“You could,” he agreed. “Why haven’t you?”
She chewed on her lower lip. She didn’t think she’d ever screamed in her life, not a full-throated help-I’m-being-murdered kind of scream. She didn’t know if she could force the sound from her throat, not without feeling foolish. “Would it be effective?”
He snorted. “Definitely not.”
She lifted her hand, palm up. “Well, there you have it.” She cleared her throat. “Besides, I spoke with my brother just this afternoon. He’s in London, wouldn’t you know. We’ve reconciled our differences. You don’t have to return me home any longer.”
He chuckled, the sound grim. “You slipped away from him, too. That explains why he contacted the agency, demanding we double-down on our efforts.”
Juliana’s jaw dropped. Why, that little… “He’s always been a bothersome brother.”
“Of that, I have no doubt.”
She turned to face him. “How much will it take for you to release me? I can’t go home.”
“Yet home is where you belong.” His fingers tightened. “A single woman roaming the streets of London by herself isn’t safe.”
She clenched her hands into fists. “I am quite accustomed to being in Town by myself. My father encourages my independence.” Except when it contravened her brother’s wishes, it seemed. Her father wanted Snow to take on more responsibilities so he’d be prepared for the time when he was master of Bluff Hall. She even agreed that her brother could use the practice.
But her father’s allowing Snow to call her home like an errant dog still burned like betrayal.
Mr. Duffy sighed. “I realize you are used to having your own way. Your father has been most…lenient with your upbringing. Perhaps it is right that your brother is stepping in where your father has been lax.”
She jerked her elbow from his grip. Heat rose from her chest, up her throat to her face. “It always amazes me,” she said coldly, “how the working class so readily adopts the faux morality of the nobility. One would think, with all the injustice levied upon you by the elite, you would be eager to rebel against their silly norms.”
He turned in his seat to face her, but she refused to look at him. “And I would think that a woman brought up in privilege and rank would be more sensible of her good fortune. No one gets everything they want in life, and having a titled father, money, and an education seems more than enough compensation for a minor restriction on your liberty. Having family who wish to protect you hardly seems a trade-off at all.”
She gaped. That was more than she’d ever heard him speak in one sitting. When he found a topic he liked, apparently, he felt free to expound upon it. And discussing her lack of gratitude was obviously a topic he enjoyed.
“You think me spoiled.”
He shrugged.
Her eyes flew wide.Of all the nerve. She turned her back on him, planting her shoulder into the seat and staring out her window. How much wealth would he accept in trade for his independence? Men like him took their liberty for granted, thinking nothing of walking to the market alone, of sitting down to a nice bit of pastry in a coffeehouse as they read the paper.
But she was looked upon as spoiled for wanting the same freedoms. “I will only leave again. You might be able to bring me home, but you can’t keep me there.”
“Delivery is my job. Keeping you there is your brother’s.”
She spun back to face him. “You would have me held prisoner?”
He winced. “You’re as dramatic as that play we just left. It’s natural for a brother to want his sister safe at home. How you two arrange your lives is a concern only for your family. I’m not a part of it.”
“As you’re the means effecting my unwilling return, you are a great part of it.”
He remained silent.
Juliana bit make a scream of frustration. There were times she hated being a woman.
Mr. Duffy sighed. “When we arrive at Bluff Hall, I’ll speak to your father, make sure your brother is not exceeding his authority.”
“How kind of you,” she bit out. “And perhaps while you’re there you could try to discover who wants my father dead. You are receiving a fine sum of money from my family; it would be nice if you did something useful to earn it.”
The coach rolled to a stop. “We’re ‘ere,” the cabbie called down.
Juliana pushed open the door and hopped down, trying to figure out where ‘here’ was. If she had any chance of escape tonight, she needed to know her environs.
They were in a business district. A block down, the spires of a church rose into the inky night. A church she recognized. “Are we near Bowker Street?”
