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“You have my word.”
She looked at Baines.
He held her gaze. “Mine also.”
Judith turned towards the door. She had almost reached it when Baines spoke again.
“Judith, may I have a word?”
She paused.
Manners looked towards Renforth with an expression of exaggerated innocence. “I believe we have several matters to discuss elsewhere, sir.”
“Indeed,” Renforth replied.
Sir Lionel appeared confused. “Have we?”
“Yes, sir,” Manners said, “matters of considerable urgency.”
He guided Sir Lionel towards the adjoining library, followed by Fielding. Renforth gathered the papers and went with them.
Judith remained beside the door.
Baines waited until the others had gone. “You are angry with me.” It was not a question.
“Your powers of observation are extraordinary.”
He approached her. “Judith, I did not conceal the information because I doubted your judgement.”
“Then why?”
“Because I had no wish to alarm you before we understood what it meant.”
She looked at him. “You have spent the better part of a fortnight allowing me to assist your investigation, yet whenever the danger concerns me personally, you decide I ought to be protected from the truth.”
“That is not entirely fair.”
“Perhaps not… but it is how matters appear.”
Baines passed a hand through his hair. “I have spent years learning to consider danger without allowing personal concerns to interfere. It has served me tolerably well until now.”
Judith’s anger faltered. “Until now?”
He looked at her. “I have recently discovered that the prospect of something happening to you is considerably more disturbing than I care to admit.”
The words unsettled her—she had expected another argument. She had not expected an admission which seemed to reveal more than he intended.
Judith became acutely conscious of the distance between them, of the warmth of the fire, and of the memory of his kiss beside the stream. She wanted him to say more. She wanted him to tell her what place she occupied in his thoughts when he was not pursuing traitors through her uncle’s walls. Then she remembered that his duties would eventually take him away from Blackthorn. Whatever affection he felt might prove no more lasting than the investigation which had brought him there.
“I should not like you to neglect your duty on my account,” she said.
His brows drew together. “That is not what I meant.”
“Then perhaps you ought to explain yourself more clearly.”
He took a step towards her. “Judith, there is something I have been trying to tell you.”
Her heart began to beat rather faster. She looked up. “Then tell me.”
