“I do admire the expansive education you have received, my lady.” He nodded toward her tools. “Ye are a woman of many talents, I suspect.”
“Grazie,” was the only reply he received.
Studying her profile as she worked, he realized why she had felt familiar the first time they met.
“Ye have the look of your brother,” he said without thinking.
She froze and, lifting her head, fixed him with such aglare. “And here I thought you charming. Why would you say something so mean-spirited?”
Ethan spluttered for an answer, because with her eyes narrowed and jaw set, the resemblance to Kendall was almost uncanny.
“He might be an arse, as ye said, but he’s not anunhandsomeone.”
With a sniff, Lady Allegra turned back to the lock. “That could win a prize ribbon for the most backward compliment ever delivered.”
Ethan smiled.
Lady Allegra labored in silence for a few moments, her fingers working adeptly.
“Why not go out a window?” he asked, conversationally.
“In this dress? I cannot see my feet without assistance.” She peered up at him. “Why? Are you offering to help?”
“No. I would prefer not tae displease His Grace at the moment.”
She snorted. “You and the rest of London.”
“My uncle requires a shipping contract, ye ken, and—”
“Let me guess?” she sighed. “The saltpeter mine?”
“Aye, the very same. Kendall’s mine will prove—”
“Kendall’s mine?!” She glared up at Ethan. “The Salzi Mine belongs to me. Or it would . . . if my cursed sire and domineering brother hadn’t taken it for themselves. And now Kendall holds me prisoner—”
“Wait—ye are a prisoner?” Alarm zinged Ethan’s spine.
“Yes. Keep up.” She rattled the door, as if to emphasize her point, before bending to her lock picks again. “Kendall has me guarded day and night. This evening marks the first occasion His Grace has permitted me to mingle with others of theton. I’ve put my dearest brother in a pickle, you see. He cannot auction me off in marriage to the highest bidding lordling without trotting me out to balls and soirées, showcasing the goods on offer, as it were. But every excursion affords me opportunity to escape or see myself properly ruined. Or both, truthfully. Kendall should have anticipated that I would be three steps ahead of him tonight. I will be far gone before morning.”
If Lady Allegra thought to stem Ethan’s concerns, she was utterly mistaken.
His alarm grew.
“Does Kendall know about your exploits in Italy?”
“I assume so. We don’t speak of it, of course. Kendall rarely condescends to converse with me. But I am quite sure he does not know ofourconnection.” She brightened, darting a glance up at him. “You should tell everyone I am the woman in the poem. Do you think that would ruin me sufficiently?”
This woman. She would be the death of him. “Ye don’t want tae be ruined.”
Ethan knew the grim lot of noblewomen who found themselves outside the fold of theton.
“Permit me to be the judge of that. Ruination would make me useless for Kendall’s aims, which in turn, would force him to cast me off, hopefully back to Italy. Tonight has been my first chance to see it properly done, and I am seizing the opportunity.”
Again, not comforting. Much as it pained him to admit, Ethan could understand why Kendall was so intent on restricting Lady Allegra’s movements.
The woman seemed hellbent on self-destruction.
“So where will ye go tonight?” he asked.
