Page 80 of A Duke Changes Everything
“What will the gentlemen say when they see you carrying me? Won’t this cause you some awful scandal?”
“This may surprise you, but no one inside that building believes I’m a saint.” Nick didn’t dare laugh for risk of offending her, but it amused him mightily that she was more worried about his already awful reputation than her own. “Besides, we’re going in a special entrance that leads down to my private chambers.”
A little shiver passed between them, and Nick couldn’t be sure if it was the rattle of his nerves or hers. Unlike Huntley, he’d never brought a female onto the premises of the club. His every dalliance was conducted elsewhere. Letting someone into Lyon’s private spaces was a measure of trust he’d never afforded any other woman.
Now he found himself breathlessly eager to take Mina to the very heart of all he’d built. So eager he fumbled the key against the lock of the iron door on the side of the building. Nick knew that letting Mina inside was a step he could never take back.
“If you put me down, it will be easier,” she said in her practical, governess-style tone.
“You do it.” He lifted the key between them. The bit of die-cut metal was more than a means of unlocking the thick iron door. It was the means to unlocking parts of his life he shared with no one else.
She took the key, slipped it into the lock as she held him with an arm around his neck, and twisted the latch.
She gasped as soon as he carried her across the threshold. It was one of the evenings when a quartet of violinists and cellists performed in the dining rooms. The music was a beautiful refrain above the din of conversation and the rattle of dice.
Through a slit in a set of dark red curtains, a slice of the main gaming floor was visible. Mina’s fixed her gaze on the spot. “Everything sparkles.”
“I am fond of gold.”
“But it’s so bright.”
“Not all of it.” Nick stepped toward the curtains so Mina could get a wider view. “See that balcony up there? That’s where I sometimes work and watch the play below.”
“So you linger in the shadows and make sure everyone else is well lit. Because you don’t trust them?”
“My trust is hard to win.”
“Mr. Lyon. I did not expect you to return so soon.” Spencer, sharp-eyed factotum that he was, noticed them immediately and approached.
“Put me down,” Mina insisted.
Nick bent to let her down gently, but she kept hold of his arm, teetering so much he suspected she’d balanced all her weight on her good foot.
“Mina, this is Bastian Spencer, manager, advisor, and a man who could run Lyon’s single-handedly if I let him.” Nick gestured toward the burly dark-haired man. “Spencer, may I present Miss Mina Thorne?”
“Miss Thorne, to have such a lovely visitor is a rare pleasure.” He bowed and cast Nick a questioning gaze that held none of the chastisement Nick was expecting. “What can I prepare for you, sir?”
“Send Dr. Stevens, a tea service, whiskey, and bandaging to my chambers.”
“To your private chambers, sir?”
Mina winced as she lifted her hand from his arm and attempted to put her weight on both feet.
Nick wrapped his arm around her waist. “Quickly, Spencer.”
“I can walk, but do keep holding on to me.”
“If I must.” As they neared his rooms, Nick’s heartbeat kicked into a gallop. “I should warn you.”
Mina looked up. “Whatever it is, it can’t be worse than a leaking ballroom and a crumbling parapet walk.”
He opened the door to his chamber slowly, trying to prepare her. “I chose to decorate my quarters rather—”
“Lavishly,” she said on a shocked whisper. “You truly do love red.”
He’d chosen the color for how loud and vibrant and alive it was. The complete opposite of the cold, gray walls of Enderley’s tower. “Thereareother colors in the room.”
Too quick for him to hold her back, she limped away and ran her finger along the gilded wainscoting. “Oh, I do like the gold.”
