Ransom sighed. When he spoke, it wasn’t to her but the footman. “Escort the lady upstairs. And stay by her chamber. We wouldn’t want her to get lost before the wedding.”
35
Harry vaultedover the back gate, landing in the dark garden behind Ransom’s townhouse.
Ambrose and Strathaven landed beside him.
The three rows of windows at the back of the house were dark. Taking this as a good sign, Harry sprinted to the kitchen door, the other two following him. Finding it locked, he took out his picks and crouched, ready to get to work.
“Hold up, lad,” Ambrose whispered. “That might not be necessary.”
He frowned up at his brother. “Pardon?”
Ambrose moved aside, pointing upward.
With his brother no longer blocking his view, Harry saw that a window on the second floor had opened. A rope made up of knotted bedsheets dangled out of the opening. As Harry watched, a small figure clad in a voluminous nightgown climbed over the sill and began the precarious descent from some twenty-five feet off the ground.
Holy hell, I’m going to kill her for risking her neck that way…if she doesn’t kill herself first.
His heart hammering, he ran over, ready to catch her. He wanted to call out, tell her to hold on tight, but he was afraid to startle her. To break her critical concentration.
She heard him coming, nonetheless. Her head whipped in his direction, and her makeshift rope swung with a momentum that made him break out in a cold sweat. Fear seized his insides.
“What in blazes are you doing here?” she hissed. “Go away.”
“Christ, Tessa, don’t let go.”
“Of course I’m not going to let go.” She sounded supremely annoyed, but at least she continued her descent, fist over small fist, each movement getting her closer to safety.
It seemed to take forever, but at last she was close enough for him to catch her.
“Let go, love,” he called, “I’ve got you.”
She ignored him, climbed down the last few feet, and landed nimbly. When she made to walk past him, he moved into her path.
“I thought I told you to stay away,” she said, her hands fisting on her hips.
Her eyes flashed at him. Her loose, wild curls frothed around her face.
God, she was beautiful. She waseverything.
“I’m sorry,” he said urgently. “Sorry I lied to you. It’s true that the police sent me to investigate Black; they thought he was responsible for the destruction of The Gilded Pearl. But once I informed my superior that Black wasn’t responsible, the goal of my mission became to stop the hellfire. I was afraid to tell you the truth because I wanted to stay by your side. To protect you.”
“I don’t need your, or any man’s, protection,” she shot back.
She was probably right. “You are terrifyingly resourceful, it’s true. So maybe I was wrong: you don’t need me. ButIneedyou.”
Was it a trick of the moonlight or did her face soften a little?
“You can go to blooming hell,” she said succinctly.
Trick of the light, then.
“I have news about your grandfather,” he said in a rush. “Before we left for Chudleigh Crest, I told Doolittle my true identity and asked him to contact Ambrose, to ask my brother to help your grandfather. But before Doolittle left Nightingale’s that night, he saw Black and Todd being taken by O’Toole. He followed them: O’Toole is holding your kin hostage at his flash house in Blue Gate Fields. Doolittle informed Ambrose, whose men have been monitoring the place for the past two days. We have a plan for rescuing your family.”
Emotions chased across Tessa’s face: hope and fear. Then she lifted her chin. “My thanks for the information, Kent. Now remove yourself from my path.”
There was nothing for it. He had to show her how he felt.
