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hiding exactly," Nicholai amended. "Waiting is a better word. You're just waiting in here until I have Adrienne prepared for our plan."
    "And then I should go out into the hotel corridor through this other door—" Nathan pointed to the narrow exit in the corner of the bedchamber. "—and knock, as if I'm just arriving?" He was looking amused yet dashing in his top boots, fawn breeches, and a blue coat he'd meant to throw away last year because of some frayed spots. It was a costume ordered by his new employer, to add to Nathan's new image of middle-class hired protector.
    "That's right—you go out and knock at the other door when you hear me say 'Mr. Essex will be here at any moment.' "
    "Who? Oh, right, that's me!" Then Nathan pressed, "What if that note you forged and I delivered this morning doesn't work? What if she isn't afraid?" And he thought, How did I get myself into this absurd coil? Could I have drunk so much more last night than I remember? It was insane, and yet the prospect of bringing down Xavier Crowe in the near future was irresistible...
    "Don't worry," Nicholai was saying. "I know how to handle my daughter."
    Raveneau couldn't suppress a sardonic laugh. "Yes. Clearly you have young Miss Beauvisage completely in your power!"
    "Very amusing." A sudden thought brought him up short. "I nearly forgot to give you your spectacles!"
    "Spectacles?" Nathan put the gold-framed lenses on and stared at himself in the mirror.
    "They're clear, but seemed a good addition to your new costume. You don't look a bit like Nathan Raveneau, hmm?"
    At that, there was a knock. Startled, Nicholai pushed the younger man into the bedchamber, closed the door, and went to greet his daughter.
    Adrienne's embrace was warm. "Oh, Papa, you are so good and patient and I am hopeless. Are you going to forgive me before we part and you return to France?"
    "Perhaps." In the face of her affection, he felt a pang of guilt. Adrienne might be full of mischief, but she'd never lied to him. "Of course I forgive you. Come and eat while the food is warm."
    "Look at my beautiful new fan!" She opened it and waved it delicately to and fro. "It belonged to Marie Antoinette!"
    "Stunning, my darling." Nicholai privately suspected that the shopkeeper had concocted that bit of whimsy.
    "Thank you, Papa." She kissed his cheek. "I bought it with the money you put in my reticule!"
    Adrienne discovered that she was famished after the morning of preparations for her journey. Her father looked on admiringly as she devoured salmon mousse and chattered about the upcoming journey with Lady Thomasina Harms to the legendary Harms Castle in Hampshire.
    "Listen to me!" Adrienne exclaimed suddenly, between bites of lemon bread. "I've prattled on hopelessly. You must tell me all your news. What have you been doing in London since last we met?"
    He reached across the table to clasp her hand. "Only hoping that you'll change your mind and travel home with me. How pleased your mother would be—"
    "You're very unfair, invoking Maman like that!" she scolded. "Besides, she was a very independent woman, and I know that she would be the first to understand that I'm too old to cling to her apron strings."
    "I'm not just behaving like a stuffy father now." Nicholai paused, staring into her lively eyes. "I have real cause to fear for your safety, and I can't just walk away under these circumstances. You see... I pieced together the note you tossed away in my fireplace yesterday. I know that Walter Frakes-Hogg is far from the harmless bully you have made him out to be."
    Adrienne looked crushed. Lowering her eyes, she set down her fork, and her shoulders drooped. "Will you force me to go with you?" When he didn't reply immediately, she straightened again, hopefully, and went to kneel beside her father's chair. "Oh, Papa, my feelings are all bittersweet. It's certainly nothing against you or Maman or our wonderful home! And I am fully aware that life at Harms Castle will doubtless be