Lavinia drew herself up. “I am not attempting to charm anyone. Least of all you.”
“Good,” Dash said. “Then tell me the truth.”
Silence. It hung between them, taut and ready to break. His instincts screamed that she knew something—something she had stumbled upon and tried to handle on her own with sheer stubborn courage. But it was time for her to give and accept his help. But he needed her to tell him everything or he couldn’t help her.
Lavinia sighed. “You should not have brought me here.”
Dash stepped even closer her so that now their very breaths mingled together. “You should not have forced my hand.”
Her breath hitched. “I did not force anything.”
“You did,” Dash said, in a quieter tone. “By inserting yourself into matters that have nothing to do with you.”
She placed her hand on his chest, and he almost forgot to breathe. “How presumptuous of you to think you know everything.”
Dash held her gaze. “I know enough to understand when trouble has landed in front of me, and you Lady Lavinia are nothing but.”
Lavinia’s mouth opened—then shut. “If I am trouble, perhaps you should not be so formal with me. Most who know me call me Vivy.”
Now that caught him off guard and he nearly drew back. Vivy…he wanted to call her that almost as much as he wanted to call her his. While he could not claim her, he could give into that desire. “Very well, Vivy,” he said huskily. “Tell me what you know so we can stop all of this danger surrounding you.”
Dash did not move. He simply waited. Though he wished he could touch her as freely as she seemed to touch him. Her hand still remained fixed on his chest, and he liked it far more than he should.
At last, Lavinia’s shoulders slumped a fraction, as if she were tired of carrying the secret alone. “I received a note,” she admitted stiffly.
Dash went very still. “A note.”
“Yes.” She looked as though confessing it pained her. “It was slipped into my reticule days ago. It warned me to stay silent. It said I had uncovered something in my father’s study.”
Cold fury licked through Dash’s veins. “I asked you if you received anything unusual days ago. Why did you not tell me then?”
“I did not know whom to trust.” Lavinia glared at him. “And when you asked, I had not read it yet. I read it after the ball and well…it just made me more curious. I didn’t know what the note meant.”
Dash’s mouth tightened. He could not fault her for that. Trust was a rare commodity. Yet the risk… “And so,” Dash said, his voice like iron, “you went searching.”
Lavinia hesitated, then nodded once. “Yes. I did.”
“You went into your father’s study,” Dash pressed, “and you looked for what you were not meant to see, but the person who sent that note thought you already had.”
Something in her gaze set him on edge. “Yes. I wanted to know what I had supposedly uncovered. I wanted to know why—why someone would threaten me.”
“What did you find?” Dash demanded.
She nibbled on her bottom lip. “A list,” she said quietly. “Names. With notes beside them.”
Dash swore under his breath—one vicious word in a language no lady should ever hear. He dragged a hand through his hair. It was the first crack in his control. “Do you still have it?” he asked, harsh.
Lavinia nodded. “Yes.”
“Where is it.” He needed to see that list. It would also help to see that first note.
“It is at home,” she said quickly. “In a safe place.”
Dash’s eyes narrowed. “Define safe.”
She bristled. “In my room. It is hidden.”
Dash closed his eyes briefly, forcing himself not to shake her. “Vivy,” he said, his voice tight, “your room is not safe.”
