“No.” Amos jerked his head. “I’ll take care of this. And if not, you know when to jump in.”
Dominic stealthily took his place behind the door as Amos answered the summons.
Until that point,Lexie had been congratulating herself for being so intelligent, or rather, she supposed she ought to thank the hackney driver who had deposited her at this ramshackle building with a smirk and a tip of his hat with half of her purse weighing down his vest pocket. However, she had considered it money well spent for cornering the fox in his own hole.
She waited patiently to greet the duke with a knowing smile on her face. Instead, she was greeted by a rather intimidating man with an eyepatch. She would have taken a step backward in surprise if it wasn’t for the fact he was revealing the most enchanting blue eye. Somehow, that made him appear a bit less menacing. And knowing that she had witnessed the duke stride into this very door, she knew he was still here somewhere, unless he’d ducked out a back entrance, in which case, she would soon appear very foolish.
“Good afternoon.” She waited for a reply, but his face was as stony as when he’d opened the door. She cleared her throat. “I was looking for… Avalon.” She nearly stumbled over the duke’s identity, recalling his pseudonym at the last moment.
“What do you want with him?” the man opposite asked in a gravelly voice.
She lifted a brow and replied primly. “That, sir, is between me and him.”
One moment, Lexie was waiting for the other man to speak and the next, her arm was grabbed in a bruising grip and she was hauled inside the room, the door slamming shut behind her. “What thedevilare you doing here?”
As a hard body pressed her against the wood of the door, Lexie had to sigh inwardly. This was much better. She would certainly rather face the stormy glare of the duke rather than the dangerous glint in that single blue eye. “Ah, there you are,” she said breathlessly.
“You didn’t answer my question,” he nearly snarled.
She forced herself not to pout, but she wasn’t very happy with his reception. She had been expecting him to applaud her on her quick resolve, instead he was acting like an angry father whose child had done something naughty. “If you wouldn’tcrowdme, then perhaps we might have a civil conversation.”
He pushed away from her with another growl, but pivoted back around a short distance away, the first man watching her with something akin to curiosity, as if she were some sort of oddity at the local fair.
She smoothed her cloak and patted her hair and then said, “I didn’t figure you would tell me more about yourself than you did at the opera so I took it upon myself to learn the full truth and what I actually have to fear.”
“Is that so?” The eyepatch swiveled in his direction and an unspoken message appeared to pass between them. Afterward, the duke returned his gaze to her. “You don’t understand anything, and by coming here you might have just secured your fate. It’s best if you leave and pray that no one followed you like you have me.”
Lexie’s jaw went slack. This reunion wasn’t turning out how she’d imagined at all. But what he didn’t know was that she had never been one to back down, and certainly not without having the last word. “Before I go, I would be asking myself how it was that I discovered your location in the first place.”
She turned on her heel and had her hand on the knob when a voice spoke up behind her. “I am rather curious about that.”
She slowly turned to face the man with the eyepatch. Narrowing her gaze, she lifted her chin and said, “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”
He gave a chuckle and then murmured something to the duke that she wished she had been able to overhear before he bowed as gallantly as if he were in the midst of an elegant ballroom and he’d claimed a dance. “Amos, at your service.”
“No last name?”
His face retained the smile but his eye flashed with warning. “Amos is fine.”
She gave a slight shrug and attempted to quell the sudden unease that slithered down her spine. He had the same power of intimidation as the duke. Thankfully, she had been bullied by her father for years so she was used to the gruff demeanor most often associated with men. “Very well.” Gathering her resolve, she kept her focus on Amos and purposefully ignored the duke. “The hackney driver happened to see… Avalon leaving his residence in… er… another section of town, but he immediately recognized him. And he seemed to act as though it wasn’t a secret that he tended to leave the house at all hours. He claimed that having driven a hackney as long as he had, not much escapes his notice.”
“Interesting.” Amos appeared thoughtful, and then he turned to the man at his side. “Did you realize you were being observed.”
The duke set his hands on his hips and set his jaw. “It would appear I was not as circumspect as I believed. I have become too careless over the years, which is why it is a good thing I’m handing the responsibility over to someone who isn’t bedeviled at every turn these days.” He pinned Lexie with a glare, and she had the feeling that remark was mainly meant for her.
“Say what you will, but you will find that not much intimidates me.”At least, not outwardly.
“I am beginning to see that, yes.”
The low murmur slid over her skin like the finest silk and caused her to shiver slightly.
“You’re cold.” He moved toward her, and although she was perfectly fine, he removed his jacket and laid it over her shoulders. He turned to Amos. “I’m going to escort the lady home?—”
She shook her head. “I didn’t come all this way just to be rebuked for my actions and sent back to my room like some recalcitrant child.”
His glare was hard. “I will not have you traipsing aboutWhitechapel.” His eyes flicked over her attire. “And especially not dressed as you are. You would become an instant target in your finery.”
“Then procure me something else to wear, because like it or not, until I discover everything there is to know about the threat tomylife, you’re stuck with me.”
