When Nicholas woke next, it was to the sound of his handler’s voice. He would much prefer waking up to Claire’s voice, but then he remembered that he shouldn’t prefer Claire over business. “Father,” he murmured, blinking back sleepiness. Sleep had done nothing to improve his headache and he still felt as if it was summer and he was under the sun. Nevertheless, it was not as if he had ever let a hangover stop him before. But just the same – just as any other morning after he drank too much – he vowed that not a single drop of alcohol would ever touch his lips again.

“The fabrics arrived early and I’m very eager to have them fitted,” the older gentleman read from a card, which Nick assumed might have come from his wife. Lawrence Bennett wore a gray waistcoat that morning, with his cravat tied in a simpler knot than it was at Nick’s wedding. If he had anything to say about Nick’s hangover, he didn’t Nick hear it. Instead, Mr. Bennett stood at the foot of the bed, fixing his agent with a very serious look before he continued reading. “I’ll be at Olden’s Custom Tailors if you need anything, won’t be but a couple hours. You may not even wake before I come back!” He looked up from the note again, possibly enjoying the slight discomfort on his agent’s face upon having read the note aloud. He was probably hoping Claire wouldn’t mention or that she hadn’t yet discovered about his recent exploits involving two bottles of whiskey.

“With love,” Bennett finally continued, “Claire.”

Nicholas quickly switched to defensive mode. “That is most probably just an expression,” he sat up and ran his hand through his tousled hair. “Did you finally want to let me back in the operation?”

The gentleman shrugged. “Is a father not allowed to visit his sick child? How are you doing, Nicholas?”

“We had a fight last night,” Nick answered. It was a small, petty fight and it shouldn’t have bothered Nick, and still when Bennett asked about him, he mentioned about the fight. “Which is why I’m in a different bedroom, which also means I can stand and walk on my own.”

Bennett sat at the foot of the bed. “It seems to me that you two had already made up with each other. ‘With love,’ it said.”

Nick grunted. It would have been worse if Timothy was the one who found the innocent note. “However, the real reason I came here this morning is this piece of gossip reported by your cousin last night.”

“Our lead is dead,” he supplied. Both the man itself and the said lead was dead. “Which was why I resorted to drinking.”

“That is not how Timothy reported the chronology of events.” Of course, he saw Nick with a bottle of whiskey even before he broke the news. 

“That is irrelevant information, father,” he objected. “I don’t believe I’ve mentioned this already to you, but I did receive the mission of Hawthorne. They are after the specifications and perhaps the blueprint of the weapons that England and France are developing. Have you heard of such a thing?”

Bennett nodded. “Of course. About time they target those. Do you have a plan?”

Nick grinned. “Yes. Last night I was relaxed enough to think of a plan. I will steal the plans and mess up the logistics to throw them off our tracks. Just let me in on some more confidential information.”

“I have good reason to doubt your ability to be discreet at the moment, Nicholas. Let Timothy do this job.”

Whatever Nick was about to say next was cut by a knock on the door. It was the butler, who informed them that there were a couple of police officers looking for Mrs. Rochford.

“Thank you, please tell them to wait a few minutes. I will be with them,” Nick instructed, getting up from the bed with the help of the bedpost. He would have to be quick to dress as these people were rarely patient.

“No, don’t get up,” Bennett instructed, getting up himself. “This is the other reason I came over. I will be talking to them in your stead.” 

“Father, I need to exercise.”

The argument went on, but in the end Nick had it his way. He thought his handler might have wanted it to end that way as well. In a few minutes, the father and son tandem arrived at the front parlor to entertain their guests.