A Cantata of Love (The Code Breakers 4) by Jacki Delecki Read Free Book Online Page A

wife is very savvy about guarding the secrecy of her work, but I worry more about Charles letting something slip.” Rathbourne rubbed his jaw with one finger. “His discretion is questionable.”
    Michael sat up. “Be careful what you say about my uncle.”
    Rathbourne gave him a compassionate look. “Your uncle has changed. Once you see him again, you’ll understand. I mean no disrespect to the old gentleman.”
    Michael hated to admit that Rathbourne was correct about Uncle Charles’s lack of discretion with the change in his mental status.
    “She’ll move in with Ash and Gwyneth. Ash can keep an eye on her,” Rathbourne announced.
    Ash laughed. “You’re not worried about my wife’s safety? She is your sister.”
    Michael protested. “My God, she is a twenty-two-year-old woman, not some French assassin.”
    “What say you, Ash?” Rathbourne looked at his friend. “This will give us a perfect chance to discover if she has been sent here by Talleyrand, her brother’s handler.”
    “This is ridiculous. She is escaping France. The nuns brought her to my home in Paris and asked me to help her escape. She’s not working for anyone,” Michael protested.
    Rathbourne shrugged his shoulder. “Then it won’t be a problem if she stays with Ash.”
    “Gwyneth will be delighted to have the mademoiselle stay with us. I know Gwyneth misses all the activity of the Rathbourne household.”
    “I would also like to ask my Aunt Euphemia to stay with you as an added precaution,” Rathbourne added.
    A strange, combustible mix of outrage by Rathbourne’s overbearing plans and fear for Gabby left Michael taut with emotion. “Gabby will not be treated like a traitor because her brother was a spy. She has done nothing wrong.”
    “My God, man. Have you considered that her life might be in danger? Napoleon wants her back in France. You don’t think he’ll give up a fortune that easily? He probably has men looking for her in London at this very moment,” Rathbourne said.
    Michael hadn’t had time to consider the possibility, having been hell-bent in getting them all out of France. “You really think that Napoleon would come after her here?”
    “I think Cord has a valid point. What prevents Napoleon from kidnapping her in England?” Ashworth asked.
    Rathbourne stood, dismissing them. “Tomorrow she’ll be moved to Ashworth House. Tonight she can rest before learning of her brother’s demise.”
    Michael’s gut churned with unfamiliar feelings of protectiveness and tenderness. In her short life, Gabby had suffered and now she was left alone. And she wasn’t safe, not even in England. He’d do anything to protect her. Unfortunately, he couldn’t protect her from the trauma of tomorrow’s terrible news.

Chapter Eight

    The next afternoon Michael pulled his horses to a halt in the circular driveway at Rathbourne House. Still unable to sit comfortably in a saddle, he had driven his curricle. Inhaling the warm summer air filled with the scent of freshly mown grass revived him after his fitful sleep. After returning to an empty Kendal House last night, he wandered the halls and the bedrooms alone, lost in his own home. The task of informing Gabby of her brother’s demise weighed heavily on him.
    “Hen.” He shouted across the sloping grass hill to his sister, bent over her garden on the south side of the house.
    Henrietta stood and waved, her face relaxed and bright in what he hoped was anticipation of seeing him.
    He picked up his pace, his mood lightened by the sight of his sister’s smiling face.
    “Aren’t you industrious this morning?” he teased. His sister, like their mother, spent a great deal of time in the garden.
    “Morning? It’s afternoon.” Henrietta pulled her gardening gloves off and dropped them into the basket at her feet before she hugged him. “I’ll stop hugging you soon. I promise.”
    He gave his sister one last embrace before releasing her. “I’m sorry I’m so late, but I had