The Spymaster's Men: Persuasion Part 31

He sighed. "Of course I knew. Warlock's circle is small, Amelia. We all know one another."

She trembled. "Do you also know that Simon is posing as a Frenchman-and that the French think he is loyal to them?"

And finally, his eyes widened in surprise.

"I see you didn't know that! Did you know that he was in prison in France? And that if the French ever suspect him of treachery, he might wind up there again?" She was suddenly enraged. "He is supposed to meet with some Frenchman here in town and give him valuable information about our troops! I am terrified for him!"

Lucas pulled her close. "You know too much. I am sorry, Amelia, so sorry that it has come to this."

She twisted away. "Forget about me! How can Simon get out of the war? d.a.m.n it, Lucas, he has children to think of!"

"Warlock won't let him out. I imagine he will soon go back to France, where he can continue to uncover the intelligence we need to win the war."

"But that is why the French have sent him here! And Warlock was clear-he is pleased to feed all kinds of information back to the French through Simon! Can't you see that Simon is in an impossible predicament? He is in impossible danger!"

Lucas breathed hard. "d.a.m.n it. You are committed to him now!"

"I am more than committed. We are lovers, Lucas, and I am not turning my back on him." She glared.

Lucas flushed, clearly incredulous.

She stared defiantly. But as angry as she was, she was even more desperate. "We need your help, Lucas. Simon doesn't want to do this-I am certain! How can we protect him from his enemies? How can he get out of these war games? Bedford got out!"

Lucas's stare hardened. "You have become his mistress. So you are not good enough to become his wife?"

She cried out. "That is not fair!" But hadn't she wondered almost the exact same thing?

"Do not speak to me of fairness. You are a wonderful woman, you would be a wonderful wife-you are not a trollop. He happens to be a widower. He is going to marry you, Amelia." He was furious.

"Lucas, I cannot marry him-not under these circ.u.mstances." She was lying to her brother now, because she would marry Simon in an instant. "The first order of business is to find a way to extricate Simon from these intrigues." She added, "The next time he meets with someone they are calling Marcel, he might never come home!" She choked as she finally revealed her greatest fear-that Simon could wind up dead the very next time he met his French contact.

"Grenville will hardly be taken by surprise, Amelia. He is as clever and as dangerous as his enemies, you may trust me on that."

She sat down, shaken. "I pray you are right. Will you help him-will you help us?"

Lucas came and sat beside her. "Of course I will-but I am very displeased with your affair."

"I love him." She shrugged helplessly. "And I am hardly a child."

He took her hand and held it tightly. "If you were happy, I might feel differently."

"When I am with Simon, and we are at home, as if the war does not exist, I am ecstatic. I am happy-but I am terrified for Simon-I am afraid for his life. Lucas, I never stopped loving him."

He sighed. "I think I have known that, all along." Surrendering, he squeezed her hand. "You do realize I intend to make certain that Grenville holds you in the highest regard?"

"He does," she said firmly.

"I didn't know he was imprisoned. That worries me, because it means he was already suspect when he was still in France. It means suspicion must remain. I imagine he is being carefully watched by his French friends."

"You are not making me feel better."

"I will have to think about this. He can't simply walk away from his French masters. The one thing I have learned during the course of this war is that the French republicans are as mad as rabid dogs. You are either with them or you are not. Enemies of the Republic are given one fate, and that is the guillotine. He would have to disappear, Amelia, in order to escape their vengeance, should they ever learn he is one of us."

She shuddered. "He has children."

"Entire families have fled France and are in hiding here in Britain," he said.

"Do you think it possible for the Earl of St. Just to simply take his children and disappear?"

"I think it would be far more difficult for someone of St. Just's stature," he said.

She groaned. "Then what will we do?"

"We may not be able to do anything. You seem to be forgetting that if Grenville decided to get out of the game, Warlock would be his enemy, too. Warlock would never give up a valuable agent like Grenville-not willingly-not until he is no longer of value to him."

She felt tears finally arise. "I just don't know how long Simon can keep his French liaison convinced of his loyalty," she whispered. "I am worried he is on a terribly slippery slope."

Lucas simply stared.

"What is it?"

"I meant it when I said that Grenville is clever and dangerous."

She became chilled. "And what is your point?"

"This war has made men like myself-and like Grenville-chameleons. We have become leopards adept at changing our spots. We have learned how to do whatever we must in order to survive."

"You are making me uneasy."

"You never told me how Grenville became an agent for the French."

Her heart thundered. "He did what he had to in order to survive," she said slowly. "He had a choice-become one of them or go to the guillotine."

Lucas made a harsh sound. "Amelia-would Grenville ever betray his country?"

She shot to her feet. "Of course not!"

Lucas studied her. "Not even to save his own life-or yours-or his children's?"

And suddenly Amelia was at a loss and she could not answer him. Because Simon would do anything he had to do to protect her and the children. He had said so-and she believed him.

"I thought so," Lucas said.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

LUCAS HAD INSISTED THAT SHE take his carriage home. He had a driver, and Amelia sat in the open curricle in the backseat, curled up in the corner. Her mind was racing uselessly. She was exhausted from the emotional turmoil she had been swept up in, ever since she had eavesdropped on Warlock and Simon yesterday.

It was almost supper time. She could not wait until the evening meal was over, and the children had been put to bed. All she wanted to do just then was crawl into Simon's arms, close her eyes and let him hold her tightly.

Her driver cried out.

Amelia gasped, her eyes flying open as the curricle she was riding in swerved hard to the curb. A large black coach was pa.s.sing by them and it had come dangerously close. She clung to the seat as one of the curricle's wheels. .h.i.t the curb. Shocked, Amelia turned to stare after the black coach, expecting it to continue its mad rush by them. Instead, the coach's two-horse team turned sharply in front of them, causing Lucas's carriage horse to scream in alarm as it reared up to avoid cras.h.i.+ng into the other team. The black coach braked in front of her curricle, positioned in such a manner that they were prevented from going forward.

Amelia was disbelieving-was the other driver insane? Or intoxicated? They had almost had a terrible collision! "Is our horse all right?" she cried.

"He's fine," the driver gasped, "but we are lucky, madam, we did not crash into this coach."

Amelia was standing now, and holding on to a safety strap for support. The team of black geldings in the coach's traces seemed unnerved, but otherwise fine. Before she could ask if there was anyone in the coach-and if anyone was hurt-its door was flung open. A man descended rapidly in a whirl of dark clothes, and was striding toward her.

"Sir?" Amelia began, confused. His face was set, and suddenly he was opening her own door and seizing her arm. Amelia cried out as she was pulled bodily from the curricle.

And as she was pushed toward the other coach, she realized what was happening. She was being abducted. Amelia screamed, trying to pull free of the stranger as her driver shouted in protest. "Unhand her!"

But it was too late and Amelia was already thrust up into the dark interior of the other coach.

As she fell hard and face-first onto the seat there, the man shoved the coach door closed behind her. Instantly the coach moved forward.

She had been abducted.

Fear immobilized her, but briefly. And Amelia realized she was not alone.

She started to sit up, and as she did, a strong hand closed around her waist, helping her.

More fear a.s.sailed her. Amelia pulled free, sitting up instantly and pressing backward into her seat. And her gaze locked with Warlock's.

"You are fortunate," he said softly, "that it is I who wishes a word with you and not the enemy."

She gasped. "How could you do such a thing?" But as she stared at her uncle, she realized that he was right. She was in danger now, because she was Simon's lover and she knew too much. French agents could abduct her, just as her uncle had.

"I asked you to give me your word, Amelia, and you refused to do so." He shrugged, his expression bland. "It hardly takes genius to know you would run to Lucas the first moment you could do so. But at least I trust him."

She was gasping for breath and trembling wildly. "You frightened me!" But what did that mean? Was he implying that he did not trust her-or Simon?

"Good, because you should be frightened. You should be on your way to Cornwall, in fact."

She was beginning to regain some composure-and she was furious. "I am not leaving Simon, d.a.m.n it."

His brows lifted. "Then you will stay here at your own risk-and now you comprehend just how risky it is to remain here."

"You are certainly making your point, Sebastian. In the future, I will be more careful and travel with Garrett at my side. But if you have staged a false abduction to impress me, then you have wasted your time!"

"A wise decision, to keep a bodyguard, but I did not stage an abduction just to frighten you. I told you to keep everything you have learned in confidence. You disobeyed me, and there is always a price to be paid for disobedience, Amelia."

She stared, taken aback and uncertain of how she should respond. Should she fear her own uncle? He had come to the family's aid twenty years ago, but two decades had pa.s.sed since then and the country was at war-and war changed everyone. She knew that firsthand.

She finally said, low and carefully, "I have done no harm. As you said, Lucas is trustworthy. Simon is in trouble, and maybe Lucas can help."

"I can help, Amelia. It is to me you should have turned." He was calm.

She was not about to tell him that she did not trust him, and perhaps, that she feared him. "Yes, you can help. I want you to let Simon out, Warlock. He has been in your intrigues long enough. He has a family to think of, especially now that his wife is gone. He is being ripped apart by these terrible deceptions. He needs to be a father to his children, not be one of your spies."

"Even if I decided to let him out, to use your term, his French masters would hardly be so agreeable. They are expecting Grenville to provide them with valuable intelligence, Amelia. The reach of the Terror is vast. It has come to our sh.o.r.es. Grenville must dance to their tune, otherwise he will pay a dear price for his treachery."

She s.h.i.+vered. "We could go into hiding. We could disappear."

"He cannot give up an earldom, Amelia."

"Then what is the answer?" she cried. "Or is the real answer that you won't give him up?"

"Grenville remains terribly valuable to me, more so than ever, in fact. Come, Amelia, you are highly intelligent. Surely you know that Grenville is perfectly placed to do the worst damage to France? You remain a patriot, do you not?"

She hissed, "I will not sacrifice Simon to the d.a.m.ned war!"

"And I hope you do not have to. Grenville has been playing a dangerous game for several years. If he can continue to do so successfully-and there are men like him who have done so successfully for many years-he will survive. Do you really wish to help him? I have no doubt that it would ease his mind if you took the children and went to Cornwall."

Had she become a distraction-a dangerous one? But she knew Simon needed her close by! She was consumed with dismay. There was no end in sight to these horrible war games. She simply could not imagine going around and around like this, bowing to one master and then another for years and years, and wondering every time Simon went out into the night, if he would ever return. "Simon needs me. I cannot leave him now. So do not ask me to do so again."

"I thought that would be your reply." He seemed slightly amused.

She shook her head grimly. "I will do my best to be a help to him-not a hindrance or a distraction. But you must a.s.sure me of one thing. a.s.sure me that you will not send Simon back to France, not now, not ever."

"You may rest a.s.sured that right now, I prefer him to be where he is. But I can make no promises, Amelia. None of my men have spoken with Robespierre, but he has."

She clenched her fists, horrified. Had Simon become that deeply involved in the French republican government? "I won't allow him to go back. It is too dangerous. They already imprisoned him once! He would never survive another prison term."

"Unfortunately, he will do as I say." He was calm. "But I will certainly take what you are saying into consideration."

She shook her head, feeling powerless. "You are heartless, Sebastian."

"If I had a heart, I would probably be dead, as would most of my men." He shrugged.

"I am your niece! I love him!" she cried.

"Yes, that is obvious-too obvious. You cannot allow his enemies to realize that you are lovers, Amelia. Because if his deception is ever uncovered, Grenville is in jeopardy, as are you and the children."

She turned to gaze out of the window at the pa.s.sing buildings, tears arising. She hated Warlock now. She hated the war.

"I am not the enemy. I want nothing more than to attain a happy ending for us all."

He spoke softly, and Amelia looked at him, wondering if she had misheard.

"But I have found that there are few happy endings to be had, outside of fairy tales and novels. I look forward to the day when Grenville can return to his life as an earl and a father, when I have no further need for him, when this d.a.m.ned war is over. But I am a realist, Amelia, not a dreamer, and my attention is on the present and the immediate future. You need to be a realist, as well. You need to keep your romantic expectations in check. These are not romantic times."