Freddie hesitated. “Badly shaken up,” she murmured. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her cry. Not even when we were children. She blames herself for what happened.”
Lucien was stunned. “Butwhy?”
“I’m not sure. She wouldn’t say much to any of us.” Then Freddie frowned in confusion. “What were you even doing there? Alex said you had both decided to call things off.”
Not both.
But it was hardly the time to mince words.
“I wanted to speak to her about my business proposal,” Lucien admitted. “When I arrived, a man slipped inside just ahead of me. And I remembered seeing him hanging about in a couple of other places before. I think he’s been following her for some time now, waiting for the right moment.”
To dowhatremained unknown.
Freddie hugged her shoulders and shuddered. “Well, it was very brave of you to confront him like that.”
Lucien shook his head. “It was stupid.”
“That too,” Freddie said with a smile.
“But I couldn’t just leave her alone,” he explained. “Of course, that was before I knew she had a pistol on her.”
“Alex is full of surprises.” Freddie chuckled before her expressionturned curious. “So. You went to speak to her about a business proposal at eight o’clock at night?”
Lucien glanced away. “I was hoping she would… that we might…”
Freddie leaned forward a little. “Yes?”
He sighed and sank farther down against the pillows. “Has anyone ever been able to convince Alex to do, well, anything?”
“Not to my knowledge,” Freddie said dryly. “She is quite sure of herself. I suppose that’s what has made her so successful. But it can have its drawbacks.” Lucien grunted in response.
“Don’t give up on her,” she suddenly urged. “Not yet. We Atkinson women can be a stubborn bunch, I’ll admit. But we have our good qualities too. Even Alex.”
Lucien turned toward her. His eyelids had started to feel heavy. “I wasn’t planning on it.”
Nor did it feel like much of a choice at the moment. He needed to try to get through to her, at least once. Or he would regret it for the rest of his life.
Freddie nodded with relief and sat back in her chair. Lucien’s languid gaze landed on her hands. He frowned and tried to focus. Whatever had been in that liquid was damned powerful. It was becoming a struggle to keep his eyes open. Then he realized what had caught his attention: Freddie was wearing a massive, sparkling diamond ring.
“When did you get that?”
She followed his gaze and quickly folded her hands together. “Oh. A few days ago. It’s nothing,” she added.
Even in his grossly impaired state, Lucien could tell she wasacting strangely. “Why ever would you say that?” he slurred. “Don’t you like it?”
If Lucien had the means to put a jewel of that size on a girl’s finger, he would certainly expect her to behappyabout the blasted thing.
She bit her lip. “Can you keep a secret?”
Lucien nodded. “Of course.” Then he tried to mime locking his mouth with a key, but it looked more like an aborted wave.
Freddie glanced toward the door, then leaned closer. “Last night I went to…”
But the rest of her confession was lost as Lucien closed his eyes and floated away into a deep, heavy slumber.
Alex sat up with a start. She had only intended to sleep for an hour—two at theverymost—but based on the light streaming through the sides of the curtains it was far later. She let out a sigh and rubbed her eyes.
IknewI shouldn’t have accepted that cup of tea from Mother.
