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Penelope turned back to the letters and rechecked a date. “Look, it seems your parents were in Boston around 1808, after the troubles with that American ship.”
At his blank look, she added, “I’ve forgotten its name, but the Royal Navy stopped it looking for deserters, and the Americans were very angry. I had a history lesson about it.”
“Americans,” he repeated.
“You do remember the war with America in 1812?”
“Of course.”
“There you are then.” She spread her hands.
“What I do not remember, or say rather comprehend, is the idea that my mother was gathering information about them.”
“And your father, of course.”
“Of course?”
“He must have been helping. Well, the letters said as much. She…enlisted him.”
Daniel felt as if his world had been turned upside down. In a matter of minutes, his parents had gone from self-absorbed vagabonds to government spies. The absences he’d resented had a purpose larger than his individual concerns. The conversations he’d always found vacuous were in fact diversions. But had it been necessary to diverthim?
Miss Pendleton was leafing back through the letters. “This friend of her father’s that she mentions. Perhaps he was in the government.”
“My maternal grandfather had political connections.”
“That would explain it.”
“They might have told me, given me some hint at least.” Not when he was a child and liable to let something slip, but later. Why had they never trusted him?
“I suppose they developed a habit of secrecy,” said Miss Pendleton.
“What?”
“Well.” She spoke slowly as if thinking it through. “They would have had to learn to hide in plain sight. To seem guileless, so they would be quickly dismissed. I imagine that such a pose could become…engrained. Perhaps it had to.”
“So they were never genuine for a moment.” Bitterness tinged Daniel’s tone. He couldn’t help it.
The charming little wrinkle that appeared in Miss Pendleton’s brow when she was puzzling out a problem deepened. “If your parents were quite different when they were at home, someone might have noticed. London is full of travelers. And as I have reason to know myself, once suspicions are aroused against you, they run wild.”
Daniel considered her point. It made sense. And yet it didn’t make him feel better. “It’s rather worse knowing that they had important secrets and didn’t confide in me. When I thought they were simply shallow, I could…shrug them off.”
She put a hand on his arm. “I would guess they thought they were protecting you.”
Or themselves, Daniel thought. “They might have given me credit for some intelligence, and discretion.” This new information felt like another layer of judgment reaching out from the past to condemn him.
Miss Pendleton shrugged. “My father always saw me as a child, even when I was managing his estate better than he could.”
Her hand remained on his sleeve, a spot of warmth. Her head was bent over the scatter of papers on the desk. Daniel took in the lovely line of her cheek, the grace of her slender frame.
“It’s strange that our mothers were such good friends,” she said. “It feels like a…link, doesn’t it? Even though we never knew.”
The warmth spread through him, gaining heat as it rose. Daniel noticed that the house was quiet around them. The mantel clock showed that the servants would be off to bed soon. They must be wondering about Miss Pendleton’s continued presence. Wondering and whispering perhaps. Exchanging sly grins or raising eyebrows in disapproval.
When she looked up and met his eyes, desire flashed though him. He wanted all the things the gossips whispered about, and more. He wanted to sweep the damned papers from the desk and lift her onto it. He wanted to cover her with kisses. He wanted…everything. “Mydesiresare not your responsibility,” she’d said. Very well, but what about his own? They were, and he had to keep a rein on them.
They’d been behaving with a reckless lack of formality. Some would interpret that as disrespect. Or careless, confident possession. Fury filled him at the idea of anyone seeing her that way. He had to take more care. Which did not mean folding her in his arms and shielding her from all harm, much as he wished that it might.
Daniel stood. His chair rocked with the force of his movement, and Miss Pendleton jumped. “I must get you home,” he said.
