Daffin tested the window frame to ensure it wouldn’t give. The hammer still in his hand, he turned to face her. “What about you and Dryden?”
“I suppose that’s a possibility.” She sighed and glanced away, rubbing her arms again. “I’d rather not think about it.”
“Why haven’t you married before now?” he asked.
She took a deep breath, folding her arms across her breasts. “I never found anyone I cared for enough to marry. Much to Grandmama’s chagrin. My parents were happy together. I was hoping for a match like theirs.”
He turned the hammer over in his hands. “And no love match ever came along?”
She tilted her head to the side, a wistful smile touched her lips. “No love match ever came along.” She shook herself and rubbed her arms again. “Nicole still holds out hope for me, however. It’s one of the reasons she wants to remain in town.”
Daffin cocked his head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“Uncle Edward told me I may have until Christmas to find a husband of my own choosing.”
Daffin whistled. “Is that so?”
She still looked melancholy. “Nicole and I plan to go to a Christmas ball at the Hillards’ tomorrow night.”
Daffin lifted his brows. “Husband hunting?”
She swiped a lock of hair from her forehead. “I suppose you can call it that, though I don’t hold out much hope. I’ve had over a decade to find a love match. I doubt I’ll find one in a sennight’s time.”
“I wish you luck, my lady. Rest assured, I’ll accompany you to protect you, so you may go about the business of finding a husband without a care.” Why did the thought of her dancing with some blue blood at a ball make his stomach clench?
Regina shook herself and moved toward the door. “That reminds me. I actually came in to ask you something about the investigation. Is there some way to discover whether this madman is targeting me or Nicole? Without putting Nicole in danger.”
Daffin put his fists on his hips. “Puttingyouin danger, instead?”
Regina put her hands on her hips, too. “I’m not worried about myself.”
“That’s brave of you.” Daffin rubbed his chin. “Actually,I’ve been thinking about something. Both times you were targeted, you were in your uncle’s coach. Is that correct?”
“Yes.” Regina nodded. “Do you think it’s a coincidence?”
Daffin slowly shook his head. “In my line of work, I don’t believe in coincidences. I thinkyoumay well be the target.”
Regina met his gaze. “Very well, then. I want to offer myself as bait.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Regina walked slowly up the stairs toward Nicole’s bedchamber. Her cousin wanted her to flirt with Daffin. She didn’t want Regina to give up on her original goal of coaxing him into bed. But Regina didn’t feel right about it any longer. Daffin wasn’t just handsome. He was a good man. He was a noble man. The kind of man who wanted to protect his friends. The kind of man who would go after a criminal who’d hurt a child. She’d treated him like an object. She’d called him a Greek god. But he was a person. A human being with thoughts and feelings… and a past. A past she suspected was a difficult one.
He was easy to talk to, she’d discovered. She’d told him what she hadn’t told anyone else, that she’d held out hope for a love match. She supposed the idea of a love match had always been silly. If a love match hadn’t happened for her by the ripe age of thirty, did it stand a chance of happening now?But Daffin didn’t seem to judge her, the way people in her own social sphere did.
Had his parents been a love match? He didn’t seem inclined to talk about them and his father had been hideous according to Daffin. How so? And how had his mother died? Regina felt it had cost him to say as much as he had. In the dining room just now, she felt as if she and Daffin had shared a connection, however fleeting. He hadn’t wanted to talk about his past, but she’d got the impression he wanted to tell someone about it. Perhaps they were a burden, the things he found painful. She wouldn’t tell Nicole. She didn’t want to betray the confidence Daffin had placed in her.
She knocked on Nicole’s door.
“Come in,” came her cousin’s bright voice.
Nicole was sitting at her writing desk, daydreaming. She tossed down her quill and turned to Regina. “What did Daffin say about how to discover which one of us is being targeted?”
Regina walked slowly toward her, rubbing her arms. “He said he didn’t think it was a coincidence that both attacks were on Uncle Edward’s coach.”
“Hmm. What does he make of it?” Nicole asked, blinking.
“He thinks it’s likely I am the target.”
