Read Online Shana Galen - [A Lord & Lady Spy Novella] by The Spy Wore Blue - Free Book Online

Helena.” Blue’s fingers tightened on her shoulder. “No one who sees his face and knows what he is lives.”
    “Perhaps it wasn’t him at all. Have you seen his face?”
    “No. I’ve seen drawings made by those who have.”
    “What does he look like?”
    “Tall, thin, pale complexion.”
    Helena took a shaky breath.
    “He has brown hair, which he wears long, either loose or in a queue. And he has light eyes, almost gray in color.”
    “I think I need to sit down.” When her legs began to crumple, he pulled her up.
    “You’ll be fine.”
    “No.” She shook her head. “I don’t have your luck.”
    “We do not know for certain you are a target, but no matter because I am not going to allow anything to happen to you.”
    “You couldn’t protect Luca.”
    “I didn’t know who he would attack then. He could have gone after anyone in Pacca’s employ.”
    “He still might.”
    Blue gave her a grave look. “No.”
    “Why not? It doesn’t have to be me. He doesn’t know I know who he is.”
    “But he knows you mean something to me. He’ll kill you and then come after me. He accomplishes two goals that way—Pacca’s theater will surely go into bankruptcy, and he kills yet another agent of the Barbican group.”
    She looked past him, at the dusk gathering outside the shop windows. Suddenly this quaint quarter of Naples did not feel quite so cozy. “What do we do now?” She dragged her gaze back to Blue.
    “We wait.”
    ***
    Blue could tell Helena did not like his answer. She was never the sort to wait for anything. She liked to take action. Blue preferred to step back, look at all the choices, and make an informed decision. Blue had traveled the world, and he’d seen the dance of predator and prey. All too often, the prey, sensing danger, tried to flee and ran right into the trap set for it.
    Blue was never hasty. Never impulsive.
    Except once.
    He looked at Helena now, studying her furrowed brow as they sat over steaming bowls of soup at her table. He didn’t like that she was a target any more than she liked it, and judging from the worried look on her face, she hated her new position.
    But Blue knew something she didn’t. He had never failed to protect someone to whom he was assigned, and he would not fail now. She pushed her soup around in her bowl, and he said softly, “You need to eat something.”
    She shook her head. “I can’t. My stomach is tied in knots.” She made to rise, and he grabbed her wrist.
    “Helena, I told you I would not allow anything to happen to you.”
    “But how can you assure me of that? You were almost killed today!”
    He rose. “I can keep you safe because that is what I do. Whether I am a target or not makes no difference to me. I will keep you from harm, and if that means risking or giving my own life, then so be it.”
    “No.”
    Blue did not think he could have heard her correctly. “No?”
    “No. I cannot let you do that. I am not worth it.”
    He felt her hand tremble and looked down to where his fingers encircled her slim wrist. “That’s not true.”
    “It is!” She pulled away from him. “The things I did, the things I said.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Before.” She waved her hand. “Before, when we were married. I-I was horrible.”
    She turned away from him, and he could see her shoulders sag at the memories. Memories he had blocked from his mind. “We are still married,” he said, his voice soft.
    She laughed. “In name only.”
    “It means something to me.”
    She turned to look at him, wonder in her eyes. “How can it? After what I did? After what you saw?”
    He moved forward so quickly, she did not have time to move away. His finger grazed her lips, sealing them. “Not another word.” If she brought it up, if he thought too hard about it, he wouldn’t be able to stop the anger, and anger was his enemy right now. Anger kept one from thinking straight, acting logically. And yet, as she stood before him, memories