Page 31 of Lady in Ruby
“From you.”
“Well, a group I’m associated with. My superior sent me along to deal with the matter.”
“You have a superior? And what group is this?”
He took a deep breath. “I can’t tell you.”
“I think you had better. Or I’ll scream and people will come running and they’ll find you here with me, and I’ll be compromised and you’ll have to marry me and you’ll hate me for it and we’ll both be miserable till we die.”
He blinked. “You don’t hold back.”
“Not when it comes to my family,” Caroline said. “My father needed help and you showed up. Explain how.”
He sighed, rubbing his temples for a moment. “All right. But you can’t repeat this. Ever. Or you won’t have the luxury of a miserable life. You’ll just vanish one day. And I won’t be able to do a thing to stop it.”
“I can keep a secret,” she said, shaken by the implied threat, but still intent on knowing what happened.
“I’ll need your word on that, Caroline Garland. To break it will risk not just your life, but your father’s and your mother’s as well.”
She inhaled, then nodded. “I give you my word. I’ll never say or write or whisper anything you tell me now.”
“Very well. I belong to an organization—a very small group, really—that exists for the sole purpose of protecting Britain from foreign threats, specifically those that happen in secret, without official sanction.”
“You mean…intelligence?”
“Yes. The project that your father has been working on has immense potential value to nearly every country in Europe, and beyond. We cannot risk it getting into the hands of Napoleon. But it appears that word of it has leaked out, and someone is trying to take it, probably because they are in the employ of the French army already, or because they hope to sell what they have to the French…or whoever the highest bidder happens to be.”
“And this someone is none other than Francis Foster, my neighbor who I’ve known for twenty years.”
“The man who stole the notes is probably very different from the friend you remember. He’s heavily in debt,” Snowdon said. “I’ve made inquiries about him, among others. Apparently, over the past few years, he’s been drawn into gambling, and his frequent visits to the various gaming hells of London have not gone in his favor. He’s borrowed as much as he can on his own expectations, and he still needs more.”
“But stealing Papa’s notes? To sell to a foreign power? That’s not just desperate, that’s the act of a traitor. Surely he had other options!”
“I believe he did try one way—marriage to a young woman due to inherit a considerable sum.”
“Who? Oh, Lord, me. He was oddly romantic over the past few days, but I tried to ignore it. I’ve never thought of him that way.”
“And he may never have thought of you that way, but he was happy to make the attempt if it got his creditors off his back. After this, I would suggest that your parents consult a solicitor to make your inheritance more protected, if possible. They can at least make it so that a husband can’t control all of it.”
“He wouldn’t now. All the jewels and chattel go to me directly.”
“Like the rubies?” he asked.
The missing rubies. “Yes. Please don’t tell me to take better care of my things. I’ve learned that lesson.”
“I will not tell you to do anything, Caroline. It’s not my place. But do you believe me?”
“It sounds plausible, but a man who does what you do is probably very good at spinning plausible stories.”
“So skeptical,” he murmured. “I like that.” He kissed her hand, his lips trailing over the backs of her fingers.
Caroline bit her lip, and took much too long a moment to enjoy the sensation before she recalled herself. “Stop that. You are not allowed to argue and kiss me at the same time.”
“But it would make arguing so much less upsetting if we could intersperse a few more agreeable moments.” His smile was enticing enough to make her nod, and allow him to lean in and brush his lips gently over hers.
“You do not play fair, sir,” she whispered.
“I’m not playing,” he answered, his words soft but clear.
