Page 8 of A Rogue to Remember

First the tarts, now Etruria. While Sir Alfred had a well-documented passion for the Roman conquest of Britain, Alec’s interests had always verged toward the more ancient and mysterious. “Naturally.”

She smiled a little and dipped her head, but when she spoke her tone was carefully bored. “I suppose you live alone?”

“Yes.” An admirable attempt to fish for information. “I could never ask a wife to subject herself to the demands of my work.”

Lottie glanced away. “Of course.”

He ignored the stirring in his chest that came when he uttered the wordwifeand pushed ahead. “Your uncle explained what I was doing, then?”

It was common knowledge that Sir Alfred had the admiration of the queen and the ear of the prime minister, but few really knew how far his influence extended. He had spent the better part of his adult life spying for the Crown and championing the use of both foreign and domestic intelligence in affairs of state. Though the practice had flourished during the Napoleonic wars, since then England had fallen behind the comparatively advanced operations of adversaries like Russia and Germany. Those in power were slowly coming to see the value of such information, but missions were still underfunded and mostly undertaken by amateurs––wealthy, well-connected gentlemen who wanted a little adventure. Alec was one of the few men who had been specifically recruited for such work and highly trained. At some point Sir Alfred had let his niece further into the fold, but Alec had no idea just how much she knew.

Lottie didn’t meet his eyes. “He told me enough. And it was rather easy to piece the rest together after you left.”

“But you didn’t know I had gone to Italy,” he prodded.

She was quiet for a long moment. “I never asked. For all I knew, you were in London this whole time.”

Alec inhaled deeply, trying to keep his irritation in check. How could shethinksuch a thing? “I haven’t set foot in England since I left,” he said through clenched teeth, but Lottie merely shrugged and took a sip of tea, as if it made no difference. That stung more than it should have. He hadn’t come here to reopen old wounds. But then they shouldn’t even behavingthis conversation. She was supposed to marry fabulously, take her rightful place at the top of society, and have a veritable litter of children by now. Yet here she was, trying to undermine her own future.

Did she truly not want those things? Or had she been led astray and then abandoned by another man? Neither possibility was appealing; the latter for the obvious reasons, as well as other, less obvious ones Alec would rather not explore. But at the thought of the first possibility, a dull pain began to bloom in his chest until he smothered it. Like all the others.

For if she did not want that glittering London life, what had all this sacrifice been for?

Lottie broke the tense silence. “I will go with you, but only on two conditions.”

Alec set down his teacup, grateful to be distracted from such unnerving thoughts. “Anything.”

“I want to see Venice before we leave Italy.”

“Absolutely not,” he barked, but Lottie was unruffled.

“I know it adds time to the return journey,” she conceded. “But this may be my only chance to see the place. I have no idea how long I will be in England. If Uncle Alfred has truly fallen ill, I’d like to help him. But if he survives, I foresee some objections should I try to leave again.”

“He can’t hold you prisoner, Lottie,” Alec scoffed.

Her eyes narrowed. “He can do any number of things, if his faculties remain. Do you doubt it?”

Alec was silent in the face of her hard stare. In his rush to rescue her from ruin, he had given no thought to what would happen upon her return to London. Yes, Sir Alfred had been angry, but he loved his niece and only wanted what was best for her.

Of that Alec was absolutely certain.

“I assume you haven’t sent word to anyone yet that you’ve found me. I’m willing to sacrifice a day or two, if you are.”

“That isn’t enough time to see Venice properly,” he grumbled. But it could be more than enough time to create complications. For them both.

“Oh, I quite agree with you,” she said. “But I’d rather see only a bit than nothing at all.”

Alec glowered. He refused to be guilted by her.Shehad put herself in this position. If Lottie had wanted to see Venice so badly, she could have gone with her chaperone.

Then again, after only an afternoon in that woman’s company Alec had been ready to head for the hills, and Lottie had endured weeks of her. Surely that deserved a stroll around Saint Mark’s Square and a damned gondola ride.

“Fine. We’ll go. Butonlyfor a day.” His heartbeat quickened as he said the words, and a droll voice suggested that he was not doing this merely for her benefit.

Lottie smiled in triumph and reclined grandly in her chair. She took a leisurely sip of tea and gazed at the horizon.

“Well?” he prompted.

Her eyes cut back to his. “Oh yes. Thesecondcondition.” She placed the cup and saucer down and folded her hands. “Once we leave here, your conduct must be as gentlemanly as possible. At all times.” Alec opened his mouth, but she pressed on. “That means you are not to use my Christian name.”

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