Jenna Petersen - [Lady Spies] (9 page)

Ana lifted her gaze in time to see the door close behind him. With a shiver, she sank down into the nearest chair, clutching her hands over her chest.

It was only then she realized she’d been holding her breath.

So much for not feeling anything.

“I don’t have time to accept an invitation.” Ana moved to her work table and carefully laid out another page of encoded symbols and signs. Some of the items Lucas had sent over to her were incredibly complicated.

Meredith leaned back against the edge of the table and looked at her. “Yes, I can see you’re very busy.”

Ana looked up at the tone of her friend’s voice. Meredith was watching her so closely. For the first time, she realized just how she must appear, flitting from code to her notes and over to a long-forgotten invention she’d been working on. A lady’s compact mirror with a strip of putty hidden behind it for making impressions of keys, coins, or other items.

“I
am
very busy!” she insisted. There was no way she was going to admit to Meredith that for the second time in as many days, she was hiding from Lucas. That he’d sent her three notes since their “engagement” that she had left unanswered. It was better to blame her work for her hibernation.

“Could you explain all this again?”

Ana sighed. Meredith seemed so cool. So pulled together. She knew her own hair was a sloppy bun. That she looked like an owl with her spectacles perched on her nose. Versus Meredith, with her sophisticated sleek hairstyle and calm disposition.
She
had probably never felt like this. Out of sorts, confused on a case.

Ana hesitated. No, that wasn’t true. Meredith had married a man she once investigated. She’d fallen in love with Tristan even while wondering if he was a traitor. Certainly that must have been much harder than feeling unexpected and unwanted lust for a fellow spy.

Except Ana had no hopes for a happy ending like Meredith’s waiting for her at the end of this case. Not that she wanted one.

“I don’t know what part you don’t understand,” she snapped, peevish at herself more than her friend. “Society heard about our…our kiss in Sansbury’s private office. Lucas felt an engagement was our only remaining cover.”

Meredith shook her head. “That part I grasp fully, Anastasia. After all, this Lucas Tyler does his work very well. Word of your engagement is in”—she reached over and snatched up a pile of papers she had brought with her to Ana’s work room—“
The Times
,
The City Herald
, and Blighton’s gossip sheet is heralding its own foresight by claiming it knew of your secret love nearly a week ago.”

Ana winced. She’d been avoiding the papers. Trust Meredith to force the truth down her throat.

Meredith set the items aside and folded her arms. “I was asked about your engagement no less than five times at various teas and luncheons in the past few days. Even Tristan entertained inquiries at Whites. A few of the gentlemen have some rather unsavory bets riding on these supposed nuptials.”

“Bets?” Ana repeated, horror rising in her.

Meredith ignored her outburst. “What I don’t understand is why you’re hiding away two days after this engagement was announced? And why you haven’t yet been seen in public with Lucas Tyler?”

Ana hesitated. How could she explain how frightened she was to Meredith, who had never feared anything?

“I told you,” she said softly. “I have been busy.”

Meredith shook her head as she pushed away from the table to catch Ana’s hands. “This is a golden opportunity! The pile of invitations and calling cards waiting for you upstairs should tell you that. Society is enamored. Your work with the Sisters of the Heart Society for Widows and Orphans is being praised by all! We’ve even seen an increase in donations.”

“Really?” Ana blinked with shock. How could such a small thing cause so many ripples?

“Yes.” Meredith grinned. “I have heard your face
described as ‘uncommonly pretty’ and ‘classically beautiful,’ both of which I agree with wholeheartedly.”

Blood flooded Ana’s cheeks. She met her best friend’s eyes. “I never asked for the spotlight.”

Meredith’s face softened with understanding. And Ana knew she did understand. Both her friends knew her so well. “But you have it, Ana. You must take advantage of it! Emily and I don’t understand why you aren’t. If she wasn’t confined to that bed—”

Ana yanked her hands free and walked away. “She would be down here railing on me as you are. Why do you think I’m down here where she can’t reach me?”

When she turned around to look at Meredith again, she found her friend staring at her, eyes wide and mouth open.

“I’ve never heard you use that tone. What is it? This is more than mere shyness at your newfound fame.” She looked at her for a long moment, then Meredith’s face registered a glimmer of understanding. “Is it because of Tyler?”

Ana hesitated a fraction of a second too long. Long enough that Meredith lifted a hand to cover her mouth. “That is it! Why didn’t I see it?”

Ana dipped her head with shame. There was no use hiding the truth. “I liked it when he kissed me.” She heard Meredith’s sharp intake of breath. “I know it’s only part of the case, but it’s been so long since I felt that way. Maybe I’ve never felt that way.”

Meredith nodded. “He is very handsome. And charming from everything I’ve seen. It’s understandable why you would feel something when he touched you, Ana. It isn’t wrong to want.”

Ana lifted her gaze. “Yes, it is. It is for me.”

Her friend pursed her lips. “Because of Gilbert?” Ana didn’t answer. “It’s been five years, dearest.”

Ana shook her head. Lucas kept telling her that, too. As if time alone could change her heart and her past. Could make her forget.

“Do you know how long I loved Gilbert?” she asked.

Meredith shook her head, but Ana could see her shock. Ordinarily Ana’s grief was not something she discussed, not even with her two best friends.

“Since I was twelve years old,” she admitted softly. She thought back and was frustrated when all she could conjure was a blurry image of what her husband had been like then.

“Our families had estates close to each other, so we grew up together and I loved him from afar,” she whispered. “But he never noticed me. No one ever noticed me except for my parents. And then, one day, he did.”

Meredith smiled sadly, but didn’t interrupt.

Ana fiddled with the items on the tabletop as she continued, “No one had ever been interested in me before. I was a wallflower the first few months after I came out. But when he began to court me, it was like every fairy tale I’d ever heard come true. I had never thought I’d have a love match, and yet, somehow, I did.
I knew that was something rare. Especially for me. Something that would only happen once in a lifetime.” She sniffled as tears began to sting her eyes. She looked at Meredith evenly. “So that is why it is wrong for me to
want
Lucas. Why this engagement, false though it may be, feels like such a betrayal.”

Meredith shook her head. “
Why?
I still don’t understand.”

Ana let out an exasperated sigh. “If I feel something for another man, it is as if I am forgetting that once-in-a-lifetime love with Gilbert.” She clenched her fists. “Like I’m saying it wasn’t special. As if I believe the vows I made on my wedding day were interchangeable.”

Meredith covered her mouth and now tears sparkled in her friend’s eyes, as well. “Oh, Ana. No…No—”

Ana shook her head. “Please don’t argue. You don’t understand! You didn’t love your first husband, so when you found love, you were free to accept it with all your heart. But tell me, if Tristan were gone, can you imagine going on with your life as if his existence meant nothing to you?”

Her friend hesitated. “I—I—”

“Then please don’t judge my feelings,” Ana said. She swiped at her tears and lifted her chin. “Now, that is enough of this talk. Let us get to the matter you came here for. Did you find any information about Henry Bowerly?”

Meredith paused and Ana could see she was strug
gling, wanting to press further on the subject of Gilbert, but finally she let out a sigh of reluctant acquiescence.

“The Marquis of Cliffield is not an easy man to investigate,” she admitted. “He has used his position in the War Department to mask his life, especially since the attack on his life a year ago.”

“What did you find?”

“On the night Cliffield was injured, Lucas was there. But he wasn’t supposed to be.”

“No?” Ana asked and relaxed as the painful subject of her past gave way to the comfort of the particulars of her case. She’d never thought she could find peace in an investigation.

Meredith shook her head. “Although Tyler and Cliffield were often partners in investigations, for the case Cliffield was working on, he’d asked to be paired with another man. A man of no title named George Warfield. But Warfield took ill the night of the attack and Tyler stepped in. It was very last minute. Apparently, even Lord Cliffield didn’t know about the switch until he saw Tyler. When the shooting began, Cliffield pushed Tyler out of the way and he was struck instead.”

Ana lifted a hand to cover her lips. No wonder Lucas was so guilt ridden over the injury to his friend. Cliffield’s protective interference had caused him to be confined to the wheelchair for the rest of his life.

“My God.”

Meredith nodded. “But if you look at your map that
Charlie provided, you’ll see that George Warfield, himself, was attacked soon after. His was the second death.”

Ana drew back. That could very well mean that Warfield had been the target that night. In the darkness, the assailant had probably mistaken Lucas for the other man. A dark, sick feeling churned in her stomach at the thought of Lucas being cut down.

“I’m working on getting more information,” Meredith finished. “But—”

Before she could finish, there was a commotion at the top of the stairs and her basement door flew open. Both women spun on the intruder. Ana gasped.

Lucas. And he did not look happy.

L
ucas knew who the woman with Ana was. Lady Carmichael, Meredith Archer, another of the Lady Spies. She’d married nearly a year before, but was still active with the group. She arched a fine brow at him as he came down the stairs, relaxing from her ready-to-fight stance.

Ana didn’t. She remained rigid, staring at him like she was ready to give him a good punch and run like the devil was at her heels. Not a stellar beginning to their “engagement.”

He tossed a dismissive glance at Lady Carmichael. “I am sorry to intrude, but this is between us. I would appreciate a moment with Ana.”

His brow furrowed. When the hell had he started
thinking of them as an “us,” rather than him and the leg shackle he was forced to endure? Probably the same moment he first tasted her lips.

Lady Carmichael’s eyes went wide with surprise at his forward demand. Then her mouth twitched into a small, knowing smile. “Very well.” She turned to her friend. “I shall say farewell to Emily before I go. And I’ll be back with more information for you as soon as I have any.”

Ana spared a brief nod to her friend, then returned her pointed, furious glare back at him. Fire burned in her eyes. The same kind that boiled there when he kissed her. And that put his traitorous body immediately at the ready, despite how irritated he was.

The door above them closed and she stepped up at once, surprising him by closing the space between them and poking one slender finger against his chest.

“You have no right to barge into my home and be rude to my friend and partner!”

His eyes narrowed. “Rude? Ha! You want to tell me about being rude? Rude is ignoring notes and invitations and making a general muck out of a perfect opening in this case.”

Her expression reflected how that comment stung. Now that she was so close, he looked down into her face. Her pretty hair was pulled into a clumsy bun and little tendrils of soft locks twisted around her cheeks and neck. She had a smudge on her left cheek
and a blotch of ink on her thumb and the finger that still hung, hesitating in the air mid-poke.

Emotion welled up in him. The desire he wasn’t surprised by. He had come to expect that he would want Anastasia. That the mere sight of her would call to his blood. But the other emotion shocked him—tenderness.

Seeing her like this, in her private room, with her papers and inventions and work scattered all around, brought up a soft feeling he wasn’t sure he’d ever experienced before.

He couldn’t stop himself from reaching out. She watched with widening eyes as his hand came closer, but she didn’t flinch when he wiped the smudge of dust from her cheek.

“I was worried about you, my little fool.” He chuckled. And that was true. When she ignored his notes, he had become concerned.

“You needn’t be. I’m fine.”

She pulled back. It was just as well. Tenderness was the last thing he needed or wanted. Clearing his throat, he forced a more businesslike manner.

“Go upstairs and put on a gown,” he ordered. “
With color
, Ana, and come with me. There is a meeting this afternoon in Hyde Park I want to watch. We’ve arranged it in the hopes it will draw out an attacker.”

Ana tilted her head. “Why must I wear color?” She looked down at her gown. “I could—”

“If you were really falling in love with me,” he said, stepping a little closer, “you would no longer be in mourning. If you wear black, it will arouse suspicion that this engagement is not real. Please, no arguments. Put on a gown with color.”

Ana’s entire face scrunched up with displeasure, but she grunted out either “fine” or something far less lady like and stomped up the stairs to do as she had been told.

Once she was gone, Lucas shook his head. The woman was a trial, but there was something undeniably attractive about her. Something that went beyond her obvious physical beauty. She was…open. Honest. Loyal. And beneath her nervous exterior, there was a strength of spirit and will that appealed to him.

There was also no denying her intelligence. He looked around the large, open room she had turned from some kind of cellar into a work area. Snippets of code were tacked to the walls. Many were complicated enough that he would need assistance in deciphering them, and he had always thought he did passably well in encoded work. There were glass beakers filled with mysterious, pungent liquid and everyday items in the process of being transformed into tools of the trade for a spy.

He made his way up the stairway to the main house, then down the hallway to the parlor where he had waited for her every other time he’d visited. He
entered the room and sat down by the fire with a sigh.

“I was hoping to see you before I departed.”

Lucas started. He’d been so caught up in his thoughts about Ana, he hadn’t noticed Lady Carmichael standing beside the window that faced the gardens outside. Her arms were folded, and her dark blue eyes held his own. Appraising him.

He leaned back in his chair and gave her his most dashing grin. “Hello again, Lady Carmichael.”

It was clear she was less than impressed by his charm when she snorted out a bark of laughter. “Much more polite now, aren’t we?”

He tilted his head in acknowledgment. “I do apologize, of course. I needed to speak to Anastasia on a matter of great importance.”

“Yes.” Lady Carmichael came closer. “Your engagement. I would congratulate you, but I wager you realize I know the truth about that ruse.”

He nodded. “I doubt you ladies keep many secrets from each other.”

A shadow of concern fluttered briefly over her face. “Not many.”

He wrinkled his brow. From her expression, he would almost guess she feared Ana did hold some part of herself back, even from her closest friends. An idea that intrigued him. What made her hide behind the veil of grief and rules? What made her deny the parts of her that wanted him? Wanted more than a staid existence of a
widow who only played at being a spy rather than embraced that life. She was really rather good at it. Yet she feared it, still.

Feared him. Or at least, he thought she did when she trembled in his arms.

“I want you to know that if you ever hurt Ana, Emily and I will find a way to destroy you.” Meredith Archer gave him the sweetest smile in the world. “I would cut your heart out before I saw you harm her in any way.”

Lucas drew back at the unexpected statement from the pretty, proper woman before him. But then his shock faded. If her friends needed to resort to threats, that most definitely meant Ana harbored some feelings for him. And that gave him a powerful thrill of triumph.

It also made him realize just how fully he wanted to pursue those desires. He’d been trying to deny them because she clung to the idea of staying true to her late husband.

But deep in his soul, in the hot blood in his veins, he wanted to act on the need that sparked so powerfully between them. He wanted to feel her pulse quicken. To push past her reflexive denials and make her face the heated wants he tasted in her kiss.

He felt his smile widen. They were engaged now. Perhaps it was time to make the act a very realistic one. She would never give him her heart. There was no risk of that. No risk of anything deeper than an affair to
last the duration of the case. She was a widow, so she could not be ruined. And he had wanted her from the first moment she rushed up on him, her eyes ablaze with fire as she accused him of causing Emily’s attack.

He wanted to make those same eyes blaze with surrender.

Lady Carmichael was staring at him, gaze focused and irritated. Deadly serious.

Tilting his head in acknowledgment, he said, “I understand your desire to protect Ana. But I think you underestimate her ability to protect and make decisions for herself.”

The lady began to laugh. “Trust me, Mr. Tyler. I don’t underestimate Anastasia in any way. Nor should you.”

Before Lucas could retort, the door behind him opened. Lady Carmichael looked past him to the entryway, and her eyes widened. Then she smothered a giggle in her hand. Heart sinking, Lucas got up and turned to face Ana.

He almost stumbled back at the sight. She was wearing a hideous green gown that was at least six seasons out of fashion. Clearly it had last been worn before her husband’s passing, and she had pulled it from the depths of her armoire and had it hurriedly pressed. The collar was high, with ruffles along the neck that covered the delectable slope of her throat. The waist was far too high, as well. And to make matters worse, Ana had clearly lost a little bit of weight since her husband’s
death, so the entire contraption hung around her curves like a sack.

It was, in a word, horrific. Even to him, who rarely noticed a lady’s clothing unless he was determining the best way of removing it. There didn’t seem to be a best way to remove the fluffy, ill-fitted gown she was wearing at all.

If this was how she had dressed during her marriage, no wonder she feared her desires. If she had been his six years ago, he would have wanted her wearing daring, bold gowns. Ones that brought out the sparkle in her eyes and the golden highlights hidden in the rich length of her chestnut hair.

Ana glared at Meredith. “Oh, hush! It’s the only gown
with color
”—she glared at him—“that I have. It will have to do.”

Meredith smiled. “I did not say a word.”

Muttering something under her breath, Ana spun on him with narrowed eyes. “And you had best keep your comments to yourself, as well.”

Lucas lifted his hands in surrender. “I wouldn’t say a thing.” He forced a smile and offered her an arm. “Shall we be off, then?”

Ana nodded her good-bye to her friend, and he led her from the room and off to the waiting carriage and whatever their afternoon in the park would bring.

Ana shifted. Wasn’t there a way to hold a man’s arm without actually touching him? Smelling the faint
hint of his shaving soap? Being wrapped in his heat?

If there was, she had not yet determined it. Even if she barely clung to Lucas’s arm, electricity still zinged up her fingertips. Normally when they were this close, he was kissing her.

She pursed her lips. Those were exactly the wrong kinds of thoughts to be having. They were performing an important part of their duty. Guarding over a spy as he took a meeting in the crowded park.

The afternoon promenade was in full swing. Hyde Park was crowded with ladies and gentlemen on horseback, in carriages, and on foot. All were jockeying to see and be seen.

She craned her neck to peer over the crowd. Along the edge of the lake, she saw the man they were following. He wasn’t someone she knew, but a rich merchant. He was waiting for another spy while he fed the ducks that flocked around him. He blended in perfectly. No one would have suspected his true purpose in the Park.

“Mr. Tyler, Lady Whittig!”

Ana jolted from her concentration as a large woman wearing a feathered bonnet came rushing across the grass toward them.

“Smile,” Lucas ordered through clenched teeth, then did the same.

“Lady Hickman.” Ana forced a smile.

“I heard of your engagement.” The boisterous woman reached out a hand. “Many felicitations to you!”

Lucas and Ana each shook her hand in turn, though Ana’s heart sank. Dear Lord, word really had spread.

“I am so very pleased for you,” the lady continued. “After all, my dear daughter lost her husband a year ago, herself. I hope she can find some happiness again just as you have, my lady. Well, I must be back to my party, I only wanted to wish you joy!”

With that, the woman gave a quick nod and headed back through the crowd. But no sooner had she gone than another couple strolled by and called out their congratulations. People were waving, stopping to say hello.

Ana’s cheeks were starting to hurt from all the smiling and a horrible thought was forming in her mind. If everyone in Society seemed so aware of how she had supposedly fallen in love and agreed to marry Lucas Tyler in just a few days, that meant her late husband’s family had likely heard the same. Though she had not visited them in the past few months, she still felt a closeness, especially with her mother-in-law. And she could only imagine how pained the news would make her.

“If you continue to hold yourself so far away from me,” Lucas growled, his face suddenly pinched as he moved her toward the perimeter of the lake so they could get a better view of their mark, “then no one will believe our engagement. Anyone paying any kind of close attention at this moment would peg us for false.”

Ana stole a glance out of the corner of her eye at
him. He looked as irritated as she, herself, felt. It was as if he delighted in vexing her, knowing she was resistant to this engagement, yet forcing her to act like it was true. Forcing her to lean in closer and feel the desire she was trying to fight.

Her thoughts strayed to Emily’s comment. That Lucas might use her emotions…even the need she felt for him, against her if he felt it would get him what he wanted. Was that what he was doing now?

“Here comes the other man,” Lucas said, low and close to her ear.

Emily welcomed the interruption and watched as a second man approached. This man she did recognize. A country gentleman who rarely came to town. Dandified to the hilt. She was shocked that he would be in the King’s ser vice.

“But that is Sir George Thornton!” she gasped.

Lucas nodded. “Yes. And a fine spy.”

“But he—he is a fool.” She stared as Sir George sat down on the bench next to the other spy. They never spoke, never even acknowledged each other. For a moment, Sir George mopped his forehead as the other man continued to feed the ducks. Then he got up and started away. Ana’s eyes widened as she caught a quick glimpse of the other spy sweeping up a small packet and thrusting it into his pocket. No one would have noticed such a thing if they weren’t sharp eyed.

“Sir George is a fool,” Lucas said with a smile as the first spy got up and started out of the park at a slow
gait. “But you are a shy widow. And you and I are hopelessly in love.”

She started at that statement, and her gaze flashed up to him.

“Things are not always what they seem, Ana.” Lucas tugged her to move. “Remember that.”