Page 24

She found his gaze and held it. When she finally spoke, there was a bite to her voice. “I went to Wrengate House.”

The irritation in her tone smarted. As if she found his demand for an explanation affronting. His muscles flexed with annoyance even as Murry grunted his disbelief.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Adrian demanded.

Her chin found a stubborn angle that only made him all the more furious. “I know it was risky and—”

“Demented? Dangerous? Deceitful?” By all that was holy, he wanted to strangle her. More so when she frowned at him as though he were the madman in this scenario.

“That’s a lot of ‘D’s” she muttered.

He glared at her while trying to wade through the myriad of emotions assailing him.

Several seconds ticked by without anyone saying a word. Murry eventually cleared his throat. “Anything I can do to help?”

“A slab of meat for my knee would be nice,” Samantha told him.

“Right,” Murry replied. “I’ll go and, um…fetch that then.”

He was out the door in a flash.

Adrian crossed his arms. “Well?”

Samantha blew out a breath and sagged against the cushions. “I was only trying to help you.”

“Don’t make this about me when you are the one sneaking about behind my back.” His muscles were coiled so tightly he was almost shaking. “Not for the first time if I may remind you.”

“Adrian, I swear I—”

“Stop.” He didn’t care if he hurt her feelings by being harsh. Not when she was the one willing to risk the trust they’d been working so hard to rebuild. “All I want right now is for you to be blunt. Tell me what you hoped to accomplish and how you got hurt.”

“Fine. We’ve been wondering whether Wrengate might be the person who caused Evie’s death.

When you received that note last night and concluded it must have come from the same individual, I thought I’d retrieve a sample of Wrengate’s writing.

So we could establish once and for all if he’s the one pulling the strings. ”

Adrian stared at her. While he hated the way in which she’d handled the matter, her reasoning was sound. Still…

“You should have waited so we could devise a plan together instead of racing off, ready to save the world on your own.”

“You’re right. It was foolish of me.”

He respected her for admitting as much, but he needed to make sure she understood her position now.

“We’re married, you and I. For my part, despite the tumultuous start to our relationship, I’d like us to work as a team.

It’s my belief that will serve us both best. So you have to promise you’ll never be this reckless again.

Not only because it threatens the trust between us but because it would kill me if anything bad happened to you.

Understand? You didn’t just head to the shops without letting me know.

You ran off to face a duke whom we know ordered Wycliff killed. ”

“You’re right and I’m sorry.” She gave him a weak smile that nearly made him fall to his knees before her. “My capabilities made me arrogant. I thought it would be a quick errand.”

He sighed, allowed the tension in his body to dissipate. “From the looks of things, it wasn’t as simple as you imagined.”

“A servant spotted me after I entered the house. She alerted Wrengate to my presence.”

“You fought him?”

A quick nod confirmed what he already knew. “I managed to knee him in the groin then escape through the window. Not entirely empty handed.”

She reached inside her shirt and pulled out a fistful of crumpled paper.

“These are mostly invoices written by other people,” Adrian said while leafing through them, “but there is a list here for various items he probably meant to purchase. It may prove useful, but you still should have told me you planned on going. You should have let me help.”

“Getting in and out of his house would have been harder if you’d been with me.”

“I would have talked you out of doing it your way, Samantha.” He held her gaze with every intention of making her see reason.

“There are other means we could have applied if you’d only waited.

Murdoch has people in most of the upper-class households, if not all.

I’m sure he could have gotten a better sample of the duke’s writing if we’d asked. ”

“That would involve putting someone else at risk.”

“And you not getting hurt.” Why didn’t she understand that she might not have returned home? If Wrengate had managed to catch her…

He dared not contemplate what would have happened to her had that been the case.

“We’ve got bigger concerns than Wrengate,” she said, as though reading his mind.

He narrowed his gaze, not liking the caution with which she spoke. “What do you mean?”

“I was delayed while returning home. A couple of men ambushed me.”

A massive weight bore down on Adrian’s shoulders. He clenched his fists. “Did you fight them too?”

“No. They caught me off guard and…”

“And what?” Lord help him he wanted to shake her for putting herself at risk in this way. She was too bloody daring for her own good.

“I took a punch to the stomach.”

“What?” He stared at her in open-mouthed disbelief. “A man punched you?”

“To be fair, I did threaten him with a dagger first, but that’s not—”

“Promise me this is the last time you leave home alone.”

Her eyes widened. “Adrian, I’ve been—”

“Swear it to me.”

Annoyance tightened her features. “You know I can’t do that anymore than you would be able to. However, I’ll admit I shouldn’t have gone to Wrengate’s without telling you. I’ll also promise to be more careful with my own safety in future.”

It wasn’t nearly enough but he knew it was all he would get. She was a trained spy. A woman raised to engage in battle, not sit in a parlor and knit. It was what made her his perfect match, but damn it all, it would also be the thing that made him go grey before he reached his next birthday.

He muttered a curse and raked his hair with his fingers. A gentle knock at the door alerted him to Murry’s return. The valet entered with the meat he’d collected from the kitchen and helped Samantha place it against her knee.

“Please send for Doctor Moore at once,” Adrian told Murry. “Mrs. Croft needs to be examined.”

“That’s really not necessary,” Samantha said.

“I disagree.” Adrian sent Murry a firm look, and the valet left to see to the task. Returning his attention to his stubborn wife, he said, “Tell me about the men who attacked you.”

Maybe he could hunt them down and give them the thrashing they deserved for daring to hurt her.

“I only got a good look at one of them and the darkness obscured his features. But I could tell he was young and beautiful in a way that made my skin crawl. Honestly, if Lucifer walks among us, that man is what I’d imagine he looks like.

” She sucked in a breath and released it as she adjusted the slab of meat.

“He was also quick on his feet. Managed to block me before I was able to push my blade into his gut. That takes excellent reflexes and skill, so he’s not a simple gutter-rat who crawled out of the slums in the hope of usurping power. ”

The weight on Adrian’s shoulders bore down even harder. “What makes you think he wants power?”

“Because of the message he asked me to deliver.” She turned her head to meet his gaze more directly. ‘“Tell your husband Finn O’Leary has come to Town and he’s planning to stay.”’

Time slowed to a halt at those words. Adrian couldn’t move. Hell, he could barely breathe.

Samantha arched a brow. “Looks like it might be your turn to come clean with me. Who is Finn O’Leary exactly?”

“Um…” He drew a deep breath, cleared his throat, and flexed his fingers. “I need a drink.”

“Pour one for me as well.”

“Right.” He crossed to the sideboard and paused, his mind filling with memories. Horrible ones he’d boxed away years ago. They rose to the surface now – a humbling reminder that deeds from the past could easily come back to haunt you.

“Adrian?”

He scrubbed his jaw and blinked, forced himself to reach for the crystal decanter.

Liquid splashed into the awaiting tumblers.

A slight tremor in his right hand made it spill as he set that first glass to his lips and drank.

Brandy flowed down his throat, forging a hot path that helped calm his nerves.

He re-filled the glass, then picked both up and offered one to Samantha.

She frowned at him. “I don’t like that look in your eyes. Considering some of the things you’ve witnessed – what I know you have done – it troubles me greatly to see you unravel in response to O’Leary’s name.”

Adrian sank to a crouch before her and placed one hand over the slab of meat she was holding. “Is this helping?”

“Don’t change the subject.”

He sighed. “I don’t even want to know how that man managed to find you in some dark lane as you ran from Wrengate.

” That it had been so damn easy for O’Leary to confront her was what terrified Adrian most. It made him feel unsafe for the first time since he was a child, when he’d feared his father’s mistreatment of his mother.

“He may have been watching our house and seen me leave, though tracking me would have been hard since I kept to the rooftops. He and his colleague would have had to be swift on their feet.”

“And capable of avoiding your detection.”

“That might not have been much of a challenge. My focus was on getting to Wrengate House, not on the possibility someone might follow me there or wait for me to re-emerge.”

“He may have had information that helped him put two and two together when your paths crossed by chance. If he’s done his research, he’ll know I married a woman who’s capable of holding her own against other men at Reed’s.

He’ll be aware of the part you played in helping me escape from the prison transport and later clearing my name. ”

“But you’re guessing?”

Adrian took a sip of his drink and set his glass on the floor beside him. “Truth is I don’t know Finn O’Leary. Never met him before in my life.”

“But—”

“Michael O’Leary, however, was a very important business associate of my father’s some…

twenty years ago. A powerful Irishman who built his own empire from the ground up.

” Unlike the Crofts for whom it had taken generations of hard work and increasingly underhanded deals.

Michael O’Leary, by contrast, had gone straight into smuggling and counterfeiting as soon as the chance to do so availed itself.

“So then Finn O’Leary would be his son?”

“I expect so though I’d need to have it confirmed.”

“You think his father sent him to take control now that your father’s dead?”

“No.” Adrian swallowed. He wanted to look away from Samantha but forced himself to hold her gaze.

To face the full impact of his father’s actions head on.

“I think Finn believes my recent arrest to be a sign of weakness. I believe it’s his intention to use that against me as a means by which to exact his revenge. ”

“For what?” Incomprehension filled her eyes.

“For the death of his father.”