“You make me betray myself.”
“Better! In this, you must.” His fingers bit into her shoulders.
She was in misery. “I told myself I was clever enough to do what I must and never harm you.”
“And do you think that possible even now?”
She took a huge breath. “No. Damn me. No.”
“So say it. Tell me all. Then see if I hate you.”
Through her wretchedness, she saw him as her charming husband one last time. “René Vaillancourt discovered what I did in Boulogne, how I sent Giselle’s drawings through the admiralty. He knew I had asked my runner to get Corsini to take me out of France to England.”
Evan waited, patient man. He met her tear-filled eyes with admiration in his own. “The rest. Say it.”
She licked her lips, dread stopping her heart. Her husband knew all or most of her plan to hurt William Pitt. It was nothing and everything for her to utter the words that explained the cause. “He told me I could save my brother. That he would free Luc from La Force.”
Evan looked at her with grief and regret. “How?”
“I would kill the prime minister of Great Britain.”
They sat, gazing into each other’s eyes for a long minute.
“And can you do that?” he asked without surprise.
She shook her weary head and fell back to his arms. “No.”
They sat for such a long time that through the little window of the small room, the sun shone down directly.
“You will not obey Vaillancourt’s command, my darling, because you are incapable.”
She pressed him close and placed a kiss to his chest.
“But there are two reasons that youcannotdo this at his command.”
She raised her head to stare at him.
“The first is that I will go to Paris and take your brother from his cell.”
“Oh, Evan, no! You cannot. You will die. I cannot let you do that.”
“I will go.”
She clutched his cravat. “You know nothing of Paris.”
“Not nothing. And I do know Corsini. Very well. He and I are the best of friends.”
“No, no. If you go…” She could not believe his audacity. “It is La Force. Impossible to breach.”
“Nothing is impossible.”
“You cannot go. Your French is terrible. You will be taken in a matter of hours.”
“I am better than that, wife of mine.” Insult mixed with determination on his face.
“You infuriate me.”
“I could say the same, but I love you and I would rather see you smile.”
