Page 95 of Give Him a Chance

Lucy looked up, her gaze sharpening as she beheld the man who was, now that she was thinking about it, acting very strangely. “Benjamin.”

“Lucy,” he said gravely, though with a hint of a smile.

“What are you doing here?” she asked directly.

Her cousin shrugged. “I came to see Perce, see if he—”

“You know, I am not sure I believe you,” Lucy said slowly, her focus raking over the man before her and wondering why on earth the man would lie.

But it wasn’t likely that justoneof her cousins would come to Brighton all on their own. Chances meandered in packs; everyone knew that. They liked being with each other; they liked their families. It was one of the things that made them so unusual in Society.

And Benjamin was here, in Brighton,on his own. That didn’t make sense. Even if he were escaping some sort of scandal, he would have brought his sister Frank with him.

Something else was nagging at her too. Lucy would not perhaps put money on it, but she was surprised her parents had told Benjamin all about Bernard Dixon, and the trials—quite literally—and tribulations the family had been through on his behalf.

But if her parents hadn’t told Benjamin…and he hadn’t seen Percy yet because her brother was out gallivanting somewhere…

The realization hit Lucy like a meteor strike. She lunged forward, grabbing the desk with both hands as she spoke what had to be the truth.

“You’ve seen Bernard.”

Benjamin smirked. “Perhaps.”

“Benjamin!” gasped Lucy, utterly unable to take in the statement.

No. No, it wasn’t possible!

Benjamin was the bumbling, roguish, seducing charmer of a cousin who’d once had to pay a very large sum of money to cover up a duel. Benjamin was the happy-go-lucky cousin who neverhad a plan and who meandered from adventure to adventure. Benjamin was—

His index fingers pressed together in front of his lips, Benjamin was examining her with a calculating expression she had never seen before on the man in her life.

“You,” she repeated thickly, unable to take it all in. “You know Bernard.”

“When I first met him, he was the only remaining heir of the Viscount Moray,” Benjamin said quietly. “He’s been Bernard Dixon above three years now.”

“But… But…” Lucy stammered, her mind not quite moving quick enough for her liking. “You can’t know him!”

“I’m afraid I’m the reason he’s here in Brighton at all,” said Benjamin with a sigh. “My mistake. I got held up in London.”

“‘Held up’?You’rethe reason?” repeated Lucy, apparently no longer in control of her tongue. “What are you talking about?”

Her cousin sighed again, and this time, it was a deep sound filled with uncertainty. “You must keep this quiet, Lucy. No one else in the family knows.”

“Knowswhat?”

But she knew the truth half a heartbeat before he said it. It was the only thing that made sense, though it did not make sense at all.

“My alias in the service is Hovell,” said Benjamin quietly. “And I am your lover’s spy handler.”

Lucy stared.

It was a good thing she was sitting down, for there was absolutely no possibility of remaining standing after hearing such a thing.

Benjamin. Benjamin, a spy—more, a spy handler!

Benjamin: unreliable, ridiculously outlandish, Benjamin.

‘Alias’? ‘In the service’?

“And that means,” her cousin continued with a wry smile, “that unlike you… I know how to contact him.”