Page 54 of Lady Gambit
Too many questions bombarded her mind. A mind that was dark and fathomless. A useless mind unable to provide any answers.
She reached a wooden door in a narrow corridor, but it was locked. Feeling trapped, she gripped the handle and rattled with all her might.
Aaron would fix everything.
He would keep her hidden at Fortune’s Den. Mr Flynn would marry Miss Montague and learn to be happy. And things would return to how they were before she had made a dreadful mistake.
Nothing will ever be the same again.
A woman’s harried voice entered her head.
You’ll live, and you’ll be happy.
I promise you that, my darling.
When I tell you to run, run. Your life depends upon it.
“Who are you?” she cried as a tidal wave of grief swept her legs from underneath her. She collapsed to the cold stone floor. “Do not forsake me. I need you.”
“I’m here.” Mr Flynn’s rich masculine voice cut through the chaos. He thrust the papers at Mr Gibbs and instructed him to keep them safe. Then he scooped her into his muscular arms. “Hold on to me tightly. Rest your head against my shoulder.”
He held her close as he marched through the taproom and up the stairs to a room on the first-floor landing.
The musky scent of his cologne enveloped her. It calmed her restless spirit, much like the night after their first meeting, when she slept with his handkerchief beneath her pillow. She sagged against him and closed her eyes, feeling safe for the first time in days.
Would this be the last time he’d hold her?
Would Miss Montague charm him tonight?
Would he realise he had the world at his feet?
Tears gathered behind her eyes, an impending storm as desolate as her memory. But then another voice echoed in her head. One she knew and loved dearly.
You’re Delphine Chance.
Never forget it.
She opened her eyes and met Mr Flynn’s concerned gaze. “Thank you for rescuing me. I’m fine. You can put me down, Mr Flynn.”
He was standing in a small bedchamber, much like the one above Mrs Maloney’s bookshop. It was clean and tidy and smelled of him.
“What the devil happened?” He lowered her gently to her feet. His hands slid over her body to ensure she kept her balance. “Did you remember something, something about your parents?”
She held his forearm, the desire to touch him like the sweetest torture.
“It’s nothing. Sometimes, the weight of my problems overwhelms me.” She tried to push thoughts of Miss Montague aside. “Pay it no mind. We should question the shopkeepers and return to Mile End. If we stand any chance of finding Nora Adkins, we must search her file for clues.”
His brows knitted together. “You were eager to see my room. Now you mean to leave without taking a peek. Why?”
The knot in her stomach tightened. Her insecurities were not his fault, and so she pasted a smile. “You’re a private man. I wasn’t sure you’d want me examining your personal possessions.”
He released her. “I have no secrets from you.”
The intimacy of the moment fed her infatuation with him. “I keep one or two from you,” she said with a coy grin.
“Yet we made a pact to speak honestly.”
To be honest meant telling him she was jealous. That she was likely a thief, a nobody who could never compete. That losing him would be a pain she could never bear.
