“So what can you tell me?” Emily asked.
“There isn’t much to tell. Lucas and I have investigated several options when it comes to who could be attacking the spies. We’ve mostly reviewed the evidence and tonight we were at Sansbury’s ball. Apparently he is a suspect in the attacks.”
Emily wrinkled her brow. “Sansbury? He might be a bit of a lecher, but I don’t see him as a traitor. His loose tongue alone would do him in.”
Ana nodded. The man certainly did have that, as she had learned from bitter experience.
“That was my thought, as well. But Lucas had the information from his friend within the War Department, Henry Bowerly.”
“The Marquis of Cliffield?” Emily peered up at the ceiling.
“Yes. Did you ever meet him? They’re old friends.”
Ana thought of her first impression of Cliffield in his wheelchair. And the way he had refused to consider her thought that the attacks were linked somehow.
“No. But Tyler and I didn’t meet more than a few times before I was hurt.” Emily sighed. “Cliffield was injured, was he not?”
“Yes. In one of the first attacks on the spies.” Ana sighed. “He is in a wheelchair. It bothers Lucas.”
Emily’s eyes narrowed. “I thought I heard you say that a moment ago, but now I’m certain. Did you just call Mr. Tyler Lucas?”
Ana stopped herself from babbling. Had she called him by his given name? Dear Lord, she had.
“I—”
Emily pursed her lips. “It took you two years to stop referring to Charlie as Mr. Isley! And I thought you didn’t want to work with Tyler, so why do you care if the injury to his friend causes him pain?”
Ana sucked in her breath. Why had she said that? It didn’t matter in the scope of the case. Not only did it reveal too much about how close she’d grown to Lucas, but it betrayed him, as well. She shouldn’t have shared her thoughts on the subject.
“I—I don’t care, of course,” she lied. “It was merely an observation.”
Emily looked less than convinced, but she shook her head. “So what does Cliffield believe, if he is involved in this case?”
Ana shrugged, trying to cover her earlier slip by being detached now. Unlike Emily or Meredith or Lucas, she wasn’t practiced enough at covering her emotions to believe she was successful.
“It was strange. Lucas and I were discussing the possibility of common elements in the incidents. Of finding links and letting those links lead us back to the source of the assaults.”
Emily nodded. “A very good idea.”
“But Henry dismissed that. He said he had already investigated that possibility and it was a dead lead.” She thought of Lucas’s reaction. “Lucas was surprised. He wasn’t aware Henry was doing any private investigation. It seemed odd to me that Henry wouldn’t share such vital information with the spy actually assigned to the case, even if this case is personal to him because of his injuries.”
Emily nodded. “That is strange. Those War Department spies are so stuck on protocol. Not Tyler, necessarily.” Emily rolled her eyes. “He flouts the rules. But generally those who work in the home office have the ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’ pounded into them daily. For Cliffield to neglect to mention such an important fact isn’t ordinary. Do you intend to pursue that?”
Ana started. She hadn’t even considered investigating Henry further, despite her surprise over his reaction. He was a member of the War Department. He was Lucas’s friend.
“I—But how would I do such a thing?”
Emily smiled. “You know how, Ana. You’ve been doing it for years. Have Meredith do some background checking on the man. Now that she is in Town, I’m sure she’d be happy to help. And ask Lucas. Subtly, of course. Talk to Henry. Press the issue.”
“Do you really suspect he’s involved in wrongdoing?” Ana asked, thinking of the empty sadness in Lucas’s eyes when he looked at his fallen friend.
Emily began to shrug, but stopped herself with a grimace. “I doubt it. It’s probably just as he says. A dead lead he followed for his own purposes. Nothing more than a break in protocol between friends. But still…if it’s out of the ordinary, it warrants some research.”
“I suppose.” Ana got to her feet and moved to the window across the room. From her position on the bed, she doubted Emily could see her face. That made Ana feel a little safer from her seeing stare and knowing questions. “Lucas would be angry if he knew I was questioning his friend’s motives. He would be…hurt, I think.”
“Again, I must ask, do you care?” Emily asked and Ana heard the incredulous tone of her voice.
She pondered that. Yes. Sadly, she did care. She’d seen a torn and tattered part of Lucas’s soul the first afternoon she met Henry. He hadn’t meant to share it, perhaps, but his intentions didn’t change the outcome. And the worst of it was that she understood his pain. She had felt it herself. She did not wish to cause him more of that pain if he found out she was pursuing an inquiry into Henry’s motives.
And she shuddered to think of what he would feel if, by some strange chance, Henry really was involved in some kind of wrongdoing.
“Ana?” Emily craned her neck, trying to see her. “Has something else happened?” She hesitated just long enough that Emily’s tone changed. “It has! What has happened?”
She considered the question. Soon enough, Emily would hear about the kiss, either from a gossip sheet or from Meredith, but she just wasn’t ready to face her friend’s comments…her potential censure, yet.
“I—” she began, avoiding Emily’s searching eyes.
“Anastasia!”
Moving back to the bed, Ana forced a bland smile. “It’s very late and if I’m to get Meredith on the case, I’ll need to send a message to her early tomorrow. I had best be on my way to bed and you need your rest, as well.”
Emily glared at her, unable to get up to pursue her questions. They both knew it. “Fine. But don’t think I’ll forget that this conversation was left unfinished. At some point, I won’t be confined to this bed and then you won’t be able to avoid me.”
With a laugh, Ana came to her friend to press a kiss against her forehead. “I never wanted to. Good night.”
With Emily’s muttered curses echoing in her ears, Ana walked into the hallway and shut the chamber door behind her. But her bravado and good nature faded the moment she was alone. Emily was right. The questions she had asked, the points she had made, they were all good ones.
Ones Ana would have to answer. Especially if she intended to go behind Lucas’s back and do a little investigating of her own.
Lucas strummed his fingers along the top of his desk, pouring all his nervous energy into the rapid tap-tapping. It didn’t help. He still felt uneasy, restless.
And he still saw Anastasia Whittig’s face instead of the notes he was supposed to be encoding.
“Damn it!” he growled, tossing his pen aside. It splashed a jagged line of ink along the parchment, but he didn’t care. Since last night, he hadn’t cared about much but remembering the kiss he’d sworn was just a cover for Sansbury’s benefit.
It wasn’t. That was becoming clearer every time he remembered the way Ana’s eyes had fluttered shut just before his mouth met hers. The way her body trembled and then her mouth moved with such sweet passion. He had felt her melt. That was real, pure, not some act for Sansbury.
And if he really looked hard at his own reaction, it hadn’t been part of an act for him, either. He burned from her touch. And if there hadn’t been the matter of their case and the interruption between them, he would have taken that simple kiss much further.
That was a very dangerous and equally foolish desire when it was clear she wanted nothing more than to be a pious widow for the rest of her days.
The door to his study opened slightly and his butler stood in the entryway. “Lord Cliffield to see you, sir.”
Lucas sighed. That was probably best. He wasn’t getting any work done, and perhaps Cliffield had something to share
about the case from other agents in the field.
“Very good. Send him in.”
As his servant left to fetch Henry, Lucas took a moment to compose himself. Last night there had been murmurings…very well, rumblings about the kiss between Ana and him, but that didn’t mean the news had spread past the ball. Or at least, he had faint hopes that it hadn’t.
Very, very faint.
“You look troubled.”
Lucas looked up as Henry was wheeled into the room. He waved his servant away. Once the man had shut the door behind him, Henry pushed himself forward.
Lucas turned away from Henry’s focused stare, from the ever-present reminder of how he’d failed the best friend he’d ever had. Lucas couldn’t hide facts from Henry when he looked right at him.
“Not troubled,” he reassured him. “Simply tired. And frustrated that this investigation is not progressing. I should have discovered the truth by now!”
He slammed a palm down on the desk top.
“Are you certain that is the only cause for your frustration?” Henry asked.
Lucas turned around to find his friend staring at him, arms folded. He met his gaze evenly, and Lucas thought he saw the barest flicker of anger in his eyes.
“Yes, of course. This case has been the most important thing in my life for nearly a year, Henry.”
“Well, I heard there might be another distraction.” Henry cocked his head. “There were rumors about a kiss.”
“Damn it.”
Lucas pursed his lips. It had been folly to believe that the sensational gossip at the ball could be contained. Clearly that was not to be. Which meant his attempts to cover up one mistake in this investigation had only caused a deeper, more pressing problem. The case could only be hindered by focused attention.
“Did you plan to keep this from me?” Henry asked.
Lucas arched an eyebrow at his tone. “I had hoped to keep it utterly quiet!”
His friend’s face twitched with annoyance, and immediately Lucas felt himself go on the defensive. It wasn’t as if he was the only one with secrets! What about Henry’s covert investigation behind his back? What about his unnamed resource that said Lord Sansbury was involved in the attacks on the spies even though Lucas had no intelligence that pointed in that direction?
Henry sighed and Lucas looked at him. His best friend. Confined to that wheelchair for the rest of his life. Blast! Why was he even considering those things? Damn Ana for creating questions in his mind.
He softened his tone. “Kissing Anastasia was only a way to keep our cover when Sansbury came upon us in his study,” he admitted quietly, even though the voice in his head taunted him with what a liar he was. He stifled it with violence. “But now that action will only hinder my case.”
“It’s the talk of the town,” Henry said with a nod.
Lucas raked a hand through his hair. “This is exactly why I resisted this partnership! Something like this never would have occurred if I were alone or even with a male partner!”
Henry laughed. “Well, I should hope not.”
Lucas tried to glare even as a grin tilted his lips.
Henry’s own smile fell and he stroked his chin. “However, it doesn’t necessarily follow that your investigation must be hindered. You could turn this to your advantage.”
Lucas hesitated. That idea had crossed his mind, as well. After all, the gossip about the kiss with Ana had not been malicious or cruel. In fact, Society seemed enamored with the idea that the two of them were falling in love after all her years of mourning and all his attempts to dodge the marriage mart. He had his own ideas about how he could take advantage of the situation.
Of course, they also involved taking full advantage of the desire that had sparked into a wildfire with Ana last night. And he wasn’t sure if that was the best idea considering how powerfully he reacted to his timid little widow.
Still, it couldn’t hurt to hear Henry’s thoughts on the subject. He took a seat at his desk and folded his hands. “How do you propose I do that, Henry?”
His best friend smiled in the same way he always had when the two of them were boys and Henry was about to lead him into all kinds of trouble. And Lucas had a sinking feeling his friend was poised to lead him into even more.
Chapter 9
“C oncentrate,” Ana ordered herself through clenched teeth. “You can do this. You’ve done it a thousand times before.”
She stared at the encoded piece, but the words and symbols swam before her eyes, and she couldn’t find the concentration to make out the very simple code. Finally, she pushed the paper aside with a curse.
Emily was right. Swearing did make her feel better. But the relief was fleeting. The moment she stopped pretending to work, her mind returned to the subject she’d been pondering and dreaming of and tormented by for two days.
Lucas. Lucas’s dimples. Lucas’s lips. Oh, and of course, Lucas’s kiss. Her greatest hope had been that a few days away from his company would make her come back to her senses. But instead of making the strange ache she felt when she recalled the kiss go away, the distance she’d put between them had only served to sharpen the longing, the desire that woke her from restless dreams. And she found herself reliving that kiss more, not less.
She covered her eyes with a groan of frustration. “What the hell do I do now?”
There was nothing to do, was there? Except try to fight the desire that seemed to swirl within her.
The sharp rap of a knock at the door above her rattled her from her troubling thoughts and the equally troubling roads they led her down. It was a relief to be interrupted from both.
“What is it?” she called out.
The door opened and a footman appeared at the top of the stairs. “I’m sorry to disturb you, my lady, but you have a visitor.”
She wrinkled her brow. “Who is it?”
Meredith would have just come below stairs without announcement, and she didn’t expect Charlie until tomorrow. Her servants had been given strict orders that the men who were suddenly leaving cards at her doors were to be told she was not in residence. So that only left—
“Mr. Lucas Tyler, my lady.”
Ana’s heart fluttered wildly as she stared up at the benign face of the servant who had no idea what turmoil that announcement put her in.
Still, some of her unrest must have been reflected in her face, for he cocked his head and asked, “Should I tell him you are not in residence at present?”
That was a tempting thought, but she doubted Lucas would believe her footman. Aside from which, she had been avoiding the inevitable for too long. There was their case to be considered. She had to work on that for Emily’s sake. If she could only rein in her reactions to Lucas, she might even be able to garner a bit more information on Henry Bowerly.
“Tell Mr. Tyler that I will be up to meet with him momentarily.”
“Very good. He is waiting for you in the East Parlor.” With that, the young man bowed away and left her alone.
Ana slowly smoothed her dress. In the wavy reflection of a mirror on her work space, she made sure she didn’t have any ink on her face and removed her spectacles. But then she couldn’t find any other little chores to keep her from going upstairs, so she trudged up to the main house and down the hall.
She had to be calm. Lucas would be. Certainly he hadn’t been pondering that little kiss. He hadn’t seemed at all affected after it happened. There was no use showing how shaken it had left her.
She paused at the sitting room door, took a deep breath, and walked inside with a smile. “Good morning, Mr. Tyler.”
He was sitting in the green settee by the fire and he seemed to dwarf the feminine piece. It was a slow, sensual unfolding of muscle and sinew as he shoved to his feet. She thought she saw a flash of something in his gray eyes, but then it was gone and he was cool and calm. Just as she had expected.
“Good morning,” he said, his voice gruff. “How is Lady Allington?”
She sm
iled despite her nervousness. “Improving a small bit every day. The doctor says she is out of danger from the initial injury, though the risk of infection is always hovering. But we have every hope she will make a full recovery in time.”
“Very good.” He nodded once, shifting his weight from foot to foot as if he was nervous. Her eyes narrowed. She hadn’t seen him like this before. Like he wanted to say something, but was trying to find the words.
What if her actions had given Charlie no choice and now Lucas was going to ban her from the case?
He cleared his throat and her heart sank. “Certainly you know that word of our kiss has become public?”
Heat rushed to her cheeks, but Ana forced herself to stand in place and continue looking at him evenly. This was no time to wilt away. She was beginning to learn that.
“Yes. It was the talk of the ball and I saw mention of it several times in the various gossip sheets.” She sighed. “I did my best to follow your order that night and not react—”
He raised a hand to stop her from speaking. “None of your actions caused this, Anastasia.”
She stopped, surprised by the kindness in his voice and the strange expression on his face as he tilted his head and looked at her. Long and appraising.
Now her urge to turn away was doubled by the emotions beginning to stir in her chest. “I suppose all we can do is minimize the effect. It will make our investigation all the harder, but I’m sure we can work something out.” She shrugged. “Perhaps you can attend one event while I make an appearance at another.”
He shut his eyes with a quiet sigh. “Do you really believe separating will stop the talk?” Before she could answer, he continued, “It won’t.”
She bit her lip. He was right. And if he had come here to tell her she’d been removed from the case, that was probably for the best, too. But how it stung! She hadn’t wanted this, but now the idea of giving up the investigation tore at her.
“So, is this over?” she whispered, fighting the tears that were starting to sting her eyes. The tears he surely saw. “Have I failed?”
Lucas took three long steps toward her and caught her hand. She wasn’t wearing gloves because she’d been doing work in her cellar, so his rough fingers touched her own with no impediment. Instantly, her body melted the same way it had the night he kissed her. The ache of need started in her bloodstream and settled between her legs where it began to pulse in a most shocking way. Every limb felt heavy, useless, and she couldn’t help but lick her lips as she stared into Lucas’s eyes.
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