Circle of Spies (The Culper Ring #3)

Lowering her face again, she set her gaze on Slade. She had one now, at least. A purpose handed to her from the great-grandmother she’d never met, through the hand of the grandfather she trusted with every ounce of her being. They had given her a reason for the gift, a way to use it…but she had done nothing but play scribe.

She could do more, though. She could. Her fingers tightened on Slade’s arm. “Slade…will you show me the entrance to the castle?”

Like lightning, the gleam in his eyes turned to caution. “Pardon?”

Perhaps she should have done her musing out loud so he could see how she arrived at that request. Moistening her lips, she drew in a quick breath. “I want to help. I want to do more than distract Dev so you can sneak about.”

She half expected him to retreat, for the wolf to snarl to life. Instead, he sighed. “I appreciate that, but there’s no help to be had from the castle. Trust me. I’ve examined every inch of it.”

“But—”

“Yetta.” He shook his head, squinting into the sunshine. “You don’t want to go down there. There’s nothing that would help, just…images you don’t need to see. Trust me.”

She did…and yet. “It’s my house. I want to know what goes on under it. Were Barbara not so often with me, I would have made more of an effort to find the entrance myself. I know it is somewhere over here.” She motioned to the side of the house along which they stood, where the hedges always remained too high. Concealing. Where Barbara had heard voices several times now.

“No. It’s no place for a lady.” He turned her resolutely toward the carriage house.

She let him tug her only two steps before stopping again. Desperation clawed at her throat. “But I want to do more to help. I have to. Can’t you understand that? That I need to do something that matters with my life?”

“You are.” His tone was so sure, so steady. His gaze warm and certain. “I appreciate all you’ve done for me, all those papers you transcribed. But you know what really matters?”

She tucked in her chin and shook her head.

He motioned toward the city. “You gave a whole family a way to survive.” He pointed at the carriage house. “You’re giving that little girl a chance for a future. There aren’t many who would do that. Especially…” He looked to the window of the little apartment, where Elsie’s blond head bobbed.

Marietta sighed. “She isn’t Lucien’s.”

The conclusion, then, was obvious, and he would have no trouble drawing it. He echoed her sigh. “Does that make it easier?”

“No.”

“Didn’t think so. He forced her?”

To that, she could only nod and try her best not to hear the scream again.

Slade shook his head. Determination cloaked him. “You are definitely not going into that castle. You’re not going to do anything more to cross him. Do you understand me?”

Another dictate. Yet this one didn’t make the anger flare so hot. “I want to help. I need to help.”

“And I need you to stay safe.” He slid a hand onto her neck, under her hair, and anchored her head. “Please. Please stay out of this.”

“I’m already in—”

“Then get out of it. I can’t have you hurt.” His gaze lingered on the discoloration on her cheek. “Please.”

There was a day not so many months ago when it would have given her a thrill to reduce a man like Slade Osborne to begging. Not so today. Today she could only curl her fingers around his wrist and wish she could hold on forever. “What about you? You’re far more likely to get hurt than I am.”

With a thumb tracing her ear, his eyes went soft. “A necessary risk. It’s my job. Which means I know how to be careful.”

“Really? Coulda fooled me.” Walker’s voice pounded its way in, unexpected enough that she jumped back. And had to wonder when Slade’s other arm had slid around her waist. Walker stood only a few paces away with a ferocious scowl in place as he tugged off his work gloves. “Looks to me like you’re trying to get the both of you killed, standing around like that in plain view of the street.”

“I wouldn’t call it plain view, with the hedge…” When Walker turned fully toward him, Slade cleared his throat, looking, for some bizarre reason, to be fighting a laugh. “Right. You’re right. Stupid of me.”

Shouldn’t he have been making some excuse for having her in his arms at all, rather than where he held her so? Marietta repositioned the shawl still miraculously around her shoulders.

Walker spun on her. “And you, princess.” Now the corners of his mouth were twitching. “Didn’t I teach you how to properly sneak around with a man?”

A blast of heat hit her face, scorched her neck, and tied her tongue. He had never, not once, spoken of those days with anyone else around, yet he would all but shout it now, with Slade standing there grinning?

Grinning! He already knew. Knew and…and…thought it funny.