“The Home Office might have done that on purpose,” Valentine said, ignoring the dreadful fact that a part of him—a very small, very insignificant part—admired Bronwyn’s ingenuity as well. She was smart, persistent, dangerously clever, and as stubborn as a mule. Even his threats to make her confess had been futile. Those traits were to be admired. He scowled. In any other woman but her.

Lisbeth frowned. “How so?”

“I believe that the Kestrel may be a double operative, or at least someone working for the British Crown in some other capacity.” He went on to briefly explain what had transpired, leaving out the frantic half an hour in the woods, but by the time he was done, her eyebrows had climbed to her hairline.

“Val, you slept in the same building alone,” she said softly. “She’s the sister of a bloody duke. What were you thinking?”

The guilt was instantaneous, considering they’d done much more than sleep. While it’d been by mutual consent, the fact that they had passed an entire night together unchaperoned meant that British society would hold them both in contempt. They might as well have been copulating all night long for what it would look like to the denizens of the ton.

Valentine raked a hand through his hair for the tenth time. “I know. I couldn’t very well find a chaperone in the middle of nowhere while we were running for our lives, could I?”

“What will you do?”

“Take her back to London and hand her over as quietly as possible. Ashvale will have to deal with any fallout at that point.”

An odd look crossed Lisbeth’s face. “You’d just abandon her?”

“Did you not hear a word that I said?” he whispered furiously. “She’s the bloody Kestrel! A spy you have been searching for and dragged me in to help you find. If it were any other person, trust me, neither of us would be this…concerned. I’ve done my part and it’s finished.”

“Just like that.”

“What are you getting at, Lisbeth?” he muttered, the decision not sitting well with him at all but his hands were tied. “It’s always been just like that. We apprehend the bad people and turn them in to our superiors to face sentencing. She’s not any different.”

“And you’re fine with her being treated like a criminal?”

“She is a criminal.”

Confusion crossed her face. “You just said that she could be a double operative working under a different set of orders for England. Which is it?”

“Damn your eyes, I don’t know.”