“I need to tell you something.”
“Tell me later.” She leaned in to kiss him again, and he hesitated then kissed her back. But just as she was sinking into the feel of his lips and his tongue, he pulled back again.
“I must tell you now. But I’ll never say it with you like this.” He lifted her off his lap and onto the floor then stood and moved away from her. He put a hand to his forehead and took a breath. Whatever he had to say was serious, and Marjorie felt her belly tighten with unease.
“Whatever it is, just say it.”
He lowered his hand, and his blue eyes met hers. “We did not come here on our honeymoon. We made up a story about being newly married so everyone would leave us alone and not make friendly calls. If you’re newly married, no one questions why you want to be alone.”
“I see.” She rose and moved toward him, but he took a step away, backing into the mantel of the hearth. Marjorie placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned forward.
He caught her head in his hands. “I’m trying to tell you this isn’t our honeymoon.”
“I understand.” She turned her head to kiss his palm.
“No, you don’t.” His voice wavered slightly, and she knew the feel of her lips on the sensitive skin of his palm affected him. His breath hitched. “I’m not your husband.”
Marjorie ceased kissing his hand. She turned her head to look at him, and he dropped his hands from her face.
“We aren’t truly married,” he said. He took her hands from his shoulders and put them at her sides. “In fact, you don’t remember this, but you don’t even like me. No”—he shook his head—“that’s too mild. You hate, loathe, and despise me.” He moved away from her, putting some distance between them. “In short, the absolute last thing you would ever want to do, Marjorie, is kiss me.”
Five
Simon took another step back, anticipating her wrath. He’d seen her angry more times than he could count, and he didn’t disregard the prospect of violence if her memory chose to return now. She would tear his head off—and he couldn’t blame her.
Marjorie cocked her head to the side and stared at him with those large brown eyes. God, he always felt as though he might get lost in those eyes if she ever really looked at him. And she’d looked at him more this past day than she had in five years of working together. Could he really be blamed for kissing her when she’d wanted him to kiss her? He’d been yearning to kiss her for every single moment of those five years.
“I loathe you? No, I don’t think so,” she said, shaking her head.
So much for her memory returning.
“That’s not at all how I feel about you. If I hated you, I would be able to tell. When I look at you, I have a feeling—and that feeling is...” She seemed to be looking for the right words. “Warm. I feel warm when I look at you.”
“It might be the heat of your hatred,” he said. “You once told me you loathed me with the intensity of ten thousand suns.”
She raised her brows. “Poetic, but not very nice.”
“You aren’t particularly nice. You’re intelligent, graceful, and the best agent I’ve ever met. But you aren’t nice.”
She sank down to the floor. “Not even to you?”
“Especially not to me, not that I’m complaining. I’ve learned a lot from you. It’s an honor to work with you. When I was assigned to this mission, I was thrilled.”
“You look up to me?”
“Everyone does. You’re practically a legend in the Foreign Office. All of us junior agents are terrified of you, but we’d give anything to work with you.”
She put a hand to her chest. He tried not to stare at it. She hadn’t been able to fasten her gown all the way on her own, and the bodice was loose. The tops of her rounded breasts were visible just above the edge of her chemise. “Is this some sort of hoax?”
“Not at all.” He reached down, and she put her hands in his. He led her to the couch and then took a seat on the edge farthest from her. “You really are one of the best agents for the Foreign Office. That’s why you were given the location of the rendezvous and sent to Cornwall. I was sent with you to pose as your husband and provide support.”
“I know this mission is very important,” she said. “Was there no safeguard? Did I say nothing to you of the rendezvous or give you any indication of where it might be?”
“You haven’t said more than a dozen words to me since we left London.”
“We don’t know each other?”
“We’ve known each other for five years, since I was new to the Foreign Office. You’d already been there about a decade. At first, you ignored me. There was no need for you to take notice of me. But over the years we worked together maybe ten or eleven times.” This was the eleventh time, but she didn’t need to know he kept track. “I thought we made a good team. Melbourne must have thought so as well, since he paired us on this mission, despite your protests.”
