Page 80 of His Wife, the Spy
“Drake and I had something similar happen, but they were sent to kill us.” Jocelyn’s brows gathered as she frowned. “Do you think there’s a similarity?”
“Our histories share the same man.” Annabel’s words came out in a rush, and relief washed in to fill the void.
“Tell me everything.”
Annabel recounted the story, pouring in every detail that she had rolled over in her brain since that night on the road. She had hoped to make better sense of events, but something still bothered her.
Jocelyn set her coffee aside. “You don’t believe this was a simple robbery, do you?”
Annabel saw the moonlight glinting off the narrow sword in every nightmare. Sometimes she didn’t have to be asleep. “No.”
“And Jasper agrees with you?”
Given that their armed footman had followed behind them at a discreet pace throughout their stay in Ramsbury, and that Jasper had insisted she take carriages rather than walk in London… “Yes.”
“Wise man.” Jocelyn looked away, staring out the window as she toyed with her necklace. “Is it safe to assume you have fully broken with Spencer?”
The odd choice of words made Annabel pause mid-sip. She put the coffee and treats aside. “How did you know?”
“He doesn’t like to be crossed. He and Stratford have that in common.” She turned back and refilled her coffee.
Her pebble-hard gaze stole Annabel’s breath. It was very much like Yarwood’s. A soldier who had faced danger and come out the other side.
“He convinced you of something about your new husband, likely using your family’s situation as an incentive. Am I correct?”
Tears pricked Annabel’s eyes as she nodded.
“It isn’t your fault.” The words should have been comforting, but there was little softness in them. “It’s what he does, and he has practiced it for years.”
Annabel leapt from the sofa and walked to the fireplace, putting distance between them. How could she have been so stupid? “Why didn’t you tell me this the first time we met?”
“Because, in my experience, no one changes just because someone tells them to.” Jocelyn kept her seat. “And because, from that same experience, I know strength comes as much from bravery as from knowledge.” She gave a dry chuckle. “Plus,Hello, nice to meet you, your employer is a lying prat,is not the way to make new friends.”
It felt good to laugh. Annabel returned to the sofa and lifted a biscuit from her saucer. “New friends are nice to have.”
In the companionable silence that stretched between them, she wondered how much to tell her new friend. “He told me Jasper was conspiring against the Crown.” Saying it aloud was liberating. “Which is total rubbish.” That felt even better.
“It is. But thereismore to Lord Ramsbury than meets the eye.”
“What do you—”
Jocelyn put up a hand. “That’s for him to tell you. WhatIcan tell you is that Spencer’s stories are never far from the truth and, at times, are twisted to mirror his own motives.” She shifted in the corner of the sofa and drew her feet up under her. “However, I’m more interested in what you saw during your daring encounter.”
“I told you.”
“No. You told the story, but something else is bothering you. Something only you saw,” Jocelyn said. “Close your eyes.”
Annabel did as she asked. The first part she had no problem recalling. “He had a sword, but not…” She drew a deep breath and let her thoughts unwind, like watching a play. “It was an epee, like he was expecting a duel rather than an ambush.”Highwaymen don’t duel, do they?
“Good. What else?” Jocelyn asked. “Was it his horse? Perhaps the color?”
Annabel had been so focused on the man’s movements, she’d barely noticed he was riding at all. But color…
“His hair curled out from under the scarf he used as a mask. It glowed in the moonlight like his blade.” She followed that hair to the rest of him. Broad shoulders, determined jaw, gritted teeth. She’d seen him before, closing in on her. In a horse race.
“Viscount Raines.” Her eyes flew open, and she was shocked to see the world was exactly as she’d left it a moment earlier. “It was Viscount Raines, I’m certain of it.”
Jocelyn nodded, though her eyes were sad. “That makes sense. Spencer would want to use someone thetonwould never suspect, much less accuse.”
