“Robbi, where are your manners?”
“When undercover, one must alwaysbeundercover. Otherwise, a slip can cost ye yer life.”
Payne nodded with an amused look on his face. “The lady is correct.”
“The lad,” Robbi corrected.
“The lad’s hair is falling out of his cap,” Simon informed her.
Robbi scowled as she began shoving her hair back under her cap. “I should cut it off once and for all,” she grumbled.
“Don’t you dare,” Caillen warned.
“If you will have a seat, Mr. Payne,” Simon said and gestured to a nearby chair.
“Beggin’ your pardon, my lord. I’m not sure that’s proper considering my position.”
“For a man who helped save my sister’s life, and Astley’s, it is entirely appropriate,” Caillen added.
Mr. Payne took the seat across from Robbi who was once again oblivious to everything but the food on her plate.
“You are just in time, Mr. Payne. I need to go out and I would like for you to watch over Lady Bredlebane and the rest of my household. I will also be escorting Miss Blair home and then going to look for a man named Crookes in the East End.”
“No.” Caillen slowly shook her head. “That’s not the way we are going to do this.”
“I agree with Caillen. You can’t even identify Crookes, but I can.”
He scoffed. “You said the drawing looked like a pig.”
Caillen’s hand began talking before she did, waving in the air to silence them both. “That wasn’t what I meant at all. Simon needs to rest. It’s been a long day. All of this can be done tomorrow and Simon can take Mr. Payne with him.”
“Payne needs to stay here and protect you and the children.”
“I’m not a child,” Robbi interjected.
Simon’s droll look issued the appropriate set down. “Nor are you a member of this household. You are going home, young lady.”
“I’ve seen a man’s arse, that’s hardly something a child would see.” The wicked gleam in her eyes was full of defiance and issued a challenge of blackmail he didn’t like. The threat of Robbi telling Ross everything she witnessed hung in the air.
He ignored it. “Observing a poor-quality drawing hardly qualifies as giving you a better chance of identifying and locating Crookes than I.”
“I can identify the man who gave me a black eye.”
The room grew inordinately quiet. The fire in the hearth popped and sizzled as if it didn’t care for the implication of her words. He certainly didn’t. Caillen recovered first.
“Crookes is the man who set the house on fire?”
Robbi nodded. “Williamson seems to think so, and I owe Crookes for the black eye.”
“You’re not going,” Caillen, Payne, and he said at the same time. He understood Caillen’s response, but Payne’s seemed a bit high in the instep for a man in his employ. He turned to stare down the rookie spy, who ran a finger in his collar as if the more formal attire was something he was not accustomed to wearing.
“Begging your pardon, my lord. Mr. Williamson advised me to tell you I did not work for you, but rather the War Office, and if I became aware of a threat to your safety, I was to assert my authority into the situation. That being the case, I must inform you that the matter will be handled by Mr. Williamson, and not you.”
“I think you better find him a place to sleep for the night, because I just might accidentally shoot him,” Caillen ground out between clenched teeth.
“You’ll have to beat my knife,” Robbi said as she brandished a knife from under her jacket and began stalking the man.
Payne stood but didn’t brandish the pistol he was obviously wearing under his jacket. Simon stepped in front of Robbi before she attempted to gut the man. “We are on the same side. We may all have different areas of focus, but we are better off working as a team.”
