As the carriage rattled over cobblestones, anxiety and the cool breeze of the autumn night made her shiver. She patted one pocket of her dress and felt the reassuring outline of the petite pistol there, then she breathed deep and felt the slim cylinder of the switchblade shifting beneath her corset. The folded document in her reticule gave her a measure of peace too.
She was as prepared as she could be.
Fatigue threatened as the steady rumble of the carriage eased away her worry, and she found a moment of comfort in settling her tired body against the cushioned bench.
She thought of James and clenched her fist in frustration. A part of her was still angry at him for leaving her alone in that cottage. But she alsocouldn’t deny that she missed him after only a few hours apart.
Maddening man. She understood his fear a little better after talking to Aunt Cassandra, and she certainly appreciated that trust was hard for him after the business with Beck. But she’d hoped he’d overcome it, or at least try to, for her sake.
She didn’t relish facing Beck alone, but she couldn’t sit idly by and do nothing. And if all went well tonight, they’d be free. James would be free, and maybe then he could consider her proposal with an open heart.
When doubts came, she pushed them aside. Stubbornly hopeful. Wasn’t that what he’d once called her?
When the carriage stopped, Lucy tried to get her bearings, but this wasn’t a part of the city she’d ever visited.
“You’re sure ’bout this, miss?”
“This is the Helix Club?”
Shadowed by the gaslight, Lucy could only make out the driver’s nod, not whatever expression he wore. “Watch yourself, miss.”
He rolled off into the fog, and Lucy pulled back the hood of her cloak to look around. The man had deposited her at the mouth of an alley, but the club must have a front entrance onto the street. Didn’t it?
Maybe the driver knew something she didn’t, or perhaps her drab dress had worked as she’d hoped and he assumed she was a staff member at the club.
The problem with the alley was that it was weakly lit by a lantern hung on a building here and there, whereas gaslight lit up the streets in patches of reassuring light.
Unbuttoning one button on the front of her gown, Lucy pulled out the knife, tucking it into her palm. If she was going to wander down the abyss of a shadowy alley, she wanted to be prepared for anything.
One step and she heard laughter echoing off the bricks a bit further down. She could make out movement. A couple, it appeared, standing close, perhaps doing more than standing, in the shadows.
Their presence somehow reassured her.
But a few steps further into the alley and she heard movement at her back. Footsteps, heavier than hers, and coming toward her in a hurried stomp.
Lucy flipped the lever on the knife, spun, and held the blade out in front of her. “Don’t come any closer.”
The hulking figure skidded to a stop and raised his arms toward the sky.
“Sweetheart, please don’t gut me before I’ve had the chance to tell you what an arse I’ve been.”
Lucy exhaled with such relief she dropped the knife. “James?”
“I’ve missed you,” he said roughly, then stepped forward and took her into his arms. “I’m sorry I left without explanation.”
Not until she touched him, their bodies pressedclose, his breath in her hair, did she feel as if she could breathe again. She hadn’t realized how anxious she’d been, how every muscle in her body felt tight, until she melted against the warmth of his body and knew he was safe and solid in her arms.
“Wait,” she said, pulling away from him. “How did you find me?”
But she knew the answer even before he spoke her brother’s name.
“It’s a good thing he spotted me. I’m not sure your father would ever forgive me for banging down their door at midnight.” He slid a strand of hair behind her ear. “I would have come earlier, but I had to take the slow train.”
“I’m sorry. That longer journey must have been miserable for you.”
He pulled her tighter and she glimpsed the shadow of a smile. “I had good incentive.”
“You’ve come all this way for me, but you left me alone in a cottage with a vague note and nothing more.” The anger had mostly subsided, but it still hurt.
