A Fine Caprice - A Regency Romance (33 page)

‘
Mon d
ieu
!’

Maria spun around and lost a little colour herself when she realized who had arrived. ‘My lord!’

‘Your highness,’ he observed curtly, ‘what do we have here?’

Maria gave Caprice a reproachful glance before transferring her gaze back to Merridew. ‘This is a friend of mine, my lord. A very dear friend.’

‘I’ve alread
y told him that you smuggled the Comte
in,’ Caprice said, eager to move things along. ‘So now you can explain the whole thing to him.’

‘Pass me that tray,
vous enfant terrible
.
I am most disappointed in you.’

Caprice sighed as she obliged. ‘You haven
’t actually done anything wrong,’ she pointed out.
‘
He isn’t a spy.’

Maria bit her lip. ‘No, he is not.’

‘But you are,’ his lordship suggested softly, ‘are you not, milady?’

She stared at him for a moment, before turning back to the Comte and giving him a sip of wine. ‘Drink,
ma
cherie
. You need your strength.’

‘Your highness, I think we need to clarify the situation here,’ Lord Merridew said firmly. ‘You
have
brought a strange man into my house -’

‘I did not murder that man!
Your cousin told me that he was in the cellar but I had nothing to do with it.
’

‘No, as it happens you didn’t.’

‘
You know who was responsible
?’ Caprice demanded.

‘It was an accident. Priss fired first.’

‘But -’

‘Moving on,’ his lordship said with a repressive frown. ‘I know
, my dear lady,
that you didn’t kill anybody. I’m assuming that your wandering around the house
these past few days
was to find the entrance to the tunnels below?’ When the Grand Duchess nodded silently, he continued on. ‘So you wanted to bring this man into the country because…?’

‘We are to be married!’ The Comte had clearly been trying to follow the conversation, which was taking place in English.

‘My felicitations.
So, you brought this man into the country due to… ah… personal reasons. There was no reason he should be unwelcome here which means that you could not make your interest in him known. You play your cards close to your chest but perhaps you might try and be frank with me, don’t you think?’

The Grand Duchess hesitated for a moment,
then
gave a reluctant nod. ‘It goes against the… how do you say it
?...
the grain? But yes, perhaps it would be best. After all, for the first time in many years I am doing something that is entirely innocent.’

‘You fell in love,’ Caprice prompted her softly.

Maria nodded.
Rather incredibly, she blushed.
‘
I did fall in love, it is true. For the first time in many years, although it felt like the first time I have ever truly loved, when I first caught sight of Louie.
I have been moving
between England and the continent on many occasions in the past few years. I gather certain pieces of information that others may find helpful -’

‘You spy for both England and France,’ his lordship supplied dryly.

The woman winced.
‘A blunt
way of putting it.
After my family was lost at the beginning of the war with Bonaparte I had to make a living somehow. But the last time I was in Marseilles I met Louie,’ her face softened, ‘by accident, you understand. We fell in love.
It was wonderful and we spent the most wonderful week together. But then
I learned that his family had come to the attention of some of Bonaparte’s people. They are greedy and Louie still had far too much wealth
for their liking
. When I heard that they had issued a warrant for his arrest, I arranged to have him spirited away immediately.’

‘But why here?’ Merridew dem
anded. ‘Why bring him to Dorset
?’

‘Travelling through the usual channels has become very difficult
. The English, they have tightened the usual crossings. A
nd
unfortunately,
I am well known in certain areas.
I did not want to risk having some of my associates discover that I was involved. This coastline is much safer and
I arranged for my allies in France to
smuggle Louie out via the routes used for the brandy runs. It was all I could manage on short notice.’ She paused, eying his lordship warily. Trying to decide how he’s taking it, Caprice thought. She could hardly blame her. It was a strange story but it had the ring of truth to it.

‘So let me encapsulate,’ Lord Merridew said slowly. ‘You discovered that the Comte was under threat from Bonaparte and so you decided to bring h
im to England. You chose Dorset
because
you couldn’t bring him in through Cornwell?
’

Maria shrugged philosophically. ‘
And Sussex and Kent, both of which have come increasingly under the scrutiny of the navy. Dorset was my safest option
.’

‘You hired my cousin as your fiancé to find a way into Abbey Cross?’

‘That is so. He is being well paid.’

‘I am assuming that all this secrecy has to do with your activities and not the presence of the Comte?’

Maria nodded sadly. ‘Alas, that is so. Even without Louie I would have been forced to retire from the field, as you say. You know this man, Sir Darryl Hughenden?’

‘I do.’

‘He was her
e the other night
.
I heard his voice and recognized it.
We are acquainted, in a manner of speaking. I was not eager to meet with him again. Things can become complicated, in the business of
trading information.
’

‘
I’m sure it can
,’ Lord Merridew was clearly thinking things through.
‘And your career now? Forgive me, milady, but I am reluctant to be lenient when we are discussing the sale of England’
s secrets.’

She quirked rueful lips.
‘My career in France is over, my lord. By throwing my lot in with the Comte I have effectively… ah… burned the bridges. All I wish to do now is find a quiet place to live and be married
to my Louie
.’ She reached out a hand blindly and the Comte caught it, bringing it fervently to his lips. ‘Believe me when I say I want a different life now.
All the things that I did not believe would be mine, I yearn for them.
A family with Louie, a home.
Somewhere that nobody knows us.
’

Caprice looked at Lord Merridew. Despite her earlier reservations about the woman, she found that she was willing him to let the Grand Duchess be on her way. This was a love story, surely. There had to be a happy ending, even for a former spy.

He was silent for a long moment, regarding Maria. He
glanced at Caprice and she met his eyes
, pleading silently.
He shook his head, exasperated. ‘
Oh my God! This is -’ He drew in a breath. ‘
You may stay as my guest until you are ready to be on your way.
But I do not want to hear of your involvement with anything relating to – how shall I put it? –
sensitive
matters ever again. And
trust me when I say that I will
hear of it.
And I will hunt you down and bring you to justice if you are lying to me.
’

The Grand Duchess gave him a tremulous smile. ‘You are too kind!’

‘I know,’ he sighed, then turned to Caprice.
If anything, his expression grew even grimmer.
‘And now for you
.
Come with me!
’

Chapter Fourteen

It had, Cass decided, been a hell of a morning so far. While it was a relief to discover that no great scandal would result from the events at Abbey Cross, he felt he was a long way from being out of the woods yet.

He led the silent girl from the attic, searching for some privacy. He deliberately tried not to think about his insane behaviour earlier. Kissing her. He had not meant to kiss her. H
ad no intention of doing so but
the urge had swept over him, impelling and insistent.
He had never felt anythi
ng like it before – the
need to take a woman in his arms and
kiss her senseless – but with that
small, lovely face (
how
had he ever thought him a boy?) looking up at him, full lips ready,
green eyes innocently demanding… everything had been lost to the most fundamental need
of all; desire
.

Now it was time to send her on her way and get back to sanity.
To a rational, selfish, enjoyable way of life.
Tattersalls, his friends, even his demanding family.
A life with few complications, which was exactly the way he liked it.

He led the way into a small salon, once a ladies parlour if the faded fabrics were any indication and closed the door firmly behind him.

He turned to her.
It was best to be brutal and get it over with. Yes, she had been helpful but she was
complicated
.
‘Now then -’

‘Are you going to kiss me again?’ The words came out in a breathless rush.

He eyed her in exasperation.
This was not the way things were supposed to go but the mere mention of kissing her again was enough to chase his more reasoned approach completely out of his head. He did so want to kiss her again. Instead, he temporized to buy himself some time.
‘
Dear God, what a question.
You are a minx, girl! How old are you?’

‘One and twenty.’

Cass raised an eyebrow
in disbelief
. ‘Don’t lie to me. You can be nothing of the kind.’

‘I’m not lying! I am one and twenty.’

He shook his head, surprised.
He had not expected her to be any such thing. For some reason it made the prospect of kissing her all the more tempting.
‘You don’t look it.’

‘It’s probably the clothes,’ she shrugged, ‘they make me look younger.’

Cass hesitated
, while a struggle waged within
.
I should send her on her way
…

But heaven help me, I don’t want to!

From the moment he had discovered her gender he had been consumed with, not only the most outrageous feelings of lust, but a keen curiosity to know more
about her
situation. He had
tried to ignore it, had
told himself that he did not really care
what it was but it had become
impossible
to ignore
his burning desire to know more about this outrageous creature
.
She
had blown in
to his life
on what he now saw was an
ill-omened nocturnal wind
but by God, she was delightful, no matter how much he might prefer to ignore it
.

Now he was forced to face facts; t
o know more would be to take responsibility for her fate, for she was gently bred, a lady, a
somebody
who had, for reasons that were probably complex and awkward,
decided to run away from her home
.
He might tell himself any number of things but it did not alter the fact that he w
as desperately curious about this wretched girl and, more alarmingly still, desperately eager to kiss her again
.

O
ne thing he was sure of; she was bound to cause him all kinds of trouble.
Cass
knew problematic women when he saw them God knew, he had plenty of examples to draw on, females that required his attention
. Did he really want to saddle himself with some feckless stranger who seemed inclined to throw herself into unseemly – and quite possibly dangerous – situation
s
?

Looking into those limpid green eyes the answer came to him with considerable force.

Yes, he most certainly did.

If only his own body did not pulse with this reckless sense of desire every time
he glanced her way
. If only she could have remained Jem Morris, somebody he could share an uncomplicated conversation with, could relax around and joke with, could…

No, he reflected fatalistically. Even if he had not admitted to knowing her secret, they could never have gone on in such a way, not when he knew who she really was beneath those clothes. For the image of that slender body haunted him. It made him burn.