Although his eyes were alight with amusement, they held a warmth, as if he knew what I’d been doing. The dragon next to him certainly understood my implicit rebuke. As she should. She was a minor Fortescue and I was a Mortimer. She was now smiling at Alex as if she couldn’t imagine anything better than being seated beside him.
Alex caught a blast of that smile and returned it uncertainly before looking back at me, eyebrows slightly raised. Perhaps he didn’t understand the full power of the Mortimer name. The Mortimers’ position in the dragon world was something I used very rarely—I knew the fragility of my position in the family and how little right I had to claim any sort of status. But today, it had been helpful.
“Old clothes it is, then,” Alex said. “Can’t wait.”
Despite the snark, I thought he meant it. I was certainly looking forward to another morning in his company. And we still had this afternoon ahead of us, too, continuing our joint investigation.
I returned my attention to the Teagues on either side of me, but as we talked, I was thinking about Alex. He was easy company, though that didn’t explain how much I’d enjoyed spending time with him. Perhaps I’d need to spend more time with him to figure it out.
Chapter Nine
NATE
We lurked in the drawing room until all the Teagues, along with Anna Fortescue, left the house. Then, to make sure, I went upstairs and knocked on Charlie’s and Steven’s bedroom doors. I couldn’t bring myself to check the master bedroom. If James Fortescue had been hiding in his room all morning on the off-chance he found someone going through his things, he deserved to catch us.
I descended the staircase and found Alex on the landing, waiting for me. “All clear upstairs,” I reported.
“Downstairs, too. Mr Taylor went down the hallway after everyone left.”
“I’ll guard the staircase,” I told him.
My heart was beating fast with the knowledge of the danger we were about to put ourselves in, but Alex looked delighted. As if this was the most fun he’d ever had.
I kept one eye on the stairs and one on Alex, heading for the study door. He knocked on it. Good thinking—it hadn’t even occurred to me that James could be in there. When there was no answer, he tried the handle and swore. “It’s locked. Have you got a credit card?”
He took the one I gave him, and with some jiggling of the handle and application of the card between the door and the frame, he eased the study door open.
Impressive. Also sobering. I’d have to remember how easy it was for someone who knew what they were doing to bypass a simple lock.
The next hour felt like the longest of my life. I leaned over the bannisters of the cantilevered staircase that stretched the height of the house. A large brass lantern hung between the first and ground floors. It was a beautiful reproduction, in keeping with the age and style of the house, but right now it was a damned nuisance as I had to crane my neck to see around it.
Footsteps in the hallway had my hands clenching around the polished wooden rail. Taylor, coming to pick up the post from the doormat. He retreated again, and I relaxed slightly, trying to control my breathing
When the study door finally opened, I jumped at the small sound it made. Damn it. Anyone would think I was a mouse rather than a dragon. It’s just that dragons don’t usually back away from confrontation. We don’t need to—there’s nothing stronger than we are, unless it’s another dragon. Sneaking isn’t in our DNA. But here, surrounded by hostile dragons, I wouldn’t stand a chance if I tried to face them down. I’d have to learn to live with the sneaking. Alex didn’t have a problem with it, if the grin on his face as he came towards me was any indication.
“Sorry,” he said, handing my card back. “It’s a bit bent.”
“That’s okay. So am I.”
He laughed, his eyes full of amusement, and God, he was gorgeous. He was also off-limits. I needed to stop concentrating on Alex and start concentrating on why I was in Bath. “Did you find anything—”
The sound of the door knocker echoed around the hallway.
We were innocently established in armchairs by the time the Teagues poured into the drawing room. Their noise level suggested that sitting in silence at the recital had been a trial.
“Another walk?” I asked Alex, impatient to know what he’d found out. If he had proof that the Fortescues were behind the attacks, perhaps I could leave Bath. I could leave the memories that Charlie stirred up and the temptation of Alex and be back in London by tonight. Back in my soulless flat and dead-on-arrival career.
“Yeah,” Alex agreed quickly.
As we edged around the new arrivals, the Teague matriarch seized his arm.
She shot a swift look at me, shrewd and assessing, before turning her attention back to Alex. “I want to speak to you.”
I gave him a small shrug, and headed out, biting back my disappointment at not having his company.
ALEX
Margaret drew me to a quiet corner of the room. Keeping my voice low, I told her of my meagre findings so far. None of the papers I’d found in the desk appeared to relate to what Nate and I thought they were up to. I’d like him to look at my photos anyway, in case some of the technical financial papers meant something to him.
