Page 38 of The Duke and Lady Scandal
He began nodding before she’d finished speaking. “I suspected as much when he didn’t turn up.”
“Why do you think he came to the shop posing as a customer?”
Drake worked his jaw, his gaze locked on hers, holding back whatever suspicions were percolating in his mind.
“Please tell me what you’re thinking.” He had no reason to divulge all the workings of his detecting mind to her, but this was about her shop now, and she needed to know as much as he’d reveal.
“I have a few hypotheses but not enough information for any conclusions.” He glanced around them again, still scanning for Demming.
“What shall we do next?”
“I’ll escort you back to Princes and urge you, once again, to—”
“Let me handle this,” she said in an overly gruff imitation of his voice.
What sounded very much like laughter rumbled in his chest as if trying to burst free. Then he cleared his throat and gave her a rueful glance. “You find me repetitive, do you?”
“A bit. I know you think I do not listen, but I do. It’s just that—”
“Please, Alexandra.” He reached for her, just a hand against her upper arm, but the weight and warmth of it slid through the sleeve of her dress and spread all the way to her toes. Though hisvoice had dipped low, pleading, there was nothing soft in his gaze. His green eyes had gone hard, his jaw set.
If he’d wished to shock her into silence, he’d succeeded. The use of her name had set her pulse racing, and whatever she’d meant to say drifted off in the cool autumn breeze.
“Forgive me for the liberty, but I am asking you to step away from this for your own safety. I want to keep you out of danger. And in this case, I know the man and his methods well.”
She understood that it was his job, his duty even, to protect her as he would any citizen of London, but he spoke with such warm sincerity in his voice. Such yearning in his gaze. He wanted to protecther. Given her family’s tendencies, that should have rankled. But somehow it didn’t feel at all like her family’s usual brand of overprotectiveness.
Drake had never once made her feel foolish or even chastised her for the impulse to help.
“I will find Demming before the night is out. I promise you that. I know the man’s haunts. Give him a few hours, and he’ll be tucked up at his favorite pub near the Southwark bridge. And I’ll be waiting.”
Allie believed him, trusting that he had methods for persuading the man to talk. She could even concede, if she allowed logic to have the last word, that her presence would add nothing to the evening’s pursuit.
“Very well,” she finally said. “You’ll send word if you learn anything from him?”
“Of course.” He raised his head and glanced back in the direction of Princes. “And I’ll put a man on Princes. A constable who can see you home at the end of the night.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary.” But as soon as he heard her tone of protest, one sharp inhale told her that she wouldn’t win this one either.
“Demming was watching your shop for a reason. I intend to find out why.” His tone had turned ominous, and she couldn’t help wondering if he’d add new abrasions to those knuckles of his tonight.
She almost felt sorry for Mr. Demming. Almost.
“I need to return to the Yard, so let’s get you back. Gibson will be off his head with worry.” He slid the hand at her arm around to the small of her back as Allie turned to make the trip back to Princes.
Once they’d set off, he stopped touching her, and she decided instantly that she far preferred it when he did.
As night fell and they began preparations to close Princes for the evening, Allie noted a new wariness in Mr. Gibson. After decades of association with her family, he’d seen her father and siblings go off on voyages and expeditions that many might consider dangerous, and had barely blinked an eye.
But after the visit of the man calling himself Lord Holcroft and the ominous observer, Mr. Demming, he perceived a threat to the shop itself.And she knew that he cared for it as if it was his own.
She’d decided she had to take him into her confidence.
He’d taken her explanation about what she’d overheard at Hawlston’s in his usual stoic stride. Much like Inspector Drake, he seemed dubious that an actual plot to steal the Crown’s regalia was afoot. But a threat to Princes? That seemed to gnaw at him as the day wore on.
“Shall we see about a man to serve as night watch until all this business is done, Miss Prince?”
“We could.” Though Drake had sent for a constable as promised, the young man had grown bored after an hour and dozed off in one of their chairs near the front window not half an hour ago.
