Page 31 of Heart of Iron
“Why won’t you let it be?It’s none of your business.”It wasn’t even as though he cared.He was only doing this for Blade’s sake.
Turning around on the step brought her face to face with him.Though she’d always felt at a disadvantage with her lack of height, it was suddenly far too intimate.The heat of his large body protected her from the cool evening breeze, and her skirts pressed against his thighs.She searched his gaze for something, anything, to tell her that she was wrong.That he was here for her.
“Why?”
His gaze flickered away, thoughtful.“Found the same code on a man as stabbed Blade inna heart.Something’s stirrin’, Lena.I’m not about to let him—or the rookery—get caught up in it.”His smoldering gaze caught hers.“And I think you know more’n you’re sayin’.”
Her lips thinned.Of course.Blade.And the rookery.“Do you really think I would be involved in anything that might hurt Blade—and through him, my sister and brother?”
“I don’t know,” he said quietly.
In that moment she hated him.No matter her many flaws, she would never risk Honoria or Charlie’s life.Reaching for the carriage door, she shot him one last glare.“Go home, Will.You don’t belong here, nor are you wanted.Just go home and patrol your little part of London.I won’t visit and I won’t expect to see you in the city.”
She gave his hand an icy look and he slowly released her, tension riding through his shoulders.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” he said.“I know you love your brother and sister.”
“One of the few things you seem to know about me.”Sweeping her skirts inside the carriage, she went to shut the door.
Will caught it, leaning closer.The sleeves of his shirt strained over his arms.“Lena, damn it—”
“I say… Is this chap bothering you?”
With Will so close, she hadn’t realized anyone else was there.Neither had he, by the shock that shuddered through him.
Giving him one last spearing look, she glanced over his shoulder at the slightly inebriated young lord and smiled.Saved by a blue blood.How ironic.“He was just leaving.Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”The young buck shot her a wink and a salute.She’d seen him before, though his name momentarily escaped her.
Will lowered his hand from the door.“I’ll leave you be.This time.”
Lena shut the door and smiled through the glass at him.With a growl, he turned and shot the young lord a look that made his face pale.Then, hands in his pockets, he stalked into the shadows, fog swirling around his ankles.
***
“So,” Adele murmured, resting her head against the carriage seat.She was still snuggled in the black coat.“Tell me about this Will.”
“Hmm?”Lena looked up from where she’d been smoothing her skirts.“What about him?”
Adele’s eyes narrowed.A hint of her old spark was starting to warm her cheeks.“He looks like he wants to eat you up, Lena.And not in a scary manner.”
“Will?He does nothing of the sort!He’s made it quite—” And then she stopped, aware of what she was about to reveal.
“Quite…?”Adele prompted.When Lena said nothing, a weary smile stretched over her face.“You do realize I’m not going to leave it there, my dear.”
Staring out the window, Lena watched the lights glittering in the windows of Lord Harker’s mansion.It wouldn’t be long before the footman would bring Adele’s mother.Then she would be safe from prying questions.
Yet…a sudden urge welled up.The need to confide in someone, even Adele.She’d been holding so much inside her for months that she felt almost fit to bursting.
“I kissed him,” she blurted.“I don’t know why.It was always just a game I played with him.A flirtation.I never meant anything by it.”Hadn’t she?Lena frowned.She couldn’t, in truth, answer that question.“It was awful.He didn’t even kiss me back.And when I stopped…” Her cheeks were burning now.“He told me that he would tolerate my childish little games for Blade’s sake, but that he would prefer it if I didn’t throw myself at him.Especially since we were living beneath one roof.”The very memory of it turned her stomach.He’d been so angry with her he was shaking.Then he’d turned and walked away without another word.
Somehow she managed a lighthearted shrug for Adele’s sake.“The next day he moved out of the warren.And I decided it was time to return to society.There was nothing left for me in Whitechapel.”
“He never kissed you back?”
“Not even slightly.”
Adele’s eyebrows drew together.“How unusual.For I would have suspected quite the opposite, my dear.He couldn’t take his eyes off you.And when Cavendish tried to grab you, I thought he was going to kill him.”
