Gen’s eyes narrowed. “You are trying to distract me. What happened to your head?”
Damn it. He should have known better than to think he could keep what had happened to him from her. Gen was stubborn and determined in a way few others were. If she did not have her answer from him, she would interrogate every person in her employ until she discovered what had occurred. Her persistence did not bode well for keeping his secret.
“There was an incident,” he began.
Her eyebrows rose. “Bloody hell, Demon. Not another incident. What was it, when did it happen, and why has no one told me?”
“Yesterday. The wine merchant, Hugo, was attacked in the alley.” He paused, considering how he might best relay the information without causing his sister to worry too much. In her delicate condition, she needed to be calm. “I had the misfortune to interrupt the bastard, and he clubbed me over the head for my efforts. And no one told you because I am taking care of the matter. You needn’t worry over it, especially now that I know you’re having a babe.”
She was, predictably, furious at his response. “You cannot decide what I am told, damn your hide. This is my bloody hell, unless you have forgotten.”
“Of course I haven’t forgotten, but neither have I forgotten that we need to keep your identity a secret. You cannot go sticking your nose in this one, Gen. You’re married to Sundenbury now. I know what you’re thinking, and I wasn’t keeping this from you because you are my younger sister. The entire affair was a mistake, and the further you are from anything dangerous, the better.”
Everything he had just said was the truth. But he also should have known better.
Gen tensed, her shoulders drawing back as if she were facing whoever had been responsible for the attack instead of standing in the safety of her office. “That’s utter shite and you know it. What are we going to do about this? It cannot go unanswered. We will hunt down the villain who did this and see him arrested.”
He could not help but to note that his sister sounded, for all her outrage, quite ladylike in her response, aside from her oath. She had changed much these past few months, and when she became a mother, she would further change, he had no doubt.
Good thing he was not settling down himself. He never wanted to change. Or at least, he had not believed he wanted to. Where the hell were these strange new feelings of longing emerging from?
He tamped them down.
“I’ve already spoken with Dom and the charleys,” he reassured her. “We will find whoever did it. A doctor stitched my head up, and I have lived to see another day. For now, all we can do is wait. And find another wine merchant.”
Gen studied him, her countenance grim. “It could have been worse, Demon. You could have been killed yourself.”
The reminder sent a shiver down his spine, but he ignored it. “I wasn’t. I’m here to run your hell. All is well.”
“I don’t like it. If something happens when I am not here, send word to me. Come to me first, not Dom. I’ll see that we increase our guards in the mews and alley. This cannot happen again, not just because you are my brother and I love you, but because if word of such an attack were to reach the ladies who attend, they would cease coming here.”
He clenched his jaw. “No one knows.”
With the exception ofnumber one hundred four.
Christ.He had all but forgotten that Mira was a club patron. Over the time they had spent together, she had become so much more. Too much more. Far more than he should have allowed.
“What is it you need to tell me, Demon?” Gen demanded, having long ago been blessed with the ability to read her brothers’ guilty faces.
“There is one member who is aware of what happened,” he allowed reluctantly, preparing himself for his sister’s fury.
Instead, she cocked her head, studying him. “Damn it, Demon. Have you been making the beast with two backs with one of our ladies?”
His cheeks went hot, his cravat instantly too tight. He slid a finger into the knot in an effort to loosen it. “Where did you learn such coarse language?”
“From you, arsehole.”
Right. So she had. Even his ears were aflame. He had no defense. None. So he decided to deflect the blame.
“Hardly the speech of a future duchess, sister.”
“I ain’t a duchess yet, brother.” Her chin went up. “You know the rule, Demon. You had but one.”
Fuck.She was not wrong.
“She is…” He struggled to describe Mira to Gen, to make her understand why he had been driven to sever his one and only rule at Lady Fortune.No bedding the ladies.“Mira is not like the others. She is kindhearted and beautiful and all that is good and sweet. She is a widow with three children, and she tells them a story every day before they go to bed. She tended to me last night when I was injured. Spent the night here at great peril to her own reputation. She is trustworthy and loyal. This I know because of the mother she is. Because of how thoroughly she has trusted me, when she likely should not…”
Demon allowed his words to trail away as he belatedly took note of the expression on Gen’s face.
