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She let out a little snort It was a bit too late for that now

"Did you say so of Tho not to lie whenever possible

"We will find hiet news One way or another"

Cecilia sed, trying to push down the lurateful nod She was not alone in this anymore She was still scared, and anxious, and full of self-doubt, but she wasn’t alone

It was staggering what a difference thatwoht their food earlier Like everyone in New York, Cecilia thought, she looked tired and overworked

And hot Honestly, Cecilia didn’t kno people lived through these summers The air at home was never this thick with

She’d heard the winters were equally extreme She prayed she was not still here when the first snow fell One of the soldiers in hospital had told her that the ground froze through like a rock, and the as enough to nip your ears off

"Sir," the young lady said with a quick curtsy, "your bath is ready"

"You need it even ers It ithout saying that no one at the Devil’s Head had the time or inclination to seal the ink with a hot iron

"It doesidly at his fingertips

She arched a brow "Really? This is what you miss most? A well-ironed newspaper?"

He shot her a bit of a look, but she rather thought he liked when she teased him He was not the sort of man ould wish to be treated like an invalid, with people tiptoeing around hi their words Still, when he set down the newspaper and glanced toward the exit, Cecilia stopped herself fro if he would like assistance up the stairs and instead stood and silently held out her arm She had seen what it cost his were best done without words

She was grateful, actually, that he’d ignored her in favor of the Gazette throughout their meal She was still unnerved by his offer to release her froe She had never--never--expected him to do that In retrospect, she counted herself fortunate that her knees hadn’t buckled beneath her She had been just standing there with a pile of Dutch biscuits and all of a sudden he offered to set her free

As if he had been the one to trap her

She should have done it She tried to lie to herself and say that she would have done it except

The expression on his face

He’d not moved a muscle But it wasn’t as if he’d frozen He was juststill

She’d thought he ht not even have realized he was holding his breath

He did not want her to go

Cecilia did not knohy she was so certain of this; there was no reason for her to know his expressions, to be able to interpret the eht behind his sapphire eyes She’d only truly known hiine why he wanted her to stay, save for the fact that he needed a nursemaid and she was convenient, but he seerew and grew

But, she re the truth before theirthat Captain Edward Rokesby was a paragon of honesty, and she did not know if he would, or even could, bring hiht feel honor bound to inform him that while he did wish to aid Miss Cecilia Harcourt in her search for her brother, he was not, as a point of fact, her husband

Cecilia could not even iine the outcome of that conversation

No, if she confessed her duplicity to Edward, it would have to be after they saw the major

She told herself this was acceptable