Page 29 of A Bluestocking’s Secret Courtship

Dom smiled and nodded. “Forgive me. It will not happen again.” He pinched his earlobe then rubbed his chin. We need to talk.

Jonathan suppressed a sigh. He wasn’t ready to end the tour with Evangeline, but duty usurped personal enjoyment.

“I imagine Evangeline would appreciate an evening of discussing methodologies,” Xavier said. “Someday she will be in charge of her own excavation site.”

“Indeed!” Evangeline beamed at her brother-in-law before turning her electric smile on Jonathan. “Thank you for joining us today, Sir Jonathan, but we don’t want to keep you from important work.”

As they prepared to go their separate ways, Evangeline suggested it might be in her sister’s best interest to end the tour early and return to the villa. “I believe she became overheated,” she said to her brother-in-law.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Regina said when her husband and sister regarded her with concern etched on their foreheads. “I have never felt better; I refuse to leave until we have seen every stone on this hill.”

“There are a lot of stones, Gigi.”

Regina lifted her chin. “And?”

Evangeline and Xavier didn’t argue with her, which seemed a wise choice. Jonathan had noted her fighting spirit from the first time he observed her sparring with her husband.

“I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the rest of the tour, Miss Darlington,” Jonathan said. “Until this evening.”

In silence, he and Dom followed the path they had climbed earlier, encountering a pair of well-dressed young men speaking German. On Grand Tour, no doubt. Jonathan had never taken one himself. He had already seen much of the world in the first seventeen years of his life, and after his parents’ unexpected demises, he had lost the desire. Then Farrin had approached him.

When he and Dom reached the dusty street, they headed south toward the villa. Anger over Dom’s insolence still burned in Jonathan's gut.

“You will develop a sudden illness tonight,” he said through gritted teeth. “I don’t want you dining with us.”

“Why deny myself the pleasure?”

“Pleasure? I expect an evening discussing antiquities is your version of hell.” And Evangeline would realize the lie at once.

“It is my version of hell.” Dom lobbed a bored glance his way. “But after supper, while you are distracting my guests, I will slip into Miss Darlington’s bedchamber⁠—”

“The hell you⁠—”

Jonathan bit off his words when a gate in a garden wall swung open and five men spilled into the street. Their blue skullcaps identified them as Greek Orthodox. They were deep in conversation and didn’t acknowledge Jonathan and Dom as they passed.

Even though the men were out of earshot, Jonathan lowered his voice to almost a whisper. “Stay away from her. I have the situation in hand.”

“Mm-hmm.” How a simple sound could drip with sarcasm was beyond Jonathan’s grasp, but his companion excelled at it.

“Need I remind you this is my mission, Dom. If I fail, it is of no consequence to you.”

“You requested my assistance, and upon my honor as a gentleman, I won’t allow you to fail.”

Jonathan bristled at the other man’s arrogance. “You approached the targets without my blessing.”

“Targets.” Dom scoffed. “You were addressing them by name moments ago.”

“Don’t you think it would rouse suspicion if I had referred to them as Target One, Two, and Three?”

A bitter taste coated his tongue. Charles Wedmore was his only target. He didn’t know why he had identified Evangeline and her kin that way.

“You’re becoming too close,” Dom said, speaking aloud what Jonathan knew to be true. “Whatever fantasies Miss Darlington has inspired, you must give them up. She is a means to an end."

“I agree, so stop lecturing me.”

“I will say no more.”

“Splendid.” Jonathan sighed, his body deflating. His actions were usually based on rational thought, every eventuality considered and consequence calculated. To admit he had abandoned reason with Evangeline Darlington was embarrassing.