Page 85 of The English Duke
“How did Josephine do it?” Reese asked, his conscience rearing its ugly head again.
“Do what?”
“Convince you that you took advantage of her?”
Jordan didn’t say anything, only reached for another tool on the bench, adjusting what looked to be the controlling mechanism of the ship.
“You’re so damn honorable, Jordan. You’d do something wrong for the right reasons.”
Jordan still didn’t answer him.
If he was a true friend, he’d confess about Josephine. Instead, he managed to subdue his conscience after a moment or two. His mission for the War Office came before his friendship with Jordan.
He could always tell Jordan what they wanted, but to what end? The powers that be wanted to own the idea behind the torpedo ship, any patents, and all the inventions that had gone into making it work—if it could work. All without paying for the privilege, or being forced into negotiations and haggling.
Some people might think his mission was to cheat a fellow Englishman and friend out of a monetary reward for his efforts, but they’d be cynics. He chose to think of himself as a patriot, one whose mission was to procure a new weapon for his government with the least possible effort.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m adjusting the pendulum,” Jordan said. “I’ve been told it’s in the incorrect position.”
Reese bit back his smile. “Martha told you that? I’m glad to see your collaboration bore some fruit.”
Jordan nodded, put down his screwdriver and directed his attention toward Reese.
“Did you time your visit to be here when the Yorks arrived?”
Reese smiled. “I didn’t know they were coming,” he said. “Although, if I had, I might have planned to be here. If, for no other reason than to meet Josephine York and watch you make an idiot of yourself.”
Jordan looked past him to the door, almost as if he was willing Reese out of the boathouse. His next words proved that guess.
“I have no intention, either now or in the future, of discussing that night with you. Or with the War Office. You can go back to them and tell them I haven’t succeeded in making my torpedo ship work. Not yet, but I will.”
Surprise kept Reese silent for a moment.
“Did you know from the moment I arrived?” he finally asked.
Jordan had always been an intelligent man. Until, of course, he’d been outmaneuvered by a woman.
“That it wasn’t just a friendly visit? Or that you had an ulterior motive? We’re friends, Reese, but we worked for the same organization. Did you think I’d forget it?”
Reese didn’t have a comment. He couldn’t argue with the truth.
The two men remained silent, Reese watching as Jordan tightened the chain on the pendulum.
“Are you sure about that night?” he asked as he turned to leave. “You’re not yourself when you’ve taken the stuff. You’ve admitted as much to me. What if you didn’t take Josephine to your bed? Would you now be contemplating marriage to the woman?”
All it had taken was a little observation. Martha York had left Sedgebrook silent and obviously miserable. Had she been the one in Jordan’s bed? He was beginning to suspect she had. He knew damn well it wasn’t Josephine. Yet he didn’t understand why Martha had remained silent. Had Josephine blackmailed her somehow? Or had Martha been terrified of the potential scandal? That was something that hadn’t bothered Josephine. She was more than willing to trade her good name for becoming a duchess.
Maybe it was his conscience prompting him to say what he had. Or perhaps it was a sliver of altruism. At least he’d satisfied his conscience’s requirements by sowing a little doubt in Jordan’s mind.
The problem was Jordan’s sense of honor. Even if he remembered the night as it had been, would it be enough to get him to alter the course of his future?
Reese hoped so, for his friend’s sake.
Josephine might be a fascinating woman, but he wouldn’t wish marriage to her on his worst enemy.
Martha slowly walked through the small building attached to her father’s cottage, inspecting the compressor as she’d been taught. The machine fueled the prototypes with compressed air, making it possible for each ship to be self-contained.
