Page 46 of After the Spy Seduces

Infuriated at being dismissed, the major gestured at Kit. “You would accept his help over mine? I know every inch of Idlewild—”

“Go home, major.” The iciness of the order reverberated through the air.

Paxton clenched his jaw. “Yes, general.”

Kit took Diana’s arm and led her inside, aware the entire way of the major’s enraged gaze on his back.

Chapter 13

Diana sat stiffly on the settee in the drawing room, staring down into the untouched cup of tea that her father had insisted she take, although tea was the last thing she wanted at that moment. All she wanted was Meri back in her arms, safe, where she belonged. Alternating between flashes of numbness and blinding anguish, she forced herself to sit still, somehow choking back the scream building at the back of her throat.

“The instructions in the note say to take the diary to Bradwell-on-Sea within two days’ time,” the general said quietly as he stood at the fireplace while Christopher paced the room. But Papa’s concerned gaze never left her, which only made the pain inside her grow even more intolerable. So did Christopher’s relentless pacing.

“That makes sense,” he replied between strides. “The French will want to leave English soil as soon as they have the diary. They won’t risk losing it again.” He halted and faced the general. “Wewillget Meri back unharmed. They’ll return her here as soon as word reaches the kidnappers that their operatives have the diary.”

Diana’s gaze darted up to him. “You mean—they won’t release her to us in Bradwell when we give them the diary?”

His eyes softened with sympathy. He was attempting to reassure her, but his somber expression only made dread pang hollowly in her chest. “Most likely, she’s still within five miles of Idlewild. And that’s exactly where they plan on keeping her until they get the diary.”

Suspicion pricked at the back of her knees. “How do you know that?”

“She’s a little girl with a big voice. They won’t risk that someone will see them carrying her away or that she’ll scream out and bring attention to them. Better to find a hiding place nearby and tuck her away there. And they certainly won’t risk taking her halfway across England for the exchange.”

“Howdo you know that?” she repeated, anger beginning to rise inside her and replace the fear. She leveled a hard look at him. “What do you know about things like this? Kidnappings, ransom notes, the French—you, of all people?

He didn’t move, not even a tensing of muscles. Not even to utter a single word of explanation or defense.

She slowly rose to her feet, unable to keep seated a heartbeat longer. “The major called you a vicar in training. He wasn’t far from wrong. You’ve been out of the army now—for what?—ten years? And Papa said you were under his command, which means you were part of the infantry. Not in any kind of espionage work.”

Her eyes locked onto his, but she couldn’t read anything in those dark blue depths. For once, the inscrutable mask he wore was impenetrable to her.

“Sohowdo you know all these things?”

“Diana,” her father scolded, while Christopher said nothing to explain himself. “You need to trust him.”

“Trust him?” Fear and worry pulsed inside her. How on earth was she supposed to place her trust—and Meri’s life—into his hands? “A man who spends more time in gambling hells than in pursuing a productive living, who has never attained success at anything in his—”

“Carlisle is a colonel in His Majesty’s army and an agent for the Crown,” Papa interrupted, his own anger and frustration at the situation visible in the tired lines etched into his face. He grimaced, his mouth turning hard as he gazed past her at Christopher. “He’s one of the most lauded men in Whitehall.”

“Acolonel?” Bewilderment shot through her. “But—but you said that he was a terrible soldier.”

“I was.” When she wheeled to face Christopher, he shrugged. “But they keep promoting me anyway.”

“Because you deserve it,” the general commented, seeming not at all pleased to be revealing these secrets. He nodded at Christopher and told her, “He’s a Home Office secret operative. Has been all these years, ever since he left my command.”

Christopher added with an uncomfortable smile that did nothing to ease the confusion spiking inside her, “Although I’d appreciate it a great deal if you didn’t tell anyone.”

“But that’s—that’s not…” The ground fell away beneath her, and she sank back down onto the settee before she slipped to the floor. Her brother Garrett, now Christopher Carlisle—was anything in her life the way she thought it to be?

“That’s not the scoundrel you assumed me to be?” he finished, his expression sobering. Despite the harsh accusations she’d just unleashed, there was no anger in him. Simply grudging acceptance. “That’s what I want the world to believe. My job is a lot easier if everyone thinks I’m inconsequential.”

She pressed her hand to her forehead as the room began to spin. Dear God, she was going to be sick!

As she pulled in deep, even breaths to calm herself, she struggled to sort through everything she thought she knew about him. She couldn’t reconcile what they were both telling her with the stories she’d heard about his behavior from his cousin Robert, the gossip she’d heard about him from behind flitting fans at society soirees, and what she’d seen of him over the years with her own eyes, including when he saved her life. And now, when he was helping to save Meri’s.

He began carefully, “I know it’s a bit of shock—”

A strangled laugh fell from her lips. Oh, he had no idea!