Except for the mission that had won him this suffocating earldom, Luke had only ever worked with Redley. What Poppins was saying just did not make sense.
“I know of a way,” Luke replied slowly. “But I am not willing to expose Redley’s secrets without express permission from him, or—”
“The man is a traitor! And you’re going to lecture me about protecting his secrets! The man shot Martin!”
Luke took a threatening step forward. “That is my offer of assistance. If what you say is true, you will have my undoubted assistance. But forgive me for wanting verification of my own.”
Poppins glared. “And how do you suggest you do that?”
Luke thought quickly, working through his plan as swiftly as possible, though it was still half realized. “I need to settle Vivian first,” Luke stated. “I won’t drag her into this. Once I see to her safety, I will help you find Redley.”
Poppins’s anger subsided at the mention of the new Lady Kenswick. “Of course. I’d forgotten.” He laughed darkly. “Not the best moment to take a wife.”
“Indeed. Give me two hours. If I feel confident what you are saying bears some truth, we will leave from here at that time.”
* * *
Vivian stared at the bare wooden flooring, wondering if one could wear a path in the floorboards with a mere fifteen minutes worth of pacing.
She had not wanted to leave Luke to ferret out whatever information Poppins had come with, but something in Poppins’s demeanor had told her it was best to leave it alone. Luke had warned there would be things she did not need to know. She might as well get used to it.
The sounds of the front door closing echoed up to the master bedchamber they’d set up earlier in the day, the one room that conveniently contained a bed.
Or perhaps not, Vivian thought. If something had happened to Redley, Luke would want to act as soon as possible.
He came into the room just then, barely glancing at her as he passed.
“Luke, what has happened?”
He flipped open his trunk and dug through its contents. “I have an errand to run and you cannot accompany me.”
“Was Poppins truthful? Has Redley gone missing?”
“It would seem so.”
Vivian’s brows pinched together. Was that all he had to say about such a revelation? His friend was missing, and all she warranted was a vague explanation?
In fact, yes, that was all he owed her. She’d given him six months and he was to give her a house. Nothing more, though it sometimes felt like there could be more. Clearly that was not the case.
“Give me an hour, Vivian.” He flipped the buttons of his evening jacket and struggled to remove it. Vivian moved to him to offer assistance, tugging on one sleeve while he pulled his arm out, and then the other. He pulled off his waistcoat as well, tugging on a thick black knit sweater. It was a striking contrast to the evening attire he’d worn minutes before, but wherever he was going, he was very well camouflaged against the London night.
“Quan will stay at the house with you, as will the Suttons. When I return, I suspect we will have another errand. Be prepared to leave quickly. You should change your gown into something less formal. And pack your trunk and another smaller valise, with a change of clothing, something to sleep in, and overnight essentials. We may be traveling soon.”
Vivian watching as he checked his pistol and settled it into the holster at his side, under his cloak. “Your behavior is most peculiar.”
“Stay here, Vivian. Do not open this door for anyone but myself.”
“Shall we have a countersign?” she asked teasingly but was startled when Luke nodded.
“Good idea. If someone mentions a pineapple, that will let you know it is safe to open the door.”
“This is insanity.”
“I know, and I am sorry.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
Her query caught his attention. Blinking away his confusion, he glanced up from his position crouched on the floor and his gaze found hers. He seemed surprised, almost, as if he hadn’t expected her to say anything at all.
He rose to his feet, crossed the room in three steps and pressed his lips to hers in a kiss that held the passion she had come to expect, but she felt something… else, just under the surface of his polished façade. Desperation ran through him, a panic almost.
“I am sorry our evening has been waylaid.” His gaze darted between hers, studying her. “I would like nothing more than to close myself up with you in this room and not leave for a week. You deserve better, and I am sorry for this.”
“I hope Lord Longfield is safe,” she said softly, knowing the man was important to her new husband. “Whatever this is, it seems more important than a wedding night. Those we can have plenty of, but Lord Longfield’s safety takes a priority.”
His lips twitched to his lopsided grin. “Your practicality astounds me.”
She laughed. “Yes, well, I will need some explanation. But I can wait.”
He bent to his trunk again, stretching his hands down to the depths of his trunk before pulling out a book. It was wrapped in a cream cloth, but as he tucked it beneath his cloak, she saw the title.
“Now this is going to sound exceptionally strange,” he warned as he stood. “In the event someone is watching the house, when I leave in a few moments, I need our parting to appear to carry a terrible weight, that we are so deeply in love that there is no doubt I would return for you.”
Vivian nodded, forcing the confusion from her eyes.
He kissed her again briefly before releasing her and moving about the room again. “If I say something that feels like I am putting on an act, respond in kind. If it doesn’t make sense, or contradicts something, just keep it to yourself. No matter what, unless we are completely alone, everything must appear normal. Nothing can seem out of the ordinary. Do you understand?”
She nodded, though really none of what he was saying made any sense. All she truly grasped was that Redley was missing and Luke must find him. The rest was simply riddles, but Vivian was curious enough to go along with whatever he said. “I’ve never lied to you, Vivian, but sometimes I cannot be one hundred percent truthful.”
“Off with you, then. Don’t leave me here too long.”
Without further word he was gone from the room, and Vivian followed.
Once downstairs, she stopped just inside the doorway. Despite the oncoming summer, the spring night still held a chill, and she wrapped her arms around herself. Luke spoke to Quan before the quartermaster disappeared around the side of the house as Luke turned to where she waited on the front step.
“It’s just for a few hours,” he said, though his statement came out of nowhere. “I need to attend to this matter.”
“I understand,” she replied, trying to respond as he might expect her to.
He pressed a soft kiss to her lips, despite them standing outside on the front step. The night was young, and the street was empty, but it still felt illicit to have him kiss her in public view.
“You will be safe here until this is over. I love you, Vivian. Do you understand?”
Even though she understood it to be an act, it was still jarring to hear him utter such words. For half a second, she thought they might be real. But as with everything else— their Wells Cathedral wedding, their marriage—it was all an act.
“I understand, Luke,” she said, cupping his cheek with her gloved hand. “And I love you too.”
His face reflected nothing of the turmoil she felt inside, and he nodded before disappearing into the darkness.
Vivian did not move for a long moment, her mind reeling from the sideways turn their evening had taken.
“Mr. Sutton,” she said, turning in the doorway and closing the door behind her. “If Mrs. Sutton is awake, I would appreciate her assistance getting out of this gown. And it seems I should be packed, though for how long or to where, I’ve no idea.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Viv
ian paused on the first step. “I say, is he always like this?”
“Beg your pardon?”
“What I mean is, is he always this transient?”
Mr. Sutton thought for a moment before answering. “Mrs. Sutton and I have been here in this house since his lordship purchased it nearly eleven months ago. It didn’t come entailed with his new earldom. In eleven months, we’ve had him here less than thirty days, and never more than two nights in a row.”
“Goodness. That sounds exhausting.”
“If I may speak freely, my lady?”
Vivian nodded and he continued. “That boy is running from something, but what demons chase him, he would never admit to such a thing. His family adores him, but he avoids them when he can get away with it. His only friends to call are Longfield and Quan. He needs someone to ground him, to pull him back when the walls of this house, and his new life, begin to make him twitch.”
“Do you think he could ever settle and leave his life with the Foreign Office behind?”
“Perhaps, with the right influence.”
Vivian’s lips pursed. “I am not certain I can be that influence, Mr. Sutton. I barely know him. We might want different things, different lives in six months’ time.”
Mr. Sutton nodded thoughtfully. “Then the best we can do for him is to give him room to find his footing, and be here when he falls. Mark my words, my lady, that boy will fall.”
* * *
Luke escaped Bradstone House out the back entrance the servants used. Staying in the shadows, he crept along the stone walls of the alley until he was out of sight of his recently purchased home.
Quan waited for him at the corner.
“Vivian is as settled as she can be,” Luke told him as he approached. “I will need a trunk packed, though I don’t think it was ever unpacked from our journey here.”
Quan’s arms crossed over his chest. “Are you sure getting involved is wise, sir?”
“Probably not, but what can I do?” Luke sighed and shook his head. “I cannot believe these accusations. If Redley is innocent, I’m the only one who will believe him. And if he’s guilty, I’m the only one who can find him.”
“And Lady Kenswick?”
“She’s not in any danger, not yet anyway.”
“She will be safer if you tell her the truth.”
“Doubtful she’d believe me. She thinks me a spoiled buffoon.”
Quan smirked. “You are a spoiled buffoon.”
“Something about it doesn’t sit right. For all his faults, Redley was loyal to his country. Whatever he is involved with, I cannot imagine he would not involve me. I need to find him.”
Quan eyed him thoughtfully. “It seems inevitable your past would catch up with you.”
“It is not as though I left the Continent with a string of enemies,” Luke argued. “The war has ended; the danger was supposed to be over.”
“England will always have enemies.”
“Which is why I need to convince the Prince Regent to change his mind. Redley missing disrupts everything.”
“It is not too late to change your own mind,” Quan stated, shifting his weight. “Once Lord Longfield is found, you can choose to remain out of the game.”
“Are you saying you’re done with this life? No more back alley conversations and sneaking around in the shadows?”
Quan regarded him shrewdly. “I am saying the Prince Regent might have had it right. You’ve been at this for nearly ten years, since before I saved you from that dungeon in Hong Kong.”
Luke laughed. “You saved me? I think the saving was mutual, my friend. And it was hardly a dungeon.”
“You laugh, but you understand my meaning.”
Luke sighed. He did know what Quan was trying to get him to accept. That there was life worth living outside of the shadows. Luke just didn’t think he could do it.
“Watch over Vivian, please? She knows about the pineapples, should the need arise, but I don’t want her involved in this.” He pulled a wrapped bundle from inside his cloak and handed it to Quan. “And this too.”
Quan tucked it into his coat pocket. “Be careful.” With a nod, he turned and faded into the darkness.
Leaving Vivian here was the best thing Luke could come up with. He didn’t want her at Norah’s, did not want to place his sister’s family in any sort of danger. Assuming there was a danger to worry about, but Luke always assumed there was a danger. It had kept him alive this far.
Never was anything great achieved without danger, Templar would have told him.
Luke would have reminded his mentor it was not necessarily a healthy way to lead one’s life. Assuming danger around every corner. Anticipating betrayal, and yet still managing to feel blindsided.
Luke refused to believe the accusations against Redley. His cousin may have despised his parents, but his country? England was the only thing Redley cared about. Being a spy had given him an outlet for the years of frustrations, a means to escape his own life. Much as it had Luke.
Two streets away from where his house sat in Leicester Square, Luke hurried down the walkway, careful to avoid any streets where members of the ton would be enjoying their evening entertainments. He did not want to encounter anyone who might question his activities. Normally he kept his life of espionage separate from his life in London. He’d never taken a case in London or involving the ton overseas, careful to maintain the distance between his two worlds. Better to keep his family safe from any enemy he might encounter or create in the process of his work. And his methods had been successful thus far; the only time he’d bent his own rules was nearly a year earlier, when Trevor had contacted him requesting help.
Trevor’s favor turned out to be Norah’s favor, and Luke had accepted, never one to say no to anything his sister wanted. That favor had resulted in the capture of a member of the government attempting to sell secrets to the French, and apprehending him had awarded Luke an earldom. And yet, the real work had been done by his sister. He’d merely posed as a French spy and transported the traitor from Brussels to London. The Prince Regent had felt that warranted an earldom and an unwanted retirement.
Luke turned up the Mall, discreetly watching the reflections in the glass of the shop windows for anyone who might be following him. He assumed Poppins would follow, if only to ensure Luke kept his word. Poppins might be convinced Redley had turned, but Luke needed proof.
He found the establishment where he’d rented rooms for about as long as he’d worked for the government in secret. If Redley had sent him anything, it would be here.
The door opened before him as he came up the hotel steps, the butler nodding to him as he passed. He didn’t pass anyone else as he made his way to his rooms near the back of the establishment, close to the back of property. Fishing the key from his pocket, he quickly let himself inside.
The front room was exactly as he’d left it, which was curious. He’d have thought Poppins would have tossed the room as he looked for information. Perhaps Poppins didn’t know about the room. Or perhaps he didn’t want Luke to think he knew about it, leading Luke to think he was in the clear.
Luke was suspicious by nature. Being a spy did not help clear away those worries, it only enhanced them.
Redley wouldn’t have left anything out in the open, in the event Poppins had known to come here. A quick search of the sitting room and bed chamber came up empty, and Luke grew frustrated.
There was a knock at the door. Turning, Luke placed his hand on the butt of his pistol tucked into the holster at his side.
“Lord Luke?” came a woman’s voice, though Luke did not recognize it.
Luke opened the door a few inches to see a maid standing on the other side; he recognized her face but did not recall her name.
“Yes?”
She offered him a letter. “Your friend brought this by for you.”
He watched her carefully. “He was here?”
“Scarcely three hours ago. He told me to watch for you an
d if you arrived alone, I was to give it to you, and only you.”
“Is that all he said?” Luke asked. He needed more before he believed her.
Her brows pinched together. “It doesn’t make any sense, but he said to inform you that he’d gone out to purchase a pineapple, and you should not wait for him.”
“Did he say those words out loud, or write them down?”
“Oh, he wrote them in a little notebook, and took it with him. But my ma’ taught me to read. I understood his words just fine.”
Luke smirked. Pineapple was their countersign, to prove their message true when sent through a third party.
He took the envelope she offered him. “Has anyone else asked about any of this?”
She shook her head. “Not that I saw.”
Luke nodded thoughtfully. “Did he compensate you for your assistance?”
Blushing, she nodded and looked down. It wasn’t difficult to guess in what ways Redley had compensated her. Redley might not speak a word, but that never hindered him where women were concerned.
“Thank you. Tell no one about any of this.” He offered her a few coins which she accepted with a nod before disappearing down the hall.
Luke clicked the door shut, flipping the bolt so he could have a moment to concentrate on Redley’s message.
The parchment was sealed with Redley’s seal from his signet ring, but as he looked closer, Luke realized the seal was inverted. Either he’d been in a hurry, or Redley had done it on purpose.
Sliding his finger between the paper and the wax, he quickly unfolded the paper to reveal a separate, smaller paper inside, blank save for a small set of ink drops on the top edge of the paper, and a message scrawled in black ink:
Luke,
I am a traitor.
I cannot accept this nefarious tyranny evermore. Remain in bereavement, mon ami, for my unsettled reservations are of yesterday.
The Spy’s Convenient Bride: The Macalisters, Book Five Page 13