“Determined to put yourself in danger.”
“Determined to help you get out of it.”
James took a step toward her, willing the gun-toting man at his back to let him go. He glanced behind him and found the man looked nearly as shocked as he felt at the turn of events.
“Let her speak,” Beck announced from his dais, then gestured for Lucy to step forward.
James calculated how quickly he could grab the woman he loved and get them both safely out of Beck’s damnable club.
“He can pay you within the next few days, Mr. Beck.”
“Tell us all who you are, girl.”
Lucy glanced around and cleared her throat. “I’m the Earl of Hallston’s daughter.”
“I already knew that, love, but I do appreciate your honesty.”
“That’s ironic,” Lucy murmured under her breath, but loudly enough for James to hear and, he suspected, others nearby.
“What was that, little lady?” Beck cast his cigar aside and leaned toward her. “You dare give me cheek in my own establishment?”
“You’re a liar, Mr. Beck.”
James lurched toward her and clasped Lucy’s arm. “We should go. Now.”
She refused to budge or to stop staring coolly at the man who’d played a role in James’s ruin.
“You think you know me, girl. But I know you too.” The con man’s handlebar mustache twitched with his smirk. “Took some digging to find the name of the chit my friend Pembroke was walking out with in Edinburgh. To discover it was a lady with a fortune for a dowry? Clever man, James.”
“Actually, he refused to marry me,” Lucy told him in a strained voice.
James bit back a curse. A curse at himself for hurting her.
“Unlike you, sir, he is a man of honor.”
Beck stood, and James clasped Lucy’s wrist to pull her behind him.
“Clear the room,” Beck said with an eerily quiet tone. So quiet that most ignored the command. “Clearthebloody room.” This time, his shout echoed off the low ceiling, and it had the desired effect.
People began shuffling out. Most to a door that led up to the alley exit, James suspected. A few to the other half of the club upstairs. Even the ladies at Beck’s side and the flame-haired contortionist departed.
Only the thug who’d ushered James into the room remained. That seemed all right with Beck.
“I take it you’re paying his debt for him,” he said in a conversational tone to Lucy.
“No,” James cut in. “She is not.”
Lucy tuned an irritated glance his way. “We plan to marry.”
“Thought you said he wouldn’t have you,” Beck challenged.
“He changed his mind.”
James wanted to quibble with her but knew it wasn’t the time. There was never a moment when he hadn’t wanted Lucy to be his.
“Felicitations,” Beck bellowed with the wave of his ring-covered hand.
James fought the urge to roll his eyes. “We’re leaving. You’ll have your money.” He shot Lucy a look. “I cannot vow it will be within a week, but the funds are coming. I’ll wire four thousand pounds to you tomorrow.”
