Page 47 of The Mysterious Miss Lydia
She shifted with impatience. He didn’t have to see her to hear her fidgeting. “I’m not sure I ought to involve you in this,” he started slowly.
He could hear his own disappointment. Which was ridiculous.
But truly he wished for nothing more than to share this mystery with her. To hear her thoughts. To continue this conversation.
Perhaps it was her quiet demeanor, but being allowed into her thoughts, into her private world...
It felt like the greatest privilege of his life.
How many others had heard her laugh as he had? How many had heard her talk so openly?
Few, he imagined. His heart swelled with an affection that was overwhelming.
He was one of the lucky few.
“Please,” she said. “I know nothing of coded messages, but I do know Elsbeth and Demetrius.” She stepped into the candlelight and the soft, orange glow made her seem like an angel, or some fairy who only appeared in the soft shadows of night.
She didn’t look of this world.
She didn’t belong in his world. What kind of knave would draw a sweet angel into a world of lies and deceit?
“I’ve already involved you too much as it is.” His voice sounded far too gruff. “We shouldn’t be speaking alone like this.”
Her lips quirked up as her head went to the side as if she were trying to make sense of him. “Oh, come now, Lord Galena,” she said, and sweet heavens he felt her voice wrap around him like a sweet, intimate embrace. “We’ve already been alone together most indecently—multiple times, I might add. We’ve danced without being introduced and, let us not forget, you accused me of being a traitorous mistress.”
He let out a shocked laugh at that and was rewarded when her smile grew, making his heart beat that much faster.
She lifted a shoulder. “I’m afraid you and I have already crossed the line into improper ages ago.”
He narrowed his eyes to study her better in this dim light. He wished more than anything that he could tug off that mask and draw her into the candlelight even farther. “You don’t seem overly upset by my improper behavior.”
Her smile widened and she ducked her head. “I don’t, do I?”
It sounded as though she were speaking more to herself than him.
“But you see, this business with coded messages and a possible traitor...it isn’t just improper,” he said. “It could be dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” she repeated.
“Mmm.”
“Then...” She frowned. “Maybe you shouldn’t be investigating it either.”
He threw his hands up in a hopeless gesture. “Ah, but what is life without risks?”
This was the motto he’d always lived by, and he still felt it to be true. His greatest fear in life had always been, and likely always would be dying without ever having lived.
Her lips parted, but rather than back away, she stepped forward. “Then all the more reason to accept my help.”
“Your help, hmm?” He couldn’t help but laugh. “And what do you know of investigating issues of national security?”
She shrugged. “Nothing. But I know everything there is to know about Demetrius and Elsbeth as I’ve read their story no less than ten times.”
His brows arched up. “Really?”
She nodded, her expression chagrined. “Really.”
He was torn between the urge to laugh and the desire to tug her into his arms for a crushing embrace. “If your father finds out...”
