It had taken some convincing—and lying—to get the Archbishop to sign a special license for two people who were not even present. Especially without a guardian for Nick Howerty, who was not yet of age. Sometimes, being a duke did have its advantages, and Marcus was not beyond using them when he needed to. This had been such a time. With the special license in his pocket, he'd visited the War Office to inform them of where he was heading, and he'd made his way to Nick's estate in Devon.

When he'd arrived at Holdenhurst Manor two days later, he'd discovered that Nick and Winter had been taken captive by the elusive Frenchman that everyone was searching for. He wanted Nick's estate for its prime location on the coast, where he could bring in items and people without having to visit an official port, and no one would have been the wiser. The special license was to make Nick and Winter marry so the Frenchman could force Winter to sign the estate over to him.

The very day after Marcus's arrival, Nick and Winter had married in the local church. Not the most romantic wedding when their refusal would have potentially been fatal. The reinforcements from the War Office had finally arrived as they were leaving the church, and they had apprehended the Frenchman and his henchmen. With the threat averted, they could all breathe out.

Nick and Winter were still married, but as long as they didn't consummate the marriage, they could most likely gain an annulment. Especially considering the circumstances of the wedding. The bishop would likely agree to an annulment when the bride had not had her guardian's consent and had been forced under near-literal gunpoint. They just had to make sure they didn't consummate, and they could get it all sorted when they returned to London. He smirked where sat atop his horse on his way home. Knowing his friend's weakness for the young lady, he rather doubted they would get that far.

"I'm not sure I have ever seen you smirk before." John Osborne, one of the young employees of the War Office, had stayed behind to travel home with him rather than going with his fellow agents. Marcus had worked with him on a few cases, and always thought he seemed like an all right fellow. He was also a friend of Rain's, and that meant he was automatically a friend of Marcus's too.

"I was only calculating the odds of Winter and Nick being able to request an annulment of their marriage."

"Oh, I imagine it should be easy enough, considering the circumstances." Osborne caught Marcus's raised eyebrow and chuckled. "Right. I understand. Yes. Not likely, indeed."

Marcus fingered the reins of his horse as he thought through the events of the last few days. Something just didn't feel right, and there was an uncomfortable tingling between his shoulder blades that he simply could not shake. "Osborne," he said. "What do you make of the missing list? Do you agree that Brown must have destroyed it or we should have found it by now?"

Osborne's brow furrowed as he considered it. "It seems the most likely possibility. We have suspected that he had an accomplice, so my biggest concern would probably be if that man has the list."

"We've had similar thoughts. Did you know Brown? Does he seem like someone who would betray his fellow men to you?" It had been several years since Marcus worked directly for the War Office rather than help on the occasional case, but from what little he remembered of the agent, he had seemed devoted to his king and country.

"Honestly?" Osborne turned his head to meet Marcus's eyes. "Brown was one of the last men I would have expected to do such a thing."

"Hmm. I had the same thought. Something doesn't quite add up for me, and I don't like it."

"Want to talk it through?" Osborne gave him a lopsided smile. "It's not as if we have much else to do at the moment. We've still got hours before we take a break for the night."

Marcus nodded. "Let's do it. The sequence of events, as we know it, is that Brown stole the list from the War Office with the intent of selling it to Monsieur Fontaine. Whether Fontaine had contacted him beforehand, or he had the knowledge to contact him, is anyone's guess." A thought struck him. "Actually... We know Fontaine is quite fond of blackmail, from what he did to Nick's friend Wyndon. If he somehow knew about Brown's predilection for men, he could have easily used that information to blackmail him into stealing the list. Maybe he didn't have an accomplice at all."

"That does sound more likely than Brown betraying everyone," Osborne agreed. "And then he changed his mind after he'd stolen the list and refused to give it to Fontaine?"

"Yes. Losing his own life to keep his fellow men safe." As the puzzle pieces fell into place, Marcus sensed that this might be it. This was the most likely sequence of events. "It sounds more like the Brown I remember."

"Agreed." Osborne ran a hand through his hair, the corners of his mouth quivering and the nostrils of his nose expanding as if he'd smelled something foul. "That poor man. It was awful what they did to him."

"Did you visit the inn where they found him?"

"I did. It was the worst thing I've ever seen in my life."

They were silent for a moment, contemplating the last hours of Brown's life. The man who had given his life to keep their identities and families safe. Marcus would be forever grateful to the man but wished it had not ended like this.

"If this is the case, he most definitely destroyed the list," Osborne finally said. "The moment he decided against giving it to Fontaine, he would have burned it."

"Yes." Something was still missing. Marcus could feel it in his bones. "There was a gentleman that came to see Brown. Someone who wasn't Fontaine."

"One of his henchmen?"

"Maybe. I don't know. Something about this doesn't seem right." He sighed. It had been a tiring few days with little sleep, and his brain felt sluggish. He wanted to get home as soon as possible to see his wife again. He'd hated leaving her so soon, especially after finally making love to her after all these years. "If the list was destroyed and was never leaked, who has been targeting Rain?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Did Thomson not tell you? There have been attacks on Rain's life. First poisoning, followed by an outright attack by an armed man."

Osborne's eyes widened. "Why am I only hearing of this now?"

"I expected Thomson would have told you. Perhaps he didn't have time before we left." It was odd, though. Surely something like that should have been brought to the attention of the entire team? "Are you on the team investigating the missing list and Fontaine?"

"I am," Osborne confirmed. "Maybe Brown had an accomplice after all, then? Someone who has a grudge against you after finding your name on the list? If they were unaware of your former employment."

"Either that, or it's sold after all. I still believe Fontaine blackmailed Brown," Marcus said, frowning. "But how did Fontaine find out about him? About his secret? Or even the fact that Brown worked at the War Office. He was mostly a desk clerk, spending very little time out on missions."

"So maybe the 'accomplice' was less of an accomplice, and more of the contact between Fontaine and Brown?"

"Yes. It would most likely be someone who has been to France on missions. Or, at the very least, spent a lot of time around people that Fontaine would hang around."

"I wish Brown would have come to us for help," Osborne admitted. "We could have helped him."

"He feared for what would happen if you found out his secret. It is an offence punishable by death," Marcus pointed out.

"Wholly unfair," Osborne muttered. "We should all be allowed to love whoever."

"Agreed."

"He was a good man. I cannot believe it has been five weeks already since we found him." Osborne's face paled as he recalled the event yet again. "I don't think I can ever forget that scene."

The hair on Marcus's neck stood on end. "Five weeks?"

"Yes?" Osborne gave him a quizzical look.

"We were only told of his death barely a fortnight ago, and led to believe it had only just happened." The uneasy feeling between his shoulder blades intensified as more puzzle pieces fell into place, expanding the puzzle further than they had initially believed.

"Thomson was in charge of contacting you. He volunteered for the role when we first found out about the missing list in April and was running point between you and your agency's investigation and our own."

A lump of dread settled in Marcus's stomach as Osborne finished talking. "He only contacted us halfway through May."

"That's when we found Brown dead," Osborne said slowly, as he was obviously drawing the same conclusions. His eyes came up to meet Marcus's.

"And that's when he got spooked," Marcus finished for him. "Bloody hell!"

"Hell," Osborne grunted as they both spurred their horses to go faster.

"And he's taken Rain to Winterbourne Hall," Marcus said through gritted teeth. "I left her alone with the very man who's behind the attacks on her life!"

~~~~~~