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Raven relaxed his tense shoulders. “I’ll pass with flying colors.”
“I’ll have your passport readied in anticipation of such a result.”
“You won’t regret it.”
Sir Malcolm smiled. “You sound like Lady India. You know...” He looked thoughtful. “We could use a dose of confidence and determination. We’re one man down with Jones terminated. I’ve never recruited a female. She seems quite formidable.”
Raven’s mind recoiled at the idea. All he could see was Indy facedown on a street, blood pooling in the cracks of the cobblestones.
He would never let any harm befall her.
“Out of the question,” Raven said coldly. “Don’t even think about it.”
“Why? Do you have an attachment to her still?” The way Malcolm said the words put Raven on high alert. Malcolm had witnessed the friendship between Raven and Indy that terrible day when he’d delivered the devastating news of his father’s death.
Malcolm was testing him now.
An agent must never let personal connections interfere with his duty.
“There’s no attachment. No feelings.” Raven kept his voice steady. “I’m a brick wall. Brick walls don’t have feelings.”
“When I entered the room I sensed sparks between you.”
More like a raging fire. “There’s nothing between us. She hates me.” And he’d do whatever it took to keep it that way.
“Really? Because I did some research at one point and discovered that your marriage contract with Lady India is extant. I’d call that an attachment, wouldn’t you?”
Damn. There was no fooling a spymaster. “Her father never legally terminated our betrothal before his sordid demise. He must have been waiting to find out whether my father was exonerated.”
“I thought she jilted you. That’s what you told me. That’s what the broadsheets reported.”
“She did. She told me she wouldn’t marry me if I were the last rogue on earth. In the eyes of the world, she jilted me.”
“But on paper you’re still betrothed and neither of you are free to marry another.”
“It’s only a technicality. I’ll never marry, you know that.”
“But what of Lady India? She’s had other suitors. What if she finally decides to marry?”
The suggestion made his hands ball into fists. “Then I’ll be happy to sign any papers her lawyer sends me,” he said.
And that was a cursed lie. He wouldn’t be happy about it because... no one would ever be good enough for Indy.
She could have had anyone. And practically everyone had courted her once they believed that he had been removed from the picture.
He’d kept count of her suitors, listing their shortcomings and unsuitability in great detail in his journal. She was simply too much woman for the lazy lords of London.
She intimidated the poor sods with her opinions, her intelligence, her ambition, and her beauty. She lived outside of society, pursuing her own dreams instead of becoming someone’s wife. She was unpredictable and powerful and she was... standing in the way of his mission.
He must convince her not to go to Paris. Too much was at stake. His future with the Foreign Office and the chance to finally bring Le Triton to justice.
“Lady India’s not cut out for our work, Malcolm. She’s far too dramatic. There’s nothing she loves better than creating a spectacle of herself. She’s about as secretive as a hurricane. I don’t want her careening through Paris making inquiries and whipping up trouble.”
“Then you’ll have to find a way to stop her.”
“I’ll find a way to keep her in London,” Raven vowed grimly. “I’ll have her kidnapped and trussed up in a cellar if that’s what it takes to keep her safe.”
Malcolm chuckled. “Or she’ll haveyoutied up and stuffed away somewhere. She doesn’t seem the sort to back down from a challenge.”
