“He has settled in then. Not giving you too much trouble?”
Diana almost laughed as an image of Lucas flashed through her mind. He was leaning over her, his fingers pressing deep inside of her, coaxing out intense pleasure as she cried out his name over and over.
“None,” she croaked out.
“I am shocked,” Stalwood said with a shake of his head. “The others who worked with him complained endlessly about his moods.”
“They were not as talented as Diana.”
Both Stalwood and Diana glanced to the door as Lucas eased inside. Stalwood was on his feet in an instant, examining his employee with eyes of concern. Diana smiled. She had always liked Stalwood despite it all. He truly cared about those who risked their lives for the safety of king and country.
“Good to see you, Willowby,” Stalwood said, and held out a hand.
Lucas shook it with his good arm and then made his way to the settee. He sank down, and Diana could see that finishing his toilette and coming down here had been taxing for him. But he wiped the exhaustion away and smiled at Stalwood.
“Come to check up on me and warn Diana about my poor attitude?” he asked.
Stalwood glanced up at her and motioned her to sit next to Lucas. She hesitated before she acquiesced. Sitting next to him seemed dangerous. Stalwood was a spy, too, after all. He could see signs as well as anyone could.
But she couldn’t exactly go against his request without making a scene so she sat, trying to keep a proper distance between herself and her lover.
“Diana will see enough of your attitude, even if she is too polite to complain to me about it,” Stalwood said with a falsely stern tone. “But it is good to see you with a bit of color in your cheeks.”
Lucas nodded and sent Diana a bit of a knowing look that made her blush. “It’s good to feel a bit more alive again.”
“Well, I hope I will see continued improvement. I would very much like to have you back in the field when you are able.”
Diana watched as Lucas’s entire demeanor shifted. He leaned forward, his face hardening, his body going to a ready position. Gone was the gentle lover or the broken man attempting to heal. Here was the spy. She shivered at the shift. She quaked at how much it affected her when she knew it should not.
After all, Lucas wasn’t hers. They had both made their boundaries very clear. Even if they shared pleasure for the next few weeks, his destiny would not be tied to hers.
And she needed to remember that so she would not become too involved and risk her heart. That was the one thing she could not lose. Not again. Not ever.
Chapter Seven
Lucas stared at Stalwood. He could see his spymaster had trouble on his mind when he said he wanted Lucas back in the field. The idea of it made his palms itch and his heart race.
“If you want me back after denying me all these months, you must have something you need my particular skills to work out.”
Stalwood glanced past him to Diana, and Lucas jolted. He’d been so excited about the prospect of being back in the field, he’d almost forgotten her presence. Now he looked over his shoulder and found her pale, her expression one of deep concern.
He winced at that look. He knew it. It was loss, something he had felt so many times in his life. She was thinking of her father. Of what this profession had taken from her. What he had allowed to happen even before he burst into her life and her home.
“Perhaps you two would like to be alone,” Diana said, rising. “I will…I’ll go make some tea for us all. See if I have anything resembling a biscuit even though it’s early for it.”
She didn’t wait for the response, but left the room. When she was gone, Stalwood shook his head. “Perhaps I should not have involved her in this.”
Lucas arched a brow. “I tend to agree, actually.”
“Questioning authority? That sounds like the old Willowby returned at last. She has worked some magic on you,” Stalwood said, his tone dry as firewood.
“She has lost a great deal.”
Stalwood wrinkled his brow. “Yes, she has. She loved her father deeply.”
“And I’m the reason he is dead,” Lucas said, pushing to his feet and limping to the window. “How that woman doesn’t despise me speaks to the sweetness of her character. I do not deserve her help or…or anything else.”
Stalwood was watching him. Lucas could feel his stare boring into his back. Feel him putting pieces together from the little moments he’d seen with the two of them together.
