Rhys’s gaze slid to meet hers.“No, you really can’t.But it’s been my job for a long time to find out the things people hide.I will figure it out.”
“Zeke said you were done with that,” Mrs.Rigby said.
“I am.But this last thing was a promise made.”
Violet looked back and forth between the two.Again, she had the feeling there was much being said as they looked at each other.Their bond was clearly strong.It made her sad for the friendships she had pulled away from over the past year.She missed having people in her life who knew her so well that she could convey what she was thinking with just a look or a quirk of an eyebrow.
But that was just the problem, wasn’t it?Her good friends would immediately know that she was desperately unhappy.Lucy would probably challenge Stuart to a duel, no matter that she was a woman eight months pregnant.No, Violet was going to figure out a way to keep Stuart away.She would save herself, with some help from the enigmatic Rhys Seaton.
Chapter Fourteen
Rhys draped Violet’scape around her shoulders and tied the ribbons in front.He enjoyed being this close to her.Her warm exhale of breath hit him on his chin, and her gaze never broke away from his.Those eyes were a fascinating mixture of hues.An amber starburst radiated from her pupil and bled softly into a darker chocolate brown, the irises surrounded by a ring of coal black.The two of them stood staring at each other for a long moment.
Then Violet stepped back to turn and grab her muff.“Thank you for speaking with me, Mrs.Rigby.”
Viola rose gracefully and held out a slim hand.“Surely.And call me Viola.Everyone calls me Mama Viola.Thank you for being the reason Rhys decided to come visit me.”
Rhys winced at the chastisement.He hadn’t been staying away on purpose.It had been a busy month.He walked over to Viola and kissed her cheek.“I’m sorry.I will come to see you again soon.”
She patted his face.“You’d better.I have questions about that one,” she said in a low voice.“Didn’t think you messed around with married women.”
He wasn’t messing around with Violet Sommerset.Becoming entranced with her, yes, but he would never think of doing anything about it.He had plenty of self-control, he reminded himself.And Viola was right; he did not dally with married women.“Later,” he muttered.
They walked out into the cold gray day.The sunshine from earlier this morning was hidden behind a thick layer of clouds.“Looks like rain.Better get you home.”Lightly taking her elbow, he led them down the alley.
“Mrs.Rigby is very nice.I didn’t find her brash or loud,” Violet said.
“She was on her best behavior, believe me,” he said.
“You said she was your mother’s best friend.When did your mother pass?”
“Eight years ago.My mother and Viola became friends when my mother first returned to the city.I was only six, but Viola always let me come to work with my mother.I grew up in that brothel.Strange place to have as a home, but I never knew the difference.”He shrugged.“Everyone who worked at the Birdcage always looked out for me.”
“Your mother worked for Viola?As a…” Violet’s eyes were as round as saucers.
“As a prostitute.Yes.”He wasn’t ashamed.His mother had done what she had to in order to survive and put food on the table for her son.There were worse ways to earn quid.He knew very well some of those ways.And the Birdcage had always been a safe haven for him and his mother.Until she got sick.There was no escaping the realities of syphilis.
“Oy, look-y who it is.”A man stepped out the back door of the smoke shop.“Seaton, haven’t seen you around this block in a while.”
Fuck, just what he needed.One of the Newgate boys.“Frank,” Rhys acknowledged.
Three other men stepped out of the shadows.He recognized two of them—Gus and Calvin, real brutes.Walter must want something if he had sent his most trusted guys.
“Told you, Frank, that it was ’im.”the third guy, who he didn’t know said.He was a skinny fellow with a shock of red hair who was talking a mile a minute.“I saw him go into the Birdcage earlier.Knew it had to be ’im.”
The men casually fanned out, blocking the exit to the alley.Fuck.Rhys pulled Violet close.He kept his stare on Frank.His cold silence unnerved most men.Inside though, his blood ran hot.Four-against-one odds were not the best.
“Walter wants to talk with you.”Frank cracked his thick neck to one side.
“Tell him he can go fuck right off.I’m busy.”He walked toward the mouth of the alley, dragging Violet along.She had gone stiff with fear.Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her eyes flick up to him, but he didn’t dare tear his gaze from Frank, who stood in their way.Twenty feet, fifteen, ten, five.
Frank’s lecherous smile spread wide.“I can see.She one of Viola’s birds?”
Rhys stopped right in front of Frank.“Get out of my way.”
The three others had closed in.Calvin stepped up to Violet’s left.“She sure is a pretty one.”He reached out a hand, and Violet recoiled.
Rhys stepped in between them and gave Calvin a hard shove.“Touch her and die.”
