Page 100 of The Duke and Lady Scandal
“Well, he’s never lived here, and he does not live anymore at all.”
Allie glanced back toward Ben. “I beg your pardon, my lord. You knew him?”
“Barely. He was a child. A friend of my son’s. They both died. A boating accident.”
Allie dipped her head before looking up at the man again. “I’m very sorry, Lord Denby, and I hope you’ll forgive the misunderstanding.”
The man harrumphed and unceremoniously shut the door in her face.
Allie turned, descended the steps, and stood on the pavement looking bereft. Ben strode out of the park and drew her away from the Denby townhouse.
“What’s going on?” she asked him. She didn’t seem angry or even truly confused. She looked sad, and he yearned to comfort her.
“We’re still in the game, Alexandra, and I don’tknow all the answers. But I do know where to look next.” He dared to reach for her hand and was glad she let him. “Go back to Princes with Collier. I need to know you’re safe. It feels as if I’m close. This could be over tonight.”
“I want to go with you.”
“Out of the question.”
She planted a hand on her hip. “If this is a chess game, then he’s made me one of the players too. Sent a man into my shop, or perhaps disguised himself. All to trick me. To draw me here. He expected a delivery today. He knew I’d go to this address.” Raising her hands in exasperation, she demanded, “What is his plan?”
“I do not know. All the more reason that I want your involvement to end now.”
“I could be a lure.”
Ben laughed because she confounded him. Drove him mad.
“You use cream to catch a cat. Cheese to draw a mouse.” She was warming to her argument and her eyes began to sparkle. “And sometimes in chess, you dangle your queen to draw the opponent out.”
“I’m not dangling you anywhere.”
“Because I’m a woman.”
Ben took her arms into his hands. His self-control was frayed by exhaustion and the effects of whiskey, and she would not hear him.
“Because I love you, Alexandra. And I cannot see any harm done to you.”
Tears welled in her eyes, and he pulled her intohis arms. She tucked her cheek against his chest, and he didn’t even care that the feather on her fancy little hat tickled his chin.
He didn’t care about anything but keeping her safe.
“I love you too,” she murmured. Then she tipped her head up. “That’s why I’m coming with you.”
He’d lost his mind. It was really the only explanation. He’d lost his heart to her and now he’d lost his mind, as well.
As the carriage wheeled toward Bedford Square, she sat beside him, bristling with energy. Eagerness.
God help him.
He knew he was a fool for allowing this. Derelict in his duty too. Christ, he’d left the man he had personally selected to guard her behind and ordered Collier to make his own way to Bedford Square since a hansom couldn’t contain all of them.
The only thing tethering him was the feel of her hand against his knee.
“There will be constables there already, though I’ve directed them to hold back. None of them will have approached the houses yet. Though I trust that they’ve surveilled them and determined exits.”
Ben groaned at the memory of his last visit to Bedford Square. “He’s fooled me with this gambit once before. I went in the back of the house while he was escaping out the front.”
“You agree to my plan?”
