“I shall go to the Bow Street Runners first thing tomorrow morning and tell them what we found.”
Though that seemed to reassure Meredith, she was still trembling, and he knew it wasn’t from the cold. When they stopped in front of her room, he caught her chin in his.
“Will you be all right tonight?” he asked.
She nodded, but those beautiful hazel eyes warned him that wasn’t true.
“Meredith.” He breathed her name and pulled her into his arms. She buried her face against his chest, her body shaking with silent sobs that tore at his heart.
He had forgotten how one could be so innocent of the wickedness of the world. He had grown used to murderers, blackmailers, and thieves in every dark corner of the city. But Meredith had never known any of this darkness. He now realized why his uncle had sent her to him. It wasn’t just to find her a husband. Darius would know how to protect her from the evil in the world.
“There now.” Darius stroked the loose hair around her shoulders, which was soft and silky beneath his hands. Comforting her comforted him in return.
When she finally stopped quaking, he lifted her chin. “Dry your eyes.” He offered her a handkerchief from his trouser pocket. She wiped her tear-streamed face before handing it back.
“You’ve had such a terrible scare tonight, darling. You need to rest.”
“I ca—can’t. Too afraid.” Meredith’s confession was muffled against his chest.
“Then I will stay with you until you fall asleep.” They reached her bedchamber and he ushered her inside. She was so like a child at that moment, trusting him as he tucked her into bed.
“How can you be so calm?” she asked, her hands clutching the sheets as she gazed up at him.
“I have trained myself to focus on the matter most important in the moment. Right now, that is keeping you safe. That sense of purpose and focus keeps me calm.”
“Oh…maybe you could teach me how to do that someday,” she replied.
“I’d be glad to.”
He waited for her to get comfortable before he blew out the lamp, then settled in the chair facing Crell’s house.
He kept his gaze on Meredith until she drifted to sleep. In the dark, with only a sliver of moonlight to see, his mind drifted back to the dream that he had been with Meredith in his bed—a dream that had become the sweetest reality when he’d woken up to her climaxing beneath him.
He’d wanted nothing more in that moment than to take her again, this time with something other than his fingers, and see her face in the glow of the lamps as she experienced that exquisite pleasure in his arms.
But he couldn’t take advantage of her like that, not when she was destined to marry someone else. He’d taken enough from her as it was. He couldn’t steal that final moment of intimacy from her, no matter how desperately he wanted to be the man she shared it with.
He forced himself to turn away from Meredith and look at the Crell house beyond the garden wall. What he’d seen there tonight proved that Meredith’s fears were no longer fanciful, but likely a terrifying reality. Crell had done something to his wife…but they needed to prove it to the authorities. Tomorrow at first light, he would send a message to Doyle at the Bow Street offices.
Sliding down a little in the chair to get comfortable, Darius crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. It was going to be a long night, and there was much that weighed upon his mind, as well as his heart.
10
Mr. Chelsea interrupted the breakfast that Darius had been enjoying with Meredith and Frances Petersham, though he did so in his practiced, unintrusive manner.
“There is a Mr. Henry Doyle from the Bow Street Runners to see you, Your Grace.”
“Show him into the drawing room. We shall be there shortly.” Darius rose and looked to Meredith. “I believe it would be wise for you to accompany me. Doyle will wish to question you about what you saw. I sent him a message early this morning detailing the incident in the garden.”
Mrs. Petersham shared a look with Meredith before saying, “May I come as well, Your Grace?”
Darius assented. They had just shared the story with Mrs. Petersham not five minutes before Mr. Chelsea had come in, and she was eager to help in any way she could.
They met with Howard Doyle in the drawing room, and Darius made the proper introductions. Doyle was a man in his early thirties, the son of a banking clerk who had developed a knack for reading people, which made him quite useful in the Bow Street ranks. Doyle had come to respect Darius as well in the last five years as Darius had assisted him with Bow Street matters.
Doyle wrote in a small notepad as he interviewed Meredith. Darius was proud of how calmly she conducted herself as she gave Doyle a thorough account of last night’s events. When she had finished, Doyle turned to Darius, asking him what he had seen on the other side of the garden wall.
“I cannot be certain but I believe it was Dobbs, the Crells’ butler.”
