Page 20 of Hazard a Guest
“Now then!” Penrose boomed. “Let’s get you to your rooms, eh? I’ll have some plates sent up and a couple of hot baths, and we’ll get you three to the tables before the strike of midnight!”
“Grand,” said Ember.
“Fine,” said Cresson.
Freddy didn’t say anything.
CHAPTER 7
When Penrose finally peeled off, leaving them with their luggage-bearing servant escorts, Ember felt herself release a pocket of air that had been holding in the rear corner of her lungs since the instant the carriage had stopped.
If she’d been alone, she might have just let herself slump to the floor for a bit, holding her knees to her chest and having a nice, maniacal indulgence in a mix of laughter and sobbing.
She wasexhausted.
And they’d only just arrived.
“Did you see Beck?” Freddy whispered to her, drawing Mr. Cresson’s attention as well. “I didn’t notice him in the crowd.”
She hesitated, a cold realization settling over her shoulders. “You know what, Freddy?” she said with a weary chuckle. “I have no idea what that man looks like. I might have shoved him directly out of my way and I wouldn’t even know.”
“Oh dear,” said Mr. Cresson. “Perhaps we can inquire?”
“No need,” said Freddy glumly. “I know him.”
At that, Ember did stop walking, her teeth clacking together with the force of that revelation.
Freddy immediately turned, his face a mask of pleading. “I thought you did too,” he said with no little amount of desperation. “Let’s not make this into a scene.”
“Did you not think,” Ember shot, forcing her feet to unstick from the ground before their escort could observe their sudden halt, “that it might have been worth discussing what you already knew during thethree-and-a-half bloody dayswe just spent in captive quarters?!”
“Lord Bentley,” Mr. Cresson said chidingly, sounding just as exhausted as Ember felt.
Freddy grimaced, giving his neck a crack to the side. “No, you’re both right. That was … that was foolish.”
“Oh, was it foolish, Freddy?” Ember snapped. “D’you think it might’ve been foolish? God, if you’re listening, do you think Freddy here was beingfoolish?!”
Mr. Cresson coughed. The cough sounded suspiciously amused.
She cut her eyes to him. “Got something to say?”
He was definitely amused, his face as placid and polite as he could make it but for the tugging twitch at the corners of his lips. “I was only thinking,” he managed to say in his best barrister’s voice, “that if hewasin the foyer just now and youdidblow right past him without a thought, it might have worked in our favor.”
Ember paused, brows rising. “How’s that, then?”
“It would immediately remove any suspicion that you are only here to deal with him personally, wouldn’t it?” Mr. Cresson suggested, those silver eyes twinkling. “You would have inadvertently made him think you’re still oblivious to his designs on the Forge.”
“God above,” Ember murmured, her eyes widening. “You’re right! Oh, Mr. Cresson, I could kiss you!”
He let himself smile then, not the full-toothed devastation of a true grin, but enough for those dimples to pop into his cheeks. Enough to make her needy little soul saylook what you’ve been missinginto her ear.
He didn’t blush at all, she noted. She liked making him blush very well, but perhaps making him smile was even better.
Freddy himself indulged in a long, relieved exhale.
“Don’t you get too cozy,” she told him, poking him in the arm. “I need you sharp.”
“Me?” said Freddy, allowing himself a little smirk. “Sharp?”
