Devil take it! He should have asked Georgiana not to mention that, but it was too late now. “The War Office asked me to disguise my destination, in case Napoleon’s spies might be watching me.”
“And since I might be a spy, too, you could not tell me the truth.” Her words dripped with sarcasm.
He rubbed his forehead. “No, of course not. But my instructions were to tell no one.”
“I suppose I am just like everyone else, then. Did it ever occur to you that I might have wished to go with you? What it would have meant to me to spend even a few hours with my family?”
He winced. “It would have drawn attention. I traveled by mail coach under a false name and spent the night in a part of town frequented by gamblers and thieves. No one knew I was there.”
She tapped her foot. “Except Georgiana, because you did have time for her.”
Her tone made his ire rise. “I am well aware I should not have called on her, that it was a risk. I was worried because she had not been answering my letters.”
“So this journey, which was so secret could not tell me about it, was still known by your sister and Miss Lowrie. And, presumably, by your valet, and the coachman who left with you.”
“They were only aware that I did not go to Nottingham.”
“They still knew more than I did.” She turned away from him. “If you will excuse me, I have left our guests for too long.” She was out the door before he could stop her.
Damnation! The last thing he wanted to do was spoil even an hour of their last weeks together with a quarrel, but did she not understand that he had to follow the War Office’s directives?
Darcy had prepared his words carefully for his arrival in Elizabeth’s bedroom that night. He could not afford to blurt out the wrong thing this time, as he had so often in the past. And it was a good thing he had, for when he entered her room, she shot him a cold look which would have stolen his ability to think.
“I have considered what you said, and I understand why you are angry. I should have told you the truth.” He watched closely but saw no signsof softening. “I tend to treat orders from the War Office as if they were a military command I could not refuse, but I need to rethink that.”
Her shoulders relaxed, and a genuine smile peeked out. “Thank you. I want to feel that I can trust what you say.” She patted the spot beside her on the sofa, an unspoken invitation.
Thank heavens! He sat, placing his arm around her shoulders and drawing her to him. How very right she felt beside him! “I would hate it if you lied to me, and I am sorry I did that to you. I know you have kept things from me, information about the dragons and about your family in Wales, but that is different from a deception.”
She snuggled in close to him, and he thought his heart would burst with happiness and relief. “Well, I may have told you a few untruths in the beginning, before I came to love you.”
He leaned down to kiss her lingeringly. “Things are different now.” How wonderfully, unimaginably different from anything he had ever expected. “I will not hide the truth from you again.”
She nibbled at his lip. “Does that mean you will tell me what Granny said to you this morning?”
He could not help laughing at how neatly she had trapped him. Good Lord, that had been one of the most embarrassing moments of his life! How was he even to explain it without shocking her? “Perhaps I should start with what Roderick taught me a few days ago. He said I should stop trying to picture the illusion I am casting, and instead think of how pleased you would look if I succeeded at it. It seemed a ridiculous idea, but it worked.”
Her eyes opened wide. “That was your breakthrough? To think of me instead of the illusion?” She sounded disbelieving, as well she should. It sounded utterly ridiculous.
“Astonishing, is it not?” He lowered his voice. “Lady Amelia told me to take it one step further. Not merely to picture your face, but to think of an intimate moment between us, when I am focused on your pleasure.”
Elizabeth’s mouth fell open, her cheeks growing even rosier. “She saidthat?”
“Rather more colorfully, but yes,” he said ruefully. “You saw the result, so I can hardly complain. Though whether I can manage it in front of the emperor of France is a different question entirely.” And when his own life was on the line.
Her brow furrowed for a moment before her face smoothed into a teasing smile. She ran her hand slowly up his chest, pressing the fine linen against his skin and sending a trail of fire into him. Nipping his earlobe, she whispered, “Then I suppose the only way to prepare is to…practice.”
Once again, she had amazed him. He lowered his head, trailing his tongue along her lips to tease them apart. If making love to his wife constituted training for his mission, he was ready to work very hard indeed.
Afterwards, as he held Elizabeth in his arms, she said, “Do you know, with all this disruption over the dragons and Granny’s arrival, I have not had the chance to ask about your meeting with the War Office.”
The sensuous lassitude that had filled him fled. How he wanted to avoid her question! But that had backfired before, and he did not want to make the same mistake. “There has been a change in my travel plans,” he said reluctantly. “Apparently there is a spy at the War Office, but they have not discovered his identity yet.”
She gasped. “Oh, no! Does Napoleon know about your mission?”
“They believe not. Several agents in France were betrayed, but not the men I will be working with.”
She bit her lip. “This makes it even more dangerous, does it not?”
