

5

Villarreal / The Devil Rogue
                                     

Chapter 1

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

But right now h
er heart was pounding
.
H
er legs were shaking
.
B
eads of sweat trickled down her forehead, her temples, between her shoulder blades.

The air
was stifling in the small attic room where
s
he
’
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 dete
rmined not to show any weakness
. I
t
would only serve to enrage him further
.
He
was a cruel and bitter man who
believed females should be meek and subservient
.
But h
er pride was the one thing she could never hide from him
. T
o her everla
sting 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
. S
he 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
. N
ot 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 h
e
’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 th
e
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 rai
sed 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 a
s my mistress for three months, beginning this very moment
.
Tomorrow, I’ll have my solicitors deposit the funds in
to
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 wa
lk 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
?
I
t
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
.
”
S
he brush
ed
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 t
urn
ed
slowly to face him
.
“Goodbye, father
–
may you rot in hell.”