“I was a fool. A complete and total arse to leave you. I should have explained and told you where I was going and why.”
“Yes, you should have.” Mention of that morning brought the previous night to mind. It was the last time she’d felt truly happy. “I miss the cottage,” she said as she tucked her head against his chest.
He laughed at that and the sound rumbling in her ears made her smile.
“I had rather hoped you missedme.”
Lucy pushed at his chest. “Of course, I did. I thought you’d gone off and put yourself in danger out of some sense of guilt or masculine pride.”
He released her enough to tip his head, though she could barely see him in the darkness.
“This from a woman whoisputting herself in danger right now?”
“I was just going to have a conversation with Mr. Beck.”
“With a knife.”
“I have a gun too.”
“Good god, Lucy.”
“Mrs. Winterbottom says—”
“I adore you, Lucy Westmont, but I’m afraid I don’t give a damn what Mrs. Coldarse says.”
Lucy answered by pushing up onto her toes and taking his mouth, and he responded hungrily, one hand at her nape, his fingers stroking up into her hair, the other at her back, pulling her tight against his heat.
A door opened further down the alley, and music and several raucous gentlemen stumbled into the darkened lane.
“We should go,” James whispered against her lips, then reached down to clasp her hand.
He led her back toward the street and stepped to the curb to hail a hansom cab.
Lucy couldn’t resist taking a few steps so she could glimpse the front facade of the Helix Club.
“Goodness, it looks quite elegant. Even respectable.”
James approached until she could feel him at her back. “Beck has many respectable and successful businesses. That’s the facade that makes men trust him. But this place is the epitome of Beck. A popular and lavish club on the street side, and illegal activities downstairs with an entrance in the alleyway.”
“What sort of illegal activities?”
The horse attached to the hansom he’d hailed clomped its feet, as if eager to depart.
“Let’s have this conversation another time and get you home?” James lowered his hand to hers, and Lucy let him lead her to the carriage.
Once he’d helped her up and Lucy settled against the cab’s seat, James closed the door and smiled up at her.
“Wait, I thought you were departing with me.”
“There’s still something I need to do. I’ll be fine, but you’re sure you’ll be able to get back inside?”
Lucy wanted to argue but there was a determination in his tone that made her doubt he could be swayed.
“I came out through the back garden and will get back in that way. I just have to hope my parents are still in bed. And that Charlie didn’t panic and wake them.”
“I don’t think he would have. I assured him I had no plans to whisk you off to Gretna Green. Before I could even get to the front door, he approached down the lane on foot and accused me of lurking. He was a bit far in his cups.”
Lucy closed her eyes and breathed in sharply. “I knew he was a dreadful coconspirator.”
