“True enough, though some of us would rather he was farther away than Elba.”Lord Melcham studied the young man who had been recruited into his undercover force.
He was handsome in an unusual kind of way.Well-enough looking but it was the way he moved and something in the eyes that set him apart.He could see why his man in Paris had thought Nicholas Delaney could twist a woman around his fingers.
Lord Melcham was used to judging men, and he judged this one to be intelligent and not without character.But unpredictable.He didn’t like dealing with these bored sprigs of the aristocracy who thought it fun to dabble in espionage.Anstable had been one, and look where that had got them.
“You’ll carry on with it then?”he asked at last.
“Yes.”
“Then I thank you, Delaney, and wish you luck.We have finally put an end to war, and it is the duty of every man to preserve the peace.”Knowing he had been resented, Lord Melcham attempted a genial tone.“Don’t suppose it’ll be a hardship at all, Delaney, making love to a woman like that.Eh?”
Nicholas stood and his expression was very cool.“On the contrary, Lord Melcham, it will be most unpleasant.But then, having missed the Peninsula, I feel it is time to suffer in the cause of my country.Good day to you.”
Lord Melcham was left to stare at the door.“And damn your eyes too,” he muttered.After a moment he managed to dismiss the qualm he felt about the plan he had put in hand.It was too important a matter to fret over damaged sensibilities.He resolved, however, to be a little more careful in his future dealings with Nicholas Delaney.
Eleanor was still sitting curledup in the library, delighting in the unlikely adventures of the heroine ofThe Miraculous Nuptials, when Nicholas returned.He gave her a friendly kiss on the cheek.
“What have you found to do with yourself, my dear?”he asked.He looked at the title of her book and said, “Is reality not miraculous enough for you?”
They both burst out laughing.
She gave a brief account of her activities and obtained his approval of her management of the accounts.Then she turned the question back on him.
“Oh, besides seeing your brother—a most slimy individual—I have been setting in train some business.”
“What did Lionel say?”Eleanor asked, feeling sick at the thought of him.
Nicholas just laughed.“I have to give him credit for nerve.He welcomed me to the family and tried to borrow money.Short of thrashing him, which was a temptation, there seemed nothing which could disturb his good humor.You needn’t fear him.He won’t defy me and bother you.”
“Thank God.”Eleanor began to believe that particular nightmare at least was over.
Nicholas then turned the talk to books, and over dinner he talked of his travels, switching from France to America to Austria to China.
At his instruction, the servants had brought the food and left.They served themselves and each other.Dining at a small table, isolated by the pool of candlelight, they could have been alone in the world.Eleanor was deliciously happy.
“Surely travel to such places must be very uncomfortable,” she said.“I have heard even the finest vessels can be primitive on long voyages.”
“That is certainly true,” he replied with feeling.“But not important.I like my comforts as well as the next man, but I think it foolish to be so afraid of a little hardship that one always stays on the safe, familiar path.”
“I would not call capture by Chinese pirates a ‘little hardship,’” Eleanor said with a smile.Then she sobered as she considered his words.“It can be difficult, you know, to escape from those familiar paths, even when they are not particularly comfortable.”
He nodded.“For women, yes, unless they are very rich or very brave.I met a lady missionary in Ceylon who had gone there against the opposition of her family.And Lady Hester Stanhope is, of course, notorious.”
Eleanor felt again that crushing sense of unworthiness.
“You must think me a very paltry specimen to have done nothing to better my situation.”
He reached out to cover her hand with his.“You?No.As you say, it is very difficult to break out of the familiar.You have hardly started yet.I expect great things of you, my dear.The ladies I mentioned are twice your age.”
Eleanor laughed under his teasing.“You make me sound like an infant, whereas I know I am, or was, at my last prayers.”
He snapped his long fingers and his eyes flashed a challenge.“That for marriage!You are a young woman with perhaps sixty years of life before you.Sixty years of freedom.Another wedding gift I give you.Use it.”
She stared.She was almost afraid of him in this mood.“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You will.”
Sinkingly, she remembered he would be away for most of their lives.She would have the privileges of marriage without the constraints of a husband.She supposed many women would be grateful.She summoned a smile.“Thank you for the gift.”
