AT QUARTER TO TEN,Lucy stepped out of her bed chamber and closed the door silently. She was thankful for her room on the same floor with the family. Servants slept lightly and woke at any little sound. She didn’t have to be as careful as Duncan would need to be. Perhaps someone would spot him and ask where he was off to at this hour, and he wouldn’t be able to make their rendezvous after all. She wouldn’t have to spend all night with the annoying man.
She made her way down the stairs. No servant sat by the door, but it was locked tonight. She unlocked it and slipped outside. She closed it again then looked at the house to make sure she was unobserved. She saw nothing and no one.
Duncan had planned to exit using the servants’ entrance, which meant he might already be at the summer house. As annoying as he could be, she had to admit that the only thing worse than sitting up with him was sitting by herself all night. They’d practiced surveillance at the Farm. One or two agents would be assigned to watch a field or a house or a tree for anywhere from hours to days. Then at some point Mr. Fog, their surveillance instructor, would sneak in and leave something behind—a scarf or a slip of paper or used bottle of boot black. If they spotted him and returned the object he’d left within an hour of his leaving it, they passed. The days or nights when she had been assigned surveillance alone, she’d never seen Mr. Fog or the object until he came to tell her she’d failed. She either fell asleep or became distracted and forgot to pay attention when she was alone.
At the summer house, Lucy pushed the door open and stepped inside. “Duncan?” she whispered.
No answer.
She had made it before him. That was a small victory, wasn’t it? Too bad Mr. Fog couldn’t see his Golden Boy now. He was late. Chuckling to herself, she went to the table and dragged one of the chairs to the front window. The small rear window faced nothing but boats stacked behind the house and thick foliage. She could see the river and the field from the front. Of course, anyone else approaching could also see her. She moved the chair to the side of the window then sat down and peered out. She sighed and drummed her fingers on her knee. Was Duncan coming? How long until morning? She’d been here—what? three minutes. So that meant it was eight hours until morning, give or take.
Lucy stared out the window. Behind her she thought she heard the floor creak. She told herself she was hearing things or the house was settling. She’d come through the only entrance. No one else could be here.
Could they?
Suddenly, she went rigid. She hadn’t done a sweep of the house. What if someone had been herewhenshe’d arrived?
And that was the moment the hand clamped over her mouth.
***
DUNCAN PLACED HIS HANDover Lucy’s mouth to keep her from screaming. That was the last thing they needed. He felt her tense with shock and opened his mouth to tell her it was only him.
But that was the moment she slammed her elbow back and struck him between the legs. The breath whooshed out of him. His hand on her face went slack, and she grabbed his wrist. In one motion, she stood, twisted his arm and had him bent double as she stood over him.
“Lucy.” The words came out harsh and forced as the pain from his nether regions radiated out to the rest of his body. “It’s Duncan.”
“Duncan?” She grabbed his face, none too gently, and peered at him intently. Suddenly, she released his arm, and he was allowed to sink to his knees. “I apologize for the, er, for my elbow.”
He held up a hand, indicating he would respond later. If he survived, which was in doubt at that moment. Gradually, the pain subsided enough that he could move, and he allowed himself to fall over onto his side and curl into a fetal position.
Lucy knelt beside him. “You should have told me it was you. You took me off-guard.”
“I thought...you’d do a...sweep and find...me.”
“What were you doing hiding anyway? You know I don’t like to be surprised.”
Duncan would have laughed if it wouldn’t have caused him more pain. Apparently, her elbow to his stones washisfault.
Lucy offered a hand. “Come on. Let’s get you to one of those cots. The floor can’t be comfortable.”
“I’m fi—oh, we’re doing this anyway.” She had his arm and pulled him up. Duncan staggered to his feet and was able to limp to the nearest cot. He sat on it and closed his eyes. Lucy sat beside him.
After a long silence she said, “I’m trying to work out why you weren’t watching out the window.”
“I wanted to see if I could find a place to hide so if they came inside, I could listen to their conversation. It seemed useful to hear what they had to say.”
“Why didn’t you say something when I came inside?”
“At first, I wasn’t certain it was you, and then I wanted to see if you spotted me when you did a sweep. If you found me quickly, I’d need another spot to hide.”
“No, I think the place you found was perfect. Where was it?”
He pointed. “Under that cot.”
“Can we both fit?”
“I think so.”
