Page 45 of After the Spy Seduces

“What’s the matter?” She clutched at the general’s arm. “Is it Meri?”

Before her father could answer, Paxton’s horse slid to a stop beside them. He jumped to the ground and let his horse trot away toward the stable. He panted as hard as his mount as he strode up to them, a piece of paper clenched in his outstretched hand.

Diana frantically rushed forward. “Did you find Meri?”

The major gave a sharp shake of his head. “I found this.” He breathlessly reached past her to give the note to the general. “It was pinned to the door of one of the abandoned cottages down by the old stone bridge.”

Kit’s eyes narrowed on the man as he far too familiarly put his arm around Diana to comfort her. But her attention was riveted to the note, and she couldn’t seem to have cared less what Paxton did. While Kit wanted to break the man’s arm.

General Morgan stepped onto the porch and held the note up to the lamp to read it. “It’s what we thought.” He kept his face carefully inscrutable, most likely to prevent upsetting Diana any further. “They’ve taken Meri. They’re demanding the diary for her return.”

Diana paled, the whiteness of her face visible even in the shadows. “Then we give it to them. Now.”

“Not so fast,” Kit warned calmly. “We need to discuss this.”

She wheeled on him, a look of such burning betrayal on her face that it sucked the air from his lungs. “I want her back here—with me. I don’t care what I have to do to make that happen.”

“Diana,” Paxton assured her, the pointed use of her given name prickling at Kit, “we will get her back safely and as soon as possible.”

She stared defiantly at Kit, waiting for him to make the same promise. But he remained silent. No good could come of false hope.

“Carlisle’s correct,” her father told her quietly, aware of the servants who were walking back to the house now that darkness had made their search impossible. “Let’s go inside, take a moment to gather ourselves, and plan out what to do next. We don’t want to rush into this.”

“What’s to rush into?” Diana challenged in exasperation. “They have Meri and want the diary, so we give it to them and get her back. That’s all we need to worry about.”

“Not all.” Kit exchanged a concerned glance with the general. “Who took Meri and left that note? No one came on or off the property—”

“You think it was someone from Idlewild?” Paxton spat out in disbelief.

He knew it was. And based on the quality of the plain linen paper on which the printed message was written, a senior member of the household staff at that. The note that had been left for Diana before could have been arranged by anyone, right down to the stable boy. But not this one.

From the way she stepped back from Paxton and folded her arms protectively over her chest like a shield, she realized that, too.

“I think,” Kit answered, “that we have to consider all possibilities.”

Paxton snorted.

The general raised a hand to silence his aide. “Carlisle and I will discus this, and you will be consulted, major, when decisions have been made.”

At her father’s marked defense of him, Diana looked at Kit with a bewildered expression he couldn’t fathom. Was an understanding of his true identity finally beginning to seep into her?

“Shewillbe safely returned,” Kit assured her, doing his damnedest to ignore the way Paxton remained at her side, his arm once more wrapping possessively around her shoulders. “They won’t harm her.”

“You don’t know that,” she whispered, her eyes glistening in the lamplight.

“I do. They have nothing to gain in harming her and everything to lose,” he told her quietly, wishing he could reach for her, to console her in his arms. “Take comfort in that.”

Despite her nod, he knew she found no solace in his assurances.

“We’ll deliver the diary as instructed.” General Morgan said that to Kit, now ignoring the major completely. “And hope that the person who took her has enough honor to follow through with his promise to return her safely.”

Kit nodded grimly. “We need to go inside and discuss our options.”

“Options?” Paxton parroted, clearly irritated to be left out of the conversation, and to have the general trusting in Kit more than in him. “What do you know about situations like this? No offense, Carlisle, but I’m a decorated officer in His Majesty’s army.” His lips curled up territorially. “You’re a vicar in training.”

Kit smiled icily. He wanted to smash his fist into the man’s face.

General Morgan’s grim gaze never left Kit. “Paxton, go home.”