His eyes narrowed. “Why areyouhere?”
Impossible man!“I am gathering evidence.”
“That is for the detectives to do.”
“Well,youdid it,” she pointed out. “And you got it all wrong.” With a huff, she crossed her arms and took her seat again on the sofa.
“You will come away with me at once,” he ordered.
“I will not. I will scream if you try to make me leave.”
He shook his head wryly. “Miss Moore, what would happen if her ladyship screams?”
The young woman, looking chargrined, said, “Nothing much, I’m afraid. Perhaps some blokes will come from downstairs to see if you’ve been assaulted with hopes you’ve been knocked unconscious so they can rob you.”
Adelia shivered and stood up again.
“Where is your maid and your footman?” Owen demanded. “I understood you had both with you.”
Mr. Lockley had been none too pleased about her expedition, and plainly, he had been speaking out of turn.
“I brought Penny so she could visit with her sister, who works at a tavern down the street. I will pick her up again on my way home. And my footman, Ned, is with his father. I dropped him on Butcher Row as we passed through.”
Owen threw his hands up at her words. “Your driver has to defend your carriage and you? By himself?”
“I am fine,” she reiterated.
“And you shall stay fine by coming with me at once.”
“I shall not. Miss Moore and I are discussing personal issues.”
He banged on the doorframe. “You will come.”
“Or what?” she demanded.
“Or I shall toss you over my shoulder and carry you,” he threatened, and she could see by the look on his handsome face, now contorted with frustration, that he meant it.
She looked to Miss Moore.
“Please, is it possible for you to recall if my brother was with you on a Friday evening, the last one in June?”
Owen swore rudely. “Ridiculous! Naturally, she will say he was with her. Besides, how is she to recall a particular night?” His tone was insulting, and Miss Moore bristled.
“I’m not a simpleton, Lord Burnley. Many of us live here because we cannot get out. The high cost of the nicer parts of the city keeps us, even those of us who work hard, stuck in the back slum of London. For all that, we live the best lives we can, and we are not all dishonest.”
He had the grace to look chagrined.
“We saw each other most Fridays, to be sure, since I go to work later on a Saturday, unless he was escorting you to a ball or dinner party,” Miss Moore confirmed.
“Enough of this gossip-water!” Owen ground out. “It signifies nothing.”
“What about the night of—” Adelia broke off to glance at Owen “—of Lady Sophia’s death?”
“Her murder,” he ground out, jaw clenched.
Miss Moore glanced at Owen, then back at Adelia. “Sadly, his lordship is correct. Off the top of my head, I cannot say for certain as to that particular night.”
Adelia felt deflated.
