“Medicine!”
“So you say. But if it were medicine, why didn’t you stick around and tell us instead of making us search all of Cheapside for you?”
“I was afraid. She killed her husband. What was she going to do to me?”
“Or maybe you were afraid Geoffrey would find you and kill you to keep quiet for what you did for him.”
Fisher blanched and looked down. His shoulders were hunched as he shook his head. “No, no. I was afraid of her.”
“Do you know where Geoffrey is now?” Lucas asked. “Might go a long way to helping your case if you tell us where he is.”
Fisher shook his head. “He said it were medicine. That’s what he said.”
Meanwhile, Reuben smiled. “Don’t worry. I know all the steep gambling that goes on in London. He’ll show up at one of them eventually.”
Diana spoke up. “But he doesn’t have any money. Everyone knows that now.”
Reuben chuckled. “Gambling’s like a poison in his blood. He can’t stop doing it. And once he shows, I’ll have him.”
Assuming Geoffrey didn’t get some sense and bolt for the colonies. But with Fisher handed over to the constable and Reuben on the watch, there was nothing left to do but take Diana home. They had to wait for Geoffrey to make his move. Whatever he did would bring him out of the dark, and they’d get him. He was sure of it.
“Thanks, Reuben,” he said as he took Diana’s arm.
“Just pay my bill, and we’ll be square.”
Lucas chuckled. Reuben’s bill would be a long night of drink and chess. He had so few worthy opponents that he would go to a great deal of effort just to have a good evening’s entertainment. And though Lucas lost more than he won against Reuben, he was one of the very few who could win occasionally, and that made his company valuable.
“I’ll be waiting for your missive,” Lucas said. Then he escorted Diana up the stairs and out into the fetid night air. She went easily enough, but once outside, she stumbled. Or not quite a stumble as a retch. She lurched to the side and cast up her accounts into the street sewage.
He held her, of course. He held her while her body shook, and her belly heaved. And when she was done, he realized she was a great deal weaker than he thought. Her knees kept buckling, and she would have been on the ground if he didn’t hold her up.
“Diana?”
“I just need—” She heaved again. “I can’t—” Nothing was coming up, but her body kept rejecting the very air she breathed. “Lucas—” she gasped again. It was a plea for help.
Only one thing to do, one place to take her. “This way,” he said. And when she couldn’t walk, he swept her up into his arms. A few moments later, they were both inside the Lyon’s Den.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
There was nothingmore wonderful than being carried in a strong man’s arms. And nothing more embarrassing than to be weaker than a kitten in front of the man you most wanted to impress with your strength. But try as she might, Diana’s body was not under her control. So when Lucas swept her up in his arms, she buried her face in his neck.
She had ceased casting up her accounts, thank God, but her body still twisted and churned. So she set her head into the space between his shoulder and neck and immersed herself in his scent. She allowed her body to absorb his power and listened with rapt attention to the steady beat of his heart as he carried her someplace unknown.
She could have made a guess. He went inside a building that had a guard. Someone called him Titan and opened the doors for him. She heard an orchestra and the sound of men’s laughter, then she smelled cigar smoke. He carried her down a set of stairs and then another before he maneuvered her through a small door.
She spent the whole time curled against him, relishing every second, even as embarrassment dampened the pleasure. And then the door shut behind him, and all was quiet.
“Feeling better?” he asked as he gently set her down on a bed.
She didn’t want to let go, but she couldn’t hang on to him forever, much as she might want to. She let her arms relax, though she trailed her fingers reluctantly down his arms.
Thankfully, he didn’t go far, and she was able to still touch his forearms as he knelt down before her. They were eye to eye as he studied her face.
“Do you want wine? Water? Tea? What would settle you more?”
Him.Just him beside her.
“Anything,” she said—anything to clean the taste of bile from her mouth.
