“Pffft. Mr. Tyler says they’ll all think it beneath their dignity to serve as a guide for a boy.”
“And what if you’re spotted wandering around where you shouldn’t be?” demanded McClellan.
“I’ll say I’m lost, and if pressed, I’ll burst into tears.”
Raven’s recital of the plan steadied Charlotte’s fluttery nerves. As Wrexford had assured, there wasn’t any danger to this part of it.
“I need to scarper, m’lady,” he added in a rush. “I can’t be late.” The timing called for Raven to arrive right before the end of the working day, in order to lessen the chances of a clerk entering the storage room and noticing the window wasn’t locked.
“Go,” she said after giving him another quick hug.
“Don’t worry,” counseled McClellan as Raven raced out to the back garden, where Hawk was waiting by the loose board in the back fence. “This is child’s play for Raven. He won’t have any trouble doing his part.” The maid’s expression betrayed a tiny flicker of concern. “It’s Wrexford who may face trouble. I imagine there are guards patrolling the building at night. And given what the enemy has to protect, I imagine they won’t hesitate to use violence—”
Charlotte turned from watching the shadows flitting through the corridor, her expression causing the maid to fall silent.
“In which case, they’ll be in for a rude surprise.”
CHAPTER 26
Squeezing himself deeper into the narrow gap between the warehouses, Wrexford cast a look at the darkened windows of East India House’s rear façade. The last light had gone out perhaps a quarter hour ago, but he had decided to err on caution and wait a little longer, just to be sure the inner offices had settled into slumber.
However, the ominous clouds blowing in from the east stirred a prickling of uncertainty. A trail of telltale raindrops would make his intended foray even more dangerous.
He had only himself to blame for that.I was so bloody sure Copley would agree to a deal.
Now that Copley knew his illicit activities were no longer a secret, would he have arranged for additional security in his own area of the building? Guards who wouldn’t hesitate to shed blood to keep any proof of the misdeeds from slipping out?
Cursing himself for a fool, Wrexford fingered the pocket pistol inside his coat. He had broken his own cardinal rule in leaping to conclusions. Hubris was not without a price. However, it was of some solace that breaking into the building put only himself at risk,
A sound, a mere whisper among the other night rustlings, snapped his attention back to the moment. Wrexford noiselessly shifted his stance and flattened his back against the bricks. As of yet, he had seen no sign of guards patrolling the building’s perimeter. With luck . . .
A wraithlike shadow, a swirl of vapor within the gun smoke–grey mist, flitted past the opening to his hiding place. The night was always alive with denizens of the dark, intent on no good.
All was still again. He slowly let out his breath....
“Wrexford.” The wraith slipped into the slivered space, the brush of wool against his shoulder an unwelcome assurance that it wasn’t a figment of his brooding.
“What the devil are you doing here?”
“I assume that’s a rhetorical question.” Like him, Charlotte was dressed all in black, with a silk mask hiding her face. The eyes slits, however, revealed an all-too-familiar steely gaze.
“I—”
“Ssshhh. Keep your voice down,” she whispered. “Two can search quicker than one. And I’ve even more experience than you do in this sort of endeavor.”
He couldn’t argue on that point. “But the risk—”
“Is the same for you.”
A fraught silence quivered between them. Wrexford tried to maintain his righteous anger. It was wrong to feel a warmth steal through his bones. Duty demanded that a gentleman protect the weaker sex—
The weaker sex—ha!
He surrendered a grudging smile. “Two conditions—I lead the way, and if I order you to fly, you don’t argue.”
Charlotte hesitated. Debating, no doubt, how finely she could parse the definition oforder.
“Very well,” came her answer. She looked across the walkway to East India House, its pale Portland stone rising from the fog like a massive ship under full sail. “After you, sir.”
