One Thing Leads to a Lover (Love and Let Spy #2) - Susanna Craig Page 0,105

over the top rim of his spectacles, knowing the effect such a look usually had.

This time, however, she met that seductive, commanding stare with pursed lips and wry amusement. Carefully, she reached up and adjusted his spectacles, forcing him to look through the lenses. “What did the messenger bring?”

The pair of them had come from different worlds, and in marrying they’d vowed not to forget those different lives, but to fuse them. Could it be done?

The answer to her question would be their first test.

“A letter from General Scott,” he said.

Despite Langley’s newfound appreciation for domestic life, word of an assignment had sent a familiar anticipation tingling through him, mingling in interesting and exciting ways with his desire to share every moment with his wife.

But how would the news make Amanda feel?

Her brows curved upward. “Oh?”

He tried to sort the meaning from her expression and her tone, but could not. When he did not immediately present the letter, she fished behind his back to retrieve it. He watched as her dark eyes scanned the contents.

“A house party,” she read.

He nodded. The intimacy that grew between the guests at a house party always exposed something interesting. He’d attended such events before, but never as Sir Langley Stanhope.

And always before, he’d been alone.

Carefully, she refolded the note. “He wants us to host a house party. Here.”

“Yes.”

“Will people come, do you suppose?”

“Oh, yes.”

Their wedding had been a quiet affair, attended just by her family and a few of Langley’s fellow officers. Nevertheless, the announcement of the marriage in the London papers had garnered a great deal of interest and speculation, according to Mrs. West’s accounts of the gossip. People were fascinated by Langley’s mysterious past and heroic exploits, and frequently expressed a desire to see the new Lady Stanhope take up her proper place as a scion of fashion and elegance.

Given how expertly Langley had been disguising himself for most of his life, he found it more than a little unsettling to be the object of attention. But it was a role his clever wife had been born to play.

Having anticipated society’s reaction to their marriage, General Scott now intended for them to put that interest to use: Sir Langley and Lady Stanhope would be his secret agents, moving in the first ranks of society. Spying occasionally on the spies themselves, just as Millrose had once hinted.

“We’ll have to ask Mr. Morris to see to the east chimney,” she said, laying aside the note, “or half the guest rooms will be filled with smoke.” Once more, she began to fidget with the roses, undoing what she’d so painstakingly done.

He caught her fingers in his, sensing her nervousness. “If you’ve changed your mind, love, we can tell Scott no.”

When she looked up at him, he saw clearly the eager sparkle in her eyes. “No, I haven’t changed my mind. But I can’t help feeling…well, guilty, I suppose. I have everything a woman is supposed to want—and more. I love my children. I love you. Shouldn’t all this”—one hand fluttered free, taking in the roses, the furniture, the quiet house, before coming to rest against his chest—“be enough?”

He pressed her palm against his heart. “The world tries to make us choose between what’s expected and what’s exciting, between who we are and what we love. But family is an adventure. Love is an adventure. And this”—he tipped his chin toward the table, where the letter lay—“will be an adventure.”

“Mama would say that a lady should mind her step…”

“A mother’s desire to protect her children is both admirable and understandable, wouldn’t you agree?” he said. She gave a rueful laugh and her cheeks pinked at that gentle reminder of a trait she and Mrs. West shared. “But sometimes we have to leap, you know. Even if we don’t know where we’re going to land.”

“Do you know, that’s exactly what Mrs. Drummond told me.” She tilted her head to one side, and a beam of sunlight made her dark eyes glitter mischievously. “But I rather thought magpies flew.”

“Then let’s fly, my love,” he said, swooping in for a swift kiss. “Together.”

* * * *

General Zebadiah Scott gave a satisfied smile as he tipped back in his chair and tossed the morning paper onto the otherwise-empty desktop. Gossip columnists were as important as the officers in his service when it came to gathering information. Perhaps more important—too few spies were attuned to the value of the latest on-dits, even when they concerned Sir Langley and Lady Stanhope’s house