“I’ll concede that, and more,” murmured Anna. “If at times I seem unwilling to tell you certain things, it’s because I am trying to protect you. Mama’s concerns are quite limited, so I suppose that I have felt that I must play mother hen.” She sighed. “I apologize if that is condescending.”
Caro’s cheeks flushed with color.
“But that does not mean I will stop.”
Her sister smiled. “Fair enough. However—”
“Ladies, forgive me for interrupting this touching scene,” growled McClellan. “But we have a murder to prevent.”
“Have you no particle of romance in your soul?” murmured Devlin.
“That,” jeered the baron, “is rather like the pot calling the kettle black.”
“No one would ever accuse either of us of being knights in shining armor,” he replied. “Nevertheless, we do need to crack off a bit of the coal dust and attempt to do a good deed.”
“Though you haven’t mentioned it, I assume you have some other government contact nearby,” said Anna. “The Home Office cannot have expected you to deal with an assassin—or assassins—without reinforcements.”
“Correct,” responded Devlin.
“Then cannot you have them swoop in and arrest the villains and be done with the threat?”
“I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple. First of all, while we have strong evidence as to who the culprits are, it’s not absolute proof.”
“But—” began Caro.
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“And I would rather not make a mistake,” went on Devlin.
That silenced her sister.
“Secondly, the government would prefer to handle this very discreetly. The best scenario would be if I could contrive to, shall we say, confine the villains in some secure location, so the government operative could remove them with no one being the wiser as to the real reason. An excuse can be made that an emergency required their immediate departure for England.”
“Which would be the truth,” mused Anna.
“I see your point,” said McClellan. “So what is your plan?”
Rather than answer, Devlin rose and went to look out the window. Anna could almost hear the tiny gears and levers whirring inside his head. Though in truth, she added to herself, the marquess’s mental workings were infinitely more complex and complicated than his clever automata. She wished that she had an inkling of what he was thinking…
He turned, his mouth pursing in a wry grimace. “Haven’t a clue yet. For the moment, I ask that the rest of you do nothing. I need to ponder the options. And I do that best alone.”
McClellan rose and cast a sharp glance at Caro, who reluctantly followed his lead. “Then we shall leave you to your work.”
“Anna,” began her sister.
“I shall be along in a moment, just as soon as I have had a private word with Davenport.”
Devlin waited until the retreating steps faded away into silence. “There’s really nothing more to say, Anna. I need to mull over these new facts before I can decide on a next move.”
“Truly?”
“You don’t trust me?”
A laugh, low and soft, and yet it seemed to tease its way beneath his shirt and prickle against his bare skin. “Don’t try to distract me, Devlin. I’ve learned your little tricks for changing the subject.”
Distraction. He wrenched his gaze away from her upturned lips and retreated a step. “In this case, I am telling the truth.”
Anna narrowed the distance between them. The gleam in her eye was pure Emmalina. “You wouldn’t dream of coming up with a new strategy and putting it into action without telling me?”