Page 30 of His Wife, the Spy
“By God, I’m glad to see you.” His smile faded as she turned a stern glare his way. “What?”
“You’ve talked me into doing a lot of foolish things in our lives, but you’ve never asked me to be cruel.”
“Not you, too.” Jasper pushed his hand back through his hair. “Fiona, you don’t understand.”
“I understand that you encouraged me to make friends with Annabel. You let me believe you might be interested in her, so I would share what she said.” Her eyes flashed as she advanced on him. “And then you used that information to torment her and make her a target for every harpy you invited to your house because you thought it would be fun to watch them scheme and connive for the hell of it.”
Jasper’s back hit the wall by the door, and Fiona got closer—and louder.
“And if that wasn’t enough, you’ve created a scandal and left her to deal with it alone.”
“I didn’t create a scandal,” Jasper said. “She was the one in my room. Without an invitation, by the way.”
“So you got half undressed and carried her into the hallway in front of a crowd.”
“I took off my coat, and she walked out of my room on her own two feet.” Stormed out was more like it. “She even trod on mine on the way out.”
“I see,” Fiona said in the deadly, quiet voice Jasper had learned to dread. “So that justifies your leaving her to deal with this on her own?”
“Deal with what? She’s not without protection—”
“Jasper, she’s not a companion because she likes taking entitled brats to parties. You know her family’s circumstances, and you know what will happen to her when Spencer dismisses her.”
If she hadn’t found anything to report to Spencer, he likelywoulddismiss her. It would serve her right for throwing her lot in with a scoundrel and going up against a wiser opponent.
“Jasper, you do know what happens to female servants who are judged to be lacking in virtue, don’t you?”
“She isn’t a servant, she’s a—”
“She’ll never be a lady again, never be a companion again. She might be a governess, but every man in the house will consider her fair game.” Fiona put her finger to his chest. “You will walk away from this unscathed, but Annabel’s life will never be the same. Ever.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I thought you were better than this, Rabbit.”
Winning was only fun if the fight was fair, if the combatants were equally matched. Spencer was a fair target. Annabel was not. Just as Fiona, eager to prove herself part of theton, hadn’t been.
He lifted his friend’s finger from his chest and kissed her hand before pulling her into an embrace. “I’ll see what I can do.”
*
Annabel stood inthe center of her father’s London library and refused to fidget under Spencer’s unrelenting scrutiny.
“Two weeks, and you found nothing?” he asked.
“Nothing.” The lie surprised her, both by how easy it was and that she did it at all. The contents of the box under Jasper’s bed were suspicious enough to give Spencer a direction for his investigation, and to prove she had completed her assignment. To set her free.
Though freedom was less appealing than it had been two weeks ago.
“I never should have sent you.” Spencer prowled the space behind the desk, from bookcase to bookcase and back again.
“Given Elizabeth’s behavior, you definitely should have sent me.” He should have kept her at home.
“Yet you’re the one who was found in his room.” He glared at her. “In his arms.”
“Again. Elizabeth was foolish enough to accept an inappropriate dare—”
“So you say.”
“So it was,” she said through gritted teeth. “Were it not for me, your daughter would be ruined and forced to marry a man who considers her an annoying child.”
“Elizabeth says your inappropriate interest in Ramsbury goaded every young woman to misbehave.”
