Page 11 of An Honorable Deception
Lavinia looked far from convinced. “No. You reallydon’ttrust me. Otherwise you would have told me about this before now. I’ve heard of the Imposters—this isn’t anewventure of yours, is it? How long have you had this firm?”
Marigold looked over at him.
He shrugged. She’d already learnedthat—what did the details matter? “Six years, give or take. We knew we had to do something more than stanch the bleeding from the coffers when Father died. We needed a way to refill them. I mean, ifwe intended to eat. And Iamrather fond of food. Growing boy, you know.”
Another glance at his sister, but she didn’t seem inclined to take over the narrative. She was too busy throwing daggers at him with her eyes.
Well then. He’d finish the story himself. “So we talked through our options, and we decided that the rather unique skills we’d learned from the actors and acrobats and circuses and whatnot that Father had wasted our legacy on could be used to redeem it. We can get places others can’t. Remember conversations verbatim and repeat them. We’ve been trained to observe what others don’t see. So instead of a circus, we ran off to join—or create, anyway—a PI firm.”
Lavinia’s gaze skated to Marigold again. “Merritt knows?”
His sister sighed and gave up her defensive posture in favor of moving to a couch—evidence that Lavinia was quite right in her assessment of Marigold’s energy levels. “Yes. He hired us last year to aid in his investigation...”Of your father.
But there was no need to say that out loud. Lavinia already knew that Merritt’s investigation at the newly formed united intelligence agency had uncovered not herfather’sguilt of treason, but her mother’s. Marigold cleared her throat. “He saw some of our outgoing mail and made the connection. He insisted on joining us as well.”
“And look what a fine addition he’s proven himself to be.” Yates spread his arms, palms up, and extended them toward Lavinia. “I’ve been telling you we need more help. The Caesars may be invaluable, but none of them are what you’d call young anymore, and they don’t blend into society.”
Hope brightened Lavinia’s eyes. Light he hadn’t seen in them in so long, he’d nearly forgotten what she looked like when she had it. She nodded eagerly, scooting forward on her cushion. “I can be a great help, Marigold. I swear it. I maynot bring Merritt’s training to the table, but I am a quick study. I had the highest marks at school.”
Yates’s lips twitched. As it happened, his sister had broken into the files from Lavinia’s finishing school last year to see if she did indeed have a personal connection to the German headmistress, but when Yates had asked her about Lavinia’s marks, she’d insisted she hadn’t looked, as they were irrelevant.
He’d been drattedly curious, though. What had her best subject been? Deportment? Literature? Finding a Wealthy and/or Titled Husband? The catalogues didn’t actuallylistthat last one, but they knew it was the most touted course those schools offered.
“I think you’ll make a grand addition to the team, Vinia.” He offered her a grin, not bothering to tamp down any mischief in it. “At least once you let me get you into prime physical condition.”
At that, her face went blank. “Beg pardon?”
The chuckle that rumbled in his throat might have edged a bit toward the maniacal, but by his estimation, that was only fair. She’d been sneering at his time spent at exercise since they were fourteen, insisting that families like theirs had no need of such sport, and that only those who had to resort to physical labor ought to worry about things like muscle mass. He’d wanted to be able to catch Marigold on the trapeze, though, so he’d bandaged his wounded feelings and kept to his barbell routine.
Barbells. He was going to make her liftbarbells, and he was going to laugh through every drop of sweat she suffered.
But he wouldn’t scare her off with that quite yet. “The Imposters stay anonymous because of our ability to get into and out of tight spots,” he said. “Quickly. Stealthily. I don’t expect you to suddenly be a circus-worthy tightropewalker or trapeze artist like Marigold, but youdohave to be able to walk the length of the street without gasping for breath.”
Marigold’s lips were twitching too. “He’s quite right, Lavinia. Even Gemma and Graham have submitted themselves to some of our training.”
Not much, granted. But that was because their roles were more the sort that required sitting at a desk with research books, a slide rule, and a typewriter. Andtheyhadn’t spent five years languishing in bed on the constant brink of heart failure. If Lavinia meant to take Marigold’s place, she had to become more than “better.” She had to be trulywellagain.
Lavinia frowned. “Gemma and Graham are both part of the firm as well?” Accusation—no, hurt again—saturated her tone.
Marigold let out a breath. “You were ill when we launched this, Lavinia, when you’d come down with scarlet fever. And then with the damage it did to your heart...”
Her face went hard. “I’m not questioning why you didn’t recruit me, but you could havetoldme. You never breathed a word of your troubles, of your financial situation. You never told me you had to resort towork—you never hinted atanyof it! Even last year, when I had you helping me discover what my mother was up to. Don’t you think you could have told me then? For that matter, shouldn’t you have invoiced me?”
Marigold winced.
Yates laughed. “Now that you mention it, that will be ninety pounds.”
“Highway robbery!” But her face had relaxed again. A bit. “Only fair, then, that I work off my debt.”
They both looked at Marigold now. Could Lavinia still read her face like he could? He saw the doubts there. Theconcerns. The worry. But she rubbed a hand over her stomach and acknowledged the necessity. He saw it the moment she capitulated.
Lavinia did too. She leapt to her feet, rushed to Marigold’s side and gave her a hearty embrace. “Thank you! I won’t disappoint you, I swear it. I’ll even submit to...” Grimacing, she looked his way. “Training.”
That chuckle filled his throat again. “Indeed you will.”
Marigold shot him a warning look. “Iwill develop a routine for you, not him. You can exercise with me.”
Except that training Lavinia would rather defeat the purpose of going back to the Tower torest, which his sister so obviously needed. He pasted a wounded expression on his face. “I can be trusted not to either kill her or turn her in a muscle-bound strongman. I am all discernment and care. Lavinia trusts me. Don’t you, Vin?” He loaded his every thought into his gaze.
