“It’s our retirement place. Peace and clean air. I was gonna work here for a couple more years but maybe we’ll start early, especially if I’m getting slow and need to lie snug for a while. Never saw ’em coming,” he muttered feverishly.
“None of us have eyes in the back of our heads, Bluey.” Aware his informant needed rest, he stood and lowered a hand to his shoulder. “I shall leave you to your adept wife, but if you need anything, let me know. Anything at all.”
“Will do, Guv. And how’s that luscious-arsed wife of yours?”
“She’s…” He thought of Aideen’s flashing eyes, her soft body, her taunts and syrup words. “…perfect.”
Walking the eerie streets with Winterbourne was becoming a habit but he had to say it was quite pleasant to have a companion for once.
Usually, he tramped home, letting the fog curl around him, and it felt as though he was utterly alone in the world.
A prickling at his nape slowed his stride, a sense of being watched, but as he glanced around, only a stray cat slunk from the shadows, eyes glinting with disdain in a lantern’s glow.
Early on the morrow, they would investigate this Southwark warehouse, but there was nothing to be done tonight. Only a fool – or Bluey – went to those areas of town after dark asking questions.
“Nice couple,” mused Jack.
Then again, being alone did have its advantages. He merely grunted.
“Very…close.”
Rakecombe halted in the murky street, stabbing his cane on the cobbles. “Spit it out. I can hear something jangling around in that empty brainbox of yours which you can’t wait to share with me.”
“Very well. Since you asked so nicely.” Jack rocked on the heels of his hessians, the bloody tassels swinging like a doxy’s arse. “I realise you are trying to keep Aideen at a distance because of the danger, but those two make it work. You just have to try.”
“There are reasons–”
“I may be the most genial rogue in town – Lady Sutherland’s description, not mine – but I am not senseless. I know something dreadful happened to your sister, something you obviously blame yourself for as Kelmarsh mentioned it. But you cannot live life on past regrets.”
Rakecombe hated tête-à-têtes. His mother had always wanted him to talk about it too.
“I held Gwen in my arms as she died.” He couldn’t hide the hoarseness in his voice, even after twelve years. “I can’t forget it. You don’t understand. What if–”
“What if it doesn’t?” Jack interrupted. “What if you lead a full life with all its normal trials and tribulations?” He glared. “You want to be melancholic? Then what if you get mauled by a bear next Tuesday afternoon whilst promenading Grosvenor Square? What an utter waste of all the time you’ve spent married. You could have been happy but instead you were a miserable old curmudgeon.”
Rakecombe stomped on in silence for a while, the streets gradually filling with more frequent pools of yellow glow from the Mayfair gas lights.
But there was one niggling detail he could not and would not let go of.
“There are no bears in England.”
“That is where you are mistaken, my dear Rake. Happened at a fair I attended last month. The bear escaped and ate three people. I managed to save the bearded lady, but the fortune teller never saw it coming. Last time I ever venture forth to Hampshire,” he grumbled with a wink.
Chapter Twenty
There’s truth in fiction…
Socially awkward, few friends, bad-tempered and haughty.
Yes, thought Aideen as she sat in bed reading, there were more than a few striking similarities between her husband and Mr D, but unlike Miss Elizabeth, she’d had to marry the man before violent love had been proclaimed.
She plonked her well-thumbed volume on the bedside table and instead picked up the letter she had received earlier today. It was from an ecstatic Cordelia. An ecstatic Cordelia, who at the time of writing had been passing the night at an inn near NorthamptonwithLord Oakdean.
My dearest friend,
I apologise profusely for not bidding you farewell, but this past day has been somewhat of a rush as James and I have decided to marry at Gretna Green!
I have always wanted to visit Scotland, but Aunty warned me it was full of barbarians. James assures me, however, this is not the case.
