Page 9 of Lady Isla and the Lord of Rogue (Merry Spinsters, Charming Rogues #6)

The man’s eyes shifted to Teddy. He hesitated, then mumbled something.

Isla shook her head. “I don’t understand a word.”

“I said, it’s the sign of our leader.”

Isla’s pulse started to increase. “Leader? Who?”

The man mumbled something she couldn’t grasp.

“Answer,” Teddy said quietly.

The man cast him a fearful look. “Lucian Night.”

Isla exhaled slowly. She’d known, of course. This was a confirmation that she was on the right track. But she needed to go one step further. “Is this where he can be found?” she pressed. “Does he live here?”

But the man slammed the door right into their faces.

Isla made an annoyed exclamation.

“Strange man,” Teddy commented, taking her arm to lead her back to the carriage. “Not exactly of the communicative sort. That’s as far as your curiosity will be satisfied.”

Isla frowned. She hadn’t really learned anything that she hadn’t known before. And she hadn’t come a step closer to Lucian Night. “How vexatious,” she mumbled.

Teddy cast her a sideways look. “He wasn’t a very savoury character at all. And if he is in league with Lucian Night, then it is best we leave these premises as fast as possible before he sends some thugs after us.” He cast a nervous look over his shoulder.

Isla sighed. “Yes. I suppose you are right.”

“I learned quite a bit about my bride to be this afternoon,” he conversed cheerfully. “I daresay, some of it is most surprising.”

Isla repressed a sigh. “Is it?”

“Yes. You have the most peculiar interests, I must say. Taking walks in the most disreputable areas of London, for one. Is it a habit? It is rather uncommon, wouldn’t you say?

Unless there is a reason, of course.” He stopped as if an idea had occurred to him.

“Pray, are you on a quest of some sort?”

Isla stumbled over her boots. “Err. No. Why would you think that?”

He shrugged. “It just occurred to me, that is all.”

“It is merely curiosity, like I said.” She chewed on her lower lip before continuing. “I enjoy exploring the less fashionable parts of London, you know. What else is it that you discovered about me?” she asked, to detract his attention from the subject they were discussing.

“You speak the language of the Rom.” He gave her an appraising look. “How extraordinary.”

Isla’s knuckles tightened over the handle of her umbrella. “Yes. Well.” She thought hard before she managed to come up with an answer. It couldn’t be helped. She had to tell him the truth. “I suppose you ought to know. As a young child, I lived with the Rom for about two years.”

Teddy stopped in his tracks. “Did you, now? You mean, you lived with the Gypsies and travelled with them all over the country?”

“Yes.” She frowned. “I owe them my life. They found me amongst the wrecks of a carriage accident. My nurse was dead, and I was barely alive. I was five years old. If they hadn’t found me and nursed me back to health when they did, I would have died as well.

They were my family. I stayed with them until Algie and my mother found me at the orphanage.

” She’d left out many details, but Isla thought that that was as much as Teddy needed to know for now.

Teddy’s eyes were warm and sympathetic. “As I said, how extraordinary.”

“I thought Algie might have told you.”

“He did not.”

“Well, now you know. Also, that Algie and I are not related by blood. My mother took me in because she wanted to have another child. But she was not my biological mother. My true father was the former Marquess of Ellhall. He died in the Flanders campaign.”

“And your mother? Lady Ellhall, I mean.”

Isla’s eyes drifted into the distance. “She died at my birth. The current marquess who inherited not only the title but the land and the house where I was born does not acknowledge my existence.” She shrugged.

“It honestly doesn’t matter to me, as I don’t consider him to be my family.

The woman I consider to be my true mother is Lady Wynthorpe.

I loved her dearly until she passed away three years ago.

” A look of sadness flickered over her face.

Then she cast him a self-conscious look.

“Will you…that is, knowing all this now, do you still want to marry me? My background is rather dubious.”

He blinked. “Naturally. I don’t see what one thing has to do with the other. I don’t care a fig’s worth for what society thinks and whether you and Wynthorpe really share the same blood, or not. It is immaterial.”

A feeling of warmth flooded through her.

“He is my family. The only one I have,” Isla said simply.

Teddy nodded. “And I am your future family.”

Again, that feeling, this time more sizzling. What on earth was that?

“Thank you for sharing your story with me, Isla.”

They reached the carriage, and he helped her inside.

“It has been a most interesting afternoon,” Teddy said conversationally.

“I must return to buy some of those pocket watches. Some seemed to be very rare. I wonder whether that pawn shop is owned by that man as well. Lucian Night.” He grimaced.

“Wouldn’t want to cross his path. Though I wouldn’t be worried about crossing his path there,” he added as if an afterthought.

Isla’s attention perked up. “What do you mean?”

“All and sundry know Night owns a disreputable gaming hell in Covent Garden.” Teddy shrugged.

Isla shot up in her seat. “Do you know the name of the gaming hell?”

“The Club of the 101, most likely,” Teddy said easily, pushing his spectacles up his nose.

“It goes by another name, too: The Scarlet Wolf. It’s not a secret at all that the owner of that club is Lucian Night.

After they get tired of White’s, the men usually flock to the Wolf, where the real stakes are wagered. ”

Isla gaped at him. “Truly?”

He squinted at her through his spectacles, but because the sun reflected in his glasses, she couldn’t make out the expression in his eyes. “Is this why we came here? To find Lucian Night? I could’ve told you if you’d asked me.”

Her eyes shot up to meet his. She had to be careful.

Teddy wasn’t at all the empty-headed nitwit he gave the impression of being.

He would need some explanation as to why she brought him here.

She decided on a half-truth. “I saw the sign on one of Algie’s documents.

Then, again, elsewhere.” She could hardly tell him it had been tattooed on a man’s arm, a man she’d stabbed, and who’d been lying on her bed, to boot, could she?

“When I saw the emblem on the door, I felt the urge to investigate.” She gave him a mischievous look.

“I am my brother’s sister, after all. Call it a family trait. ”

Teddy nodded, as if it was a perfectly valid explanation, and Isla heaved a sigh of relief.

“Though I find it quite perplexing if Night is known to be in Covent Garden, why Algie is having such trouble arresting him.” That did truly puzzle her.

“I don’t suppose men like Night are as easily found as that. He probably has a hundred disguises.”

Isla looked at him with large eyes. “Does he?”

“But enough about that unsavoury character. You spare no effort in your endeavours, do you?”

She gave a small shrug. “When I commit myself to a cause, I do so with great zeal.”

“It is one thing I admire so much about you, Isla.” His smile was warm. “And now I know your nickname, too. You said nicknames were supposed to be affectionate but a little silly. Therefore, I shall call you Lala.” He looked very pleased with himself.

Isla burst into laughter. “Lala. Very well. Teddy and Lala. What a curious couple we shall make.”

He grinned. Then he sobered.

“What?”

“I was just thinking…since we are engaged now...” He looked at her bashfully.

She returned his regard with amusement. “Yes?”

“Whether it might be all right for me to hold your hand.” There was a blush creeping up his cheeks. “Only if you want.”

Isla suppressed a smile and gave him her hand.

He took it reverently.

Then, ever so slowly, he began to ease the glove from her hand, tugging gently at each finger in turn. By the time he finally slipped it free, warmth had unfurled through her, her breath had quickened, and her pulse had begun a most unsteady rhythm.

It was really quite vexatious.

His warm hand closed over hers, and for one breathless moment, she could think of nothing at all—nothing but the way his skin felt, soft and warm and impossibly smooth, as he gripped her hand.

“Do tell me, Lala, what shall we do next?”

She cleared her throat, still vexed with herself .

“Let us go to Gunter’s for ices,” she eventually said. It would be good to get something cool in her body, she decided.

And then, in the middle of spooning the most delicious orgeat and Parmesan ices, Isla asked, as it suddenly occurred to her, “Do you enjoy gambling?”

He shrugged. “Not particularly.”

“Why?”

“Because I always win.”

Her spoon paused half-way to her mouth before she lowered it again. “You always win?” she echoed.

“Certainly.” He arranged his spectacles on his nose. “I was thrown out of a club once because of that.”

“No. Tell me more.”

He wrinkled his forehead. “It was a ridiculous situation. I kept winning, which they didn’t like.

They don’t know it’s quite easy to win. They assumed I was cheating, but it’s just mathematics.

If one counts the cards and calculates probabilities, it’s quite simple to determine when to place a wager and when to hold back. ”

“Oh. They can’t have been too pleased about that, I suppose.”

He grinned at her. “I happen to be good at numbers.”

Isla played with her spoon. “I’ve never been to a real gaming hell, you know. Wouldn’t be the thing for the sister of Lord Wynthorpe.”

He nodded sympathetically. “It’s a shame, really, for gaming hells can be quite amusing, though they are not at all the thing for ladies.”

She leaned forward, a gleam in her eyes. “Take me to one? ”

Teddy’s jaw dropped. “To a gaming hell?”

“Yes. To the Club of the 101.”

Teddy’s spectacles slid off his nose as he forgot to push them back up. “Certainly not. It is only for gentlemen.”

She tilted her head aside with an impish grin spread over her face. “Then I shall have to dress up as one, shall I not?”