They shook hands, and Dunstan left Tony shaking his head on the stairs. What an ungodly mess this had turned out to be. He should see Lucinda. She was his priority now.
Tony hovered whileMay tittered and fussed over Lucinda, adding salve to the bruise on her cheek and around her wrists where the rope had chafed her skin. “Everyone has gone to bed, and so must you.” He kissed her softly on her lips before moving away.
“I wish you could stay. I want your arms around me.”
“It will not be long, my love. I will go and see about a special license as soon as I can. Mother will be distraught, but I cannot be far from your side from now on.” He sat on the bed and took her hand, bare now of her father’s legacy. “What if I lie beside you until you fall asleep?”
“Yes, please. I will not sleep a wink otherwise. I just know it.”
He smiled and got onto the bed next to her and took her into his arms. She sighed and snuggled her head onto his chest, their fingers intertwined. “I love you so much,” Tony began. “When I thought I might lose you I…”
“You did not lose me. You saved me. It seems you have done so since the day we met. I see now that every action you have taken was to show me the love you had for me but could not voice it.” She looked up at him, into those summer eyes she adored. “I see it so clearly now. I still have the flower you gave me in the garden that first day. It is pressed into my poetry book.”
“I had forgotten about that. There is not a flower in the world that can compare to you.”
She laughed. “I wanted so hard to believe that I could have my dream of a husband, of a family of my own. I had not realized until last night that I had a husband, in all but name, in you. I had a family who loved me. Your family. I do not need anything else.” She kissed him and he held her, murmuring words of love to her until her eyelids could no longer stay open.
When Lucinda woke later that afternoon, she found the family at luncheon. Marianne had hugged her so tightly she thought she might break a rib, but she hugged her friend back just as tightly. Sasha was at their feet wiggling her whole body in excitement that something was going on. The two of them laughed.
“Do not ever scare me like that again,” Marianne said as she guided Lucinda to a seat at the table.
“I have no intention of seeking any further adventures, I assure you.” She sat while they served her wine and soup; everyone talked and laughed, and she realized something. She no longer felt out of place here. It was strange, this feeling of belonging. To think she had become important to not just Tony, but his whole family. Her heart swelled with the knowledge, and she did not think she would ever be tired of it.
The duke stood and tapped his glass. “A toast to our Lucinda and Tony. Thank goodness you are all back safe and sound.”
Cheers were loudly exclaimed, and Lucinda was giddy with happiness as she sipped her wine. Everything around her seemed brighter, more in focus and familiar. And there was Tony, sitting across from her in the middle of all the mayhem that was the Ashton family, smiling at her.
This was where she belonged.
Later that night,Edward pulled Tony aside. “The king wants a full report of what happened. I doubt he will do anything legal about it, since it was clandestine in nature and a young lady was in danger. Dunstan has already made his statement about his involvement in it. You must do the same.”
Tony shook his head. He knew there would be consequences for what he had done. “The man is dead; that cannot be swept under the rug.”
“They went through his office today and they found Stafford had links to the Prussians, the French, and the Austrians. It seems he was being paid quite handsomely by all of them.”
Tony’s shoulders slumped. “I still find it hard to believe.” He really had betrayed them. He wondered how much other information the members of the Ring had given Stafford that had been used against the very country they were spying for. “Why did I not see it? Surely, I would have known if he had lied to me?”
“I am just as shaken by this news as you are. He was a master at subterfuge, used to hiding this other side of himself. Perhaps, he did not need to lie to you in the beginning but with the increasing pressure to get the stolen formula due to Lucinda’s introduction back into society, well, I guess he got desperate.”
Tony was grateful to his brother for trying to make him feel better about the situation, but it still stung.
“It gets worse,” his brother said. “They also seem to think he had something to do with the disappearance of CaptainMarkham. That he may have tipped off the French as to his last known whereabouts. There was nothing to suggest he had sent anyone to find him either. They still do not know if he is alive, but Liverpool wants to know if you want to be involved.”
“The Prime Minister? Of course, but Lucinda. I cannot leave her now.”
“Ask her; she may surprise you.”
“I could be away for months.”
“Yes, you could but just think, when you return as the next Spymaster of the Ring, you will never have to leave England again.”
“Spymaster? Me?”
“It was Dunstan’s recommendation to Liverpool. Think about it.”
“I guess that would make you happy. Is it true? Did you deliberately ask Stafford to give me no overseas missions? To keep me close?”
“I am ashamed to say it is.”
