Elliot pushed at her hand, refusing the money. “I can’t. My pride won’t allow it.”
“Then you must conquer your pride as effectively as you have conquered your dignity being here,” Thalia said, pushing the money back at him. “I would not have made this at all if you had not arranged the selling of my sculptures. In fact, I would not be a sculptor if it were not for you. I know you put your neck on the line continuing to teach me in private against my father’s wishes.”
“I am an artist,” Elliot declared, “and I would not forsake art no matter its origins.”
“And I would not forsake afriend.” Thalia finally urged him to take the money. “Here. And then you may return to your studio, and I might receive instruction once again. You see, I am led by purely selfish desires.”
A tired smile cracked Elliot’s worn face, and in the dim light from the club, she was able to see the lines that nestled around his eyes and framed his mouth. Here, he looked every inch of his forty years, and she wished she could tuck him away and give him time to sober up and recover.
“You do not have a selfish bone in your body,” he said, but he accepted the money.
They turned to leave the alleyway just as three burly men filled the entrance. The dim light meant she could see very little about them, but the breadth of their shoulders was unmistakable.
“What do we have here, Calloway?” one of them sneered.
“Gentlemen!” Elliot spread his hands, attempting to step between her and the men. “I have just acquired the funds needed to pay off my debt. You will be as relieved to hear it as much as I am; you have, no doubt, witnessed my abysmal attempts at gambling.” He tossed the bag at one of the men. “My debt is paid, and we have no further need to interact. I should escort this lady home.”
The first thug passed the money bag to the second, and for a moment, Thalia thought they might escape without incident.
She ought to have known better.
The first thug looked back at her and Elliot, and even from this distance, she could see the way his lip curled. “That don’t look like no lady.”
“The double negative you invoked proves that, in fact, she does,” Elliot said.
Thalia sighed, pushing between them. When inebriated, Elliot would be worse than no help. “We have paid the debts, good sirs. Please allow us to leave untainted.”
“Untainted, you say?” The man’s snigger sent ice down Thalia’s spine. “I’m not sure we can promise that to a pretty thing like you. Our patron has asked us to teach Calloway a lesson, and all the money in the world ain’t going to change our minds.”
“Please.” Thalia glanced behind her, but there was nothing save a wall she suspected they would never be able to climb over.
Nowhere to run except past the thugs.
Her heart hammered in her chest.
Elliot grabbed her arm, muttering under his breath. “When they start on me, go through that side door and exit through the front,” he hissed, his breath thick with the scent of wine. “Then run, do you hear? And don’t look back.”
Fear made Thalia want to nod; defiance made her want to hold her ground and teach these thugs a lesson.
Unfortunately, she had nothing with which she might achieve such an aim.
In desperation, she removed a hairpin from her tresses and held it between her knuckles. If she were lucky, she might get in one good strike.
One thing was for certain: she would not leave Elliot to his fate. They had taken her money! The audacity of doing that, then attempting to attack them anyway, could not be borne.
“If you touch that woman, you will regret it,” a deep voice said from behind the thugs.
They froze, and Thalia frowned. She could have sworn she’d heard that voice before—but from where?
“If you have the money you were seeking, be gone with you,” the familiar voice continued.
The lead thug hesitated, as though debating whether to take the matter further. Even with this new addition, they were three against three, and Thalia could not consider herself a significant threat.
Their savior stepped into the meager light, and Thalia’s jaw dropped.
It was none other than the Duke of Marrowhurst, her former fiancé.
Her almost-husband.
