“It was a coincidence,” she said in a rush. “I was playing billiards because I couldn’t sleep. Bennett heard something and came to investigate. That was when we heard the attack.”
None of this was a lie. She’d just skipped over a few parts. Like Bennett’s scorching kiss, the way he’d touched her, shown her incandescent pleasure…
“If it weren’t for Miss Todd’s swiftness in alerting the others and ringing the fire bell, the damage would have been far worse,” Bennett’s deep voice said.
At the unexpected praise, she sent him a startled look. Bennett’s expression hadn’t changed all that much. Yet the approval in his eyes made her pulse throb with hope. She shot him a tremulous smile; was it her imagination, or did his stern features thaw a little?
“My Tessie shouldn’t ’ave been put in that dangerous position,” Grandpapa barked.
Grabbing his cane, he got up from his chair. He went to the portraits, his proud gait betrayed by its visible unevenness. He stopped in front of Grandmama’s proud visage, reaching out to touch the burnt edge of the frame. Some of the paint had melted, red dripping down the velvet curtains behind Althea Bourdelain Black. Thankfully, Grandmama herself remained preserved: beneath her pearl-studded coronet, she gazed out with serene green eyes, untouched by time and fire.
“No one in my family should e’er feel anything but safe and free,” Grandpapa said.
Although his back faced Tessa, she heard the emotion roughening his voice. She went to him, placed a hand on his sleeve. “Grandpapa, it’s all right.”
“Soon it shall be.” He straightened, turned. “Leave us, Tessie.”
“I willnot. I can help. I’ll disguise myself, go to the taverns frequented by our enemies and spy on them—”
“Shut up, you stupid girl!” Her father sprang from his chair like a predator who’d been biding his time. “Or, so ’elp me God, you’ll get a whipping you shan’t soon forget.”
Anger got the better of her. “Seeing as God is more likely to take notice of me than you are, I suppose the whippingoughtto come from him.”
“You insolent littlebitch—”
She stood her ground when her father came at her, but both Bennett and Ming moved like lightning. Bennett shoved her behind him while Ming restrained her swearing father.
“Todd, control yourself,” Grandpapa said sharply. “Bennett, take Tessa upstairs.”
Frustration beat against Tessa’s breastbone. Her grandfather’s expression was as unyielding as a mountain. He wasn’t going to allow her to help her family in its most dire hour of need.
Resolve filled her.Good thing I don’t need his permission.
As Tessa stormed past her still-restrained father, Harry slowed, his hands fisting. He was sorely tempted to give Malcolm Todd a thrashing. The bastard’s treatment of Tessa was despicable: all she’d wanted to do was help. Only Ming’s shake of the head and the fact that the other had Todd subdued made Harry move on. He wouldn’t hit a man who couldn’t hit back.
Moreover, as satisfying as pummeling Todd would be, Harry couldn’t afford to be dismissed from his job. He had to stay by Tessa, to protect her…from the demons rising from his past.
He followed her as she stomped down the hallway in a fit of pique. In spite of the darkness that threatened to swamp him, he felt a spark of amusement. This was Tessa: part brave, passionate woman, part adorable brat. He could no longer deny his illogical and ill-fated attraction to her. He didn’t know where it would lead, where itcouldlead given the tangled mess of the situation, but he did know one thing.
He would do anything to keep her safe.
“Oof.”
Tessa had come to an abrupt halt, and he’d run into her, pitching her forward. His hand shot out, yanked her back by the waist. Her softness hit his hard edges, and, despite his inner turmoil, desire flared. An awareness of how perfectly they fit together.
Releasing her, he muttered, “Pardon. I didn’t see—”
“Keep your voice down.” She kept her gaze averted. “And walk as quietly as you can.”
Puzzled, he watched as she tip-toed back the way they’d come, all signs of temper gone. Had her tantrum been for show?
What is the minx up to now?
She turned into the billiards room, crooking her finger at him. Brows lifting, he followed her inside, and she closed the door with obvious stealth. She padded over to the bookcase on the wall that separated this room from Black’s study; kneeling, she began to pluck volumes off the middle shelf.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“If you want to stay, be quiet.” Her voice hushed, she kept at her task.
