Page 65 of A Dangerous Engagement

Felicity took up her embroidery while Aunt Agnes read her book. Finally, she heard footsteps. She peeked from where she sat, trying to make herself as small as possible. Mr.Ratley walked by, whistling softly.

A minute or two later, Mr.Merrick was walking by when Felicity said, rather loudly, “The clouds have become very threatening. What do you think, Auntie?” Her breath stuck in her throat. Why had she said that? She had nothing of importance to tell Mr.Merrick. But the thought of seeing him privately, talking with him in their secret meeting place, made her heart race.

Mr.Merrick paused and entered the room. “Miss Mayson. Miss Appleby.” He walked to the window and looked out. “I believe you are correct, Miss Mayson. The sky does look rather like rain.”

“Yes,” Felicity said. “I believe it may rain any minute now.”

“Yes, well, good afternoon.” He nodded to them and left the room.

“That was rather abrupt, wasn’t it?” Auntie whispered.

“‘Sky’ and ‘clouds’ are our signal. He has gone to the library,” Felicity whispered back.

“Oh!” Auntie closed her book and stood.

“We must wait a minute or two,” Felicity warned.

Aunt Agnes sat back down and opened her book again.

After a few more moments, Felicity motioned to her aunt to follow her, and they went to the library.

Inside they started browsing the shelves—or pretending to. Felicity’s breath grew shallow the closer they wandered to the door where Mr.Merrick would be waiting. How foolish of her. He did not care for her, and how could she form an attachment to him when she was engaged to someone else? It was indecent.

But still her heart raced as she remembered the last time they had been alone, in the shed where he had sabotaged the printing press, when he had held her, a strong arm around her waist, and kept her from falling, his face just inches from hers.

Aunt Agnes was near the library entrance while Felicity opened the door and went inside.

Mr.Merrick looked up from the open book he was holding.

“Were you able to put the papers back while I was talking with Lady Blackstone?” Felicity said softly.

“No, unfortunately.”

She rushed on. “I only have ten days. Mr.Ratley wanted to marry me at the end of this week, but I convinced Lady Blackstone to have him postpone it a few more days. But I only have ten days before the wedding.”

He nodded slowly. “Mr.Ratley prevented me from returning the papers to Lady Blackstone’s room and asked me to play a game of billiards with him. I did manage to convince him that he should not be upset about the fact that you wish for a longer engagement.”

“Oh. That is most kind of you.” Felicity’s breath seemed to come faster. He must be concerned for her if he spoke to Mr.Ratley about postponing their marriage. Of course, she was his ally as they worked to thwart these revolutionaries, but did he feel more for her?

She was being silly. She should concentrate on the business at hand.

“Lady Blackstone is suspicious about the printing press breaking. She even asked me if I knew anything about it.”

“Does she suspect you?”

“I don’t know. But she was suspicious that someone may have broken it, and she mentioned that you and I were the only ones not helping store the weapons.”

Mr.Merrick’s brows lowered and his jaw flexed.

Felicity took a deep breath and said, “Mr.Merrick, you should leave. Escape this place. You have the papers with the information you need to capture all the leaders and confiscate their stockpiles of weapons. You can give me the key to Lady Blackstone’s room, and I can return her papers.”

His blue eyes stared intently into hers while she spoke, then he shook his head. “I don’t want to leave you here. There is no way to know if they would spare you should they discover you were working against them. Besides, if we act too quickly, we might not discover all their plans. New leaders can rise up to take the place of the old ones. We need to find out every person involved.”

“You can do that. After you leave, you and the Home Secretary—Lord Sidmouth, I believe?—can investigate the places and men in Lady Blackstone’s papers.”

“I suppose that is true. But ... what about you and Miss Appleby?”

“I don’t think they would kill us. They don’t see us as a threat.” She remembered Lady Blackstone’s comments about Felicity being meek and quiet. “Besides, they believe I will marry Mr.Ratley and will be forever tied to them, unable to testify against my own husband.”