Page 86 of Give Him a Chance

And finally, Bernard was able to put words around the frantic thoughts in his mind, words he spoke while looking carefully into Lucy’s eyes and hoping to God she would understand. “Lucy, you’ve put yourself in danger.”

Lucy blinked. “‘Danger’?”

“Lucy, while I am a spy, anyone connected with me—why do you think I didn’t see my father all those final years of his life? Why do you think I’ve been living under this name?”

“‘This name’?” Lucy’s brow furrowed as she stepped closer to him. “What do you mean, ‘under this name’?”

Bernard cursed silently and turned away from the woman he loved who had become the world’s best distraction.

Yes, that was what had happened, wasn’t it? All this time, he should have been hunting down Hovell, understanding why the Frenchmen had wanted both of them, doing his job.

And instead, he’d been gallivanting about town, attending balls, being ‘reformed’…and falling in love with a woman who had no idea of the dangers. The dangers they were now both in.

Blast it all to hell.

“If we love each other…” Lucy said quietly, reaching out for his hand.

Bernard pulled it away almost without thought. He couldn’t touch her now; he’d lose all self-control and the conversation would end with them kissing passionately in the hallway.

Probably not what the Earl of Lindow wanted to find when he left his drawing room.

All too late, Bernard remembered Lucy was not a mind reader and so had only seen him pull away from her. He looked up and saw the pain, the confusion of his rejection, and swore under his breath.

“Why not tell people?” asked Lucy, sticking out her chin and staring with the very same defiance with which she had confronted Judge Bonner. “Why not share the fact that we love each other? It is hardly a crime!”

“It is not about whether we tell people or not. Of course I was going to tell your family,” Bernard said hurriedly.

Lucy raised both eyebrows. “Eventually, you mean.”

“Well, of courseeventually!” Bernard tried to calm himself, tried to remind himself to inhale, but too many frantic thoughts were thundering through him and he could not parse a single one of them save for a memory.

A memory of something that had so recently been spoken.

“You can’t marry her. I won’t let you!”

“It’s…” Bernard swallowed. “Oh, Lucy.”

He couldn’t help himself; he couldn’t stay away from her a moment longer. Stepping toward her and taking both hands in his own, he resisted the urge to kiss her.

Lucy did not have such powers of resistance. She lifted up her lips and Bernard could not help but meet them, worshipping her with his mouth, trying to show him through the kiss that he was not angry with her, not upset with her, just overwhelmed and unsure and confused.

When the kiss ended, it was all Bernard could do not to rush to the front door, hail a hansom cab, and ride all the way toGretna Green. They were certainly not getting a special license for a hastened marriage here. One had to be on a nobleman’s good side for that.

But eloping would be the cowardly way out, and he was not a coward.

He would have to face this.

“Lucy,” Bernard said quietly, pressing his forehead to hers.

She smiled, her breathing shallow after such a passionate kiss. “Bernard.”

He sighed slowly, and the concern he had rose up before he could stop it. “You should have talked to me about this first.”

Suddenly, she was gone. Lucy had withdrawn, taking with her the presence that calmed him and the hands that kept him steady. When Bernard blinked, dazed by the sudden absence of the woman he loved, it was to see Lucy glaring at him.

Glaring at me?

“Why?” she said smartly. “Why do I have to gain your approval—yourpermission!—to tell my own family that we love each other and will be married?”