He cleared his throat again and tried to put the idea behind him. ‘Leggett’s instructions to me were quite plain. There was nothing in them about policing Miss Charity’s behaviour.’
‘You were hired to retrieve things that are missing. She is missing.’
‘She is not an item,’ he responded. ‘And you know exactly where she is.’ He was tempted to assure her that the odds were slim that the girl had been set upon by white slavers on the mail coach to Berkshire. But then he would likely have to explain what that meant to her. It would not make the situation any better to put ideas into her head.
‘Now you are just being difficult.’ She frowned and balled her firsts on her hips to show her displeasure with him. But the gesture only served to accent her curves and remind him of something he had enjoyed earlier that he would not be seeing again.
He took a deep breath to fortify his resolve and looked her straight in the eye. ‘I did not bring difficulty to your family, Miss Strickland. It was here long before I arrived.’
‘But you are supposed to make it better,’ she insisted. She was looking at him as though he could work miracles, again.
He fought the urge to play the gallant and come to her rescue. He was not required to do so. But how hard could it be to convince Charity to return to London? At the very least, he could try and fail. Either result would gain him an excuse to remain in Hope’s company for a few more days, hoping that things between them might change.
More likely, it would end just as their last interaction had. She might seem devoted now, but all he was likely to get in reward was more heartache.
‘I will pay you,’ she blurted and he felt the euphoria deflate as their roles returned to the realm of the disappointingly understandable.
‘“I will pay you”says the woman who has no money, without even enquiring as to my fee.’ He shook his head. ‘It explains much about how your family came to be in financial trouble.’
‘I will find a way,’ she said. ‘Set your price and I will meet it. Anything you want, I will give it to you, if you will help me with my sister.’
His mind flew straight back to the place it should not go, full of innuendo and wild fantasy. He had half a mind to tell her what he truly wanted from her and announce that he was happy to discharge the duty now that they had settled on a price for it. But chances were, she would not even understand what he was saying.
Instead, he let out an exasperated sigh and said, ‘Never mind. I shall add it to Mr Leggett’s bill. Show me where to find her and I will haul her home.’
‘The manor house is in Berkshire,’ she said. ‘I will leave a note for Grandmama and tell the servants that we are returning the items we have found. We will take the Comstock carriage.’
‘We?’
‘It might seem strange for you to go alone,’ she said.
‘Not really,’ he assured her, already imagining what could happen if he had another opportunity to be alone with her.
‘It would not be proper for you to be alone in the house with Charity,’ she said.
He stared at her, searching for some proof that she saw the irony in her words. She was looking at him with the same sanctimonious disapproval that she had used on the first day they’d met.
He threw up his hands in surrender. ‘Very well. We will go to Comstock Manor. Together. Tomorrow.’
‘But...’
He held up a hand. ‘You sister is most likely safe, for the moment. Since she is in the place she wished to be, I doubt she will take flight before tomorrow afternoon. And I have no intention of setting off, alone in a carriage with an unmarried woman, at nightfall. No matter how innocent you might think it, there is not a person in London that will not assume an elopement if we tear off into the night together.’
She paused to consider, and blushed as she understood. Clearly, she had been thinking of him as a utility, rather than a warm-blooded man. Then she nodded in agreement. ‘We will set off first thing tomorrow morning.’
‘Very good,’ he replied. They would have the whole thing settled by mid-afternoon and he would be back in London by nightfall, alone.
* * *
As usual, Hope’s life seemed to be better the moment Gregory Drake arrived. It should not have been so. Her family was still horrible, the diamonds were still missing and the new Earl might appear at any moment. Still, she felt better.
There was also the fact that Mr Drake had been trying to escape her since the moment they had first kissed. She had insulted him multiple times and offended him in ways she could not fully understand. And yesterday, she might have, quite accidentally of course, sent him a note that implied she was languishing on a divan and awaiting his romantic attentions.
Yet he was going to help her. Whatever Mr Leggett was paying him could not possibly be enough. Though she could not help it, the fact that they would be trapped for hours in a carriage together gave her a thrill of joy. He had made it quite clear that he could handle retrieving the last item on their list without her help. When he had left the house yesterday afternoon, she might never have seen him again.
And yet? Here they were.
He’d arrived at her house this morning, at eight rather than ten, ready to set off for the manor. She noticed that he had not bothered to pack as much as a change of linen for the trip. It appeared he expected a return to London as soon as the matter was settled. Then he could go back to ignoring her, just as he’d been intending to.
