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“Did you imagine I had spent three months waiting for a charming officer from London to arrive and rescue us?”
Sir Lionel coughed into his hand.
Baines leaned back slightly.
“Judith has taken this rather personally.”
She looked sharply at him.
“I take everything personally that concerns Blackthorn.”
“I know, my dear.” The affection in his answer took some of the sting from hers.
Sir Lionel had given her a home when she had had none, brought her up amongst his sons without ever allowing her to feel herself an obligation, and trusted her with Blackthorn long before anyone thought a young, unmarried lady ought to be trusted with anything more serious than embroidery silk.
Baines folded the circular carefully. “Have there been gatherings elsewhere that have been followed by similar disclosures?”
Sir Lionel nodded. “Two in Yorkshire. One near Durham. Another outside Alnwick.”
“Do the guests overlap?”
“Some of them do.”
“Which ones?”
Judith answered before her uncle could reach for his notes. “Lord and Lady Beckenham attended three, before he passed. Mr. Salter attended two. Colonel Bosworth attended three. Lady Dunsmore attended two, though I cannot imagine she possesses the discretion required for successful espionage.”
Baines looked amused again. “Perhaps that is precisely what makes her formidable.”
“If Lady Dunsmore possessed state secrets, she would announce them before the soup.”
“An excellent disguise.”
Judith narrowed her eyes.
He smiled pleasantly.
Sir Lionel pushed himself back from the desk. “You see why I asked Colonel Renforth for assistance.”
She stared at her uncle. “Do you think he will solve this?”
“I knew you would object.”
“I object more strongly to discovering it after his agent has arrived in the hall.”
Baines raised one hand.
“I prefer guest.”
“You may prefer anything you please. It does not alter what you are.”
The amusement left his face so gradually she almost missed it.
“And what am I, Miss Finch?”
The question was lightly asked, but something in it sharpened the air between them.
Judith considered him. He was trouble, certainly… but not foolish trouble.
