go as far as I need!’ the Earl assured him evenly. ‘If Lady Boyd is guilty of all we suspect, then I consider my actions as necessary as a soldier’s in battle when confronted with the enemy.’
‘If she is guilty!’ Sebastian repeated pointedly. ‘Until you have positive proof of that I, for one, will not condemn the lady.’
‘I was hoping that you might feel that way ….’
He eyed the older man suspiciously, even as a nerve pulsed in his tightly clenched jaw. ‘Exactly what are you suggesting …?’
William Bancroft eyed him speculatively. ‘Why, that you find some way to go about either proving or disproving the lady’s innocence, of course.’
‘Some way? What way do you have in mind, exactly?’ Sebastian wanted to know.
The other man shrugged. ‘A man and a woman are apt to discuss many things once the bedding is over.’
Sebastian stared at the other man as if he had gone completely insane. Bancroft must be insane if he really thought that Sebastian could play Juliet so false. Was this Dolly’s idea of what Sebastian should do in order to change his life from one of idleness and pleasure?
Family. Honour. Loyalty to friends …
Those were the things Sebastian had last night informed Juliet Boyd he took seriously. To behave in the way William Bancroft described—to bed Juliet, make love to her, with the sole intention of discovering her innocence or guilt in treason and murder—would be to behave completely without honour.
But if the Countess of Crestwood really was as guilty as Bancroft seemed to think, then did not Sebastian also owe it to Lucian, to all his brother’s friends, so many of whom had fallen at Waterloo, to apprehend someone who might have been instrumental in aiding Bonaparte’s escape from Elba and so precipitated that bloody battle?
Which left loyalty to friends …
The Earl gave a weary sigh. ‘I am well aware of what we ask of you, St Claire, and appreciate that you will need some time to think on it.’
‘Why do you not merely question the lady and be done with it?’ Sebastian, despite that loyalty he felt towards Lucian, was still loath to agree to such a nefarious and ungentlemanly plan.
‘As I have already explained, while Agent J was inactive there was no haste to do anything but keep a silent watch. Now that Agent J is active again we stand a chance of locating and ultimately arresting a whole network of French agents. Besides, at this moment in time we do not have enough evidence to either question the Countess in connection with treason and murder or indeed clear her name of all such charges.’
He was asking Sebastian to find and then produce that evidence ….
His gaze narrowed on the two men. ‘And if I had not succeeded in finding favour with the Countess? Who was to take my place in her bed then? You, Gray?’ He looked accusingly at the other man, knowing by the way Gray moved uncomfortably in his chair that his surmise was a correct one. ‘You are both mad, I think!’
‘Your own brother returned from Waterloo, Seb. Mine did not.’ Gray’s face was pale and tense.
Sebastian’s fingers involuntarily clenched into purposeful bunches of five. What would Hawk do in such a situation? What would Lucian do if offered the chance of avenging some of the friends he’d lost at Waterloo?
‘And if I refuse?’ He eyed the Earl warily.
‘Then be assured I will take your place, Seb,’ Gray told him bluntly. ‘I feel no reservation, no hesitation in attempting to woo and win the Countess’s confidence. I will bed her, too, if it will give us the answers we require.’
Gray to flatter and charm Juliet? Gray to seduce her? To bed her? Never!
‘I feel no hesitation, either, in giving you both my answer,’ Sebastian said stiffly.
Gray sat forward anxiously. ‘Seb, I ask that you do not act in haste—’
‘You no longer have any part in this conversation, Gray,’ he told his friend. ‘The two of us will talk together at some later date about the role you have played in this farce.’ A later date when Sebastian was not so angry he felt like striking Gray rather than talking to him, his steely tone warned! He turned back to Lord Bancroft. ‘I will endeavour to engage the Countess’s interest further,’ he accepted, feeling utter distaste for such deceit. ‘But only on the understanding that I do this for Juliet Boyd’s own sake, and not your own,’ he added firmly. ‘When I have assured you of her innocence, I will then expect you to apologise both to her and to me.’
If Sebastian succeeded in assuring these two men of Juliet’s innocence ….
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