She smiled. “It’s the palace, Harlan. It’s hardly a prison.”
He exhaled heavily. “Of course.” He reluctantly took a step back, but he kept hold of her hand as he led her over to a richly upholstered settee. “Have you heard anything concerning as yet?”
Leah shook her head. “Nothing. I have relatively free reign of the palace and all of the servants seem eager to please. No strange comings or goings in the middle of the night that I can attest thus far and no secret rendezvous in the corners.” She reached out and ran a finger down his jawline. “Except one I’d like to plan.”
“I wish I could say I’m relieved,” he murmured. “But I’m quite disappointed. It has been the same for the rest of us. I have to wonder what is taking so long.”
“Perhaps for the queen to leave the palace?”
“Yes,” Harlan agreed grimly. “But if we allowed that, the danger would reach no limit. To dare to even tempt fate in a closed carriage would be the height of foolishness.”
Leah appeared to consider his words. “It might, yes. Unless there was someone else that took her place.”
He didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean?”
She reached out and took his other hand in hers, holding them both together. “We are waiting for the assassin to act, but what if we were to lure him out into the open? I could act as the queen and leave the palace under some urgent pretense—”
Harlan disentangled himself from her and shot to his feet. “No. Absolutely not.”
She stood as well. “Don’t you want this to be over with?”
“Of course!” he snapped. “But not at the expense of your life. Our target will show himself in time. We just need to be patient.”
“So patient that security starts to become lax and there is the possibility that the public will learn what is going on?” She shook her head. “The longer we wait, the less secure everyone will be.”
Harlan scowled. He didn’t want to agree, but he had to admit that she made sense in this regard. Yet neither was he prepared to exchange Leah’s life for that of the queen. He might be loyal, but he wasn’t willing to lose the only thing that mattered to him. “I cannot condone this.”
She released an exasperated breath. “Then I will speak with Wellington, because surely he will listen to reason.”
She turned on her heel, but Harlan reacted and brought her back against his chest. “You cannot make me mad with worry like this. I will not be able to do my job properly knowing that you are daring to put yourself in such harm.”
Her tone gentled as she reached out and placed her palm on his cheek. Her amber eyes were wide and unflinching. Her pulse was sure and steady at the base of her neck. “You forget that I survived years without you by my side. Although I am grateful that you care so much about me now that you are willing to go to such lengths to forbid me to do what webothknow is the next move, it is time to act.”
Harlan closed his eyes. “You are going to be the death of me.”
“You’ve said that before and while that may be I pray it will not be for a long, long time. When we are both so old and decrepit that we shall pray for our own demise by that point.” He opened his eyes to find hers twinkling with merriment, her lips twitching. “But for now, the only thing you need to worry about is finding a way to smuggle me out of the palace and make it look convincing.’
He snorted. “Leave it to you to make it sound like nothing more than a jolly stroll in Hyde Park.”
She shrugged. “I’m not discounting Rotten Row.”
He kissed her soundly on the lips. “Why can’t anything in my line of work be simple? Least of all you.”
She wound her arms around his neck. “Coming from you, I shall take that as the highest of compliments.”
After another long embrace, Harlan reluctantly headed for the door. He didn’t want to leave, but time was of the essence and they had work to do. There would be plenty of time for these stolen embraces once Mr. Bernard was in gaol.
And preferably not stolen, but perfectly legal.
The more Harlan considered the prospect of Leah becoming his wife, the more it became a sound idea. Whether or not she might be carrying his child, he was eager to have her by his side for the rest of their days. Until he became the old, decrepit curmudgeon that she had claimed. He actually smiled at the image as he made his way back to Apsley House to update Wellington.
There, Harlan’s earlier contentment abruptly vanished, because the duke agreed heartily with Leah’s plan. “I have long believed that a diversion would cause our friend to come out of hiding, but this is an ideal circumstance. I am sure there could be a valid reason that the queen would need to leave the palace on some matter of importance.” His smile broadened further while Harlan’s spirits dipped. “You were absolutely right about Miss Lindquist. She has been a formidable ally, indeed. I will request a meeting with the queen and ensure that things are set in motion as soon as possible.”
Harlan could do little more than agree, as he left to find Lucas and get him up to date. With Benjamin spending most of his time in the seedier areas in London and Hugh in Dudley to keep an eye on the vicarage, Lucas was the easiest one to contact.
When Harlan arrived at his residence on Pall Mall, the fine hairs on the back of his neck started to prickle when he noticed the door was slightly ajar. Taking care that he was armed, he withdrew his pistol and held it at the ready as he slowly opened the door and aimed it on anything that might be moving about inside.
“Hold your fire. It’s me.”
