John pressed his leg against hers. She did love a good story.
“He says he had to flee after the Congress of Vienna, but fears foreign agents are after him.” Wil blew out a breath. “His face looked to have taken a recent beating, but the dangers might all be in his head.”
“Foreign agents?” Sutton looked around the table. “Should we speak with Liverpool about this?”
“The prime minister has completely cut us out of his confidence.” John pressed his lips together. “I suspect he doesn’t believe that we don’t know where Sudworth disappeared to.”
“How shocking,” Montague said dryly.
“Besides, as Wil says, the man might be deranged. We can’t go to Liverpool with the ravings of a lunatic.” Nor did John want to. If he ever learned anything that threatened the nation, he would notify the proper authorities, of course. But other than that he no longer desired an association with the Crown. That part of his life was done.
“He says he has proof.” Wil tapped the door frame and straightened. “I intend to try to convince him to show it to me.”
“And if you can’t convince him, perhaps we can discover the truth in other ways.” John ran his hand up the back of his head. The possibilities were endless.
“Do you need a retrieval expert?” Rothchild asked. He shrugged at the questioning look Amanda gave to him. “What? My skills are available for the next few days.”
Wil turned his hat about in his hands. “That’s very kind of you, my lord—”
“Mine, too.” Dunkeld raised his hand like a school boy. “My fists didn’t get nearly enough exercise rounding up Sudworth’s men. I’m available too.”
“Lord Dunkeld, while I appreciate the offer—”
“Wouldn’t it be nice,” John said, interrupting Wil, “if we had some sort of organization to provide us with jobs we might want to take on from time to time. Something to alleviate the tedium of our conversations on what little Marcus ate for dinner and what crops are yielding the most this year?”
“I hope you are not saying you find my company dull already?” Netta asked sweetly. “Because there might be repercussions to you if that were so.”
He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her soft cheek. “Of course not, darling. You could never be dull.”
Elizabeth glared at him. “I am not the type of mother who talks about what her children eat each day.”
John pursed his lips but remained silent. Let her believe what made her happy.
“And crop yields are immensely fascinating,” Winnifred said. “Why our barley has—”
Dunkeld cupped her shoulder. “Dear, while agriculture is a topic of endless interest to me and to your scientific mind, not all feel such. Especially not these simple-minded louts.”
“I take Summerset’s point.” Montague drummed his fingers on the table. “I do miss feeling of service to a country in need. Perhaps…we could turn our skills to individuals who need assistance.”
“A private agency?” Sutton raised his eyebrows. “For what? Spying? Detecting?”
“Either.” John’s blood pulsed through his veins. A private agency. A place to exercise their talents, indulge their lust for adventures without any restraints from Liverpool. And to help people, of course. “Both. Whatever we want to make of it.”
Rothchild stood. “I propose Wil’s friend be our first client. I’ll accompany him and speak to the man. See what sort of assistance we can provide.”
Wil rubbed the back of his neck. “Truly, it isn’t necessary. And the man isn’t a friend, just someone I noticed who—”
“This agency will need more people than just us.” John twirled a lock of Netta’s hair around his finger. “We don’t want to do the drudge work, after all. I say we put Wil in charge of hiring more men. He’s good at getting people to do as he wants.”
His friend narrowed his eyes.
“Come, come,” John chided him. “It won’t be difficult. We still have many contacts from our time working for the Crown. I’m sure for the right amount of blunt they’d be happy to go private.”
“The difficulty of the task wasn’t what I objected to. Sir.”
John merely grinned at him. The idea was marvelous. Why hadn’t any of them thought of it before. Yes, they all had wives and families now and didn’t have the time to make it a full-time occupation, but a little intrigue on the side?
Now that was damn near perfect.
