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her ending up in Devil’s Chateau was untenable.
    “Will you come to my room later?” Reed asked in English, so only Fleur would understand. “Perhaps we can talk. I get lonely.”
    “Of course I’ll come, if you aren’t too tired.”
    “I won’t be too tired for you. Please come.”
    Reed managed the hallway with Antoine’s help. “What the countess does is dangerous,” Reed said. “She should return to England.”
    Antoine gave a Gallic shrug. “We all know that,
monsieur,
but she will not listen to reason. We can do nothing but look after her as best we can.”
    They had reached Reed’s room. Antoine helped him out of his clothing and eased him into bed. “I intend to speak to her superior when I return to England,” Reed said. “Fleur cannot continue to put her life in danger. If I can arrange for her removal to England, will you, Gaston and Lisette accompany her?”
    “I cannot speak for Lisette, but Gaston and I would probably return to our village. Though we owe our loyalty to the countess as long as she remains in France, we are Frenchmen. If the countess leaves, we will return to our families.”
    “Thank you, Antoine. Without your and Gaston’s help, I wouldn’t be alive today.”
    Antoine took himself off, leaving Reed alone with his thoughts. He didn’t look forward to taking up the reins of the earldom after an exciting life as a government operative. Lord Porter believed that Napoleon was on the verge of invading England, and Reed’s assignment had been either to prove or disprove that theory.
    But once he returned home, he would probably be expected to choose a wife from the current crop of debutantes and set up a nursery. He shuddered at the thought.
    Reed enjoyed his freedom, and liked to bed whomever he wished whenever he pleased without gossips watching his every move. How could he live his life in the public eye?
    A rustling noise brought Reed’s attention to the other side of the room, where Fleur stood poised in the doorway.
    “I thought you might be sleeping,” Fleur said.
    “No, I’m waiting for you. Come in and sit beside me. There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”
    Fleur moved into the room and pulled a chair up to the bed. “What is it?”
    “Doctor Leclair. He was in prison with me. He set my arm and did what he could for me. His only crime is that he treated aristocrats and tried to hide their identities. Can you get him out of Devil’s Chateau without endangering your life?”
    Fleur remained silent a long time. “The guard will become suspicious if I return too soon to the prison. I have to maintain the mystique of the Black Widow in order to continue my work. But this I will promise: Once you are on your way to England, I will see what I can do for him.”
    “I cannot ask more of you than that. Thank you.”
    “It’s time I left. You need your rest.”
    As Fleur rose and bent over Reed to adjust the blanket, something Reed hadn’t thought possible happened. Her subtle scent of flowers aroused the first stirrings of desire he had felt in longer than he cared to remember. The urge to kiss Fleur, to taste her lips, overwhelmed him. Impulsively, his hand clutched the back of her head and brought her lips to his.
    For the first time in months, he felt alive.

Chapter Three
     
    The unexpectedness of Reed’s kiss stunned Fleur. She stiffened, poised on the brink of pushing herself away. But something inside her wanted this kiss. She had missed the closeness, the intimacy of marriage, but hadn’t allowed herself to be distracted by a man since Pierre’s death. But this kiss, the wonderfully satisfying magic of Reed’s lips, brought back all the yearnings she had buried with Pierre.
    Without volition, her body softened as she gave herself up to pleasure. She knew allowing this to happen was wrong, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. Why Reed? Fleur wondered distractedly. None of the other men who’d flowed through her cottage on their way to