Page 38 of A Most Unlikely Lady
Her whole body went rigid before slowly melting into him.
‘You scaredme,’ she replied.
For an endless moment, they stood that way, both breathing hard, both encapsulated in each other’s fear and relief.
Scuffling feet alerted them of the nightwatchman’s panicked approach. Ivy broke away first, shoving her pistol into some hidden pocket in her skirt.
The next few hours were consumed with ensuring Ivy got home safely with an escort from one of his men, engaging a doctor to meet them at 4 Whitehall Place to assess the man’s injuries, and calming down an enraged baron, Lord Augustus Thurston, who came to claim his wounded son.
The man now had a name. Clarence Thurston, second son of Lord Thurston and fresh out of studying Classics at Cambridge. Lord Augustus refused to allow Edward to question his son based on such thin evidence as ‘a hysterical young miss falsely identifying his dear boy as some kind of street thug and baselessly threatening him with a gun, which no lady of morals would ever own’. While Edward was clear Clarence would need to submit to questioning, the baron would have none of it.
‘I am a personal friend of Prime Minister Russell. I will see to it you are stripped of your position here, your title. Everything!’ The baron’s face grew crimson with rage. He stormed out of Edward’s office and joined his son in a waiting carriage, trundling off into the sunrise.
‘Well, that could have gone better.’ Reading poked his head into Edward’s office. No doubt the man had been listening to the entire affair from the other side of the door.
‘It could also have been much worse.’ Edward didn’t dare think of what could have happened.
‘It would seem Lady Cavendale saved you. How very dashing of her.’ Reading feigned interest in a loose thread on the cuff of his sleeve. He wanted a reaction from Edward.
Exhaling a calming breath, Edward looked up and gave him the one thing he wouldn’t expect. The truth. ‘She is a remarkable woman.’
Reading’s sharp gaze flicked to Edward. ‘Quite.’
‘Did you have a reason for coming in here other than to annoy me, Reading?’
Reading ceased hovering in the door and stepped into the office. He pulled a piece of parchment from the file he was carrying. ‘Well, annoying you is always my primary goal, but yes. I did have another reason.’ Walking to the desk, he dropped the sealed letter in front of Edward.
‘What is this?’ Edward turned the letter over to look at the seal.
Head of a crow. Body of a wolf. Tail of a snake.
Edward looked at Reading as everything went deathly still. ‘Where did you find this?’
‘In Lord Clarence Thurston’s pocket.’
Edward raised a brow. ‘And what were you doing in Lord Thurston’s pocket?’
Reading fiddled with his file. ‘Well, the doctor had to remove his coat to check his wound. What was I supposed to do when the letter practically fell out?’
Edward brushed his finger over the seal.
‘Perhaps it will help with the investigation.’ Reading sat across from Edward. Placing his file carefully down, he tugged on his vest.
Edward took a letter opener from his drawer and slid it beneath the wax seal, popping it free of the parchment. He opened the paper and quirked his brow. ‘It’s just columns of numbers.’
Reading took the paper and frowned. ‘What do you think it means?’
‘It means there’s no way to link this letter to Clarence Thurston. That’s what it means. Nor does it help us investigate the Devil’s Sons.’ Edward needed to think. He stood up and began pacing. ‘If the Devil’s Sons are behind the boy breaking into the orphanage, the danger to Ivy and all the children just increased tenfold.’ Fear kicked along his nerves.
Reading nodded.
‘The baron will claim the note was never in his son’s pocket.’
‘True.’
‘But without a chance to question Clarence, we can’t determine the Devil’s Sons’ plan.’
Shrugging, Reading heaved out a sigh. ‘Quite the conundrum, sir.’
