Inès reached over and took Gaspard’s hand in hers. “Fear not. Lady Ramsey is very healthy. As beautiful as ever and happily married.”
Gaspard beamed, astonished and pleased. “Vaillancourt’s poison did not work?”
“If you saw the lady now, you would say she is in the bloom of health. She prepares to bring into the world her thirdchild. Gus, Lady Ashley, is well, too. She had her third child a few months ago. Both ladies are in robust health.”
“And well away from danger,” he said with a smile of satisfaction. “And here you are, my dear lady, rushing into it. Why? Why attempt anything here? You know the challenges. Perhaps not so well as when you were here in Paris, but…”
She would be honest with him. “I am aware, monsieur, of my shortcomings.”
“We have a challenge, Monsieur Gaspard. We must meet it.”
Inès was grateful that Evan could speak when she found it difficult to find words for her audacity.
Gaspard shot a derisive look at Evan. “You love her? Yet you are here to do whatever it is? This is not wise.”
“She is the love of my life, monsieur. I would dissuade her from this action if I could. But I cannot. I will not even try. She is committed, and so am I. In this, I hope you will help us.”
The man sighed. “No matter, I will help you. It is my life’s purpose to fight for right and justice. I assume you are here to do the same. We go on. So, tell me what you need.”
Inès met Evan’s consoling gaze. Then she turned to Gaspard. “We need the name of a guard whom we can bribe.”
Gaspard stared into a thunderous silence. At last, he asked, “What does he guard?”
She pressed her lips together. “La Force.”
“That is a great challenge. For that, I think you must seek out a compatriot of mine.”
“Tell us,” Inès urged him.
“We will do whatever he says,” Evan added.
“I will give you her address. I never speak her name in this regard.” Gaspard glanced at Inès with compassion. “You will know the address.”
After he wrote it down, she took it and gasped. “I did not know this of her.”
“Few do.”
Inès nodded. “We will seek her out. A note to one of her servants, I think, would be appropriate.”
“True.” For a long minute, the fellow struggled to speak. Then he said, “What else might you want?”
#
“I tell you we now have two problems,” Evan said to Rafe as they sat at a small table, but Inès stood at the window of their newest accommodations arranged by Gaspard. The majordom’s friend with information on the prisoners at La Force had given them terrible news. “Learning that Luc Bechard has been transferred to the Conciergerie means it will take longer to find a guard to help us. Neither you nor I knows anyone like that. Gaspard does not either.”
Durham grimaced and clasped his hands together. “We must not stay in Paris much longer.”
Inès had the solution. “I know of one person who may be able to help us.”
Both men glanced up at her.
“She knows more than many think she does—and she has helped our cause constantly.”
Her husband tipped his head in question. “Tell us who she is. We must see her as soon as possible.”
Inès examined the man she adored. He would not be pleased with her next words. To say nothing of Rafe, who would explode and deny the logic of talking to the one woman whom many in London had labeled a traitor.
“We need so much more than the name of a guard in the bowels of Conciergerie. We need clothes for my brother. He likely lives in rags. We need an escape route, but we also needa place—rooms or a house—close to the prison. If Luc is ill or injured, he may not be able to go far.”
