Page 101 of The Duke and Lady Scandal
“Frankly, love, I hate your plan.” He wanted her away from all this madness. “But it may work,” he conceded.
Turning to her, he reached up and cupped her cheek. “But if it does not work, you are to depart with one of the constables. Understood?”
She pressed her lips together, then nibbled her lower one.
“Alexandra. Do not ignore me this time. We try it your way, and then we try it mine.” He reached up with his other hand, cradling her head. “Promise me.”
“I promise.”
It was the first time she’d ever agreed to do as he asked of her, and he hoped she intended to keep her word.
“Try that house first.” Ben pointed to the vacant one he’d searched last month. Back when he’d thought it was M’s only house in the square.
As directed, the carriage made a trip around the square and then stopped near the house in question.
Alexandra alighted and strode straight up to the front door.
Ben watched from the shadows of the carriage. While she tried knocking, he scanned the square and spotted a few of his constables. One walked the green at a leisurely pace. Another was tucked into a passage near M’s side-by-side houses.
To his shock, someone opened the door to Alexandra.
Ben didn’t recognize the man, but judging by the way he was dressed, he suspected it was one of Demming’s men.
“Must ’ave the wrong ’ouse,” the man grumbled.
His accent confirmed Ben’s suspicions.
Alexandra turned and headed back out onto the pavement. She was careful not to look his way or to take note of any of the plainclothes men positioned around the square.
She strode toward the green and Ben expected her to approach and speak to him, but she veered off the other way instead.
He gritted his teeth.
An old man stood, cane in hand, waiting while his fluffy white dog sniffed at the grass.
“Excuse me, sir,” Alexandra called to him. “I’m looking for Lord Holcroft’s home and seem to have been given the wrong address.”
The old man cupped a hand around his ear. “Beg pardon, lady?”
Alexandra stepped closer. Ben considered how long it would take him to sprint to where the two of them stood. Everyone seemed like a threat to him now. Even decrepit old men.
“Holcroft,” she repeated.
The old man mumbled something that Ben couldn’t hear, then lifted his cane to point at one of the houses he knew to be owned, at least on paper, by Lord Holcroft.
Alexandra nodded and then turned to make her way toward the townhouse on the other side of the square. She climbed two steps and knockedusing a golden knocker in the center of the house’s red door.
Ben began a walk around the square, intending to position himself closer. He shot a look at one of his men and gestured with his chin toward the house in question. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another of his men head around into the mews behind the house.
A tall oak would provide perfect cover and keep him in good aiming distance. He made his way toward the tree and heard a door open.
Alexandra stood talking to someone, but on this side of the street with thick tree cover, he couldn’t make out the person in the shadows.
He darted toward the trunk of the tree, and once he was concealed, he cast a glance around it to see if she’d succeeded in drawing someone out the front door, as had been their plan.
Panic clawed its way up his throat.
The red door had shut, and Alexandra was nowhere to be seen.
