AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look at a woman like that. Surely that must mean something.
Henry let out a sigh. “No, I apologize for storming off. I may have…overreacted.”
It was the rightness of the comment that had rankled the most. And that his infatuation had been so plainly written all over his face.
“Just a tad.” The corner of Rafe’s mouth lifted. “You haven’t been yourself, you know.”
Henry nodded. “I do,” he said quietly.
“Now that we’re on speaking terms again, I don’t suppose you’ll tell me what’sreallygoing on between you and Lady Arlington?”
Henry attempted a befuddled look. “What makes you think something’s going on?”
“You mean aside from the fact that last night you looked like you wanted her to useyouas a piano bench?”
Henry nearly choked on his tea. “What a mind you have.”
“Thank you.” Rafe preened a little.
“It wasn’t a compliment,” he said as he wiped a drop from his trousers.
But it was useless trying to lie to Rafe. The man had been a world-class spy before his diplomatic career. So Henry took a different approach.
“Lady Arlington is my client, and thus she is entitled to my discretion.”
“Very well,” Rafe said with a wry smile. “I won’t ask again. But mind you, Sylvia is speaking to her right now. And she won’t be deterred so easily. She can be quite tenacious when she wants something. Believe me.”
Henry made a face. “Please, spare me the details.”
Rafe let out a little chuckle. “Sorry. I actually wasn’t trying to insinuate anything that time.”
He and Rafe hadn’t been able to spend much time together, given their careers, but he had missed even his occasional visits with his old friend. Very much.
“I wish you’d come back to England,” Henry surprised himself by saying. “And I think Lady Arlington would like to have Sylvia closer.”
“Do you?”
“She’s been lonely since the viscount’s death.”
“Well, you may very well get your wish,” Rafe grumbled.
Henry shot him a questioning look, and Rafe let out a short, harsh breath. “I thought I could make a difference in this government. And perhaps in another age I could have. But now…” He shook his head. “The ambassador is a reasonable man, so he thinks appeasement will keep the German kaiser in check. But Wilhelm is an overgrown child. Needy. Demanding. He is determined to make his mark on the world, no matter the cost.”
Henry blinked slowly as dread gathered low in his belly. “What are you saying?”
Rafe stared off toward the sea with a dark look. “That we’ll be lucky to make it out of the next decade without a war. The continent is a powder keg just waiting for someone to light a match.” Then his eyes snapped back to Henry’s. “But itiscoming, mind you. And I don’t plan on being here when it goes off. Sylvia’s news this morning cemented it.”
“If that is true…” Henry began. “Then you can’t run from it. None of us can.”
“I suppose not. But if we’re starting a family, I owe it to my children to make sure we aren’t on the front lines.”
Henry could not argue with that. “Where will you go?”
Rafe shrugged. “New York? I’ve made some contacts in Washington, too. I’ll try to warn the ambassador again when I return to Berlin, but I’ve begun to lose hope. No one seems very interested in what I have to say. I’m afraid I’ve made myself something of a pariah.”
“Does Sylvia know about any of this?”
Rafe shook his head. “I didn’t want to worry her if it wasn’t necessary. But now…”
