Rose scooted away from him, smoothing out her skirt. Augustus cleared his throat. “That shouldn’t have happened. I’m prepared to do the honorable—”
She shook her head. “Don’t do that, duke. No one needs you to be noble. You aren’t the first man I’ve kissed and won’t be the last.”
He scowled at the thought of her kissing someone else, especially when his body demanded more from her.
“We need to talk about this.”
She opened the door, not waiting for the driver. “No, we don’t. You have a plethora of perfectly coiffed ladies to choose from.”
“Rose—”
“I will not discuss this any further,” she said before darting up the steps of the duchess’s townhouse.
He shook his head as he watched Rose Calvert—the one woman who wanted nothing to do with his dukedom.
Chapter Nine
Rose yawned asshe stepped out of the carriage onto the pavement in front of Seely House. It was an unbearably early hour, but she couldn’t sleep, so she decided to work instead. Lisbeth said she was welcome to use the research room whenever she liked, even when the building was closed. The Historical Society for Female Curators had guards on duty twenty-four hours a day since the break-in, so someone should be there to let her in. Rose nodded thank you to the driver before trudging to the front door with her bag.
She lifted her hand and tapped on the wood. Surprise filled her when the door fell open under the weight of her knocking. Behind her, the driver whistled to the horses, and the carriage rumbled off, leaving her there alone. Fear prickled through her. Rose scowled, telling herself she was overreacting. The guard probably forgot to shut the door completely. Not good, but nothing dangerous.
Stepping through the entryway, she saw the expansive foyer was quiet and empty. The prickly sense came back as she pondered where the guard could be. The room was lit by the sun still coming up. The lack of full light cast shadows where they weren’t usually located.
“Hello,” she said, hoping the guard would emerge from one of the rooms.
A rustling noise came from the second floor, and then the silence resumed. She walked further into the foyer. Again, she said, “Hello.”
The sound of a window breaking in the research room echoed through the building. The thieves were back and escaping with something else! Rose raced up the stairs, fixated on catching the culprits. She stumbled into the research room but saw no one.
Cautiously, she approached a broken window and caught sight of a man dropping down to the ground from the sloping roofline. He wore a scarf over his face, preventing her from detecting who he was. He ran down the lane behind the building and into one of the London streets already filled with people heading to their place of employment.
Glancing around, she noticed the man didn’t attempt to open the cabinets again. Rose should leave and find a constable, but she still wasn’t sure where the guard was. She left the research room and entered the office. A gasp escaped her as she surveyed the chaos of the room. Desks were overturned, and papers littered the ground. Rose walked to the sitting area and spotted the guard. Her stomach clenched with alarm.
She fell to her knees and tapped on his face. “Sir. Sir. Are you okay?”
His eyelids fluttered open. “Miss, call a constable. Someone broke in,” he groaned.
“I can’t leave you here.”
He grabbed her arm. “Please, it isn’t safe. Go now.”
Rose glanced around. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She sensed she was being watched.
“Miss, please go.”
She nodded. “I will return shortly.”
As quickly as she could, she raced down the steps and out the front door, making her way to the street. She stopped in her tracks, realizing she’d left her bag with all her work. Rosedarted back inside and spotted a man exiting the office on the mezzanine level. He too wore a scarf over his face. Their eyes met, and then his gaze flicked to her bag, a few feet away from her. She ran to it, ignoring his thunderous steps on the stairs.
Once her bag was in hand, she raced out the front door again, throwing it closed behind her, but as she ran, Rose heard it bang against the wall. The man was hot on her heels. She needed to make it to the street. Bushes obscured the front walkway. He could do anything to her if she didn’t make it. Her lungs burned, but she didn’t slow down.
As she reached the street, Rose stumbled and fell forward. Her knees hit the pavement, but she continued to grip her bag. She had no doubt the man was after her work. She frantically searched around, but he was nowhere to be seen. Where had he gone? Rose took a deep breath to calm her nerves.
“Miss, are you all right?” a maid headed to work asked.
“I need a constable. Seely House, the building I just left, has been robbed. A guard was harmed,” she said.
The maid’s eyes widened. She motioned to a man cleaning the streets. “Call a constable now. Someone has been harmed.”
