Page 32 of Inconvenient Honor
“When last we met, we discussed your”—Volkov hesitated—“health. I trust you are well?” He looked at her as if she were a very tasty rabbit cowering before his vulpine jaws.
Lily opened her mouth to speak, closed it, and then opened again to say, “You will excuse me please, gentlemen.”
She walked swiftly to the hallway, leaned against one wall, and gasped for breath.
Oh God. He has gotten to me.
The lights faded into darkness, and Lily slipped to the floor in a dead faint.
Chapter Twelve
“Where is the bastard?” Richard demanded.
“Not so loud, you’ll wake her,” his sister cautioned.
“Andrew, where is he?” he asked more quietly.
“Gone. Did you expect us to thrash him, bind him, and toss him in the dungeon? We had neither the means nor the authority to detain a foreign national. He had done nothing,” his brother-in-law answered.
“Lily collapsed in a dead faint, and I’m supposed to believe he did nothing?”
“She walked out into the hallway and fainted. Volkov—along with the rest of our visitors—expressed concern and left politely. Why didn’t you warn us about him?” Andrew demanded.
Richard forced his expression into bland control. “Volkov is a Russian agent we have watched. We have Lily protected. How could I expect him to find his way into my sister’s drawing room? Why did you invite him?”
“We didn’t invite him,” Georgiana told him. “Our gatherings are informal. He came with Winston. Shall we warn him away—or warn Winston in any case?”
Richard gave it a moment’s thought. “I think not,” he replied. “Invite Roger Heaton. I’ll make sure he attends every one of your salons.”
He looked closely at his sister. “Better yet, cancel your gatherings. Should you be entertaining in your interesting condition?”
“Don’t be a snob, Richard. I’m with child, not languishing with ague. Our gatherings continue,” she replied tartly.
“In that case, invite Jamie while you’re at it.”
“Jamie?” Georgiana laughed. “Academic conversation is hardly his bailiwick.”
“No, but he knows what to do in a crisis,” Richard said. A slight smile failed to light his eyes. “Besides, he loves your chef’s brilliant pastries.”
Andrew agreed. “Jamie is a good man to have at our back. Why do you think Volkov came?”
“To frighten Lily, to remind her of his threats. My men can handle him.” If they noticed his use of her Christian name, they didn’t mention it.
“Apparently your watchers lost track of him today,” Andrew scoffed. “Are you sure of them?”
Richard glared down his nose at his friend. “My men know their duty and do it well,” he said. But they are damn well going to account for this lapse.
Andrew knew better than to contradict his brother-in-law directly. “Do let us know what you expect of us mere mortals in the meantime. We live to serve.” He put his arm around his wife’s shoulders.
“I’ll see her now,” Richard said.
“You will not,” his sister retorted. “She’s resting. With luck she’s asleep.”
“I said I would see her, not molest her.”
Georgiana gave in. She opened the bedroom door on silent hinges to reveal Lily lying still under a coverlet by the light of a single candle.
Too pale. She looks frail.
