The Earl of Morrey Read online

  “Gillian . . . is he the sort of man who could . . . could come to love me?”

  Letty had few desires in the world that mattered to her so much as to be loved. She had been blessed with looks and a well-to-do family. Her circumstances had made it possible for her to wait to marry. She was fortunate enough that she could wait to find a gentleman who would, in fact, adore her, and whom she could adore in exchange. It wasn’t so silly as wanting to be loved for the sake of needing adoration—it was more complicated than that.

  She was a smart woman, and she lived in an age where women were barely above possessions in a man’s eyes. But she clung to the hope that someday her children, especially her daughters, would live in a better time, one where women were equals. Where they would be valued for their thoughts, their knowledge, their education, and not just their looks, money, or birthing abilities. She held her desires for that particular future close to her heart, never letting anyone know.

  “He will come to love you.” Gillian clasped her hands, squeezing them. “He knows your value, Letty.”

  Gillian had once been a lady’s maid, and she knew better than most that women held value. She understood what Letty had meant.

  Letty faced her brother again. “Very well. I will marry Lord Morrey the day after tomorrow.”

  James’s shoulders drooped in relief. He came over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

  “Thank you. I know what this means to you to accept this situation, and I thank you for doing it. It makes me feel like I haven’t failed you, to know that you’ll have the best protection, better than what I can give you.”

  This—this was the brother she had grown up with. The man who cared about her, who truly did see her value and believe in her. He was acknowledging that though he’d commanded her to marry, it was still within her power to refuse. Her acceptance had been the right thing to do, and he was proud of her for it. This, above all else, made her want to cry. She was putting away her childish dreams of love and equality with a husband in order to protect her family. It was what women had done for centuries, and she wouldn’t be any different.

  “You had better go to bed, my dear. You’ve had a trying evening, and have a long day ahead of you tomorrow.” James kissed her forehead before Letty left the study and headed to her bedchamber. As she climbed the stairs, she tried to arrange the crowded thoughts that tonight’s events had caused. If she was to marry Lord Morrey, she must be a better master of herself, especially her emotions. But tonight—tonight she couldn’t do that. She wished to curl up in her bed and crylike a child, and she hated herself for that weakness.

  Her lady’s maid, Mina, was laying out a nightgown and a robedechambre.

  “Good evening, m’lady,” Mina greeted her.Mina was from Scotland and had been her mother’s lady’s maid. Since Letty’s mother had passed away, Mina had become almost like a second mother to her.Her dark hair, now threaded with gray, was pulled back in a comfortable but unfashionable bun.

  “Mina,” Letty said, her voice suddenly breaking as fresh tears filled her eyes.

  “What’s this now, love?” Mina came around the bed to take Letty into her arms.

  “I am to be married in two days,” she said.

  “Married? What? To whom?” her maid asked, stunned.

  “To Lord Morrey.” Letty sniffed, feeling the damnable tears coming.

  “Oh, my poor dear. Let’s sit, and you can tell me all about it.”

  Letty and Mina sat at the foot of her bed, and she told the maid all that had transpired at the ball and afterward, even the part about Morrey being a spy.

  “But you must keep it all a secret, Mina, please.”Letty knew she shouldn’t be telling servants something like this, but she had to talk with someone about it, someone aside from James and Gillian.

  “I have never once betrayed you, my lady, and I won’t start now.” The maid gave her a gentle nudge. “Let’s get you undressed. Shall I bring you a glass of milk and a few biscuits, perhaps one of Cook’s tarts if there is one left?”

  “Only if it’s not too much trouble.” The hour was late, and she had heard the clock chime in the corridor. She didn’t want to keep her maid up very late.

  “For you? Nothing is ever too much trouble.” Mina clucked her tongue in a motherly way and worked at the laces on the back of Letty’s gown. Once Letty wore only her nightgown, she pulled on the robedechambre, leaving the floral-patterned robe open, not bothering to do up the tiny pearl buttons. She eased into her bed, the sheets a little cold, but she would soon warm up with the steady fire burning in the hearth across the room. Mina returned with aglass of warm milk, along with a few biscuits and a raspberry tart served on a blue china dish.

  “Now, tuck in and rest. We’ll have much to plan for on the morrow.” Mina kissed her forehead, much like she had done when Letty was a child. She hadn’t done that in a very long time. It made Letty want to cry. She’d been a grown woman far earlier than other girls her age, having to care for a mother whose memory had faded until it was no more. And now—now she felt like a very small girl who was facing the world far too soon.

  “Good night, Mina,” Letty said softly.

  Now left alone with her thoughts, Letty replayed the events of the night over and over, trying to puzzle out her reactions, especially to Lord Morrey. When the man held a knife at her throat, and later when she was nearly shot, she ought to have been terrified. And while shehad been afraid, the reason she’d trembled as Lord Morrey held her in his arms was because of something else. It was another sort of fear entirely,which made no sense at all.

  Letty finished her milk, licked the sugar from her fingers, and set the plate and glass on the nightstand. She got up and cleaned her teeth before climbing back into bed and blowing out the candle. She watched the smoke coil in the moonlight from the windows. The light and smoke seemed to merge, forming a mist that enthralled her. It made her think of Morrey. He was like mist, smoke, and moonlight, a mysterious dream.

  Could a woman marry a man like that and be happy?

  A feminine figure dressed in a deep-blue silk gown with a black velvet cape wrapped about her walked down the narrow mews behind Twinings tea shop. She held her breath against the stench that lingered in the still night air around her. The stagnant smells brought back memories of home, far across the English Channel.

  She moved quickly through the shadows, careful to keep out of sight. Dangerous men prowled the streets like wild dogs, and while this woman could take care of herself, she was loath to tangle with anyone tonight. Her fingers gripped the hilt of a pistol, ready just in case.

  Soon she reached a private room at a certain coaching inn that belonged to the man she’d come to see. She knocked on the door and listened for the command to enter. Only then did she step inside and pull the hood back to show her face.

  “My beautiful Camille,” a deep voice purred in delight. “How did you fare in your task this evening?”

  Her master, the man she knew only as the Lord of Shadows, sat in a chair by the fire.

  “Bonsoir,monsieur.” She curtsied deeply, her eyes cast to the ground.

  “That wasn’t an answer.”

  “The English lady spy is still alive. I could not get her alone to force the message from her lips. But I did find out her name. It is as you suspected, Lady Edwards.” Camille waited for her master’s wrath. She had failed him as his left hand and would most likely be punished.

  “Tell me what happened.”

  She took a seat by the fire and told of how she’d gained entry to Lady Allerton’s ball. She explained locating the woman she’d been sent to torture for the message and then dispose of when no one was around.

  “You know how these English ladies are—they are never alone. They always travel in flocks like twittering little birds. Lady Edwards left the ballroom with another woman. I followed them, but a man came between me and my target.”

  “How?”

  “I do not know, monsieur. I had memo
rized all the faces in the ballroom, of course, butI did not recognize him.He seemed to materialize out of the shadows.” Camille was proud of her uncanny memory. She could recall any picture or diagram and could even remember every word ever spoken to her. She’d once been a lowly stage actress in Paris, barely surviving on the coins tossed at her feet after each performance.

  But this man had been sitting in the front row at her last performance. He had not tossed a coin. He had, with quiet intensity, met her gaze as he left a letter, sealed with wax, at her feet. She had retrieved it and opened it later that night. It had given her instructions, told her how to find him, and he had closed it with the following words: Someone with your talents can be a master of her own fate.

  She had been afraid to go at first, but she had no future, and in the end, natural curiosity and hope had driven her into this man’s arms and his bed. But she had not regretted it. The master was a wonderful lover, and he did indeed see her talents for what they were. He gave her power, a future with money and niceclothes, and a life beyond anything she’d ever imagined. All she had to do was obey him whenever he gave her a mission.

  “Tell me more of this man.” The Lord of Shadows had risen from his chair by the fire and began to pace.

  “He was tall, as tall as you, dark-haired, eyes the color of the sky before a winter storm.” Camille thought the man beautiful, perhaps even more beautiful than her master, but she would never admit that.

  “You like his eyes?” the monsieur inquired curiously.

  “Yes. They are intense, a mixture of violence and gentleness. They confuse me, monsieur.”

  “Did you notice anything else about this man?”

  “He wore fine clothes, and yet until he came between me and my target, I had not seen him at all at the ball. Someone of his appearance should have stood out to me.”

  “What happened when you went after Lady Edwards?” Her master drew her back to her narration of the events.

  “He reached the retiring room first. He attacked the woman who had accompanied Lady Edwards. I think perhaps he thought that second woman was me, but then he released her and spoke to them both in hushed tones. The two ladies seemed to be well acquainted. I believe Lady Edwards’s companion may also know the message. They were speaking to each other, and they were there when the man joined them, all of them whispering. I believe Lady Edwards shared the message with them. This other lady must be greatly important.”

  “What makes you say that?” the master inquired.

  “When I fired at them, the man sought to protect both ladies, but he covered this other woman more, shielding her completely from me. I wonder if she might be the one with the message and Lady Edwards is but a decoy.”

  “Interesting. I hadn’t considered that. Avery Russell might be clever enough to try that. It’s entirely possible. I simply hadn’t thought to give Averyenough credit for it. Maybe he is surpassing his own master in talent. Waverly was distracted in his later days by his own personal vendettas. Russell won’t have that same problem. In time, he might become even more cunning than Waverly.”

  Camille listened to her mastertalk as her thoughts drifted to the League of Rogues, the group Hugo Waverly had had a vendetta against. She had seen them many times in the last few months. They were handsome, reckless, and seductive, each of them—though none of them were spies. It puzzled her and her master that the previous English spymaster had spent so much of his time chasing them from the shadows. Worse threats faced England. Threats like her and her master.

  “Did you recognize the woman? The one with Lady Edwards?”

  “Yes. She is the sister of Lord Pembroke.”

  “Oh, yes. I recall the fellow,” her master said and stopped pacing. “Let’s leave Lady Edwards for now. I can have someone else deal with her. This other woman, Pembroke’s sister, warrants closer scrutiny. I need to get her away from her brother and find out what she knows. Then we can arrange an accident.”

  “Yes, monsieur,” Camille agreed. “What must I do?”

  “Come closer, my dear,and I will tell you.” Her master beckoned her to join him in the shadows.

  It was well after midnight when Adam returned to his townhouse on Half Moon Street. But as he expected, Caroline had waited up for him. She rushed down the steps toward him, wearing a robe over her nightgown.

  “Oh, Adam, thank God,” she said, embracing him.

  He held his sister in his arms for a moment before letting go. Like his trusted butler, Caroline knew of his secret work—he couldn’t keep that from her.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  It never ceased to amaze him that she could so easily read him, whereas so few others ever could. Perhaps it was because they had both grown up relying upon each other while looking after their mother when they were so young. Other men might have pushed their sisters off on governesses and eventually husbands, but he couldn’t do that to Caroline, not after all she had been through.

  “Russell was waylaid, unable to make his rendezvous.”

  “How is Lady Edwards?”

  “Safe. He found her in the gardens after she made her escape. I’ll never know how that man always ends up in the right place at the right time.” He shrugged out of his cloak and handed it to the butler, Mr. Sturges. The man was a former infantry officer and not much older than Adam. He was as capable as he was trustworthy.

  “Avery’s like a cat with nine lives,” Caroline said. “But never mind about him—tell me what happened.”

  Adam headed for the drawing room. Caroline followed, after asking Sturges to send in some food and a bit of wine. Collapsing into a chair by the fire, Adam rubbed his face, feeling the weight of all that had happened tonight starting to settle more heavily about him.

  “Everything was a bloody mess. I followed Lady Edwards, thinking a French spy had discovered her importance to Avery’s ring, but when I grabbed the woman with her, it turned out to be Pembroke’s sister.”

  “Letty was with Lady Edwards?”

  “Yes, and that was where everything went wrong. She was merely trying to help the woman fix her hair. I held the poor girlat knifepoint.” He still couldn’t erase from his mind the look of terror he’d seen in Letty’s eyes.

  “Oh, Adam, you didn’t,” Caroline sighed. “She must’ve been very frightened.”

  “I’m afraid it gets worse. The real spy was also there and fired upon us, so I tackled both women to the ground. And then I gave chase but couldn’t catch the spy. When I returned, Lady Edwards had to escape, and I had to keep my cover.”

  “Oh, heavens. What did you do?” Caroline asked.

  Adam didn’t immediately reply, knowing that what he said next would change his life—and in some ways, Caroline’s as well.

  “Congratulate me, sister. It seems I am to be married in two days.” Adam tried to smile, but his sister simply stared at him.

  “Married? To whom? Lady Edwards is already married.”

  He shook his head. “To Letty. I had to kiss her as some men from the ball heard the gunshot and burst into the room.”

  “Had to?”

  “To throw off suspicion as to what was truly happening.”

  Caroline raised an eyebrow.

  “But . . . I do admit that perhaps I wasn’t thinking as clearly as I should have been when I made my decision.”

  “Oh, Adam,” she sighed. “Are you very unhappy?”

  “Unhappy? No, not exactly. Worried is what I am.” He smiled ruefully. “The fact is, I do like Letty, have since the moment I met her when we were searching for Gillian.”

  “You like her?” Caroline’s eyes brightened with a glimmer of joy.

  “I do. She is so sweet, so innocent. Yet she is also intelligent and brave. She is what I would have sought in a bride, had it been safe to marry after I started working for the Home Office. But after . . .”

  “After John died, you couldn’t put a woman in danger,” Caroline finished, stark pain clear in her eyes. “And now i
n order to protect a woman, you must marry her.”

  “It’s quite the irony, isn’t it?” He sighed heavily.

  Adam’s quest for vengeance was not only due to the loss of his dear friend, but also for his sister, who’d been in love with John. The two had planned to marry, but he’d died two months before the ceremony. The shadow of John’s death had turned Caroline into a ghost herself in some ways, and Adam wished he could do something to give his sister her life back. But Caroline’s broken heart would either mend on its own or it would not, and Adam was helpless to do anything but watch.

  “If you are to marry Letty, then she must be told . . .”

  “She knows part of it already. I will pay a call on her tomorrow, and after I speak with James, I will tell her the rest. I will have no secrets from my wife.”

  Caroline bit her lip. “But what if she isn’t strong enough to know about your secret life?”

  “I know she is. There were no hysterics after that shot was fired.”

  “Well, she may have been a bit shocked. Not everyone reacts the same wayto such things. I think when you see her tomorrow, you should ask her if she was well the rest of the night.”

  “I suppose you are right. I’ve lived the last two years in such relative danger that I forget how it can be for those unused to it.”He rubbed his temples and let out a long, weary breath.

  “You ought to go to bed,” Caroline said. “We have a busy day tomorrow.”

  “We do.” He needed to be up early to obtain a special license, and then he ought to see to the wedding arrangements.

  “Should we arrange for it to be at St. George’s?” he asked Caroline.

  “You could, but might it not be better to take her to Chilgrave?”

  “You think I should?” Chilgrave Castle was the ancestral seat of the Morrey family. Adam loved the estate, yet he hardly spent any time there these days. A wedding might be a good reason for him to stay at the castle for a spell. It would be safer for Letty as well.