Page 2 of Irresistible
Robbie leaned over the table. “Desperate?”
Dougal oughtn’t share this either, but he would. He needed to talk it out. “Before Alistair died, there was some difficulty with two of my missions. In the first, I was given what seems to have been a sham message.”
“The courier system was compromised?” Robbie asked. He’d acted as a courier before leaving the Black Watch and understood how things worked.
“I believe so, particularly since the following mission resulted in the death of the courier.” Dougal thought of poor Giraud, a Frenchman who’d come to England after the revolution and pledged his allegiance, his throat torn open.
“Bloody hell,” Robbie breathed. “Do ye think there’s someone working against ye in the office?”
“I don’t know, but I have to be open to the possibility.” Dougal pressed his lips together. “Now you see why I must return to London.”
“Aye. I wish I could help ye.”
“You’ve got your apprenticeship,” Dougal said.
“But if ye needed me, ye’d ask?”
“I would,” Dougal assured him. “There are few people I would trust to help me, and you are one of them.” The others were close friends of his in England, namely Lord Lucien Westbrook, who also served the Foreign Office in a secret capacity.
A young Black girl dashed toward their table. It was Aila, who at nine years old was Dougal’s youngest cousin. “This was just delivered fer ye, Dougie.” She handed him a sealed letter. “Footman from Charlotte Square brought it.”
“Thank you, Aila.”
“Off with ye,” Robbie said with a wave when she seemed to want to linger.
She blinked at them. “But Da wants to know what it says.”
Dougal smiled to himself while Robbie laughed. “I’ll tell him later. Now off with ye,” he repeated.
Aila shrugged before spinning about and going back to where her father stood behind the bar.
The familiar seal told Dougal where it came from—Lucien. As Dougal scanned the short missive, the tension he’d carried since Alistair’s death intensified, drawing him tighter than a bowstring.
“Doesna look like good news,” Robbie said before taking another drink of ale.
Dougal refolded the paper and put it in his coat. “I need to return to London immediately.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.” Lucien’s note had been short, which was to be expected. He wouldn’t write anything of import, just that Dougal was needed back in town at his earliest convenience. That was Foreign Office-speak for get your tail to London as quickly as possible.
“Will ye go back to Stagfield first?” Robbie asked.
“Of course.” Though it meant heading north before heading south, Dougal couldn’t leave without seeing his father. Whatever the Foreign Office needed would keep for one extra day.
As it was, they were going to have to get used to not having him at all.
Chapter1
London
Jessamine Goodfellow finished the last letter of the cipher she was solving and set down her pencil with a satisfied smile. Spinsterhood was going to suit her just fine. But then, she’d long thought it would, not that her parents agreed. Surely after six Seasons, they would see that it was time to just give Jess her dowry and permit her to live her life unwed. Two of their three daughters had married well. Surely that was enough?
“Did you finish?” Kathleen Shaughnessy, Jess’s relatively new but very good friend, asked from the other side of the table where she was sketching furiously on a large piece of parchment. They were both the houseguests of Lady Pickering, one of London’s most respected ladies, who was acting as their temporary chaperone while their families were out of town.
Jess nodded. “I did. This one was quite challenging.” Every week, she received two to three ciphers from the mysterious Mr. Torrance, whom she’d met at the British Library. A charming older gentleman, he’d seen her solving a riddle and given her a cipher to try. She’d been instantly enthralled, solving it quickly. Torrance had been delighted to offer to send her more, if she was keen to continue. She’d leapt at the chance, and for the past few months, she’d enjoyed her new hobby very much. “Once I determined that frequently used terms were given two or three numbers, everything came together.”
“Well, I amnotfinished,” Kat said with considerable annoyance. She was very particular when it came to her drawings, pouring all her energy into her work, just as Jess did with her ciphers.
