He didn’t like it. The flash of spirit she had displayed had intrigued him, and her height put him in mind of a shieldmaiden. So who had made this woman feel so small?
“I assure you, Miss Dryden, you have nothing to fear from me. I only decapitate vampiresafterthey’ve tried to kill me.”
Her lips pursed. “Or those whose names I give you.”
He acknowledged this with a tilt of his head. “I feel sure you will bear the weight of this responsibility with good sense, Miss—what is your Christian name?”
“It isn’t appropriate to address me by my Christian name.”
He grinned. “Ah. Propriety, Miss Dryden? At this late date? Tell me, do you always sneak into men’s bedrooms to deliver clandestine notes?”
She drew herself up very straight. “Only when someone is trying to kill them. Do you always grab women and sling them around?”
“Only when they ask nicely.”
Her eyes sparked ruby for less than a second—but he saw it.
There you are, sweetheart.
“All right, Miss Dryden. Suppose you explain why you were leaving me notes about murder plots? I would love to know how you came by your information.”
“Should I not have bothered?” Genevieve snapped, confused and furious with herself. She should have turned around and walked away. Let him fend for himself for once. Instead, he had caught her—he must have had ears like a bat!—and she had reacted like a frightened animal. All because he had touched her arm.
“It does raise the question of how you’ve managed to intercept the plans of—three? four?—separate conspirators.”
“I am not involved, if that is what you mean,” she forced through numb lips.
“Don’t look like that, Miss Dryden,” he said, unrolling her last note. “I have told you; you are quite safe. Tell me, how do you hear these whispers? ‘Horace and Gisela plan new attack. Watch yourself.’ Thank you. I suspected Gisela was not as pleased with me as she pretended. But who is Horace?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” His eyes narrowed. “Then how did you hear this name? For that matter, how did you come by this information at all?”
“I overheard them speaking in the dark and heard her call him by name.”
He pondered this. “Why should I trust you, Miss Dryden?”
“Besides the fact that I have not been wrong yet?” She lifted her chin. “I have a talent for not being noticed. People are more loquacious when they believe they plot in secret.”
He raised an eyebrow. “That would be why I saw no one in the passage when I opened the door?”
Genevieve pursed her lips.
“It’s a useful talent to have,” Kendrick acknowledged. “And impressive. I didn’t sense anything until your foot scraped on the stone around the corner. I’ve never encountered anything quite like true invisibility. All right. We’ve covered how. Now let’s address why.”
Genevieve frowned. “What?”
“Leaving the notes. Why bother warning me?”
“Because you obviously need help!” she snapped.
He raised an eyebrow. “Do I now?”
“Yes! If I happen to overhear such plots muttered, how many are voiced that I donothear? Have you considered they’re trying to kill you because you aren’tdoinganything?”
“No.”
“No?” Her mouth dropped open in outrage. Why was he smiling?
