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He cut one of her wrists free so that he could remove her cloak and proceeded to rifle through her pockets. They held nothing of interest, save for about fifty pounds in notes and coin, which seemed like a paltry sum for a notorious spy. He then moved his attention to her small satchel, dumping the contents onto the bed. Two beeswax candles—Lord only knew what she wanted those for, a silverbacked hairbrush, a small Bible, a leather-bound notebook, and some underthings that he could not bring himself to sully with his touch. He supposed everyone deserved some measure of privacy, even treasonous spies.
He picked up the Bible and flipped quickly through it, making certain there was nothing concealed between its pages. Satisfied that the book contained nothing untoward, he tossed it back onto the bed, noting with interest that she flinched as he did so.
He then picked up the notebook and looked inside. Only the first few pages contained any scribblings. “Contubernal,” he read aloud. “Halcyon. Diacritical. Titivate. Umlaut.” He raised his eyebrows and read on. Three pages full of the sort of words that earned one a first at Oxford or Cambridge. “What is this?”
She jerked her shoulder toward her mouth, motioning to the gag.
“Right,” he said with a curt nod, setting the notebook next to the Bible. “But before I remove that, I'll have to …” His words trailed off, and he let out an unhappy exhale. Both of them knew what he had to do. “If you don't struggle I'll be able to do this faster,” he said grimly.
Her entire body was tense, but Blake tried to ignore her distress as he quickly patted her down. “There, we're done,” he said, his voice gruff. “I must say I'm rather surprised you weren't carrying anything other than that pistol.”
She glared at him in return.
“I'll remove the gag now, but one loud noise and it's going right back in.”
She nodded curtly, coughing as he removed the rag.
Blake leaned insolently against the wall as he asked, “Well?”
“Nobody would hear me if I made a loud noise, anyway.”
“That much is true,” he conceded. His eyes fell back upon the leather-bound notebook, and he picked it up. “Now, suppose you tell me what this is all about.”
She shrugged. “My father always encouraged me to expand my vocabulary.”
Blake stared at her in disbelief, then flipped through the opening pages again. It was some kind of code. It had to be. But he was tired, and he knew that if she confessed to something that night, it wasn't going to be anything as destructive to her cause as the key to a secret code. So he tossed the book on the bed and said, “We'll talk more about this tomorrow.”
She gave another one of those annoying shrugs.
He gritted his teeth. “Have you anything to say for yourself?”
Caroline rubbed her eyes, reminding herself that she had to remain on this man's good side. He looked dangerous, and despite his obvious discomfort at searching her, she had no doubt that he would hurt her if he deemed it necessary to his mission.
Whatever that was.
She was playing a dangerous game and she knew it. She wanted to remain here at this cushy estate as long as possible—it was certainly warmer and safer than any place she could afford on her own. To do that, however, she had to let him continue to believe that she was this Carlotta person. She had no idea how to do this; she didn't know Spanish and she certainly didn't know how a criminal was supposed to act when apprehended and tied to a bedpost.
She supposed Carlotta would try to deny everything. “You have the wrong person,” she said, knowing he wouldn't believe her and taking a wicked delight in the fact that she was telling the truth.
“Ha!” he barked. “Surely you can come up with something a little more original.”
She shrugged. “You can believe what you want.”
“You seem to be acting very confidently for someone who is clearly at the disadvantage.”
He had a point there, Caroline conceded. But if Carlotta truly was a spy, she'd be a master at bravado. “I don't appreciate being bound, gagged, dragged across the countryside, and tied to a bedpost. Not to mention,” she bit off, “being forced to submit to your insulting touch.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, and if Caroline hadn't known better she would have thought he was in some sort of pain. Then he opened them and once again looked at her with a hard and uncompromising gaze. He said, “I find it difficult to believe, Miss De Leon, that you have come so far in your chosen profession without having had yourself searched before.”
Caroline didn't know what to say to that so she just glared at him.
“I'm still waiting for you to talk.”
“I have nothing to say.” That much, at least, was true.
“You might reverse your opinion after a few days without food or water.”
“You plan to starve me, then?”
