Twice Tempted by Eileen Dreyer

knows. She’s nothing but a poseur, but the tzar can’t see that. He is in a fever of religious purpose. He’s already talked Prussia and Austria into joining him. And he’s nipping at my heels like a terrier.” He considered the remaining brandy in his glass. “Another good reason to come home. And one your mother understands. I’ll go back in a few weeks. As soon as I get my brief from Liverpool. And Alexander’s fervor wanes a bit.”
    “Are you sure?”
    The older man looked up. “I am careful with my health, Alex. I always have been. But I will not be put out in the sunshine in a Bath chair. Your mother understands that.”
    Alex wasn’t so sure she did, but now wasn’t the time to have that argument. “Do you have any appointments this evening? What about sharing a beefsteak at Whites?”
    His father nodded. “I would enjoy that. You can tell me more about this friend’s sister you’re babysitting.”
    “Sisters. They’re named Ferguson,” Alex said. “Sisters of my friend Ian.”
    His father’s eyebrows soared. “The one who died shooting at Wellington?”
    Ian knew he was breaching a trust, but if his father wasn’t a secure repository for the truth, no one was.
    “No one knows yet. I only know because I was allowed to tell the girls. Not only did Ian not die trying to kill the duke, he saved him and helped bring in the people who were the actual perpetrators. For some reason the government doesn’t want that information out yet. More conspirators, probably. So they asked Chuffy and me to notify the marquess and Ian’s sisters.”
    “They.”
    “Some government drone named Thirsk.”
    His father nodded pensively. “I see. How did you become involved?”
    Sir Joseph didn’t know of Alex’s clandestine activities. Sir Joseph didn’t understand the need to lie or steal or murder, even for a good cause.
    So Alex shrugged. “Ian has been a good friend. When we heard the reports that he’d died, his friends drew lots to see who would inform his family.” Sipping at his second brandy of the day, he let his gaze wander to the fire. “I lost.”
    “And?”
    “And I rode up to Yorkshire to tell Lady Fiona. I had evidently no more than cleared the property before her grandfather the bloody marquess tossed her and her sister out onto the street.” He had to pause for a moment, the jagged remnants of fury catching his breath. He shook his head. “Who would do such a thing?”
    “The Marquess of Leyburn, obviously. I wish it were a surprise. The surprise, actually, is that he took in those girls in the first place, considering his aversion to scandal.”
    “Well, it was a surprise to me!”
    Alex sought the wisdom of his father’s eyes. Soft brown, wise, just a little saddened by too much knowledge.
    “I was the one who delivered the girls to that man,” Alex said. “I never even thought to ask if they would be welcome. I just assumed…”
    “Because you have a mother who could never turn anyone away.”
    Alex thought of the friends who had camped out at their house during holidays. “And a father who abetted her shamelessly.”
    Sir Joseph’s smile was sweet. “How could I possibly turn her down?”
    Suddenly Alex’s chest felt as if it would tear in two. He’d forgotten how much his parents loved each other…no, not forgotten. Put away somewhere safe. Able to avoid it when they were gone where he didn’t have to see the proprietary touching and telltale smiles and shared amusement in life. It was what he’d wanted from his own marriage. It was what he’d thought he had.
    For about a year.
    “What are you going to do?” his father asked.
    Alex’s head snapped up. “Pardon?”
    “What are you going to do? About the girls? Have you found them yet?”
    “I’ve only met the one. Fiona.”
    Splendid, sensuous Fiona. As buttoned down as a vicar’s wife now, but the fire was there; he knew it. He just had to give her a place where it was safe to remember.
    “And?”
    Alex