Free Her Officer and Gentleman by Karen Hawkins

then sighed. “I suppose I should tell you my plan lest you think worse of me than you already do, if that is possible.”
    “Oh, it is possible,” Reeves said, bringing the decanter to Christian’s chair to refill the glass, “though highly unlikely.”
    “Thank you,” Christian snapped.
    “You’re welcome, my lord. If you find honesty too taxing, I can, of course, continue to gather information through my usual means.”
    “Usual means?”
    “Bits of information you drop, actions reported by the other servants who witness your movements, eavesdropping.”
    “ You eavesdrop?”
    “Not I, my lord,” Reeves said, clearly offended. “The footmen.”
    Christian took the cigar out of his mouth. “The footmen eavesdrop.”
    “They all do, my lord. I even did it myself, when I was a footman, though that was years and years ago.”
    “Now that you’re a butler, I suppose you leave such odious work to your underlings.”
    Reeves bowed. “You are indeed quick, my lord.”
    “Thank you,” Christian said with a sardonic glint. He shook his head. “You are incorrigible. I donot know how my father stood to have you about.”
    “Oh, that was quite simple, my lord. I have a wretched memory. Your father would dismiss me quite frequently but, alas, I always forgot to pack. Within a day or two, he would be back in good fettle and glad to have me about. I do have a way with providing the little luxuries, you know. His Lordship found that very comforting.”
    Christian looked at the unlit cigar. “Is that what this is all about, the port and the cigar? An attempt to become irreplaceable?”
    “Yes,” Reeves said in an apologetic tone.
    Christian had to laugh. “You are a complete hand, Reeves.”
    “Thank you, my lord. Coming from a onetime highwayman, that is quite a compliment indeed.” Reeves cleared his throat. “Now, my lord. About your plan?”
    “Ah yes.” Christian stood and crossed to the desk. He opened the top drawer. “It is quite simple. As you already know, my mother died in Newgate prison.”
    “I am aware of that sad fact, my lord. Your brother explained what happened to the two of you when you were but ten—how your mother was thrown into gaol, accused of treason.”
    “Yes. For a while, Tristan and I were together, but then—” Memories of that day crept to the fore—of the cold hard earth that had broken his fall from the inn window. Of the sound of Tristan’s cry as he’d attempted to fight his way to freedom and failed. Then, later, not knowing his brother’sfate, of the drenched and freezing nights during the frantic trip to London to find Mother. And on reaching London—
    Christian closed his eyes and refused to listen to the painful echoes of his past. Slowly, the memories faded. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes.
    Reeves quietly regarded him from across the room. “I am sorry, my lord.”
    “It’s nothing,” Christian said shortly, embarrassed. He pulled an old box from the drawer and set it on the desk. “My brother and I were sold by our tutor, who had an addiction to gaming. Tristan sacrificed himself to give me time to escape. He was impressed into the navy.”
    “While you disappeared.”
    Christian managed a bitter smile. “I suppose that is what I did do in a way; I disappeared into the bowels of London.”
    “I do not know what happened during those years, but I am certain they could not have been pleasant.”
    “Pleasant?” Christian had to laugh at that. “You are indeed the master of understatement, Reeves.”
    “A necessary gift in my occupation, my lord, I am happy to see that whatever befell you as a child, you made it through with considerable aplomb.”
    Christian shrugged, as much to loosen the tightness in his shoulders as to agree with Reeves. “So I did. And now I plan to prove Mother’s innocence. She was imprisoned as a traitor on chargesthat she’d had commerce with the French. The charges were later dismissed, but only after she’d