“Oakford made his own bad decisions that day. Your foolhardiness is not all that is to blame. I didn’t send you here to prostrate yourself for punishment over whatever wrongs you have or haven’t done,” Stalwood said softly. “Nor did I send you here to corrupt her.”
Lucas turned slowly and met his superior’s eyes. Stalwood knew. But of course he did. The tension between him and Diana was palpable. Sex hadn’t released any of it, only made it stronger. Only gave him knowledge of what he would do to her later to make them both feel better.
Stalwood’s disapproval wouldn’t change that, even if it should have.
“I don’t want to corrupt her,” he responded.
“Good, she deserves better.” Stalwood folded his arms. “But that isn’t what we need to discuss.”
Lucas straightened. “You have news.”
Stalwood nodded. “Carter Mackany was killed last night. Murdered.”
Lucas’s stomach turned, and he stumbled back to the settee and stared at his superior. Stalwood’s expression was heavy with grief and anger, emotions he was sure his own reflected. He’d known Mackany for years. He’d trained Lucas on the intricacies of different accents so he could take on whatever role came to him on a case. They’d even worked together in Scotland when the queen’s jewels had been stolen, Lucas’s first successful case.
“Murdered,” he repeated when he could speak.
“He was on a case in France. It involved the running of weapons past the blockades.”
“Deep cover?”
Stalwood frowned. “The deepest. No one should have known his whereabouts unless they were in our organization.”
Lucas stared at him as that news sank into his gut and sat there, cold and heavy. “Our traitor.”
“He’s been silent for months, since the attack. I think killing Oakford and injuring you must have put him off for a while. He knew there was heat on him. But he seems to be functioning still within our organization.”
Lucas focused on the crackling fire. “I want him. I want to catch him and punish him for what he did to me. To Oakford. To Mackany. To how many others?”
“I understand.” Stalwood reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a stack of folded pages. “This is the full report about the day you were attacked. It contains not only your account, but those of the others who came after, the remaining witnesses and details of the investigation we’ve done since that day. I want you to look at it, if you’re up to it. See if you can weave any of the pieces together or see anything we’ve missed.”
Lucas took the papers with shaking hands. It had been months since he’d gotten to do anything useful. And while this was not exactly heading to the field to lead the chase, it was something.
He would take something over nothing any day.
“Be careful of Diana with those things,” Stalwood said softly, drawing Lucas from his thoughts.
He looked at the papers again. “Yes, of course. She needn’t know every bit of her father’s last moments. And she’s too clever not to involve herself if she knew I had these.” He stood. “Help me back to my chamber. Tell her I got tired. It will give me time to hide the paperwork. I’ll go over it later when she is busy.”
Stalwood nodded and followed Lucas from the room. But as they moved up the stairs, Lucas couldn’t help but feel guilty for the subterfuge. Diana was doing everything in her power to help him and now he was going to lie to her.
That didn’t feel good as her friend, her patient or her lover. He could only hope those lies would lead to the revealing of the man responsible for her father’s death. At least he could give her that peace. But only if he withheld the truth from her now.
Diana stood at the door with Stalwood, saying her farewells after the two had shared tea. When she returned and found Lucas gone to bed, she’d expected the earl to depart right away. But he’d stayed for over an hour and they’d chatted of nothing at all.
It had been nice, actually, not to have the dark cloud of her father’s loss hanging between them.
But now he held one of her hands and was examining her face far too closely. The cloud was back. “You are not sleeping well.”
She blushed. That was true, though the cause for her current state of unrest was not the unpleasant one he assumed. Her night had been spent with Lucas. And she intended to repeat that night. She longed to do so, if only to forget everything else in her life that troubled her.
“I’m fine,” she reassured him.
Stalwood shook his head “I’m no substitute for your father, Diana, I know that, but I do feel some responsibility for your well-being. As his friend as much as his superior.”
“You were always his friend,” she said softly “And I appreciate that. As did he. But you needn’t worry.”
He was silent a long moment before he asked, “Did I make a mistake, asking you to help Willowby?”
