Nowhewas cross. “Youwill,” he informed her. “Because lives are at stake and the government of England could benefit from your usefulness. It is decent and honorable to—”
“Do not say it,” she cut him off. She came to a stop before an empty storefront and whirled around.
“Do not suggest I lack decency or honor when I know the War Office or the Home Office or Whitehall could provision you with unlimited resources if you require them. I am merely one woman, alone. I’m fighting to keep my livelihood. I deplore Iceland for reasons too personal to share. And I also suffer from wretched seasickness; as such, I’ve sworn off ocean voyages. So do not expect me to politely ask how I might help. Don’t tell me thatIam your only hope—andI have no wish to go—because I don’t believe you.”
“Fair points, one and all,” he said, which was certainly true. “But I’ve an answer.”
“Yes, and the answer is, ‘How right you are, Miss Tinker. I’ll leave off plaguing you.’ ”
He laughed. “Actually—no.”But how adorable you are, he thought.
He could hardly say that. He cleared his throat.
“Look,” he began again, “if I’m being completely honest, my efforts on this mission are not entirely under the, er,jurisdictionof the Foreign Office. That is, it’s not anofficialundertaking. I won’t be operating under... sanctioned authority.”
“What does that mean?” She sounded skeptical.
“I’m sufficiently high in rank—or I was before I retired—but even I’m subject to a chain of command. When I explained the pirate capture and the attempted illegal trade to my commanding officer, he was . . . notconvinced. I told him these men from Lincolnshire could die and England could face a diplomatic quarrel with Denmark, but he wouldn’t budge.
“He didn’t block me from going so much as reminded me that I’m meant to be retired.” Here Jason made a grimace. “That I’m...no longer in play.”
“Stop,” she pleaded. “Not an appeal for sympathy. On top of everything else.”
He laughed, a bitter, ragged sound. “I don’t want your sympathy, Isobel; what I want is to be a foreign agent. That’s been taken from me. Fine. So be it. Ialsowant to recover my cousin. This is in reach. If handled with care and delicacy and the resources at hand.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You plan to strike out on your own?”
He let out a disgusted harrumph. “Was I forbidden to embark on the mission? No, I was notforbidden. Do they know I intend to give it a go? Yes, they do. But will I be working on behalf of the British governmentwhen I enact the recovery? Not... entirely.
“Of course, if things go badly... if the pirates begin to kill the merchants or Denmark learns of their attempt to smuggle with Iceland... the Foreign Officewouldbe invoked. They’d send reinforcements, official diplomacy would commence. My goal, with the consent—although not the support—of my former employer is to keep ahead of that.
“My goal,” he finished, “is in and out, and no one knows.My methodis to recruit outsiders—which means you—and make as little fuss as possible. The Foreign Office is overburdened with larger concerns. I’m... I’m managing this on my own.”
By the time Jason had said all of it, he was sweating.He snatched off his hat and ran a finger through his hair. He raised his eyebrows.
Miss Tinker studied his face, saying neither yes nor no. Also, she did not say,How brave and noble you are, orHow very full of rubbish you have been.
But she did begin to slowly shake her head.
“What?” he asked.
“You.” Her head was still shaking. “It’s as if your very person has been carefully assembled from all the cast-off parts of my former... former...poorjudgment.”
Now it was his turn to ask. “What?”
“It’s a test, clearly,” she said, speaking to herself. “A challenge to all I’ve accomplished.”
Again, “What?”
And then he did the thing that he’d wanted to do since he’d watched her descend from the cab. He reached out and touched her. A gentle but firm gloved hand encircling the bare skin of her arm. She’d left her shawl on her chair, and the sleeves of her summer dress did not reach her gloves. Her arm was firm and warm and strumming with energy.
She looked first at his hand on her arm and then up at him. “I do not think we should touch.”
He explained, “I’m making a very important point.”
“You’retouchingmy arm.”
“Will you hear what I have to say?” he asked, dropping his hand. “There’s more.”
