AllFreeNovel
Share Us
At least not tonight.
Instead, he plucked a lantern from the hook on the wall then took it to the side, lit a match, and then touched the flame to the wick inside the lantern. After he blew out the match and tossed it away, he replaced the lantern onto the hook. She watched him warily and had managed to scuttle into one corner while he’d fussed with the lantern.
“Who are you?” Her lake blue eyes were round in the soft glow from the lantern. The blush in her cheeks could have been from the chill in the air or a reaction from being kissed.
“Who are any of us?” he asked merely to see her further nonplussed. More to the point, why did he have such an immediate and swift reaction to her?
“Must you be so annoying?”
“Of course, since it is much more fun.”
She rolled her eyes, and the dear woman stamped a foot. Oh, this night was proving quite a surprise! “I demand answers from you else I shall put forth steps to have you thrown off this property.”
“Easy. Don’t tire your tart mouth so early in the evening.” Hawk held up a hand. Perhaps hehadteased her too far. “I am a former soldier looking for work.”
Again, she crossed her arms at her chest. “And you thought skulking about the grounds after dark and in the rain was the best idea instead of coming to the kitchen door?”
Well, she would be trouble if he wasn’t careful. “I’ll admit, that idea didn’t occur to me.” And why would it? For the last several weeks, he had rented rooms in a boarding house in the village, for he’d been monitoring area estates and land in the search of the location his one clue mentioned.
“Ah. You must have suffered a head wound while in the war, hmm?”
“Hardly.” One corner of his mouth twitched with the beginnings of a grin, for he liked that she was spirited. “But Iwasshot a few times.”
“Undoubtedly, you’d annoyed the enemy until they couldn’t stand you any longer and took action.”
This time he chuckled. She was a lovely diversion, but it was time to recall himself to his mission. “While that may be so, once my commission expired, I knocked about England as a jack-of-all-trades throughout the countryside.”
“The war has been over for some time. Could you not sort yourself by now?”
“I suppose I could have, but perhaps I enjoy doing odd work.” Or at least he would have if he were truly the man he was trying to convince her he was. When his gaze met hers, he had the curious thought that drowning in those blue depths would be a lovely experience.
“Ah.” The lady continued to stare at him. “How long have you been searching for work?”
“Two years.” How easily the lie rolled off his tongue. Though, it was partially true. After the war ended, he’d lingered until everything wound down, but then after that, he was employed by the Home Office as a spy. It was his duty now to monitor supporters of Napoleon or neutralize any other threat that office deemed necessary.
“In all that time, you never put down roots or found an interesting reason to join a village or community?”
Obviously, Lady Ravenscroft wasn’t a stupid woman. “I did not. There was never a feeling of acceptance there.” He frowned, for that had always eluded him. While he certainly had a family in London, he didn’t wish to live off the coin his father had set aside for him upon his death, and he refused to apply to his older brother who now held the Viscount Blackwell title for funding. He would make his own way in the world, or he would die trying. To say nothing of the fact that working for the men at the Home Office made settling down or finding a wife difficult at best.
“What do you expect to find here?”
If he was fortunate, treasure stolen by Napoleon’s army, and thereby gain recognition by his superiors and receive a small, tidy fortune for his troubles. In order to do that, he would need to gain access to the main house, which would let him poke about the rooms.
Aloud, he said, “Work, of course. Perhaps a purpose.” That wasn’t entirely a lie. Surely there had to be something more for his life than being a spy who was rapidly aging out of the productive cycle. All too soon, he would find himself either training much younger men or sitting behind a desk pushing papers.
She drummed her fingers upon her upper arm. For long moments, the lady regarded him with slightly narrowed eyes. “I suppose there must be odd chores about the place that need doing. Let me confer with my butler and stable master to see if that is true.”
It was the first step into his plan to explore the property. “Thank you. That is very gracious.”
“Perhaps.” With a sigh, she relaxed her stance. “Tell me about yourself. If you have been an unsavory sort from childhood, I’d rather not keep you on.”
No, definitely not stupid. Which might be dangerous before too long if she fell into the habit of asking too many questions. Best to stick as close to the truth as possible, for then his voice inflections wouldn’t betray a lie. “I have two living siblings—brothers. My parents were steadfast in love until they died within two months of each other.” Though those events occurred nearly eight years before, the grief and the missing of them took him unawares at times. “I had been away on the march during that time and wasn’t able to be there for their final moments.”
“It is terrible losing someone you care about.” She lowered her voice. “Everyone always says that time heals all wounds, but I rather think time only tenderizes the grief. Mourning doesn’t truly go away, and neither does the hole close those people left.”
“You are correct, Lady Ravenscroft.”
She gasped and her wheat-blonde eyebrows raised in surprise. “How do you know who I am? I hadn’t introduced myself.”
