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“I don’t mean to sound gruff.” His expression softened, and he leaned forward to press a kiss to her brow. “It’s just…well, I have enemies out there. Dangerous ones. Even this many years later, and if anyone tried to hurt methroughyou...”
“The man atVauxhall?”
Marcnodded.
“He killed yourcousin?”
He noddedagain.
“Was that to gettoyou?”
Marc swallowed. “He thought Max was an English operative.” He shook his head. “But he was just a sweet boy who got mixed up in something without even knowing he was involved in it.” Marc closed his eyes as the memory seemed painful. “St. George thought Max was using his connection to me to send word of our plans to England, but it was me using my connection to Max as acover.”
Heavens, that made no sense at all. “What do you meanbythat?”
His light blue eyes opened once more, pinning her to her spot. “His mother, my aunt, is fromGrasse.”
“In the south of France?” It was somewhere near Cannes, if she rememberedcorrectly.
Marc nodded. “Her family was close with Jean-Honoré Fragonard who was also fromthearea.”
“The painting master?” Carolineasked.
He nodded once more. “Max was a budding artist, though honestly not very good. And I suggested that he contact Fragonard, who was in Paris at the time, working with Napoleon’s government in administrating a museum in the Louvre. He was old, but well connected. So I told Max I’d brave the journey and sneak into France with him if he was of a mind togo,and…”
“And?” Carolineprodded.
“Well, I can be very convincing.” He shrugged. “And once there, Fragonard’s political connections led to others, and by the end of it, I had done a very nice job of infiltrating a group of English revolutionaries on the outskirts ofParis.”
Never in Caroline’s wildest imaginations would she have ever thoughtMarccapable of being an operative for the Home Office. He always seemed like he didn’t care about anyone or anything else in the world, honestly. He hardly seemed thepatrioticsort.
“I was sending back reports, and all was going well until someonehereswitched allegiances and informed the leader of that particular group that a mole was in their midst.” He snorted. “St. George had never trusted Max and felt certain he was the informant. So he stabbed him right in the back in the alley outside our lodgings.” Marc’s voice shook slightly, and Caroline placed her hand over his heart, wishing she could lessen his pain even justabit.
“I’m so sorry,” shebreathedout.
“I found him like that the next morning. I figured my cover had been blown, so I escaped France.” He cringed. “One of the hardest things I’ve ever done was leaving his body behind, but there was nothing else Icoulddo.”
Oh, her heart ached for him. That was so awful. Still… “It wasn’t yourfault,Marc.”
He smiled down at her and cupped her face with his hands. “You can’t alleviate my guilt, love.” Marc sighed. “Max would have never been in France if not for me. His path would have never crossed St.George’sand—”
“It’snotyour fault,” she said again. Because it wasn’t. “You didn’t plunge the knife into him. You’re not responsible for St. George’s actions.” Any more than Felicity or Marc were responsible for David’s death.Captain Piercehad taken David’s life, andSt. Georgehad takenMax’s.
“Myactions put him in harm’s way,” Marc said. “I was so certain I was doing the right thing, I didn’t even give him the choice to be involved or not. I made that decision for him. And that decision cost my cousin his life.” His light eyes held her gaze, but there was something behind them Caroline couldn’t read, as though he was contemplating some momentous decision. And then he leaned forward and kissed her brow once more. “And I can’t let my past put you in danger now,Caroline.”
There was a finality to his tone, which Caroline didn’t like at all. “What is that supposedtomean?”
He shook his head as his hands dropped from her face and drifted to her shoulders as though he might, very easily, put her away from him. “Initially, I thought if you and I had a very public disagreement that it might put some distance between us, make him think you weren’t important to me. But—” he sighed “—I think, with him, it might have the opposite effect. So perhaps if I begin some scandalous, very public union with, I don’t know, I have an actress in mind, one who owes me a favor.Perhaps—”
“Not on your life.” Caroline frowned up at him. Honestly, was he serious? “Just this evening, you swore that you loved meandnow—”
“And Ido,” he stressed. “But that was before St. George, before you could be in danger. If something ever happenedtoyou…”
“Then don’t let it,” she cuthimoff.
“I couldn’t protect Max,” he said, and the sound seemed wrenched from his soul. “What if I can’tprotectyou?”
“You didn’t know he was in danger,” she said evenly. But they did know what they were up against now, or at least they had some idea. So, they’d be prepared and make a plan for dealing with St. George. She frowned slightly at the thought. “Why is this…St. George, why is heevenhere?”
