“Almost there,” Frederick muttered.
“Almost where?”
He didn’t reply, just kept moving. And she stayed at his side, trusting his direction implicitly. She’d started to suspect he had a destination in mind a little while back, but the intense pain in her shoulder was making it difficult for her to focus on where they might be heading. Nothing around them looked familiar.
“Here.” Frederick turned them off the sidewalk toward a modest-looking brownstone, and though she’d only been there once before and in a distressed state, she realized in an instant where he’d brought them.
Back to Mason Hale.
“Frederick, I don’t think this is a good idea,” she started, but the boy ignored her to rap sharply on the door. “We should hail a hack and return to the house.”
He turned toward her. His sharp gaze took in the way she held her arm cradled in front of her. Though she tried to hide the extent of her pain, it appeared she wasn’t successful as his jaw tensed and he replied curtly, “You need attention and Mayfair is too far away. We’ll be safe here,” he added quietly just as the door was thrown open.
Katherine looked up into the harsh features of Hale himself.
As he took note of their appearance, his broad, rough-hewn features shifted from an expression of mild annoyance to a sudden fearsome intensity. “Get inside.”
His gruff command offered no room for dissent.
They stepped into the entryway, and as the door was closed behind them, Katherine felt a distinct moment of relief. Turning to face the man who stood filling the narrow space of the hall, she was struck again by the size of the former boxer, made all the more dramatic in comparison to her brother’s slim form.
“My sister’s been injured. Is there someplace she can rest?”
There was a slight pause as Hale slid an assessing glance down the full length of Katherine’s body. She wasn’t sure what she saw flickering in the depths of green, but her dizziness suddenly escalated.
In fact, now that they were no longer focused on making a mad dash through London, the pain she’d been holding at bay also increased dramatically.
“Upstairs,” Hale finally replied. “End of the hall.”
“Thank you,” Frederick replied as he started forward.
“We’ll be on our way as soon as possible,” Katherine added.
Hale’s response was a furrow of his brow and a short grunt.
Trying not to reveal her growing weakness, Katherine turned to follow her brother. But as soon as she tried to ascend the stairs on her twisted ankle, a shot of pain caused her leg to give beneath her. She reached for the railing, but before she could grasp it, Hale was there scooping her up.
She hissed in a sharp breath as his maneuver jostled her shoulder. “I can walk,” she insisted through gritted teeth.
He ignored her, taking the steps two at a time, passing Frederick along the way. Katherine cradled her injured arm and breathed hard through her nose to dispel the pain. But in doing so, she took in large doses of Hale’s scent—masculine and earthy and not altogether unpleasant. She chanced a quick glance at his face and noted the rugged set of his features, the hard line of his jaw, and the pulse in his throat above his open collar.
For some reason, that pulse intrigued her. The sight of it held her pain-clouded mind enthralled.
Until he lowered his gaze.
Then she became trapped in the depths of his eyes...so dark and rich and...sensual.
Only the slow curving of his lips managed to drag her attention away from that gaze. Unfortunately, the sensuality in his smile was ten times more potent, and Katherine had to close her eyes against the force of it as her belly began to swirl and her skin grew warm.
The sound he made then—that low hum in his chest—made it infinitely worse. She could only hope he believed her distress was caused solely by her injuries, but she feared that knowing smirk of his said otherwise.
Long strides took them down the upper-level hallway, and a moment later they entered a small room.
Opening her eyes, Katherine noted the bedroom’s pale-pink-and-eggshell color scheme that kept in theme with the rest of the house as Hale carried her straight to the bed. When he bent forward to lay her on the soft rose-colored bedspread, his expression revealed a hint of quiet concern.
“What happened?” Hale asked as her brother rushed into the room behind them.
There was a long silence as Frederick met Katherine’s gaze in question. It was clear her brother trusted him, but Katherine was reluctant to involve Hale any further in their troubles. He’d done a great deal already by taking Frederick in, yet he was essentially a stranger and wasn’t responsible for them.
As the silence continued, Hale looked over his shoulder at the boy. “You came here for a reason, Freddie. Out with it.”
“Frederick,” Katherine said before her brother could reply, “would you please fetch me a glass of water? I’m feeling a little off.”
Her brother looked like he wanted to resist, but then Hale turned to him as well. “And a bottle of whiskey. From the study off the dining room.”
After sending a quick glance at Hale and then back to her, Frederick nodded and left the room. Katherine and Hale stared at each other—she from her reclined position against the pillows and he from his great height as he stood alongside the bed—while the sound of Frederick’s footsteps receded down the hall.
Once assured her brother was out of hearing range, Katherine spoke. “I’ll not allow you to bully my brother, Mr. Hale. Though I appreciate what you did for him, you have no authority over him...or me.”
The man responded to her declaration with a lifted brow as he crossed his thick arms over his chest. “What happened?”
She closed her eyes for a second. What had happened? She wasn’t even entirely sure, but as the incident replayed through her mind, she got a horrible, heavy sinking feeling in her stomach. When she opened her
