“We see if we can get our hands on the coveted piece before anyone else,” Clement said.
“And none of you have ever heard of Marshall Wilson before?” Adelaide asked again.
William rubbed a hand over his face. “Now that I think about it, I read a Marshall Wilson got himself invited to the Patriarch Ball in the society section of theTimes.”
Adelaide deposited the pepperbox into her pocket and crossed her arms over her chest. “Should I assume some of you are here because you thought I purchased that diary?”
“Youtoldus you’d bought a diary,” Jeromy said. “You didn’t remember the title of it, and we didn’t actually see it, but if I’m being honest, I was going to make a point to ask you about it tonight, see if you’d be interested in selling it.”
“Which is why you didn’t hesitate when I asked fifty dollars for it,” Adelaide said.
“’Course I didn’t. That would have been a bargain.”
“It would have been a bargain at one hundred,” William said.
“I would have gone two hundred,” Clements added.
As the book agents began debating how high they would have gone, Roland stepped in, the conversation coming to a rapid end the moment he suggested it might be more productive if they accompanied him to the police station to get official statements.
“I think Roland has that well in hand,” Gideon said, taking hold of Adelaide’s arm. “Now all that’s left to do is get Charles off to see a doctor. After that, I’ll send someone to find Lottie, and then I’ll see you home before I run Marshall Wilson down.”
A storm began brewing in Adelaide’s eyes. “If you think I’m going home while you continue with matters, you’re sadly mistaken. I’m going with you to find Marshall.”
“Absolutely not. You heard Frank. He said Marshall’s ruthless, and ruthlessness only intensifies when a man finds himself cornered.”
“Then I’ll go with whomever you’re sending after Lottie. She’ll be far more comfortable divulging her secrets to me than any of the other agents.”
“I’m not concerned with how comfortable Lottie might be.”
“Perhaps not, but you can’t simply pat me on the head, tell me what a good girl I was for shooting Frank and Bernie—which allowed us to secure some important information, I might add—and then send me home. That’s not fair, and you know it.”
Gideon raked a hand through his hair, trying to quell the fury that had been threatening to overwhelm him ever since Frank and his cohorts had rushed into the bookstore.
He’d placed Adelaide, along with Edna and everyone else for that matter, in grave danger this evening, convincing himself no one would be so bold as to ambush them during the book salon.
It was unlike him to be so careless, and he knew he’d done so because he’d been incapable of refusing Adelaide’s enthusiasm to participate in what had amounted to nothing less than a sting operation.
His decision to accommodate her longing to be involved with a genuine investigation had been sheer stupidity on his part, a direct result of his inability to resist granting her every whim, no matter how dangerous the results of those whims might be.
Why he couldn’t seem to deny her anything wasn’t exactly a mystery, because she was the most enchanting lady he’d ever known, possessed of an intellect he admired as well as courage he’d never expected to see in a lady.
She thrived under the most unusual situations, but she couldhave been killed this evening, and that was something he would never forgive himself for. He would also never, no matter how irresistible he found her, allow her to be placed in harm’s way again.
“I believe we should discuss this in private,” he said before he tugged Adelaide through the bookstore and steered her into the back storeroom.
“Why do I get the distinct feeling I’m not going to enjoy what you have to say to me?” she asked as he released her arm and moved to shut a door that was hanging on its hinges and allowing snow to blow into the room.
He turned and took a moment to simply consider her, emotions he’d never felt before threatening to overwhelm him—sadness being the worst of them, mixed with a great deal of regret.
Stepping closer to her, he took hold of her hand. “You must surely realize how very dear you’ve become to me,” he began, earning a frown from her in return.
“And?”
He drew in a breath and slowly released it. “I made a vow when I joined the service years ago to protect those more vulnerable than myself. I failed miserably with that tonight, placing you and the others in a situation where you could have very well lost your lives.”
“Being unprepared for an ambush was my fault,” Adelaide argued. “I’m the one who insisted there’d be no danger to anyone while the book salon was in session.”
He shook his head. “I’ve been involved with men who are the lowest forms of humanity imaginable ever since I joined the navy. I’ve seen the lengths they’ll go to get what they desire, and I should have, at the very least, prepared accordingly. I’m the one who made the decision to have Roland and our other operatives wait to position themselves around the store until after everyone arrived for the salon. That was an inexcusableerror on my part.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I placed you in grave danger.”
