question was almost laughable, if it weren’t so damn painful.
“Is that what your friend told you?”
“He’s not my friend.”
“Then tell me his name.” He recognized the stubborn set to her features before she ever said a word.
“I will,” she said, “as soon as you answer my question.”
“No.”
She blinked. “Are you refusing to answer, or was that your answer?”
Sebastian felt his lips twitch, despite the seriousness of the situation. “No, I’m not a traitor. Your turn.”
Her relief was evident. Her features softened and the tautness of her body loosened.
“Frederick Cochran.”
He nodded, expecting as much. However, the name he wanted to hear from her lips was Latymer. “Tell me,” Sebastian said. “Are Cochran and John Chambers one and the same?”
She winced, averting her gaze. “Yes.”
“Why the subterfuge?”
“I honestly don’t know.” She met his gaze. “Everything was happening so fast. I found myself in the midst of something terrible that I didn’t fully comprehend, and I acted on instinct.”
“Because you didn’t trust me.”
“I didn’t trust anyone at that point.”
He skimmed the backs of his fingers down her upper arm. “Do you trust me now?”
“How do I know you’re not lying to me like Mr. Cochran?”
“You don’t.” Sebastian beat back his frustration. “In this, all I can offer you is my word and a reminder. Ashcroft was my friend. He trusted me.” Thinking back to Cochran’s threat, he asked, “Have I ever threatened you? Made you or Sophie feel unsafe?”
“No. Never.” She swiped the tears from her face. “I’m sorry, Sebastian. It’s all just… too much.”
He cupped her cheek, and she leaned into his touch. The simple action made him feel powerful in a way he never had before. More powerful than when he had obstructed an attempt on the Prime Minister’s life and when he had saved a Russian princess from Napoleon’s grasp.
“Trust me, Cat.”
Fresh tears welled in her beautiful brown eyes. “Yes,” she whispered.
His chest swelled and his gaze dropped to her mouth. He wanted to lap the words from her lips, know the taste of her belief. Instead, he focused on pulling every bit of information from her, because he had promised Sophie he wouldn’t tell her mama.
“Thank you,” he said. “Can you tell me if Cochran is working alone?”
“I thought so until Tuesday,” she said. “Cochran brought a woman to act as Sophie’s governess, and the frightening man we saw outside church on Sunday has become my shadow.”
Sebastian remembered the skeletal creature. Sophie’s scary man, no doubt.
“No one else?”
“No.”
If Latymer was involved in this scheme, he was keeping to the background, allowing Cochran to take the lead on this mission. Such an elaborate ruse, for what? Latymer’s goal didn’t appear to be Sebastian’s death this time around. At least, not yet. What would make Latymer go to such lengths? What did Latymer value so much that he would turn his back on everything he believed in?
“At least not that I recall,” Catherine clarified. “With Cochran threatening to jab a hot poker into my daughter’s eye if I didn’t cooperate, I’m afraid my focus was somewhat narrowed.”
“Bloody bastard.” He saw the scene as clearly as if he were in the room. A precocious girl’s smile transforming into a mask of terror. And then he saw Catherine—helpless, frightened, desperate to save her child. Desperate enough to betray her neighbor, whom Cochran accused of seditious behavior and murder. “They will come to regret that act of violence, Catherine. You have my word.”
She drew in a deep, audible breath and lifted her head. “Perhaps now would be a good time to divulge the full extent of your relationship with Jeffrey.”
Sebastian curled his fingers around her warmth on his palm and lowered his arm. Thanks to Cochran, she already knew more than was good for her about the Nexus. Which meant he would not be breaking any confidences or endangering anyone’s life.
The notion lifted an unbearable weight from his shoulders. Protecting his agents had always been a burden he had gladly carried and wholeheartedly accepted. But withholding the truth from Catherine had placed a far greater strain on his forbearance than he had realized.
“Perhaps you are right.” His gaze fell on the small corner table crowded with crystal filled with an assortment of amber liquid. “Care for a drink?”
“Would love one, thank you.”
Sebastian poured two fingers. “Give it a try. Its numbing properties can be quite beneficial.”
“You’re not having any?”
He rested his forearms on the back of the opposite chair. “No.”
She accepted his offering, gave it a delicate sniff before upending the glass.