Adrian felt a surprising surge of possessiveness as he watched the driver’s wide eyes travel up and down his mistress’s body.
“Watch yourself,” he snarled, the words escaping him before he could help it.
Farley’s eyes shot up toward Adrian as his ears turned crimson.
“Farley, this is the Duke of Redgrave,” Bridget explained, opening the carriage door for herself. “He is going to sit up there with you and tell you how to get to our next location. He, too, is on an urgent mission to find my husband.”
Farley bowed his head respectfully toward Adrian before his gaze shot worriedly toward his mistress.
“Next location? My lady, it is growing dark. I really must insist—”
“Do not bother,” Adrian gritted out as he swung himself up onto the driver’s board. “Your mistress has chosen not to listen to reason today.”
“Reason is absent from this entire situation, Your Grace,” Bridget replied haughtily as she leaned out of the carriage door.
He glared down at her in just enough time to catch that smirk of hers, then she drew the door shut.
“Go up to the next intersection and then turn right,” Adrian commanded.
Farley flicked the reins, signaling the horses to move, and the carriage began to travel leisurely down the street.
“Has your mistress always been this way?” Adrian asked, breaking the silence.
Farley glanced over at him.
“Been what way, Your Grace?”
“Obstinate,” Adrian gritted out.
Farley shook his head as his eyes returned to the road.
“Her Ladyship has always had a quiet way about her until of late,” Farley answered.
Adrian’s brows rose, finding that hard to believe.
“Surely you are just trying to be polite,” he insisted.
“I will always be polite to Her Ladyship,” Farley answered. Adrian noted the loyalty in the man’s voice. “I have worked for members of thetonsince I was three-and-ten, and I have never been treated so kindly as Her Ladyship treats me.”
That,Adrian decided, was something he could believe.
“What else do you know about her?” Adrian asked.
Farley grew silent again. Adrian sensed his hesitation about discussing his employers and admired him for it.
“You can speak plainly, lad. This is a private conversation that will not go beyond us,” Adrian prompted.
“I know that she does not deserve this,” Farley answered quietly as he turned the carriage onto the next street. “Running about the slums of London to find a husband who does not appreciate her.”
Even though Adrian had insisted that Farley speak plainly, he was shocked at the driver’s words. Still, he knew servants observed more than most members of society would ever understand, and gathered that Farley’s opinion was based on what he had witnessed in the Winslow household.
Adrian dropped the subject, speaking only when Farley needed a new direction. As they travelled for the next several minutes along a busier street where Henry’s was located, Adrian’s curiosity about Bridget deepened.
When they stopped in front of Henry’s, Adrian hopped down from the driver’s board and opened the carriage door for Bridget. She gave him a shocked look as he held his hand out to her, but after a moment, she slid her fingers over his palm.
Sparks traveled up his arm as they joined hands, and Adrian gritted his teeth as he silently reminded himself that the woman was married. Albeit married to an obvious buffoon and possible murderer who did not deserve her.
“Stay by my side and stay quiet,” he demanded. His words came out harsher than he intended, but he did not apologize. Instead, he added, “If we are going to do this, we are going to do it my way.”
