Page 91 of Once Upon a Reckless Rogue

They made it just in time for dinner. It was a merry party as the ladies told them about their adventures. Thomas smiled and laughed, but he was concerned. Not about his wife but about the disturbing picture that was forming around the past running of the Ring.

The use of agents outside of their own spy ring was not something that was done without there being some kind of arrangement where both parties knew their jobs on the mission. It looked like Stafford used outsiders to do the kind of dirty work the rest of them would not do. They were not assassins or hired murderers. Although most of them had some kind of military background, they had a code to which they lived. And so, Stafford went outside the Ring in order to get what he wanted in the manner he wanted it done. How had they not seen the red flags?

Tony told him about the current Earl of Dunstan, who had left his current spy ring once he had gained his title, but that Stafford offered him a job. He was to act as an interested beau to Lucinda in order to put pressure on both Lucinda and Tony and to reveal the secret, if they indeed knew of it. It was a failed mission as neither of them knew until much later about the secret. By then, Dunstan had realized that Stafford was not playing by the rules, and Dunstan wanted no more to do with Stafford’s plans.

They were sitting in the parlor while Lucinda played her new pianoforte, when Thomas remembered about the documents the French had possibly left in the fort.

“Do you remember when you went upstairs in the fort after the fire?”

“Yes, I got soot all over me and there was the storm.”

“When you were up there did you see anything they may have left behind, like a map or some documents?”

Elena went to shake her head but then remembered the documents she had shoved in her pocket that day. “Were they important?” She hoped he would say no, but then why would he ask about them? He had told her not to touch anything, and then she had lied about it. After that, she had put them in a side pocket in her father’s bag and promptly forgot about them. She remembered thinking they might come in handy if they needed to make a fire and the surrounding kindling was too wet.

“They could be. Do you remember seeing anything?”

“I am trying to remember. I do remember seeing some papers on the table upstairs.”

“Damn.”

“You told me not to touch anything.”

“I did, but I wish you would have mentioned them.”

She blinked. “I did not think them important…”

He took her by the shoulders. “You should have told me.”

She did not like this. Guilt was gnawing at her, and so she confessed. “I have them, if you really want them.”

“What do you mean you have them?”

“I shoved them in my pocket before I left that day. I wonder if that is what they came back for that time we heard them upstairs. You were still recovering, and I put them in my father’s bag to use for kindling.”

“You have them here?”

“Well, yes, I think so. I mean I have not removed them from the bag.”

“I cannot believe this. You lied to me for one and then hid them away. That information could be vital. No wonder Dushard came after us again.”

“You think the attack by Dushard was about some silly papers? That it was my fault he attacked me?” By now she realized that the pianoforte had stopped and that both Tony and Lucinda were staring at her. They had been arguing in Spanish, so it was unlikely they knew what they were talking about.

“I’m going to get the papers. Do not move!” He stood and said something to Tony and ran out of the room and upstairs.

*

Elena blinked, trying to keep her tears from falling, and looked at her clasped hands in her lap. How was she to know what the stupid papers contained?

Lucinda came and sat next to her. “I’m sure he will be back soon, and it can all be…figured out.”

When Tomas returned, he gave her a furious look. He spread the papers on the pianoforte, and both he and Lord Ashton pored over the map. They spoke in low and angry tones in English that she did not understand. Then they looked at the second page, and Thomas banged his fist on the pianoforte, which made both her and Lucinda jump.

Elena stood and, taking one last look at Tomas’s face, fled the room. She had seen him mad before, but somehow this was different.

She could not stay here. Whatever those papers contained must have been important for him to be so angry. And that shame she could not bear.

Making her way to the front door instead of going to her room meant she was out in the street before she knew it. She had no cape or coat to keep her warm, and there was a chill in the air that foreshadowed rain, but despite the butler’s shouted warning, she lifted the hem of her dress and ran.