She blinked, and her jaw felt slack. They truly believed she was involved in something. They expected something from her. “What do you want from me?” she asked carefully.
Temple leaned back slightly, folding his hands. “A simple matter, really. The letter, Miss Bennet. And the key.”
The bottom of her stomach dropped. “I do not have it,” she said before she could think better of it.
Temple’s eyes flickered, but his expression did not change. “No?”
“No,” she repeated, her pulse hammering. “I never had it to begin with.”
Temple exhaled through his nose, as though indulging a stubborn child. “Miss Bennet, let us not play games. The items in question were left for you. And yet, you have made no effort to fulfill the arrangement.”
“I do not know what you are talking about,” she insisted.
Temple tilted his head. “If that were true, it would be most unfortunate. Because if you did not complete the task yourself… then that must mean you gave the letter to someone else.”
Elizabeth’smouth went dry.
Darcy.
They would realize she had given the letter to Darcy. Her fingers ached as she dug them deeper into the cushions, and she willed her face not to register any alarm.
Temple watched her closely. “That would be very… inconvenient for all involved.”
Elizabeth swallowed against the dryness in her throat. “I do not know what you are expecting of me.”
Temple sighed, tapping his fingers against his knee. “Then allow me to explain it simply, Miss Bennet. There is a shipment expected to depart in the next two days. If the proper information is not received by the right people, well… mistakes may be made. And those mistakes could have rather serious consequences for those involved.”
A chill crawled down her spine. “What sort of shipment?”
Temple’s smile returned. “Come now, Miss Bennet. Do not insult both our intelligence. You are well placed, you must know enough of the business affairs. Unless, of course, someone else has made you a better offer? Again, I say, that would bemostinconvenient.”
Her pulse pounded. Shipment… Theywereusing Uncle Gardiner’s ships.
She took a slow breath, forcing her mind to steady. They expected her to correct whatever mistake they believed she had made. And if she failed to do so, someone else would pay the price. Uncle Gardiner, or Mr. Darcy…
Temple leaned forward slightly. “Let us be clear, Miss Bennet. If you truly do not have the letter—if you have already passed it to someone else—then you will retrieve it. Or you will inform us of where we may collect it.”
Elizabeth held his gaze. There was no way out of this. If she denied everything, they would not believe her. If she revealed what little she did know, she placed others in danger. She needed time.
“I will see what I can do,” she said in the most nonchalant tone she could affect.
Temple studied her for a long moment. Then he nodded. “That would be most wise.”
The carriage slowed. Elizabeth glanced out the window, her heart pounding anew. This was… not Cheapside. They had taken her somewhere unfamiliar.
Temple followed her gaze. “Do not fret, Miss Bennet. We are merely taking precautions.”
Before she could ask what he meant, the door swung open. The larger man beside her gestured for her to exit.
What choice did she have? What chance had she, if she chose to fight or try to escape from two men, in a part of town so unfamiliar to her it might as well be theOrient? Elizabeth hesitated only a moment before stepping out onto the uneven cobblestone street.
A small, nondescript building loomed before her, its windows shuttered, its entrance unmarked. Temple exited behind her, adjusting his gloves with an air of satisfaction. “Come, Miss Bennet. There are a few more things we must discuss before we part ways.”
Darcy barely waited forthe carriage to stop before he wrenched the door open and launched himself up the steps of Gracechurch Street. He knocked sharply, the force of it shaking his own bones.
Elizabeth had to be back by now. Shehadto be.
And if she was, he was going to have some rather sharpish questions for her. But he would rather confront her with hard questions than find she was not there to confront.
