“It is Miss Clemmons to you,” she said pertly, her head tilted back so she could maintain eye contact. “Soon to be Lady Everley.” She took a step back, but not out of fear from his towering height—no, her step was regal and controlled as she gestured toward the door. “I believe we are done here.”
“But you do not—”
“I said, we are through.” Her mouth grew pinched and he hated it. Such a shame to lose those beautiful lush lips to an expression like that. Like she’d just sucked on a lemon.
She was waiting with her hand raised, along with her chin. She looked every inch a lady. She’d fit the role of baroness perfectly—in physicality, at least.
Were she marrying any other gentleman he might have even admired her loyalty and her courage.
Eyeing her now, he knew she had made up her mind. It didn’t take a fully lit room to see the stubborn set of her jaw or the hard determination in her eyes.
His mind raced to think of any logic she might listen to. He thought of telling her that Tolston had sent him but dismissed it. He wouldn’t put it past her to tell her husband-to-be about the stranger lurking in his halls. Perhaps even tell him the details of this conversation.
He could not risk putting his friend’s reputation on the line or have Everley turn his dastardly efforts against the good earl.
He could think of no argument other than the one he’d given, and that had not been enough for this stubborn little fool.
They both tensed at the sound of voices coming down the hallway, staring at the door until the booming laughter passed, along with a woman’s higher-pitched laugh.
When the threat was over, he turned to see her staring at him. Studying him. Even in this light, she seemed to see it all—his thick brows, the wide jaw, the flat nose—every facet of his face, which friends called rugged and foes called menacing. Despite his noble lineage, he’d been graced with the appearance of those same back-alley thieves Miss Clemmons thought fit to fear.
He waited for her judgement, but if she passed any, he could not see it. The only gesture that gave away her thoughts was the frown that touched her lips as she eyed his hair which was unfashionably long where it brushed against his collar. The fine clothes he’d scrounged up from the back of his wardrobe, but by the time he’d realized he’d let himself go recently—it had been too late to do much for his appearance other than a quick shave.
“Why are you here now?” she asked.
“I beg your pardon?” It wasn’t often he was called upon to play dumb, and he wasn’t certain it did him credit.
The way she cocked one eyebrow told him she wasn’t fooled. “Why now? You said you’ve been investigating Everley, but why are you here now, risking your very life to find new evidence.”
He let out a huff of amusement. “I wouldn’t say I was risking my life.”
She arched both brows now. “I would. You said yourself that Everley is capable of murder, and yet here you are. Breaking into his private quarters, kidnapping his fiancée—”
“Kidnapping?” he interjected.
She ignored the protest. “Why now?”
She wasn’t going to let this go, but he could see her suspicion grow. A part of her, at least, was wondering if this was connected to her.
Smart girl.
Smart but foolish if she thought she was immune from Everley’s cruelty because she was to be his wife.
Voices echoed outside the door again, this time it was male voices and they were talking. “I had better go.” He looked around but before he could figure out his best chance of escape she pointed behind him.
“That window. The drop isn’t too far.”
He arched his brows in surprise and she shrugged. “A friend might have told me.”
He wanted to ask her to elaborate but time was running out. He glanced around the office with a frustrated growl. After all these years he’d gotten so close.
Close enough to actually catch the man who’d murdered his best friend.
And he’d lost his chance because he was trying to talk sense into a senseless twit.
She planted her hands on her hips and that was when he realized he’d muttered some of that aloud. “Senseless twit, am I? I am not the one who’s trying to snoop around Lord Evil while he’s entertaining at his own engagement party.”
Lord…Evil? He could not have heard her right.
Before he could ask her to explain, she glanced over her shoulder, alerted as he was by the growing volume of those voices. “Go on,” she said. “Out with you.” And with that she shoved him toward the window.
She stopped when they reached it and he threw up the window. “Just tell me,” she said as he began his ungraceful climb out the window. “Why now?”
Because of you. He could not tell her that, though it was clear she suspected. He didn’t have to answer at all, but that undeniable intelligence in her eyes told him she would not be satisfied without an answer, and maybe…
Maybe that curiosity would help her to learn the real nature of the man she was marrying. Maybe…
His gaze caught hers when he was halfway out the window.
“What is it?” she asked, clearly reading his tension.
He had to make a decision and he had to make it quick. “Your loving fiancé,” he started, enjoying the way her jaw muscle ticked in irritation at the endearment. “One of his many vices is smuggling.”
She frowned. “Smuggling?”
“Among other things,” he said.
The voices grew louder and he heard Everley’s unmistakable laugh—humorless and cold and too loud for any occasion.
“What does that have to do with you? Being here. Tonight.” She listed the three things like they were separate entities.
He hovered there, half in and half out of the room, hating that he even noticed how beautiful she was in the glow of the moonlight. Even more beautiful than in the candlelight, and wouldn’t have
