In the hall, Hendrix and Dane were talking. Dane shook the other man’s hand and then moved toward them. “My superior, Stalwood, has been sent for. He’ll run the rest of this.”
Asher tilted his head. “You don’t want to do it yourself, after all the work you did?”
Dane let out a long, heavy sigh. “No. I’m retired. My life is with Celia and helping Gray with his businesses now. I’m not a spy anymore.”
“What about the book?” Felicity asked, her voice shaking.
Dane looked at her. “The War Department has no interest in pursuing a woman who defended herself against an attack three years ago. Especially in a case where it was declared an accidental death. My only final duty is to decode the entire book and return it so that Stalwood can be certain none of the secrets are of national interest. If there are pages missing…” He held up the ones in his hand. “These pages, then he trusts they weren’t ones of interest to the government.”
“So then it’s over,” Felicity said. Asher expected her to sound relieved, to sound happy even. But her voice was almost…numb. Like she didn’t believe it. Like she couldn’t believe she was free.
A pair of horses thundered into the drive and a carriage behind it. Dane arched a brow. “That was quick. Stalwood must have been watching Fitzgilbert, himself to be so ready.” Dane stepped away to talk to the men who had arrived.
Asher turned toward her. “You’re safe.”
“Yes, I suppose I am,” she said, blinking. “Assuming these pages truly are the ones that contain the truth about Barbridge’s death, then there is no one else who could betray me. The servant who initially shared the story is dead, the others are trustworthy. I am free.”
Asher smiled at those words, but he also flinched. Her freedom meant their parting in the end.
“Your family must be worried about you,” he said. “Should we return to them?”
She caught her breath. “Where did they think I went?”
“Your mother’s,” he said. “It was best. It gave Dane and me a reason to keep Stenfax and Gray at bay. Had Gray come…”
“He might have done something that couldn’t be undone,” she said solemnly. “After what this man did to Rosalinde, he wanted him destroyed. He’ll be happy, at least.”
“He has a great deal to be happy about,” Asher said. “He and Rosalinde revealed they are having a child.”
Felicity jerked her face toward him. She was clearly shocked by the news, but there was also something else in her expression. Regret. Loss. Sadness.
“My God, all I’ve wrought,” she said, shaking her head. “And here they were, trying to start a new life together.”
Dane walked over to join them. “Stalwood will take care of the rest. I can report to him later. Come, we should go back to your mother’s, Felicity. It’s where the others are gathered.”
He motioned to Hendrix and the young man called for their horses and her carriage.
“I’ll ride with Felicity,” Asher said.
The carriage came and he helped Felicity into it, then turned back to Dane. “Can you make sure my horse makes it back?”
“Yes,” his friend said. “Of course. Is she…well?”
Asher glanced up at her, a shadow in the carriage. “She will be.”
Dane was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded. “I’ll meet you at her mother’s.”
“Thank you.”
Before Asher could step up, Dane caught his arm. His friend’s gray eyes were focused and intense as he said, “Don’t let whatever past separated you to keep you from the future, Asher. I almost did that with Celia, and I would have missed out on so much if I had. Don’t walk away, even if it seems like she’s pushing you out the door.”
Asher glanced back up at her. She was staring out the opposite window, her hands trembling. He had no idea if what Dane was suggesting was even possible. If hecouldbe what she needed.
The fact was, she still didn’t fully understand why he’d left her in the first place. And when that came out, it would hurt her. He hated to do it. He’d been trying to avoid doing it for weeks.
“Our story is different than yours,” he said softly.
“Yes, it is,” Dane admitted. “It’s far less impossible.”
