Page 16 of The Mysterious Miss Lydia
Not at all what one would expect from the cohort of a spy, now was she?
She seemed...sweet. Innocent, even.
“There he is now,” Wendell said, with a grand flourish toward the door where Sir Cedric had exited. The younger man looked pleased, as if he’d somehow conjured Sir Cedric himself.
Luke looked away with a huff of wry amusement...and his gaze was caught.
A slip of parchment lay on the ground in the grass near the sidewalk.
As Wendell turned to greet Sir Cedric, Luke stooped down and picked it up, stuffing it into his jacket pocket just as Sir Cedric joined them.
Sir Cedric’s gaze was knowing as he took in the two men before him. “Well, well, what brings you here today,Lord Galena?”
Luke’s jaw clenched. He didn’t have to doubt whether Sir Cedric had stressed his new title. The reminder wasn’t even remotely subtle. He might as well have saidyou no longer belong here, Hogan.
“I was hoping for a word,” Luke said. With a pointed glance toward Wendell, he added, “Alone.”
“Of course.” Wendell tipped his head as he headed past them. “I’ll speak with you later, Sir Cedric.”
Sir Cedric turned to Luke, his balding head shining in the sun as his weathered visage settled into a look of exasperation. “You know I always enjoy your company, Lord Galena, but you’ll have me in quite a predicament if you keep showing up like this.”
Luke gave a huff of annoyance. “My father won’t know I’m here. And besides, I’m a grown man.”
“No, you’re a grown viscount and the heir to an earldom.” Sir Cedric clapped hand on his shoulder. “It’s time you realize you have a new direction now.”
“Come now, Sir Cedric. Can you really see me sleeping until noon and spending my afternoons at a gentlemen's club?”
Sir Cedric’s lips twitched.
“Can you imagine me delegating work to solicitors and estate managers while I drink my brandy and allow some preening wife to drag me around to tedious soirees and dinner parties?”
Sir Cedric chuckled. “It’s not so bad as all that. And soon enough your life will be yours again, Hogan.”
The sound of his old name—his real family name and not the title—somehow made the older man’s next words hit that much harder.
“But you have a duty to your family and your estate, and you know it. Just as I know that your father has good reason to be fearful of any harm coming to you in this line of work.”
It was a low blow, and Luke gritted his teeth against it.
His brother had been killed in a duel, of all things. His prim, proper, fastidious brother had somehow gotten in with the wrong crowd and angered the wrong man and…
“Sheer foolishness,” he muttered.
“Yes, well...” Sir Cedric shifted with a sigh. “Right or wrong, foolishness is what your father believes this to be.”
He gestured toward the building behind him. And when Luke started to protest, he talked over him. “I know, I know. The work we do is important. The work you did in the military was brave indeed, and I don’t know that any civilian will understand the true extent of all you’ve done for this country.”
Luke could feel the ‘but’ coming, and this time he refused to be overruled. “Sir Cedric, just hear me out. Just two seconds and then I’ll let you go.”
Sir Cedric studied him and then sighed. “Very well. What is it?”
“It’s about the leak—”
Sir Cedric groaned. “Not this again. I told you to stay out of it.”
“And I might have.” He wouldn’t have. He hesitated at the outright lie, but Sir Cedric just arched a brow and he hurried on. “I might have if I hadn’t been followed the other day.”
Sir Cedric had seemed about to protest but he stopped short. “Followed? By whom?”
