Page 69 of Her Tempting Traitor
He nudged her to turn forward again, and tucked her beneath his chin. When he spoke, she felt the reverberations through her body.
“I told ye I hadnae worked with this team before, but we’d been trained by the same people and worked well together. Avers was our demolitions man, Rudinsky our insertionspecialist. He’d been raised by Prussian parents but his Irish accent was…” His wry chuckle made her chest shake as well. “He could pass as a native. And Simonsen…he was a kid. Idealistic, but the best bloody shot I’d ever met. After a month together, our handlers decided we were ready.”
Knowing where this was going, Gabby shivered then realized it wasn’t just because of the story. The water was getting cold, and it had to be well past midnight. Rocking forward, she used the edge of the tub to pull herself upright. “You were infiltrating the Fenians?”
“Aye.” Cassian accepted her hand and stood, water sluicing from him as if he were an ancient statue in the center of a fountain, as he balanced carefully. “Here,” he said, offering his hand to help her out of the tub.
Once she stood dripping on the rug, she turned to help him, only to see he’d perched on the edge to swing his good foot around. She grabbed an extra towel and moved to wipe him down.
Cassian snatched it from her. “It’s my job to dryye, lass. Go get in bed.”
“And miss the chance to help you? Never.”
He rolled his eyes, but she thought he might have been hiding a smirk as he pushed himself to his foot to dry off, balancing his knee on the edge of the tub. “Go fetch me a cane, would ye?”
Wrapping herself in one of the towels, unwilling to soak her robe, Gabby hurried to his room where there were, indeed, a collection of canes strewn about. When she returned, he was just tucking in his own towel…and he raised a brow as he asked for her help.
“If ye wrap yer arm around my middle, I think I can make it to the bed with just the cane.”
Honored that he trusted her so, Gabby did as he suggested, pushing her body against his, tucking her shoulder beneath his arm and taking as much of his weight as she could.
“My upper body strength is the only reason you wanted me in this position?”
As Cassian fell onto the bed, he dropped the cane and kept his hold on her, bringing her with him. “I cannae think of another reason,” he murmured, before rolling to the side to strip the towel from her and tuck her beneath the covers, turning down the lamp.
When he took her in his arms once more, she snuggled closer, hoping the semi-darkness would make it easier for him to share.
“The Fenians have been quiet these last years,” Cassian began again in a low murmur, “but the threat was still there. Luckily the cells arenae well known to one another—secrecy and anonymity are what keep them safe. The plan was that we would pass ourselves off as an anarchist cell and gain the trust of local leaders.”
His fingertips were lazily stroking her spine and she pressed herself against his chest, throwing one leg over his. “Did it work?”
“Aye, eventually. It wasnae easy—suspicious bastards, and they had the right to be. But we claimed to have a dynamite supplier, and they needed us.”
When Cassian sighed his breath ruffled her hair, and she wrapped her arm around his middle hoping she could take some of his pain on herself.
Because it was pain, wasn’t it?
“It took months before they trusted us, but we had the drop set up. They would pass us the money, we would pass them the dynamite. It was rigged to detonate if necessary, but we didnae want to kill the leaders, kill anyone—just identify them. That’s why it was so important to get them to meet with us, so we couldseethem.”
Remembering what Bull’s report had said about the aftermath, Gabby closed her eyes. “But it all went wrong, did it not?” she whispered.
He didn’t answer for a long time, then she felt him swallow.
“We were in a brothel. A fancy one, pretentious clientele. The Fenians showed up, bold as brass, showing their faces. Rudinsky was in charge of memorizing their faces so he could sketch them later. We made the trade. After they inspected the dynamite, they handed the money off to Simonsen.”
She felt him shudder, and squeezed him tighter.
“One of them suggested a drink, and I thought it—well, it was a good idea to ingratiate ourselves. I knew Avers wanted out of there, but information was more important. How long had we waited to even meet the bastards… We were sitting there, laughing like we were all auld friends, when…” The bed shivered as he shook his head. “A man came out of one of the rooms, drunk, two half-dressed women on his arms. They were clearly in the middle of…ah.”
“I know what you mean,” she murmured dryly.
“I recognized him,” he whispered. “So did Rudinsky—I remember the way he looked at me, panicked, asking what we were supposed to do. I hadnae planned to doanything, except three of the Fenians leaders recognized him too.”
Recognized him?
This man was someone important—someone important toEngland.
“Two of them yelled his name, and he threw the women off and started to run, panicked. One yelled something like,he’ll be worth our independence, like they were going to hold the man hostage, and I remember Avers cursing as he worked it out.” Cassian took a deep breath. “When the Fenians began shooting…Avers was the one to fire right back.”
