If Duncan took the bait, I was free.

His eyes narrowed. “Yes. But men like him have ways to move about. Did he say anything else?”

I pretended to think. “No. Only that he’s been working the ropewalk north of the shipyards. Does that help?”

“Yes.” Duncan looked east, like he might see the river from where we stood. “I’ll see that he leaves and never returns.” His eyes were still distant when he turned back to me. “There’s a pavilion just up ahead. Shall we run for cover? I refuse to let that miscreant sour our night.”

I took his arm, my mind reeling, going over all that had just been said. I’d set a plan in motion even as I’d been devising it. But it would work. I knew it would. Duncan would send men after Sewel and I’d see that Sewel’s capture would lead to his demise. It was perfect. A perfect stroke of luck.

Under the pavilion, Duncan drew me to stand before the lone lantern that still burned. There was no roof, but a thick tapestry of rose vines kept the rain away. We were alone now, the empty footpaths weaving into the darkness.

“Do you remember a year ago?” he asked.

“Of course.” He’d been so disarming. And I’d been so eager to be seen as more than a handsome fortune. I’d gotten what I’d wanted.

He took my hands. “I wanted to do this here, tonight, and to not rush through it, and to say all the right things, but I can’t wait anymore. If you answer me as I pray you will, then you will hear from my bewitched heart every day henceforth, and as often as you wish. My dear Emmeline…will you marry me?”

This was the only way. All I had to do was survive this night. This moment. “James…I want so much to say yes, that I will marry you, but I can’t. All winter long, when you were away on campaign, I worried every day I’d never see you again. It was almost unbearable. I have lost everyone in my family. I simply can’t let my life’s happiness depend on a husband who’s away, and in mortal danger, for months at a time—no matter how noble the reasons. Tell me you understand?”

He stepped even closer, taking my arms. “I do. I do understand loss. We have always shared that connection. But I can assure you—you will not lose me.”

I shook my head. “My father promised me the same.”

“This is different. This is a certainty. There is no danger anymore. I will not go on campaign again. We have found an advantage so significant that our victory is all but sealed.”

I was so close. All I had to do was push a little more. “We’ve been close to the end before—yet here we are. Four, five years in. And you’ve said yourself the rebels are tenacious and cunning. How many times have they slipped away when no one believed they could?”