I gave him a perplexed look as I filled my own cup. “Why do you say that? I thought you liked chasing villains. You are so very good at it.”

“I do, and I am.” Daniel’s grin shone briefly then faded. “He has told me I must go away again. I can’t tell you where.” He let out a breath and finally looked at me. “I have refused.”

I grew more bewildered. “You just said you had no choice.”

“Well, we shall see if he accepts my refusal. But I am reluctant to leave London these days. I have more reason not to throw myself headlong into danger. I admit I enjoyed it when I was younger—needed it. Now . . .”

“Now you have James,” I said, thinking of Grace. “Children change a person.”

“James, yes.” Daniel slid his hand across the table to me. “And you.”

The breath I drew was ragged. Daniel teased me often, but his declarations were few. Perhaps because I put him off, or teased him in return.

“Me,” I said in a near whisper.

“Yes. God help me.” Daniel’s fingers tightened on mine. “How can I leave, when the damn fool things he has me do might mean I never see you again?”

Again I sat in silence, unsure what this new awareness would mean.

“If you have made a pledge to him . . .” My voice was faint.

“Not so much a pledge, but it is something I can’t break. I was a bad ’un, Kat. As bad as my brother, I’m sorry to say. This is my penance.”

“Oh.” I still did not understand completely, but I was edging closer. Daniel traveled to Scotland or Ireland or the Continent, chased Fenians who’d cheerfully kill him at any instant, and ran after terrible villains, because he had no choice. The bespectacled man had him in a stranglehold.

“For how long?” I asked.

“Until I convince them I’ve paid.” Daniel released me. “I still can’t tell you the entire story. But I will, in time—swearing you to secrecy, of course. Once I’m finished.”

My eyes stung. “You might be dead before then.”

“I might be, yes.”

I studied him for a long moment, while the tea gave up its heat to the chilly room. Without word, I rose and moved to his side of the table. Daniel watched me come, his expression guarded as I sat down beside him.

“Then we must make the most of our time, my dear friend,” I said.

I clasped his hands in mine, leaned forward, and softly kissed him on the mouth.

Acknowledgments

Thanks go to my editor, Kate Seaver, who loves Kat Holloway as much as I do. Also to my dear husband, who puts up with the quirks and inconveniences of living with an author.

About the Author

Photo by Silvio Portrait Design