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Eddis stepped up, his expression as infuriatingly pompous as his voice. “Sir, may I—”
The door opened. “I apologize for being late. They didn’t want to show me up here at first.”
Cam knew that voice. He spun in his chair, the wind kicked out of him.
Great. God. Damn. It was her.
Miss Morgan Fucking Bligh.
Morgan had prepared herself.
When Scathach had ordered her to London, the head of the Amhas-draoi warned Morgan who awaited her. But the sight of Cam still caught her off guard. Punched through the defenses she’d thought she’d built up over the last few months.
Her first thought was he looked like hell. Still too damned gorgeous, but definitely lacking the Adonis quality she remembered.
He was pale as if he hadn’t seen the sun in weeks. Tight lines strained the corners of his mouth. Hollows shadowed his red-rimmed eyes. And he’d lost weight. Probably not noticeable to someone who didn’t know him well, but she could tell. The hard soldier’s body had softened. Lost its edge.
She was glad. Served him right. She hoped it was fatal.
That last thought checked her. Drew her up short. Gods, was she becoming one of those women? Sour? Spiteful? Angry at the world? Bitterness only sapped energy better used for more important tasks. Cam Sinclair was not important.
Not anymore.
“Forgive me for being late. The sentries stopped me downstairs. It took a bit of persuading for them to let me pass.”
“No problem, Miss Bligh,” the general said. “We were just telling Sinclair what we know to date.”
Scathach caught and held Morgan’s eye. A telling look, letting her know the Fey hadn’t revealed everything. Doran Buchanan’s treachery remained a secret known only to the Amhas-draoi. Morgan meant to keep it that way.
She shot a quick glance at Cam. He was trying hard to keep the surprise from his face. But she knew. His shock vibrated in the air like a plucked wire. “By the looks of him, you hadn’t gotten as far as explaining me.”
“Miss Bligh will be joining you on this assignment.” General Pendergast put up a hand, cutting off Cam’s sputtered outrage. “I know it’s unusual. But the Amhas-draoi don’t work under the same restrictions as the British Army. And I’ve seen firsthand what they can do. As an Other and as an Amhas-draoi, Miss Bligh is well up to the task.”
Morgan straightened
. She’d better be. She’d been training for this moment since she was eighteen and realized she’d rather be wielding a sword than a needle. And she was a damn sight better with the sword.
“Amhas-draoi? Sir, please. No disrespect intended, but, sir, she’s a female. And she and I…we…” Cam’s confusion would have been funny if it hadn’t been at her expense. She almost felt sorry for him. “We’ve met before.”
“Good,” Pendergast said. “That will make introductions unnecessary.”
“How can she possibly help? And how will we travel? She’s unmarried. She’d be ruined within a day of being with me unchaperoned.”
What a bloody hypocrite. He certainly hadn’t been concerned over her reputation last winter. “You worry about your own skin, Colonel,” she snapped. “I can take care of myself.”
Pendergast rubbed the side of his nose. Adjusted his spectacles. “But that does bring up a problem. Despite the freedoms women enjoy among the Amhas-draoi, normal society does not look kindly on single young females gallivanting alone across the country. Major Eddis has solved this problem in a simple, if unorthodox, fashion.”
The major stepped forward. Morgan had barely noticed him up to now. She’d been so busy not noticing Cam.
“It’s easy enough,” Eddis explained. “The two of you will travel as a couple—a married couple.” His pale, clever eyes raked her over. Made her want to give him a taste of the steel hidden by the fith-fath she’d woven around it. If the men downstairs had thought a woman entering the Horse Guards was strange, one with a scabbard strapped to her side would have really set the cat among the pigeons.
Cam shook his head. “Won’t work. Everyone knows my wife just died. I’m still officially in mourning.”
Eddis sniffed his disapproval. “Those same people also know you’re no grieving widower. They’ll simply believe you’ve hitched yourself to another in an indecent span of time.”
Scathach had also explained this part of the plan to her. She hadn’t liked it any better than Cam. But she knew better than to fight it. She’d been entrusted with this mission. She’d do whatever it took. No matter how much she hated the thought of being within two counties of Cameron Sinclair.
“So it’s settled, then.” The general straightened his papers. “You’ll leave for Devonshire tomorrow.”
