“Give me the light,” Cicely replied. “I’ll know when I see them.”
Eugénie handed over the lantern and watched, impressed by the way Cicely rapidly reviewed the books until she found what she wanted.
“This is it.” She carried two of the ledgers over to the desk, taking a seat behind it. “Let’s see what it tells me.”
Not knowing what else to do, Eugénie brought a small wooden chair over to sit next to her friend. An hour later, after reviewing the past six months’ worth of ledgers, she rubbed her eyes. “None of this makes sense. The company is doing even better than before. Why would—”
“Well, well,” came a deep voice from the door. “What have we here?”
Eugénie’s heart dropped to her toes, then immediately jumped into her throat. It was the man she’d run into yesterday. While she struggled to speak, Cicely turned her big blue eyes on the man’s companion. Was she actually going to flirt at a time like this? Eugénie opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.
“I fear, sirs”—Cicely rose from her chair as smoothly as if she were at a ball—“you have us at a disadvantage.”
Good Lord, she was going to get them killed. Eugénie rose so that she stood next to Cicely, and smoothed her hand down her skirts, ready to pull out her dagger if necessary. She might die, but not without a fight.
The dark-haired man bowed. “Mr. William Munford, at your service. This,” he said, indicating his companion, “is Mr. Andrew Grayson.”
Mr. Grayson bowed as well.
They waited, probably for her and Cicely to provide their names, but even Cicely wouldn’t go that far. When the two gentlemen came into the light, Eugénie identified the second man as the gentleman her friend had been mooning over yesterday.
Yet compared to Mr. Munford, Mr. Grayson was easily dismissed. In the darkened room, Mr. Munford was even more handsome than he’d been on the street, and the way he studied her made him appear more dangerous. The light from the lantern caught hints of gold in his brown hair, making them shine like Spanish coins.
She cleared the lump in her throat. “What are you doing here, and where is Josh?”
Mr. Munford raised a brow, and his mouth tightened into a thin line. “I assume byJosh, you mean the lad snoring downstairs by the door?”
She narrowed her eyes at Cicely, who shrugged as if it didn’t matter that their guard couldn’t stay awake and they were being accosted by two strange men.
“As to what we are doing here,” Mr. Munford continued, “I was called in to discover the status of the company.”
Eugénie took a deep breath. Could it be that helphadarrived? “By whom?”
He speared her with an intent stare. “By Watford, of course. As head of the family, he is concerned about the welfare of Mrs. Wivenly and the children.”
“The Earl of Watford?”
“Naturally, who else?”
Her brief feeling of relief gave over to trepidation. She stifled the urge to groan. This only got worse. What if he went to her home? If Maman found out about her midnight trip—a shiver ran down her spine—it would be catastrophic. And Mr. Munford! He would discover her identity, and for some reason, aside from the probability he’d betray her to Maman, Eugénie knew that would be very bad indeed. She had to avoid any further meetings with him. Perhaps she and Cicely should leave the books to the men. That was assuming they would let her and Cicely go. How had they gotten into this mess, and what were they going to do about it?
Chapter 4
“The Earl of Watford!”Mrs. Villaret’s eyes had widened, and her breathing had quickened.
Until then, she had been holding up quite well. Yet for some reason Will’s disclosing that he represented the earl seemed to frighten her. But why? And what the devil was she doing here in the middle of the night, alone save for another female and a sleeping escort?
Her trepidation did not last more than a few moments. He was unable to keep his eyes off her as she straightened her shoulders and raised her chin as if preparing to do battle. He had to admire the fact that even though he’d caught her in someone else’s office and without protection, she was apparently not going to back down.
Andrew sidled up to the desk, placed a hand on the ledger, and turned it toward him. “Do you even know what you’re looking at?”
“Naturally, she does,” Mrs. Villaret replied forcefully.
She reminded Will of nothing less than a tigress protecting her cub.
The blonde huffed. “Of course I do.”
“All right then.” Andrew smiled. She smiled back. “What did you find?”
