As they took their positions on the manicured lawn, Leah was glad to find that they were setting up for a waltz. She had always had a particular fondness for the dance. When Harlan began to twirl her about, she complimented his abilities. “You have a particular lightness of foot.”
“Thank you.” He glanced down at her feet. “You are rather adept yourself.”
“I had the honor of dancing the waltz in Austria, where the steps to this lovely set were born.”
“Did you?” He seemed impressed. “It was fortunate your father ensured you had the best experiences.”
“It was,” she agreed. “But there were times I grew weary of the education and instruction. I would have much preferred it if my father and I could have passed a few evenings together in companionable silence. He seemed to believe that we had to entertain or be entertained nearly all the time.” She allowed some of those melancholy memories to return. “I think it was because he was bereft without my mother and it was his way of dealing with the grief of her loss.”
“People show their devastation in different ways,” he said softly.
“True,” she agreed. She returned her focus to him. “So, what will you do now?”
She could feel his shoulder stiffen beneath her hand, could see his jaw clench. “I shall go to London to speak with Wellington and decide what the assassin’s next move will be.”
Leah recounted the information they had recovered from the maid. “I wish she had been of more use. I was sure she had been a spurned lover, but to learn that she had merely passed along some sealed messages and funds to him was not much help at all.”
He tilted his head to the side, his focus warming. “It was more than we knew before.”
“But it wasn’t the names of his accomplices or—”
He threw his head back and laughed richly and she wondered what she’d said that had been so humorous. “Do you believe it is ever that easy?” He sobered. “Conspiracies are not so black and white. There is much work to be done in uncovering the smallest details. I have interviewed countless individuals over the course of my tenure at the Home Office and barely gained a single piece of information that was ever helpful because you have to decide who is telling the truth and who is trying to hide their secrets. Some days I feel as if it is all an impossible task, but then something happens that breaks it all wide open. The pieces fall into place and I am able to accomplish the mission.”
“Why do you do it if it is so frustrating with such little reward?”
His hazel eyes were piercing when he said, “Because if I do not, who else will?”
She pondered his words as she recalled what he’d said to her at the cottage before they’d set out this evening. “And if it happens that you want to do something else? Will you be able to walk away from it all?”
He didn’t reply for a moment. As the music slowly came to an end, they came to a stop. A muscle worked in his jaw when he replied, “Nothing I’ve done has ever been simple, Miss Lindquist. I can’t imagine that will be either.”
With an incline of his head, he offered a bow. She swallowed over the bitter lump of disappointment clogging her throat as he took his leave.
‘There are days I’m not sure if I want to do this anymore… I might have recently discovered another path worth taking…’
Harlan’s words from earlier continued to swirl in her mind, but after what he’d just told her, she had to wonder if he would ever leave service to the Crown or find himself consumed by it. If the latter, she was setting herself up for a miserable heartbreak, because after such a short acquaintance, she was finding her emotions were already drastically tangled with his. She wondered if it might be best if she went ahead to her brother’s house but discounted the notion almost instantly. Something told her that Harlan was going to need her again.
Harlan was feelingthe strain of his current circumstances. Ironically enough, it didn’t have anything to do with the assassin, but rather his complicated emotions toward Leah. It was a concern that they might not find the man before he engaged in some horrifying plot, but at the moment, everything was overshadowed by Miss Lindquist and his desire to possess her.
But at what cost?
How could he explain the sort of things he’d witnessed? There were horrors that would give her nightmares. He didn’t want to subject her to that sort of life. He wondered if he was past the point of redemption, in so deep with twisted conspiracies that he wouldn’t allow himself to break free. No doubt the chains tying him to the intrigue would continue dragging him back. Where would that leave Leah?
He scrubbed a hand down his face as he started to return to the cottage for something stronger than the weak punch they had offered this evening. He needed a scotch. A strong one. Something that would make him stop thinking about Leah long enough where he could turn his focus back to the task at hand—deciding how to stop the threat to the queen.
He needed to gather his men for a meeting. With a quick word to Benjamin, he quickly went about spreading the word.
As he waited for them to arrive, Harlan poured himself a drink. Hugh walked in with a smirk. “I should have known to just follow the scent of scotch.”
Harlan shrugged. “It shocks me that you seem surprised.”
Hugh helped himself to a glass and then joined Harlan in the parlor. Taking the bottle, he poured a generous amount of alcohol into the glass. “The other men should be here shortly.”
Harlan tapped a finger on his tumbler. “I assume Leah is with your wife?”
Hugh raised a brow as he lifted the glass to his lips and took a slow drink. “Don’t you mean,Miss Lindquist?” Harlan didn’t reply but continued to glare at his longtime friend. “For someone you haven’t known for more than a handful of days, you seem to be on a rather intimate basis with her.”
Harlan wasn’t prepared to fully explain his life to Hugh just yet, especially when he couldn’t quite explain things himself. Instead, he countered with, “I owe her a debt for her wonderful stitching job.”
