Page 129 of Miss Prim and the Duke of Wylde
She didn’t even give Toby time to claim the chair Drake, seated behind his desk, waved Toby to before fixing her pale-green gaze on his face and demanding, “How are Nicholas and Addie getting on with their latest?”
Toby blinked and sank into the chair. “I assume in the same manner they coped with the previous four, although possibly with greater confidence, don’t you think?”
Louisa threw him an unimpressed look. “Does she have a name yet?”
“No. I gather there’s been considerable discussion about that, what with Meg and Drago’s two girls plus Pru’s three already in the family. Not to mention the other female sprigs sprouting on the other branches of the family tree. The choices are getting more limited.”
“Hmm. Yes, I suppose that’s true.”
“Don’t,” Toby warned, thinking to head Louisa off, “ask me about Meg and Drago, or Pru and Deaglan for that matter. You two probably see more of them than I do.”
“Indeed. Now that we’ve persuaded all those with seats in the Lords to become active, I do see their wives more frequently.” Louisa smiled and opened her eyes wide. “But what, dear Toby, of you?”
His lips thinned. “About me, there’s next to nothing to report.” He looked pointedly at Drake. “I gather you have some issue you’d like me to attend to?”
Drake had been leaning back in his chair, observing the interplay between his wife and Toby. Now, he looked at Louisa and arched his brows.
She sighed. “All right. I’ll leave you to it.” She rose and added, “But don’t forget what I said,” before sweeping regally from the room.
To Toby’s mind, Louisa might be merely a marchioness, but she could give any queen lessons in how to use deportment to make one’s point.
Regardless, he wasn’t about to ask Drake what she’d meant. Hearing the door click shut behind her, Toby relaxed, stretched out his long legs, crossed his booted ankles, and looked inquiringly at Drake. “So what is it?”
Drake wasn’t one to waste time. “We have a situation in Austria. One of our contacts there, an English doctor of medicine who has attended several of the families at court for decades, all the while quietly passing any useful information he hears to us, has unexpectedly come into possession of a packet of dispatches destined for the German embassy. The courier who was carrying the packet got caught up in an unrelated incidental brawl at a local inn and was knifed. The good doctor was summoned to attend him, but although the doctor did his best, the courier died. But before he breathed his last, the courier entrusted the packet to the doctor. As the doctor has lived in Austria for decades, he speaks perfect Austrian and also perfect German. It’s likely the courier assumed he was entrusting his mission to a fellow countryman.”
Toby nodded. “So I’m to go to Austria—Vienna, I assume—and pick up the packet and bring it home?”
“Would it were that simple.” Drake caught and held Toby’s gaze. “The doctor sent one of the reports the packet contained plus a list of the packet’s contents, but no further details of what those contents reveal.” Drake sighed. “The single report plus the list is enough to assure us that the packet contains intelligence of the highest order regarding German interests and intentions in southwest and central Africa.”
Toby frowned. “So you need the packet and all it contains.” He still didn’t see the problem.
Drake nodded. “However, the reason the good doctor sent just enough to ensure he whetted our appetite was that he has a daughter who lives with him and he’s grown fearful that, however unwittingly, him intercepting the packet will expose her as well as him to unwanted scrutiny and potentially hostile reactions from the Germans and the Austrian authorities.” Drake held Toby’s gaze. “The doctor wants me to arrange and guarantee his and his daughter’s safe passage to England with appropriate escort.”
Toby looked disgusted. “You want me to play nursemaid.” It wasn’t a question.
Drake’s lips twitched. “I knew you would say that. Regardless, yes. I don’t have many agents as fluent in German and Austrian as you, and…a certain amount of persuasion might be needed.”
Toby frowned. “I thought the good doctor wanted to come home?”
“He does. According to other sources in Vienna, the daughter doesn’t and is likely to prove difficult.”
Toby blinked. “And how, exactly, am I to persuade the lady to up stakes if she’s set against it?”
Drake smiled. “I’m counting on you to do whatever it takes to ensure she happily troops all the way back to England.”
Toby looked even more disgusted. “Really?”
Drake nodded decisively. “This is too important—too vital to the country’s future—to quibble over means. Get the doctor and his daughter and bring them home, along with the packet of dispatches.”
Toby grimaced, but nodded. “So when do I leave?”
Drake gave him the details of the ship on which passage to the Continent had been arranged. “From there, I’m leaving it to you to choose your path. In some circles, you’re sufficiently well known as one of ours to necessitate playing safe.”
Toby nodded. “So I slip into Vienna and out again, with the doctor, his daughter, and dispatches in tow, preferably without anyone knowing I was within a hundred miles of the place.”
Drake nodded. “Exactly.” He signed and handed over a sizeable bank draft drawn on Crown funds.
Toby took the draft, examined it, then nodded and rose. “This should see me through.”
