CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Andyou say the note was delivered anonymously, Perkins?”
Leo read the words again.
I would like to employ the services of the Lords of Night Street. I am being blackmailed over something that happened in my past, and am at a loss to know what to do. I fear for those I love, as threats have also been made against them. I am seeking advice as to what my next move should be. Therefore, I would be extremely grateful if you would meet me outside Hatchard’s Book Shop at ten o’clock tonight. I shall be in a carriage.
“The note was posted under the door, Lord Vereton.”
“There is no signature,” Leo said, wondering why he suddenly felt tense. “I will deal with it, and then if need be call in the others.”
“Is it wise to go alone, my lord?”
“You know where I will be, Perkins. If I do not return, you can send out a search party.”
Leo stood to one side of the bookshop, tucked in the shadows as a carriage pulled up. He waited, but no one appeared or looked out the windows. The trickle of awareness down his spine increased. Before Leo could approach, the door opened. He watched someone step down, and realized at once it was a lady. She wore a cloak, hood up, so he could not see her face. Waiting in the shadows, he watched as she moved. A gloved hand came up to pull the hood forward, and the gesture tugged something in his memory. Leo felt an awareness that he could not fathom. When she turned his way, he knew why.
Stepping out of his hiding place, he moved fast, and was before her in seconds.
“Inside the carriage now.”
“Leo?”
He didn’t wait, simply lifted her off her feet and took her with him into the carriage.
“Take us around the streets until I tell you different,” he told the driver.
Lowering Beth to the seat across from him, Leo watched as she moved back until she was pressed into the upholstery.
“Start talking.”
“Why were you there, Leo?”
He thought briefly about lying, but decided on the truth, as that was what was needed between them now.
“I am one of the Lords of Night Street. It was I who was sent to meet you.”
She pushed the hood off her head, and looked at him, eyes wide with shock.
“You... you’re one of them? But how is that possible?”
“We’ll get back to that, but right now I want to hear who is threatening you.”
Leo felt an unreasonable swell of anger, a need to find whoever dared to hurt her and make them pay. Looking at her sitting there attempting to be strong, trying to appear as she always did, calm and composed, he felt something give inside him. An inevitability, which, when his head had cleared, he would examine further.
“Talk to me.”
She stayed silent, and he could almost see her brain moving through ways to throw him off the scent.
“Don’t try and put up smoke screens, Beth, not this time. I have your note in my hand, and you are here at the meeting place at the exact time.”
“I needed air.”
As far as lies went, it was a pitiful one, they both knew it, but he had to admire her for at least trying.
“The truth, Beth. Tell me the truth.”
“Leo, I have no wish to discuss this with you.”
