Her eyes met his. “Even though you were being watched.”
“Yes.”
He smelled of leather and soap, his own scent almost heady. Anna had to think about what to say. “And… even though Major Ellis suspected you.”
His mouth curved into a smile. “Major Ellis suspects furniture if it stands too quietly.”
Anna smiled as well, though she tried not to.
Nathaniel caught it, and the corner of his own mouth gentled. It made him look like a man instead of a risk. A tired, brave, aggravating man who’d lied to soldiers, saved a prisoner, and apologized without flinching.
Anna folded her arms again. “Which side are you on, Mr. Reed?”
He stilled as he gazed at her.
“No clever answers,” she said. “Just the truth.”
He held her gaze. “I serve General Washington’s people.”
She sucked in a breath. Somewhere deep inside, she’d known. The wash line. His warnings. The way he heard everything and reacted to nothing. He stood among British officers and seemed least himself when they trusted him most.
Still, hearing it changed something. Her fear didn’t vanish. If anything, it deepened. But it became cleaner. Easier to name. “You might have told me.”
“I wanted to.”
She gazed into his eyes. “When?”
He rubbed his chin, as if thinking. “The first time you looked at me as though you wished to strike me with a serving spoon.”
Anna tried not to smile. “That could have been several occasions.”
“I know. It made choosing difficult.”
The laugh escaped before she could stop it. His expression warmed at the sound, and for one dangerous heartbeat, the parlor felt too small and too quiet.
Mrs. Pembroke entered the room without warning, carrying the black case.
Anna’s breath caught.
Nathaniel looked at it, and all the softness left his face. The courier in him returned at once.
Mrs. Pembroke set the case on the table. “Well. Since we have established Mr. Reed is marginally less irritating than expected, we may as well finish the business at hand.”
Anna’s pulse took off. “The locket.”
Mrs. Pembroke opened the case. There it lay, beautiful, sentimental, and dangerous.
Nathaniel didn’t touch it. “You’ve been carrying that in this house?”
“Not carelessly,” Mrs. Pembroke said.
He shot her a look. “That does not answer the question.”
Mrs. Pembroke smiled. “It answers the important part.”
He glanced at Anna. Understanding growing in his expression. “You had it at the ball.”
Anna touched the seam of her skirt out of habit, though the locket no longer rested there. “Um, yes.”
