Lucy hurried out a few minutes later, securing a billowing silk robe about her. “Did you want something?”
Colleen raised one side of her mouth. “Even with your attention diverted amongst so many people, you still noticed my entrance. I’m impressed.”
She shrugged one slim shoulder. “In my work, you have to keep one eye on the door at all times.” She took in Colleen’s coat. “You going somewhere?”
“Yes.” Clasping her hands together, Colleen gave the girl a tight smile. “My employment at The Black Rose has come to an end. I will be leaving its management in your hands. Now is the time to impress Lord Sutton. Prove to him that he doesn’t need to hire anyone else to run the place.”
“But …” Lucy opened and closed her mouth. “It’s too soon. I haven’t learned enough.”
“You found us another wine supplier, didn’t you?” The door to the Amethyst Room opened, and Colleen guided Lucy down the hall to the main room. The band was playing a lively tune, and several people were dancing a rather drunken jig. “And you think you’ve found a replacement for Molly.”
The woman nodded, worrying her bottom lip.
“That is management,” Colleen assured her. “Keeping supplies well-stocked, heading off disasters. I know you keep tidy ledgers. And you know how to manage all the personalities here. Everything else you can learn as you go. And if you have questions, I will be staying with my cousin. You can contact me there.”
“What will you do?”
Colleen hadn’t thought that far ahead. Pulling a pair of threadbare gloves from her coat pocket, she tugged them on. “I will find something.” Hopefully, if Max apprehended Zed tonight, he would make good on his long-ago promise of a premium. If Mr. Ridley’s flower shop was no longer for sale, well, there would be others. She would find a way to achieve her dreams.
Something pinched behind her breastbone, and she rubbed her chest. Dreams were funny things. They had a way of changing without a person even being aware of the transformation. Her flower shop, full of energy and life, didn’t seem so sparkling as it used to. Just another place where she would spend her days alone.
Shaking the melancholy from her mind, she clasped Lucy’s hand. “I have every faith in your abilities. Remember, there is no shame in asking for assistance when needed.” She pressed a brass key into the woman’s palm. “My office is now yours.”
“Thank you.” Lucy flipped up the collar of her robe. “I guess I should change. The manager of The Black Rose shouldn’t wander about in a negligee.”
“Go to the wardrobes upstairs.” Colleen checked her reticule, making sure she had all she needed. “The baron fitted them out with all the uniforms you could ever need.”
With one more well-wish, Colleen was on her way. She strode outside to the carriage waiting at the sidewalk. The guard held the door open, giving her a hand up.
Facing front, Colleen settled in, clutching her reticule tightly on her lap. Her guard sat next to her, and the carriage rolled forwards in silence.
Every fiber of her being longed to push back the window’s curtain and watch as her home for the past several months faded from view. As though prolonging her sight of the building would prolong her connection to Max. She might have done so had she been alone.
The carriage stopped, the streets around them silent.
She rapped on the ceiling. “Is there a problem?”
No answer.
Frowning, her guard lowered his window and stuck his head out. “I don’t see anything blocking us. Why aren’t we moving?”
Colleen glanced outside. The man was right. The street lay dark and empty before them. The Black Rose was situated on a narrow side street in a business district that bedded down at night. Perfect for men to keep their club membership private.
She bit her lip. The emptiness was unnerving. The club lay only thirty feet behind them. “Perhaps we should turn around?” Get out and run was more to point, but showing her fear never helped anyone.
Leaning forwards, the guard wedged his shoulders through the window until he was halfway out. “I don’t see our driver. Nor the other guards who’re supposed to be following.” Flicking back his jacket, he reached for a pocket pistol. “Hell. Stay—”
Something thudded. The guard’s body jerked, then fell slack, hanging half out the window.
The door on her side of the carriage was flung open, and Colleen shrieked. Slapping at the hands that reached for her, she lurched to the other side of the carriage. The guard had been reaching for a weapon, and if she could only get her hands on it …
She felt for his pocket, kicking out at the body trying to clamber inside with her all the while. Her thumb just brushed cold metal when the guard’s body swung out of her reach as the door on that side opened. The poor man slid from the window, crumpling in a heap at another dark form’s feet. The shadow reached for her just as a hand encircled one ankle.
Colleen renewed her struggle, knowing it was hopeless. The odds were stacked against her. She wouldn’t win. Whatever these ruffians wished to inflict upon her, they could.
But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t spend her last breath fighting.
Chapter Seventeen
