Page 68 of Anything But a Duke
The lady could convince him of nearly anything just by the way she said his name, the way she slowed over the two syllables when she was usually given to rushing through every sentence. It was madness to consider letting her assist him unravel the knot of his past. But tonight he was feeling reckless.
He reached inside his coat pocket and pulled out the envelope Callihan had given him. He’d examined it dozens of times since that day. The paper had been carefully cut, folded, and glued. Someone had taken time and care to create a container for the five pounds of charity Callihan received.
“I was given this by a man who claims he got it from my sister.”
She took the envelope from him with infinite care, the way he handled one of his delicate ancient artifacts. “There’s nothing to distinguish it, is there?”
“No writing. No watermark.” Aidan looked onto the darkened streets passing by, considering how much to tell her. “He doesn’t know her name or where she resides. I have an investigator who haunts the neighborhood now, in case she reappears.”
“May I keep this? Just for a day or two.”
“Is there something you can determine from it?” What she did in her laboratory was as deep a mystery to him as the veiled woman who’d visited Callihan.
“I don’t want to promise anything, but I can examine it more closely in my workshop and see what I can do.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip.
Aidan swallowed hard. He wanted to kiss her again. Tonight. Now.
Before he could say more or thank her, the carriage stopped in front of the Merton town house. Diana slid the envelope into her reticule and placed her hand in his as he assisted her down from the carriage.
“Remember,” she said, after he’d knocked on the front door. “Bess is clever. She’s also rather bold and likes to ask questions.”
Aidan wondered if she realized she’d described herself. “Were you close?”
“Good friends, yes. Bess and I both share a love of science, though she is more interested in chemistry. We spent a great deal of time together in school. Some said we were so alike we could have been sisters.” She glanced up at him, and her eyes sparkled in the glow of the lanterns on either side of the Mertons’ front door. “But we are truly very different.”
“How so?”
“Unlike me, Bess has always wished to marry.”
A servant answered the door and saved Diana from the confusion in Aidan’s gaze.
She was a fool. When he was near, he made her feel too much. Her mind quieted and her heart took over. It was terrifying. Every moment that they shared, every detail they revealed, made her want more.
Now he’d entrusted her with a piece of his mystery. A link to his past that he so desperately wanted to uncover.
The gesture felt as intimate as the kiss they’d shared in his study.
“Diana, I’m so glad you’ve come.” Bess emerged from the drawing room once the servant had taken their coats. She wrapped Diana in a welcoming embrace. “Remind me to show you some of the decorations we’ve purchased for the reunion.”
When she turned to Aidan, one blond brow arched high. “You must be Mr. Iverson. Diana sent me a note to say you’d be accompanying her.”
“Thank you for allowing me to join the event, Lady Elizabeth.” He bowed like a perfect gentleman over Bess’s hand. “I’ve never attended a séance before.”
Bess smiled, and it was an expression Diana knew well. The smile of challenge. Which usually meant her friend was about to mount an assault.
“I sense skepticism, Mr. Iverson,” Bess said as she led them to the drawing room. “Come and meet the other guests. I’m afraid my father is at his club and my mother is indisposed this evening.” She gestured as they entered the room. “But may I present Mr. Harker; Miss Gwendoline Ives; and her betrothed, Lord Egerton. Diana, I believe you two have met.”
Diana stared in horror. Egerton was the last man in London she wanted to see.
“Miss Ashby and I are very briefly acquainted. My friendship is with her brother, Dominick.” Though he didn’t sneer, Diana doubted anyone in the room missed the disdain in Egerton’s tone.
Aidan stepped closer. She felt the heat of him at her back, and his nearness gave her an odd sense of comfort that even Egerton’s presence couldn’t dispel.
“Are you all right?” he whispered low enough that only she could hear.
“The last time I saw him, we didn’t part on pleasant terms,” she told him quietly.
