Page 61 of The Lady is Trouble

“So, I ran. A young boy, a titled fool. My pockets crammed with enough objects to pawn and keep me afloat for a time. A baron as a courtesy, the viscountcy sitting in the wings, I chose to wait my father out. Away from the reach of his fists. He looked for me as I was not only his heir but, most unfortunately, his only child. Except, rookeries are rather fine places in which to disappear, grimy alleys and gutters hiding many rats. I was just a well-educated one. When Shelley wrote,hell is a city much like London, damned if he didn’t know what he was about.”

For a moment, the faint rumble of the festival and their shallow breaths were the only sounds. “I tortured him as best I could, letting him know through his solicitor that I was indeed alive—and would return when he was in his grave.”

“And the earl?” She’d never been entirely sure how her grandfather found Julian, only that he had.

Again, he placed a kiss to her fingertips, silent.

She tried to shy away from reading his aura or allowing herself to absorb his chaotic emotions and secondarily soothe. She wanted to comfort without her gift involved, so he understood anormalexchange between them was possible.

“As much as I tried to keep it quiet, there were, I don’t know”—he shook his head, a frown denting his cheek—“episodes. One in a public house when I was fourteen. Another on the street later that year. Humphrey was there for both, thank God, and I wasn’t using my real name, of course, but I gained a reputation for having thetouch. People sidestepped me in the street like I held magic in my hands. The earl had established deep connections in the very communities where we sought to hide. Participants for his research complied more readily when circumstances were desperate.” His eyes met hers, silver and amber sparking in the moonlight. Her heart gained speed as his emotions flowed in, against her will, drawn in by her vulnerability. “Look how long it took Ashcroft, a man with means, to come out of the woodwork. Until he had nowhere else to turn. Needier ones suffer even more and fail faster.”

“But…the earl said, you weren’t desperate.” She wondered how long she could continue this conversation before she began healing. His open heart had, in turn, opened hers, weakening her resolve.

He blinked, his words coming out as if sliced from his mind with a razor. “Oh, but I was. Not for myself. It was clear Finn wouldn’t survive the rookery. He couldn’t control his readings, the dreams. Couldn’t control much of anything. And I wasn’t much better. Humphrey was doing his best to keep us out of trouble…but it was a disaster. Going back to my family was out of the question, so I accepted the earl’s offer when he made it.” Julian shrugged a broad shoulder, a brush against the blanket. “I agreed to every request, giving your grandfather pages and pages of detail for his chronology, assisting with research, anything, as long as Finn was safe. My father conveniently passed a year or so into my time with the earl, allowing me to step back into this world, even if I didn’t truly want to.”

Her blood rushed through her veins at a dizzying speed. Sharing his life in this way was the most treacherous act of seduction when he did not aim to seduce.

Revealing his heart, his mind, his soul.

Pieces of himself he would leave her with.

Allhe would leave her with.

As if he sensed her distress, he grasped her chin and pulled her lips to his. The kiss bled into chaos in seconds. Her arms flowed over his broad shoulders and into his hair, where she tilted his head and dove deeper. Their bodies locked into place until she couldn’t have said where hers left off and his started. He tasted of mint, brandy, and something uniquely Julian. Nothing she could define in this lifetime.

She didn’t know how to measure the taste ofhome, but this might be the classification she searched for.

When it was now or never, their hands releasing ties and buttons, their clothing a damp, unnecessary tangle between their writhing bodies, his breath hitched as he paused, his sigh batting her cheek. When he had himself under control, as graceful as one could, he rose to his feet. The midnight sky a glorious canvas at his back, he stood highlighted against the darkness; there were no bounds to his beauty or the depth of her feelings.

I’m scared of you, of this, she thought in sudden desperation.

Then he extended his hand and said the words that somehow found their way to her heart, “I’ve dreamed of you for so long.”

With this sincere declaration easing her fear, she accepted his offer.

Sidonie lay puddled before the oak door she had bloodied her fists against. Her men had followed orders and kept her from leaving the monstrous country dwelling during one of her episodes. They had learned in Lyon the calamity going into public during one could bring.

Sidonie screamed and thumped her hands against the scarred wooden planks beneath her.

The healer was near. So near Sidonie could feel the heat of the girl’s skin burning into her own. Her men had seen her in the village, too protected to capture, just this morn.

Piper. Piper. Piper.The name was a chant, a refrain, a prayer. Campfire and twilight and friendship. Love. Through the boy, she had seen this and more—before he thrust her from his mind.Finn. She could not wait to seize his last breath, compensation for keeping her from the answer to her invocation.

She would enjoy watching him die.

Sidonie stumbled to the window and pressed her cheek against the beveled pane. The healer was out there somewhere, beneath the stars.

Her deliverance.

Shielded, but not forever. Rebellious women never followed instructions for long. She should know.

And this one dared much.

When she made a false move, Sidonie would be waiting.

Chapter 16

My heart would hear her and beat.