One Thing Leads to a Lover (Love and Let Spy #2) - Susanna Craig Page 0,94

of you.” Fanny’s shoulders lifted and fell as she ushered Amanda into the corridor. “Sometimes you just have to leap.”

Chapter 18

When Amanda entered the workroom, Langley leaped to his feet—not just because it was the proper thing to do, but because he found he could not do otherwise. A soldier snapping to attention in the presence of the one in command…of his heart.

Then he scowled inwardly, taken aback by his ability even to think up such sentimental nonsense. Such feelings—not just wanting her, but needing her—had little place in the current moment, nor in the life he had chosen to lead.

“A problem, Magpie?” Billy asked, one brow cocked in his direction.

Perhaps his scowl had not been entirely inward. “No, sir,” he snapped, and Amanda flinched.

“Well, come in, come in, Lady Kingston. You too, Mrs. Drummond. I daresay your being here might help to put her ladyship at ease. Now, may I introduce Lieutenant Greene and Captain Abel? They have some information for us. Please, everyone, sit down.”

“Gentlemen.” Amanda sent Langley a glance, then chose a chair opposite, putting the breadth of the table between them. Fanny sat down beside her, a veritable phalanx of trouble. Preferring to stand, too restless really to do otherwise, Langley closed the door and propped one shoulder against it.

Greene spoke first, his gaze scanning all of them as he spoke. “I’ve scouted the fencing master’s club on Jermyn Street. Just two rooms: a large one on the ground floor, fitted up for fencing and boxing and the like, one smaller above, where gents can read the papers and get foxed. Beggin’ your pardon, my lady,” he added with an embarrassed nod toward Amanda. “No public betting books, though I’ve no doubt but what money changes hands on occasion. A small office in the back, where a nervous little fellow with ink stains on his fingers told me he hadn’t seen Jacobs for three days. Little doubt but what he was telling the truth. I don’t think that can be their hideout.”

Billy gave a grim nod. “I hope you had better luck, Captain Abel?”

“Well, sir, the address to which Lord Dulsworthy claimed he intended to deliver the codebook—the one written on the wrappings—took me to a shop in Lambeth.”

“What sort of a shop?” Langley demanded.

Abel sent a self-conscious glance toward Amanda. “A dressmaker’s shop, sir.”

“A dressmaker?” Amanda’s dark eyes widened. “If he meant to sell the book, why on earth take it to such a place?”

“That remains to be seen, my lady,” Billy answered soothingly. “What else, Abel?”

“Either its wares aren’t up to snuff, or it’s not a respectable place. I saw only one person step inside in the time I watched, all done up in a long cloak despite the heat, and if it was a lady, I’ll eat my hat. He never came out, neither. At least, not out the front, and the door at the back didn’t look as if it’s been opened this year—rust on the hinges, cobwebs in the corners.”

“Any cellar?”

“Aye, sir. I think so. Saw no way in nor out, but there was a window right at ground level, all boarded up.”

“What’s around the shop?”

He shrugged. “Quiet street. There’s a room to let above the shop—empty, from what I could see. An apothecary next door, with a note in the window that said he’d gone out and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.”

Millrose weighed the information in silence, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that Amanda was tapping on the tabletop with one fingernail, a steady drumbeat of nervous impatience. Langley’s pulse too was clattering in his veins. At last Billy turned toward him. “What say you, Magpie?”

“Could be the place,” Langley answered with more composure than he felt. “We’ll have to have a look around inside.”

Billy nodded and withdrew a watch from the pocket of his waistcoat. “Nearly six. If we wait until after dark—”

“After dark?” Amanda jumped to her feet and after a startled moment, the other men rose too. “That’s hours away. I can’t possibly wait here, doing nothing, on the mere hope that—that—” With a flourish of her hands, she collapsed back into her chair.

“Captain Abel, Lieutenant Greene, thank you for your reports.” Billy gave each of them a nod of dismissal. When the door had closed behind them, he sat down and sent Langley a look indicating he was to do the same. Reluctantly, Langley approached and drew back a chair.

Folding his arms on the table, Billy leaned toward Amanda. “I do understand your anxiety, Lady Kingston.