She laughed. “Not yet. You’re as impatient as a child who has been promised an ice at Gunter’s.”

“I’ve never done anything like this.” He perched on the small bed opposite Cassie’s. Jeanne and Pierre had made it clear that they didn’t mind what sleeping arrangements their guests made, so he and Cassie were sharing the room that had belonged to the two Boyer daughters. They’d used only one of the narrow beds, which was crowded, but they’d wanted to be as close as possible. A single bed was sufficient for making love.

“One’s first experience of war is difficult,” she observed. “But everyone has a first time. At least you’re no green seventeen-year-old soldier who has never faced the enemy before.”

“I’m not so much afraid of being a coward,” he said slowly as he puzzled out his concerns. “But the stakes are so high! I’m afraid I’ll fail and it will hurt others.”

“Life and death are the highest stakes there are,” she said calmly. “But we all die eventually. I hope it’s not tonight, but would either of us choose not to be here?”

“As I said in England, this is something I must do.” He scowled at her. “But you don’t have to. You could be safe and learning how to spend money in London. Haven’t you ever thought of retiring from this most dangerous game?”

“I have,” she said, to his surprise. “When I visited Kirkland to chastise him for letting my cousin know I was alive, he told me it was time to leave spying behind. I’ve done noble work and helped my country, but Napoleon’s doom is inevitable.” She smiled a little. “Though he was very complimentary, he made it clear that my services were no longer needed.”

Grey’s brows arched with surprise. “Interesting. Even more interesting that you didn’t mention this to me earlier.”

“I’m torn,” she admitted. “Though I still want Napoleon dead and his tyranny ended, I no longer feel as much need to do it personally. But what will I do to fill the time if I’m not skulking around France and sleeping rough and wearing terrible clothes?”

He chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll find worthwhile activities soon enough.”

After a silence, she said hesitantly, “I’ve considered buying an estate in Norfolk near my family and managing it myself. Looking out for the welfare of my tenants, perhaps starting schools—that’s work worth doing.”

Before he could suggest that marrying him would give her a chance to perform such services, she continued, “What about you? God willing, it will be years till you inherit the earldom. Will you spend them in wine, women, and dissipation?”

He shuddered. “I had enough of that when I was young. Actually, I’ve been thinking of Parliament. My father controls a number of seats and one of his MPs is in poor health and considering retirement.”

“That might keep you out of mischief,” she said thoughtfully. “And it would be good experience for when you inherit and take your seat in the House of Lords.”

“Exactly!” He couldn’t keep the excitement from his voice. “I want to be involved with things that matter. I want to forge relationships with MPs that I can use later when I’m in the Lords. The world is changing, Cassie. This is an age of revolutions. If Britain is to avoid having one, we must change the system in ways that benefit the average citizen.” He grinned. “One of the things that needs changing is the way noblemen like my father control multiple seats in Parliament.”

Cassie laughed. “So you’ll become a reformer! I take back what I said about you keeping out of mischief if you go into politics. But I agree with your goals, and I can easily imagine you as an MP.”

Perhaps. He wondered if either of them would survive to fulfill the goals they were discussing tonight. Feeling tense again, he stood. “Since it’s still too early to leave, I propose we spend the time in a way guaranteed to relax us.” He held out his hand.

Her eyes sparked. “An excellent plan.”

Cassie rose lithely and flowed into his embrace. His kiss was fierce, hungry, hers equally so as the tension simmering inside them exploded into annihilating passion. He needed to worship her, possess her, bind her to him through eternity.

Passion burned even brighter when it might be their last time.

The night sky mixed clouds and moonlight with a hint of possible rain in the air. Though Grey and Cassie had aimed at being early at the rendezvous below Castle Durand, two men were already waiting. The recruits wore dark clothing and had covered their faces, as Grey and Cassie did. Safely anonymous. They moved out from the shadows when Grey and Cassie dismounted.

“Liberté,” a burly man said in a husky voice.

Grey responded, “Égalité.”

“Fraternité.” Having completed the code, the burly man offered a hand. Grey shook it, giving silent thanks for Pierre’s help in recruiting their grenadiers. A half dozen had agreed to participate, and Pierre attested that they were trustworthy and experienced country men. If trouble overflowed the castle, the men should be able to get away safely.

The second grenadier, slighter and quicker in his movements, said, “Just after we arrived here, a fancy coach drove up the road and into the castle.”

“Durand?” Grey said, heart quickening.

“Mebbe. The guard opened the gates right quick.”

Grey wanted Durand to be there so they could have a confrontation and he could break the devil into small pieces. But would having the master of the castle present make the guards more alert? Or would they be distracted by Durand’s arrival?

Impossible to know. Either way, there was no help for it. The mission had begun and they must carry on.

The other recruits arrived in quick succession. When everyone was present, Cassie gathered them around and explained the use of the grenades.

“You’ll each have several grenades with different-length fuses,” she said in a low voice that disguised her gender. “If a fuse burns too quickly, throw the grenade or pull out the fuse! Our mission is to save lives, not blow up our friends.”

“How do we light the fuses?” a grenadier with a youthful voice asked.

“With these.” Grey produced three very small closed lanterns. Using a tinderbox, he lit one, then the others. With the doors slid shut, almost no light escaped.

“One for each three of you, the last for us. Remember how far light and sound carry at night, and conceal both as much as possible. We’ll be at the back wall and plan to escape through the postern gate, so you need to be bombing the front part of the castle. A grenade for the main gate and then over the walls on both sides. Any questions?”

There were none. One fellow said, “I’ve wanted to bomb Durand for years.”

“I’d like to kill ’im myself,” the burly man said wistfully.

The bastard really was unpopular. Grey said warningly, “We aren’t even sure Durand is here. Remember that our main mission is to free Père Laurent and the Boyers, and do it without any casualties.”

“A night of good fun and grenades,” one of the volunteers said cheerfully. “Takes me back to me army days. Are we ready?”

They were ready. Only Grey and Cassie had horses. They led their mounts through the woods toward the castle. The ground was soft enough from the previous night’s rain that there wasn’t much sound. When they were just below the castle, Grey said softly, “Give us time to get around the back of the castle. Bonne chance, mes amis, and my thanks.” He offered his hand to the nearest grenadier.

Shaking hands, the fellow said, “’Tis my pleasure!”

There were handshakes all around. Then Grey and Cassie circled around the castle in the woods. They tethered their mounts in the shadows, but not too far from the castle, in case they were needed.

Then they waited. Grey’s pack was much lighter now that most grenades had been distributed. He planned to put the small dark lantern in a pocket when he climbed, and hoped to God the flame didn’t go out. He was fast with a tinderbox, but any time lost could be the difference between success and disaster.

The wait seemed interminable. On their scouting trip, they’d chosen a particularly rough patch of wall that was halfway between the postern and the left corner guard tower. It should be a safe place to climb while the guards were distracted by grenades. They’d come down close to the dungeon windows.

KABOOOM!!! The first explosion shattered the night air. Mere moments later, another. Then another. The grenadiers were doing a good job on their timing.

Cassie was right. As soon as the grenade exploded, Grey’s nerves steadied down to cool, focused necessity. He lit a grenade with a short fuse and tossed it to the foot of the postern. Then he and Cassie bolted toward their chosen area of wall.

More explosions and shouts rose from the front of the castle precinct. Flames flared, probably a wooden shed that had been struck by a grenade. More shouting.

The postern door exploded, shaking the ground and rattling loose stones from the castle wall. Not waiting to see if any guards were drawn to the postern, Grey and Cassie started climbing. The wall was weathered enough to supply hand- and toeholds, but feeling their way in the darkness seemed horribly slow.

Light and agile, Cassie reached the top before Grey. He was nearing the top when a hold crumbled under his foot. The pack he was carrying affected his balance and he almost fell. He flung a hand upward and caught hold of the edge of an embrasure and managed to save himself from tumbling to the ground.

Heart pounding, he pulled himself the rest of the way and crouched in the embrasure as he gasped for breath. Cassie knelt beside him and he took her hand as they studied the chaos they’d caused.

Though the castle blocked some of their view, they could hear a leather-lunged sergeant bellowing to gather his troops by the shattered front gate. Flames illuminated running men, and there seemed to be efforts to contain the fire. Not very successful ones, because the light from the fires was growing.

“Perfect,” Cassie breathed. “Time for us to go in.”

Grey pulled a long coiled rope from his pack. One end was looped. He tossed the loop over the crenellation and let the other end drop to the ground.

As he lowered himself swiftly, he saw that his grenade had smashed the postern wide enough to allow people to pass through the hole. Mercifully, the blast had drawn no attention because the guards were gathering in front of the castle, where the main attack was taking place.

As soon as he touched down, Cassie swung onto the rope and walked down the wall. He was male enough to notice that she might be dressed as a man, but she wasn’t shaped like one. As soon as she was beside him, he spared an instant for a kiss before they ran around the back of the castle to the quiet yard between dungeons and stables.

No one was in sight. Enough light came from the burning shed in the main yard to show four horizontal slit windows for the dungeon cells. Grey dropped down by the nearest slit, which he guessed was for his old cell. “Père Laurent?” he called, keeping his voice low. “Madame Boyer?”

“Grey, can that be you?” the priest replied in a startled voice.

“It is, and we’re here to get you out.” As he spoke, Grey tested the bars. They were set too solidly to be worked loose. “You’re there with Romain and André?”

“We’re here,” Romain said softly. “Viole and Yvette are in the next cell.”

Cassie had been investigating the other slit windows. To Grey, she said, “We’ll never loosen these bars in time. We need to blow up this window, which is farthest from the prisoners.”

Knowing she was right, he said to the men, “Protect yourselves. We’re going to use a grenade to enter the farthest cell.”

“A grenade?” It was Viole’s voice from the next window. “So that is what we’ve been hearing! Come, Yvette, we will burrow into a corner like foxes.”

Another round of explosions was coming from the forecourt as Grey lit a reduced-powder, short-fused grenade Cassie had built for this purpose. Luckily, the flame in the lantern hadn’t gone out during their exertions.

As soon as the fuse was burning, he set the grenade by the fourth window, which led to an empty cell. Then he and Cassie withdrew behind a nearby stone buttress.

The grenade went off between the explosions of two others in the main yard. Though theirs was modest compared to the others, there was still an ear-numbing blast and debris rattled all over the yard.

“I should have used less gunpowder!” Cassie said with mad humor as they raced to the blown-out window. There was now a pile of rubble and a gap wide enough to admit Cassie, though without much room to spare.