The Secret Christmas Ciphers by Carolynn Carey

time.
    Still, there was a good chance he wouldn’t be returning to their chamber. He’d told her farewell after agreeing to meet his father in the library. Which probably meant he’d leave without seeing her again. Indeed, he might leave town thinking she wanted him in the same way his stepsisters wanted men, merely to assuage whatever sexual urges she might be experiencing.
    She couldn’t very well blame him if his thoughts led him down that path. After all, she’d rarely said a kind word to him, and tonight had been no different. She’d told him she wanted him to make love to her. She hadn’t said she admired him. She hadn’t told him that she’d been attracted to him for most of her life. She hadn’t told him that she was really quite fond of him.
    And she didn’t want him to go back to his regiment, to continue risking his life, without her having the chance to confide in him about her true feelings.
    If she was lucky, she’d be able to find him still in the library. She stood, hurried into her robe, and lit a candle from the flames. A few minutes later she had eased down the stairs and was approaching the library. The door was closed.
    She paused out in the corridor and held her breath, leaning close to the door to see if she could hear Derek and his father in conversation. She had no desire to enter the library if the earl was still with Derek.
    After a couple of minutes had passed and she still had heard nothing, Abigail realized both men could have completed their task, whatever it was, and left. The library might very well be empty. There was no way she could know for sure unless she opened the door.
    She very carefully lifted the latch, holding her candle as steady as she could, and then pushed the door open a few inches. Derek, who was seated behind the large desk in front of the fireplace, looked as though he’d been running his fingers through his hair. Usually quite neat, it now stood in peaks in several places. He looked up quickly, then stood and stared at her. Papers were scattered about on the desktop, along with at least half a dozen books.
    “Abigail?” He stared at her. “Is something wrong? Are you ill?”
    She stepped inside the room and glanced around. There was no sign of the earl. She walked closer to the desk. “I’m fine. I just wanted to say that…”
    As she spoke, her gaze paused on one of the books and quickly moved on to one of the papers near the edge of the desk. Both were upside down to her, but she knew what they were. “What are you working on?”
    She looked up and watched Derek’s eyes widen in surprise. Then his lips curved into a smile that hinted of an underlying smirk. “You wouldn’t understand, my dear. Besides, you really shouldn’t be here. Go back to bed now.”
    She ignored him and stepped closer to the desk. “I should have realized long before now. You’re decoding ciphers and your father has been helping you.” She glanced around the room again. “Where is the earl?”
    Derek’s smile faded. “What I’m doing is confidential. However, since you obviously recognize that these are ciphers, I must now depend on your ability to keep our secret. Father and I have already deciphered half a dozen missives and he has gone to take those to our superiors. Unfortunately, the French are growing much more sophisticated and neither of us has been able to break the last one.”
    “Let me see,” Abigail said, then stepped around the desk and stared down at the paper in front of Derek.
    His mouth dropped open for a second. Then he smiled. “Remember, my dear, that these are ciphers. You’ll not be able to make anything out of them.”
    She ignored him and bent to take a closer look. “We’ll need to go Melton Castle.”
    “What?” He frowned at her. “What are you talking about?”
    Abigail motioned toward the paper in front of him. “That cipher. I’ve seen it explained in one of the books in the library at Melton Castle, but of course I don’t