Page 47 of Snowbound with the Scoundrel
Blimey, that was hard to get out.Because wasn’t that just how he felt about Claire?
He didn’t have too much time to stew about it because as soon as he finished, she grabbed his hand again.“Rupert!You’ve truly never seen that play before?”
“What?”He couldn’t attend with her soft skin upon his.“Uh, nope.”
“And you just recited an entire soliloquy after hearing it once!”
He didn’t see where she was going.“I… suppose so?”
She pulled at his hand, leading him over to the rose silk sofa, where she settled facing him with one leg tucked up underneath her.They were facing the fire he’d built while waiting for Claire to arrive.It was nice.Cozy.
Claire shook her head.“You don’t seem to appreciate how remarkable that is!I’ve never met anyone with such a good memory.”
He shrugged.“Sir Henry said it was unusual.That’s why he wanted me.That and because I’m about the last person anyone would suspect of working for the Home Office.”
She gave him a wry grin.“That’s why he wanted me, too.No one even notices a wallflower, much less suspects them.Although Lady Emily has ruined my guise with her pretty dresses.”
“She certainly has,” Rupert said, his voice coming out rich and appreciative.“I can’t imagine anyone not noticing you.”
He clamped his mouth shut, because he hadn’t meant to say something like that.The investigation.He needed to stick to the investigation!
He tried get back on track.“I doubt I’ll ever have that problem.After all, who would ever suspect me?I’m the stupidest fellow in all of England.”
A mulish set came over Claire’s jaw.“That’s not true.”
“Claire,” he said, voice thick with disbelief, “how can you say that?As I mentioned earlier, I can barelyread.”
The mulish expression had not budged an inch.“I will acknowledge that your mind functions somewhat differently from most people’s.But you have gifts—impressive ones—along with your challenges.And, although you do have a somewhat casual manner of speaking that people might interpret as being less than serious, I have never found your underlying logic to be lacking.”
“Oh, that.”Rupert waved a hand.“That was Sir Henry’s suggestion.You see, the stupider I sound, the less people will suspect anything.I’ve always enjoyed using a bit of cant, and he encouraged me to lay it on as thick as I could.”
“Ha!”Claire cried, pointing a finger.“I knew it!And, speaking of Sir Henry, would you care to know whathehad to say about you?”
Rupert chuckled nervously.“I don’t know, would I?”
Claire’s eyes were fierce.“He described you as one of his best men.”
That took the wind right out of him.Really, who could blame him?He, one of Sir Henry’s best men?
It was absurd.And yet… Claire wasn’t the type to lie.
After a moment, he managed to whisper, “Did he really say that?”
She lifted her chin.“He most certainly did.”She unfolded a letter from that stack of hers and handed it to him.“Here, see for yourself.”
As if that wasn’t going to prove his point—it was two pages of Sir Henry’s swirly, tightly-packed handwriting.As antsy as he was at the suggestion—theridiculoussuggestion, might he add!—that he was anything other than the village idiot, it would be Twelfth Night before he managed to pick his way through all of that.
Claire scooted over, so she was sitting right next to him.She pointed to a paragraph near the bottom of the first page.“It’s right here.”
She waited patiently while Rupert squinted at the paper, mouthing the words as he slowly read.
Given the urgency of the situation, I will send as many additional assets to the Helmsley estate as can be made available.In particular, one of my best men will return any day from a lengthy assignment on the Continent.I will have him on the first carriage north.
He gasped audibly when he reached the wordsbest menand covered his mouth with his hand.Because… that washim.It had to be.He’d just returned from two years on the Continent, and Sir Henry had plucked him from the ship, briefed him on the assignment, and stuffed him in a mail coach bound for York that very afternoon.
He sat in silence, too stunned to say anything.
Claire finally nudged him with her elbow.When she spoke, her voice was full of humor.“You lookscandalized.You look the way most people would if they’d read something horrible about themselves.Not that they’regood at their job.”
