She’d seen so much violence tonight. Her entire body had trembled witnessing it. But Alice was strong, and she wouldn’t let it show. She’d learned to hide just as this man had.
“When I saw you fighting that night in that warehouse,” she said, “I came across him. I asked whether he had heard the name Kenneth Jackson before. Bobby said he had not. I offered him money if he would come to me with any information about him. Children are often seen and not heard.
Jamie’s head moved, the smallest of nods, slow and stiff as if the motion cost him dearly.
“He came to my father’s townhouse with information that Jackson lived at Well Yard off Marylebone Lane.”
Jamie’s lashes lifted. His eyes, dulled with pain but still sharp, locked on hers.
“You should not have gone there alone, Alice.”
Her chin tilted, anger and fear roiling inside her. “Neither should you, considering it is you before me bruised and battered, and I was not alone. I had Bobby. I found him watching the property.” She pressed the cloth harder. He hissed between his teeth.
“Had those men set upon you,” he said tightly, “the outcome might have been more than a few broken ribs and bruises. The boy could not have saved you.” The words were muffled behind the cloth.
“I had planned only to observe,” she shot back. Alice then asked the question that had been bothering her since she’d seen him fighting with those men. “How is it you were there tonight, my lord?”
The carriage lurched over a rut, and his whole body stiffened. The hiss of pain was loud in the small space. Alice winced.
“My lord—”
“Jamie,” he interrupted, breath rough. “Say my name, and I might tell you the truth. Not that it will please you. But in the interests of honesty… and the belief that you won’t harm me in this condition, I will.” His cracked lips curved slightly in a smile again.
“Jamie.” The name felt foreign on her tongue, and forbidden.
She eased the cloth away, noting the bleeding had slowed, and then took the seat across from him.
“There now, that wasn’t so hard,” he murmured, opening his eyes. Pain glimmered in their green depths.
She folded her arms, fighting to keep her face composed. Alice would hear the sound of those men punching him forever, she was sure of it.
“I had you watched.”
Alice froze. Her mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. Finally, she found her words. “I beg your pardon?”
“When you refused to speak with me,” he said without the slightest trace of guilt, “I paid someone to watch you. In case you threw yourself headlong into trouble again, which you did tonight.”
The sheer audacity robbed her breath. He sat there, bloody, bruised, impossibly handsome despite it all, and confessed to such high-handed behavior as if it were no more than commenting on the weather.
Alice squeezed her eyes shut, attempting to regain her wits. When she opened them, her gaze was narrowed. He was big,broad, steady, and a man built to be leaned upon. A man people like his friends and family trusted. But not her. Never her. She had loved and trusted once, and when Charles died, it had nearly destroyed her.
“Speak, Alice, before you explode,” he said mildly. “My sisters hold their thoughts when I annoy them, and the suspense of their retribution is terrifying.” His words came out slurred, his lip swollen, but the arrogant grin remained.
“Your sisters have my sympathies if they must endure you as their brother.” She surged forward, trembling with fury. “How dare you! And how bloody dare you laugh at me!” Her hand itched to slap that look from his face.
“I am not laughing, I was merely—”
“You had no right!” the words exploded out of Alice, “to behave in such a—such a—high-handed manner!” She jabbed a finger in his direction. “I—I—”
“For pity’s sake, take a breath. Your face is going red.”
Alice inhaled sharply, because he was right, and she loathed him for it. She then exhaled with enough force to extinguish a hearth fire.
“In my defense, it was concern that had me doing what I did. Worry over what Jackson is capable of.” He lifted his battered hand, knuckles raw and bleeding. “I know first-hand how evil he is, and I wanted to ensure you remained unhurt if you took it into your head to find him again.”
Those words did not mollify her one bit. “I am a woman who can look after herself, damn you!”
“When the man I stationed outside your townhouse came to report to me you’d left the house alone,” Jamie continued calmly, “he said your actions appeared secretive.”
