Page 95 of The Last Chance
“I can think of something. If I’m left here to worry, I might nibble off my fingers. Then I’ll never be able to touch you again.”
His broad grin spoke of surrender. “You’re right. That would be terrifying.”
The address in Lambeth led them to a modest terraced house a stone’s throw from Searle’s Boat Yard and Astley’s Amphitheatre. Light shone from the single downstairs window of 2 Stangate Street while darkness shrouded the row.
The night carried the threat of winter, a biting wind rolling off the Thames, bringing with it the pungent stench of the river. The rank smell of decay was like an omen, a stark reminder that nothing lasted forever.
Seated inside the hired hackney coach, Aaron reached for Joanna’s ungloved hands and rubbed them warm. “You should have stayed at home. You’ll catch your death tonight. The cold cuts through the air like a sabre.”
“We’re in this together,” she said, letting him feel the flick of her temper. “I’m not leaving you alone to deal with Lucia. Besides, I know you. You’re happy to brawl with men but would not hurt a woman.”
She was right.
It’s why he agreed she could accompany him to Lambeth.
Aaron removed his coat and draped it around Joanna’s shoulders. “You’ll wear this. I’ll not take no for an answer. Keep the blanket for your legs.”
She’d spent the journey on his lap, the blanket wrapped around them both. They had not kissed but held each other tightly, keeping the chill at bay.
“I should have fetched your coat and gloves,” he complained.
“Had we not crept out of Fortune’s Den when we did, we’d be part of an entourage. Every member of your family would have followed us.” She thrust her arms into the sleeves of his coat, letting him fasten the buttons. “I’m used to the cold. My father went missing the week before Christmas once and didn’t come home until New Year. There wasn’t a spare shilling in the house.”
Aaron cursed the man to Hades. He prayed Arthur Lovelacenever returned, or he would have to teach the wastrel a hard lesson.
“There’s a flask of brandy in my coat pocket. A swift nip will warm your bones. It’s my emergency supply. I took it from the desk drawer before we left.”
Joanna wrinkled her nose. “What sort of emergency would prevent you from walking six feet to the drinks table?”
“You have a habit of gazing out the window while wearing your nightdress.” A vision of loveliness flashed through his mind. Her hair a cascade of golden waves around her shoulders. Her skin smooth and pale as fine porcelain. “The sight of you leaves me rigid in my seat. I need a dram to settle my pulse.”
She narrowed her gaze like she didn’t believe him. “Teasing me won’t solve our problems. I get the sense you’re stalling.” She placed her hand on his leg, stroking his thigh. “I don’t want our love affair to end. I don’t want to lose you, Aaron, but we need answers before it’s too late.”
A desire for the truth burned inside him like wildfire.
It was as simple as arresting Lucia and her mother and using them to seal his uncle’s fate. But he was avoiding a confrontation.
Everything would change once they’d solved the case. From a front-row seat, Joanna would watch him fight and realise he was a brute, not the man she loved. She would return to her club, unwilling to trade her independence for a dying dream.
The pain would cripple him.
Perhaps even finish him for good.
“Very well,” he said, wishing they were both on the boat to Belgium, not lingering in Lambeth on a dreary night. “But keep your blind down. No peering outside. Hired thugs may be watching the vehicle. If I’m forced to alight, I don’t want them to know you’re here.” A chill of foreboding crawled over his shoulders. “I’ll not lose you tonight.”
“This won’t be the end of us,” she said with such convictionhe almost believed it. “How can it be? I need to learn how to trust a man implicitly. You need to stop expecting the worst.”
“How can I when there’s so much at stake?”
Aaron called to the jarvey he’d paid to comply, instructing him to rouse the occupants and bring them to the carriage. “Ask for Lucia,” he said, lowering the window when the driver climbed down from his box. “Say I’m alone in the vehicle but refuse to enter the house.”
“Right you are, sir.”
Aaron would not risk walking into a trap.
Nor would he leave Joanna alone in a hired hackney.
The jarvey trudged up to the front door and knocked.
