She rolled her eyes at his admonishment. What should it matter to him how she spent her evening? “They have been, which is why I’m going tonight. It might be my last chance to actually experience one.”
“Alone? Without a chaperone? Have you gone mad?”
“It is not the sort of place where one takes a chaperone. Besides, she might tell Mick, and he’d be none too pleased.”
“As well he shouldn’t be. I forbid it.”
She barked out a laugh. “You are not in a position to forbid me to do anything, Mr. Sommersby. Good evening, sir.”
With a slight turning of her shoulders, she edged past him and strolled up the walk. His footsteps, loud and with purpose, echoed around her.
“How are you going to get there?”
“I’m hiring a hansom a few streets over.” When she was well beyond Mick’s keen eyesight.
“You can’t go alone. There are dangers, Miss Trewlove.”
“I’m prepared for them.”
“Pickpockets, brigands, thugs. All manner of men with ill intentions who will not hesitate to take advantage of a woman alone.”
“I appreciate your concern, Mr.—”
He grabbed her arm. Fortunately, it wasn’t the one holding her reticule. She swung it with all her might. Itthunkedagainst his head and sent him staggering back, his hat flying into the street. Catching his balance, he pressed his hand to his head. “What the devil is in that thing?”
“Books.” Darting forward, she rescued his hat before it was crushed beneath the wheels of a passing carriage. Back on the pavement, she extended it toward him. “I’m so sorry. I reacted without thought, although I also suspect you were striving to demonstrate how a blackguard might attempt to take advantage.”
He failed to respond to her assessment but had an air of guilt about him. “Why would you take books to a penny gaff?”
She lifted her reticule. “Because they provide weight in case I’m accosted. I have a small dagger hidden away behind the waistband of my skirt and a knife tucked into my boot.”
“Do you know how to use them?”
“Quite effectively, actually. While my siblings have always sought to protect me, they also knew I lived in the rookeries and they couldn’t watch over me every hour of every day. So they taught me how to look after myself. I do hope I didn’t damage your skull. You have a rather nicely shaped head, and I’d hate knowing I made you lopsided.”
He laughed, the sound deep and rich, echoing around her, through her, taking up residence in her soul.
“Miss Trewlove, you are... I am beyond words. Still, I can’t allow you to traipse off into an unsavory part of London.”
Penny gaffs were generally found in the poorer sections of London. “Again, Mr. Sommersby, you are not in a position toallowme to do anything.”
He shrugged. “I suppose I shall have to pop into the hotel to let your brother know.”
A fissure of fury swept through her. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“I can’t help but believe that if something unpleasant were to happen to you and he found out I let you go off unaccompanied that he’d have my head.”
“Don’t be daft. He’s not going to find out.”
“People are wandering about. I’m certain one or two have made note of our conversing. Word is likely to get back to your brother, and I will have no defense for allowing you to go off alone.”
Why was he insisting upon accompanying her? After this afternoon, she’d fully expected him to avoid her at all costs. She was on the verge of screaming like a shrew. “Mr. Sommersby, it would be inappropriate for me to be seen with a man without benefit of a chaperone.”
“What are the odds you’ll run into anyone you know?”
“Oh, one in a thousand, I should think, but—”
“Thus we’re unlikely to be seen or recognized by anyone of importance.”
