Her hair, drenched now, had plastered itself to her head and neck, dripping rainwater down her back and sending chills down her spine. Her slippers, comfortable and warm just a few minutes earlier, were now cold and squishy. But her slippers weren’t the issue here…
“There was a woman,” she finally managed. Grasping the handle of the basket, Melanie scrambled to her feet, feeling a surge of protectiveness.
He simply waited.
There was a baby in the basket. Its mother had disappeared, and the rain, if anything, was falling even harder.
Melanie purposefully flicked her stare to somewhere behind him. “Can we…?”Go inside?“Please?” she added.
For a few seconds, she thought he was going to refuse, but then, with a flare of his nostrils, he stepped back, his feet silent on the marble floor, and held the door wide.
Melanie managed to avoid direct contact as she brushed past, but was close enough to catch a hint of his scent—smoky, with an elusive touch of something spicy, reminding her of leather.
What was she doing? All manner of gossip tore through thetonwhen it came to the Duke of Malum, and even Melanie knew that no decent young woman should ever, under any circumstances, be seen with him—let alone be seen entering his lair.
This man kept not just one mistress, but an entire bordello of them—according to the newspapers. Even before he’d established his brothel, members of thetonhad cast him out—for reasons people could only speculate about.
He’d essentially shunned them right back. And he could do that—because he was a duke, and nothing would ever change that.
Having overheard snippets of conversation between Reed and Caroline, she knew that this rogue had threatened her brother last year. At the same time, however, when the gossip turned dangerous, the Duke of Malum had eventually helped Reed. When everyone else had been calling for the new Earl of Standish to be tried for arson, formurder, this man had stepped in to help.
Shuttering other memories from those days, she ignored the cold and lifted her chin.
He closed the door behind her, and the silence, which should have made her feel uncomfortable, instead momentarily enveloped her like a warm, comforting blanket.
Most people didn’t appreciate silence. In fact, before the fire that had changed her family’s lives forever, Melanie would have felt compelled to fill it.
Now, she simply absorbed it.
Even if the duke was just standing there, his arms folded across his chest, obviously expecting some sort of explanation.
Not that she was the person who owed him one.
Still, that choking feeling held her back.
This was precisely why she couldn’t participate in the Season—no matter that her mother expected her to and no matter how much Josie or Caroline begged her. The thoughts in her head had to fight to get out. And honestly, all that effort wasn’t worth the trouble.
Usually.
“Well?” The duke’s economy of words wasn’t lost on her. He was simply… waiting, standing perfectly still, his mouth set in a flat line. Most people would fidget when they were feeling impatient about something, tap their foot or drum their fingers against something.
The Duke of Malum was not so uncontrolled. It was fairly intimidating, but also…
Not.
Melanie nodded. Swallowed once.Speak, she demanded of herself,just tell him.But the words crowded on her tongue, trapped. But then the weight in the basket shifted, reminding her…
“I saw—” She pointed back to the door and inhaled a fluttery breath. “A woman... left the basket.” Her heart pounded in her ears. “She knocked. But no one…”
“You’re one of Rutherford’s sisters.”
She forced her gaze back to Malum’s silvery eyes. “How did you know?”
He simply blinked.
It wasn’t really an answer, but she could only assume he’d seen the comings and goings at her mother’s townhouse. Had he noticed her in the window?
It was more than a little disquieting to realize that, although she’d imagined herself invisible, she hadn’t been. Of course, if she could see outside, others could see in…
