“I forgot my mask.” She stepped back from him, away from his touch. “I’ll be right back.” She strolled, much too calmly for Charles’s liking, into the back room and disappeared.
“It will be all right.”
“What?” He asked sharply and spun to face his fellow agents.
Walter nodded to the back room. “We won’t let anything happen to her. It will be all right.”
“You can’t promise that.” No one could.
Cyrus stood from his desk, his face uncharacteristically serious. “No, but we can promise that we’d lay down our lives to protect her. And we will. She’s part of the family now. We’ll watch over her.”
“Family?” Charles had his family, and they lived above a market in South End.
Walter rolled his eyes. “You’ve always been the slow one. We’re in a dangerous business. In order to survive, we have to watch each other backs. I don’t care what you call it, but we’re united. Family, clan, band, whatever. Get used to it.”
His chest tightened. He locked eyes with Walter then Cyrus, humbled by the sincerity he saw there. He’d been keeping the men in the wrong category. Business associate didn’t do his fellow agents justice. When his gaze reached Hereford, that man shrugged. “I’m just here until Montague and the others feel my penance is complete. But”—he rubbed the back of his neck—“I won’t let your lady come to harm if I can help it.”
“Are we ready to go?” Cassie swept back into the room, her cloak now wrapped about her, no hints of her delectable skin showing. If only she could wear the cloak at the ball.
“Yes.” Charles straightened, his tight muscles easing. Perhaps the boundary between his professional life and his personal life had been ill thought. Perhaps he didn’t need to keep colleagues in a separate box from friends.
He nodded to the men. “We’ll see you there.” He followed Cassie to the door.
“Or not.” Hereford waved his gaudy mask in the air.
“Like everyone isn’t going to recognize that bunny-trimmed cape of yours?” Cyrus scoffed as the door closed behind Charles and Cassie.
Charles led them down the stairs and out of the building. Luckily, this night the skies were clear and the newly-repaired carriage awaited them on the street. He helped her inside then settled across from her, their knees brushing.
She looked out the window on the drive to Lady Stockton’s. He made one attempt at conversation but was met with monosyllabic answers. She was shutting him out, and he didn’t know why.
Damn it all to hell, of course he knew why. It was because he was a damned fool. He’d treated her as though she wasn’t worthy to be his wife. As though she was a wholly different type of woman than he would consider for his future mate.
And she was. Or she had been. And he hadn’t been shy in telling her that. Cassie had finally come to her limit of being used for sexual congress with no thought for her future.
In order for there to be a chance at a future with Cassie, however, he needed to find her sister’s murderer, bring him to justice. Cassie wouldn’t rest otherwise.
He reached over and placed his hand on her leg. “After this ball, we need to talk.” He needed to tell her what a fool he’d been. Sortings and categorizations were all well and good for grocery stock, but for people, it was like trying to pin down a wave. People were messy, disordered, and refused all attempts to be put in a box.
“After this ball….” Her voice broke.
His stomach plummeted. She was hurting, and he’d done it to her. “Cassie, please…wait, what are you doing?”
He held his hands out from his sides as she crawled onto his lap and straddled him.
She gripped the back of his head. “I don’t want to think about after the ball. I only want to think about you, here, now. I…I love you, Charles.”
His heart froze for an instant, then remembering what it was supposed to do, pounded at triple time, his blood rushing through his veins. “You love m—mphh!”
Her mouth cut off his words. She kissed him like a starving woman presented with a feast. Like she wanted to show him a lifetime of love in only an instant.
She kissed him like it would be their last.
Cupping her shoulders, he gently pried her away. “There’ll be time for that later.” He huffed out a laugh. Thank God, he hadn’t ruined this with her. All his classifications and nonsense hadn’t kept her away. Now he just needed to keep her safe while catching the killer.
He pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth. To the other side. “You don’t have to worry, sweetheart. We have a lifetime ahead of us.”
She dropped her forehead to his, staying quiet as she caught her breath. “Yes,” she said finally. “A lifetime.” She climbed off of him as the carriage rattled to a halt. Picking up her gold mask, she slid it into place.
