Sebastian's Lady Spy by Sharon Cullen Read Free Book Online

reassignment. I’ve never complained about my assignments.”
    “Until now.”
    She flinched. “Until now.”
    “Again, I ask: Why?”
    She drew in a deep breath. “Seb—Addison has no interest in working with me.”
    Atwater smiled. “He’s difficult to work with. You’re not the first to tell me so.”
    “I never said that, sir.”
    “You didn’t have to. Believe me, Lady Marciano, I’ve experienced Addison firsthand. However, others have successfully worked with him, and I assumed you would be professional enough to do the same.”
    She lifted her chin, taking his words like the blows they were meant to be. “He doesn’t talk to me about the case, and he doesn’t allow me to go with him when he investigates. According to him, I am useless.” Oh, how it stung to say the word. She’d been accused of many things throughout her life, but useless had never been one of them. It hurt more than the other accusations.
    “Addison is perturbed right now. As soon as he sees your value as a partner—”
    “No disrespect, sir, but ‘perturbed’ is not the word I would use. He’s deliberately uncooperative, and I would go so far as to say he’s sabotaging this mission due to…” She clamped her lips shut.
    Atwater’s gaze sharpened. “Due to what?”
    She shook her head. “Surely you’ve had operatives who simply can’t get along.”
    “No, my lady, I haven’t. All of our operatives know the seriousness of their missions and put personal feelings aside. As you should.”
    She looked away, knowing he was right but also knowing that what he asked was impossible. She and Sebastian had a history that he obviously regretted, and he was taking his regret out on her.
    “Why is he sabotaging this mission?” Atwater asked. “If there’s something I need to know about the two of you, then it’s your duty to tell me.”
    She laughed, but it was a dry, brittle laugh that lacked any humor. “It’s always my
duty,
isn’t it? From the moment I was dragged into this line of work, I’ve heard nothing but the word ‘duty.’ Is nothing sacred? Does the crown need to know
everything
about me?”
    “Yes. For your safety and the safety of the other operatives. If there’s something in your life, in your past, that can be used against you, we need to know. What happened between you and Addison, Lady Marciano?”
    She took a long time to answer, forming the correct words in her mind. Despite everything, she didn’t want to harm Sebastian’s career, and she didn’t want Atwater to think ill of Sebastian, either. “We had a relationship.” “Relationship” was a stretch. They’d had three nights of bliss, but of course she would not say that.
    Atwater made a noise.
    “Seven months ago in Venice, when Sebastian chased after his sister, Claire. He came to me because he surmised that Claire would be with me.” She shrugged. “He arrived three days before she did.”
    Atwater blew out a breath. “I say, I’ve never had to deal with something like this. I don’t believe any of our operatives have had a physical relationship with each other.”
    “I did not know he was an operative, and as you can tell from his reaction the other day, he had no idea I was an operative. In that, at least, we followed the rules.”
    “So you can’t work with him because you two had an affair.”
    “I can’t work with him because he refuses to work with me.”
    “It seems to me that you two need to talk,” he said.
    “That would work if he stayed in a room with me long enough.”
    Atwater pushed away from his desk. “Think like an operative, Gabrielle. What would you do if he were someone you were investigating?”
    She would seduce him, because that was what she was good at. That was how she had been trained. But she didn’t think it would work with Sebastian.
    “You know this cannot happen again,” Atwater said softly.
    “I know.” Her heart twisted in a spasm of grief. Sebastian had made it very clear that he