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“Christ,” said the nearest Runner, stepping over the threshold.

Adam straightened, shaking out his hand. The knuckles had split cleanly along the third and fourth, a thin stripe of red across each, but it was a small price to pay. If anything, he wanted to break the man’s skull until he would need over a hundred stitches. But it was futile to waste his precious time on the man.

So, Adam turned from Penhurst without another look.

Juliet was on one knee on the floor, her palm flat on the overturned table’s base, breathing heavily through her nose. The candlestick she had used against Penhurst’s forearm was three feet away, still rolling in a slow arc where it had fallen.

Adam went down in front of her, putting both hands on her face and turning it toward the lamplight slowly. The mark on her cheekbone, the redness of her eyes, all of it sparked that fury, but he beat it back. Now was not the moment to rage.

Looking into her eyes, he asked, “Are you hurt?”

She breathed hard, her eyes searching his face. “No.” She looked down at his knuckles, and her expression melted into one of concern. “But…you are.”

“It doesn’t matter.” He did not remove his hands from her face.

He watched her looking at him, her eyes traveling down the bridge of his nose, his lips, and to the split knuckles he had already dismissed.

She leaned in. Her forehead rested against his, and his hands moved from her face to her back, as he held her. Her shoulders were shaking, but she did not cry. She pressed her face into the front of his coat and held on while his arms locked around her.

She stayed there until the shaking passed and she could hear her own heartbeat again at its usual speed.

Behind them, the Runners got Penhurst upright and into irons.

“Get him out,” Adam said, into her hair.

“Right away, Your Grace.” The sound of Penhurst being walked through the doorway, his breathing wet and labored, the Runners’ boots on the stairs; all of it soon grew ever more distant. A last sound from the street below: a door, the clatter of irons, and then the room was quiet.

Juliet raised her head then, but Adam couldn’t bring himself to release her just yet. The terror of seeing that knife at her throat continued to pulse through him.

“You got the note,” she said, her voice tremulous.

Adam nodded, his arms spasming around her body. “Yes. I got the note.” His voice was rough as he answered. “Why…Why would you go alone, Juliet? What if I hadn’t come back in time? What if I’d come here to find you de⁠—”

Adam cut himself off, unable to finish the sentence, unwilling to let himself think about it at all.

“Adam…what about Eloise?” she answered, her fingers tightening around his arm. “Did…did she make it home?”

He nodded, his throat bobbing as he swallowed. “Yes, she did. She is at home with Honeysett, who is watching over her for me.” Juliet visibly relaxed, letting out a sigh of relief as her grip loosened.

“Then, let us go home. Please,” she said.

Adam was not going to be told twice. They left the house without looking back.

Ravenlocke House was lit from the entrance hall to the top landing by the time their carriage reached Grosvenor Square. Juliet saw the candles through the front windows before the wheels had stopped and felt the last coiled thing in her chest give way.

“Mama!”

Eloise was at the drawing room door before they were properly through it. She had her rabbit under one arm, her nightgown on, and her hair entirely loose, and she ran at Juliet with both arms wide.

Heart full at the sight of her, Juliet leaned down to catch her. She held the child against her with both arms and pressed her face into the crown of her head, and Eloise held on at her neck with a tight grip.

Honeysett was at the decanter across the room, and when Adam came through the door, he lifted one glass in his direction and set a second on the tray.

An hour later, Ravenlocke House had settled into the quiet of a very late night, Honeysett long since departing for his own residence. They could catch up when the dawn broke.

Juliet walked Eloise up the stairs, one hand light at the girl’s back, while Adam came behind. Eloise climbed without her usual running commentary, holding her rabbit close to her chest as she went. But then, at the door to her room, she stopped.

“Mama.” She turned to look up at Juliet. “You’re all right.”