Page 42 of Inconvenient Honor
“What have you been doing?” he demanded.
“I believe you asked me that once. I told you it is none of your business.”
“Whom did you meet?” he pinned her with his eyes. She didn’t look away; she didn’t answer.
“Volkov?”
“Good God, no,” she choked. “Why would I want to be anywhere near that man?”
Richard let out a breath. He stayed where he stood but seemed to back off. “Not Volkov,” he said more quietly.
“Of course not,” she answered. “Do you take me for a fool?”
He does. He thinks me foolish.
“Who then?” he asked less forcefully.
“A friend.” She looked directly at him until he looked down.
“Someone safe?” he asked.
“I said friend, so yes, safe.”
“You should have taken Roger Heaton.”
“I grow tired of your watchdogs, Richard, those eager puppies. We’ve exhausted the weather, the gossip, and fashions, every damned polite topic I can dredge up. I tried foreign affairs. Stewart is coming along, but Heaton—for a would-be diplomat, he has no sense of reality. He is simply not devious enough.”Unlike you. Or I.
He unbent at that and pulled a chair closer to her. “He is able enough to do what I ask him, and what I asked him to do is keep you safe.”
“I am safe as you can see.”
“Volkov is a threat to you. Until he does something overt, we can’t arrest him or expel him.”
“Do you know where he is?”
He nodded.
“In England?”
Another nod.
If I can elude you, he can too.
“Until my father returns safely to England, you dare not expel him. Bring my father home, Richard.”
He opened his mouth to reply, but she held up a hand. “Shortage of trees for masts. No ships available. The man hates overland travel. I know. What news of Thessaloniki?”
“Little. Rumblings of unrest, but no specifics. No sudden beheadings in the Pasha’s court, at least word of none has reached us.”
Shivers ran down her arm when he picked up her hand and held it in his.
“There is no change and no reason to believe you are any safer from Volkov. Take Heaton or Stewart when you go out.” It wasn’t a request, but softness crept into his voice and Lily couldn’t resent the implied command. She couldn’t tell the truth either.
“I will take one of my champions whenever I go about London,” she agreed submissively. She didn’t mention Falmouth, the sea, or Constantinople, about which she made no such promises.
He looked at her as if trying to sort through her words for some escape clause. “There’s more you aren’t telling me,” he said at last. “I can’t fix anything without information.”
She kept her silence. His eyes had softened; their intensity touched her deeply.
