He searched the room until he found a chair about the right height, and then he pushed the tip of the chair into the hole. Now it looked as if someone had simply shoved the chair into the wall at an angle, causing the damage.The last thing he needed was proof of what had happened in this room. He needed London society to think that he simply had been lost in passion with Letty, not thwarting a French assassin.
He slipped the bullet into the tiny pocket of his waistcoat and left the retiring room.
Given the tight crowd now at the front door, Adam surmised that there had been a mad dash upon the poor grooms to fetch coaches and horses. Lord and Lady Allerton were attempting to oversee the mass exodus from their home.
“I don’t understand it, Henry,” Lady Allerton murmured to her husband. “A pistol?Why would anyone . . .” She trailed off and wrung her hands in her red satin skirts.
Adam slipped between pacing gentlemen and packs of gossiping ladies until he made it to the front of the line. The next groom who rushed up the steps of the Allerton house was breathing hard and caught Adam’s summoning wave.
“Bring around my coach. The one with the Morrey crest.” He knew all the servants of great households like the Allertons were trained to recognize the crests of the noble houses for occasions such as these.
“Yes, my lord.”
Adam moved out of the hot crush of the crowd and waited outside for his coach to be brought forward. He donned his cloak and climbed inside the vehicle once it was in front of the Allerton house. Then he sat back in the darkness for an instant before he realized something was wrong.
He lunged forward, his dagger pressed against the man’s throat. He would have laughed in triumph at discovering this hidden man, but he felt a second blade pressed against his own throat.
“Easy, Morrey,” a familiar voice chuckled. Adam relaxed, and the weapons were lowered.
“Russell, what the bloody hell are you thinking, sneaking into my coach?” He sat back in his seat and tucked the knife in his waistcoat. Avery Russell did the same. Adam pulled one of the curtains away from the window so that he could better see the spymaster.“Did you find Lady Edwards?”
Avery nodded. “Barely.I saw her escaping from the window after the gunshot. I feared I was too late. We had but a moment to speak in the garden, and I received the message.”
“You almost were too late.” Adam leaned his head back against the cushioned wall of the coach. “Tonight was a disaster.”
“No one was hurt, and Lady Edwards gave me her message,” Avery mused.
“No one is hurt, but I’m now to be married.”
Avery’s eyes widened.“What?”
Adam explained how he’d attacked Letty, and how he’d seen to it that Lady Edwards had the chance to escape safely. Then, to keep suspicion off himself, he’d kissed Letty publicly, making it look as though they’d met for a secret romantic assignation.
Avery fought off a grin. “You’re to marry Pembroke’s sister?”
“Go ahead and laugh,” Adam grumbled.
“I’m not laughing at you, or her. Just the ludicrousness of the situation. Letty is a sweet girl, very intelligent, but not suited to a life of danger,” Avery said with more seriousness.
“I know, but what can I do? The spywho fired upon me tonight had a good look at Letty’s face. They’ll assume she’s working with me or Lady Edwards. Pembroke won’t be able to guard her as well as I can. She’ll be safer being married to me.”
Avery was studying him now. “Marriage won’t be enough. She’ll need you as a protective shadowuntil we can discover who attacked you at the Allerton ball.”
“I plan to be that shadow,” Adam agreed. “I only dread knowing Letty will hate me for it.”
“I believe Letty is due more credit than you would give her.” Avery tapped the roof of the coachwith a fist, and it rolled to a stop.
Adam glanced at the darkened street.“You’re leaving here?”
“Like you, the shadows are my friends.” Avery stepped out into the waiting gloom and soon vanished.
Adam called out to his driver to continue home. He had much to think on and much to plan,including the last thing he’d ever expected to plan—awedding.
2
“Married,” Letty Fordyce muttered for the tenth time as she, Gillian, and James walked up the steps into their townhouse.
“Letty, perhaps we should have that talk now,” her older brother said.
A footman removed her cloak and took her gloves as she turned to glare at her brother. “Talk? James, what is there to say? I barely know the man! What’s more, he grabbed me from out of the shadows and held a knife to my throat! Then he just kissed me like . . .” Letty couldn’t finish.
“Yes, well, I trust you when you say it happened, I do, but there’s more to discuss than . . . knives and kisses.”
“What could be more important than that?”
At this, Gillian spoke up. “Letty, my brother is involved in mattersthat require the utmost discretion. Please allow James to have a moment to explain.”
“Yes, that’s all I ask.”
Gillian put her arm through Letty’s in a show of support as James gestured for them to follow him to his study. Once inside, James closed the door and spoke in a low voice.
“We could not speak of this at the Allertons’ house—it was far too dangerous.”
“Speak of what? I am tired of all the secrecy and whispers!”
Tonight had been both terrifying and confusing,in turn. All she had done was go to the retiring room to help Lady Edwards with her hair. Then Lord Morrey had gripped her from behind and held a knife to her throat. Letty had been frightened, until she discovered it was Lord Morrey. Then he’d pulled the blade away, yet still held her captive by her wrist. A strange and unexpected flare of heat had begun in her lower belly at still being in his grasp. Before she could even process what any of that meant, themisunderstanding had been followed by a very real attack on them by an unknown assailant.
But she had found herself drawn, clearly against her better judgment, to this new and dangerous side of Lord Morrey. She had always thought him undeniably handsome, with his dark hair and flashing gray eyes, and there was such an intense seriousness to him that had been a mystery to her. Letty had seen a different part of him tonight, and she found she liked this new, dark side to the gentleman who had been the focal point of so many of her more stirring dreams at night.
“Morrey is a spy,” James said, still using that hushed tone.
“A spy?” Letty echoed the word, still baffled. “If he is a spy, why would you and Gillian know about it? It seems as though that would rather be kept a secret.”
“Yes, I quite agree, but when I married Gillian, the man took me into his confidence and told me about it, at least in broad strokes. He did not want me to worry, should something happen to him. He wanted me to know that whatever befell him was in the course of his duty to the Crown. I asked his permission to tell Gillian, and he agreed I could, knowing he could trust his sister with the knowledge of his occupation.”
“A spy,” Letty muttered. It didn’t make sense, his secrecy and veiled discussions with Lady Edwards about messages and the way they’d been attacked. She’d been in such a state of shock that she hadn’t yet fully processed what had happened to her this evening.