She scoffed. “Someone within the Stags thinks the necklace will persuade them to end their trafficking of women.”
“It won’t.”
Diana didn’t argue with him.
If she had, it would have allowed him to press his case that she needed to give it all up. Flora’s broken voice haunted him. As did the fear in Blanca’s eyes.
And the man who’d put that terror there wanted something Diana possessed.
“Your comrades dangled you like bait in front of Costa,” Ian hissed. “Why would an organization bent on saving lives consider yours any less worthy of protection?”
Her mouth curled in a protest, but as he glowered at her, she wordlessly shook her head.
The carriage pulled up to the pier. When Diana placed her hand on the carriage door, Ian stopped her. “Who asked us to put so many people in danger? You trusted me as your partner tonight. Trust me with this. Please.”
“When the cargo has left harbor safely, I’ll tell you what I can,” she replied slowly. “And you’ll tell me what you’ve been holding back about the other factions vying for the necklace.”
The blast of the ship’s horn forced him to open the door. They alighted, and he was relieved to see Birdie escorting Flora and Blanca to theEver Hart.But before any of them had made it up the gangplank, a commotion arose further down the dock.
Next to the ship’s mooring, a small boat had taken on enough water, it was listing. Several women stood with their skirts dripping wet on the pier.
Diana ran, with Ian on her heels. At their approach, a tall woman directing the group stood protectively before the others. There was something about her silhouette that made Ian’s blood freeze.
As she stepped into the lamplight, familiar red curls cascaded down her back.
Ian blinked. It was possible he’d fallen asleep in the coach and was sleepwalking through some nightmare. With the mists rolling around them and the full moon overhead and Diana hovering out of his reach, he felt very much as if he’d lost touch with reality.
It was the best explanation he could gather for the apparition that stood before him.
“Diana! Thank God it’s you.”
The specter’s voice made Ian shudder with horror and disbelief.
When Diana threw her arms around the ghost, he stifled a cry.
“We’re all right, Di. There was a leak in the skiff. Only a few of us got wet.”
Diana made a garbled noise, and the tears in her eyes gave Ian the courage to approach and make certain that he wasn’t hallucinating.
“Beatrix?”
His voice was hoarse and threatening, which made the other women retreat from him.
“Jesus Christ, Beatrix Wilde, is that actually you?”
Before Beatrix could dart out from Diana’s embrace, Ian snagged her by the arm and pulled her into the lamplight.
And when he saw for certain what his mind told him was impossible, he barked a strangled laugh. “You have some bloody gall standing here, alive and well, while my oldest friend—one of the few truly decent men I have ever known—has mourned your death for eight years.”
Diana wedged herself in between them. “Ian, not here.”
Birdie’s shrieking whistle sounded.
“The passengers must board.” Diana’s voice climbed. “There’s no time to waste. Costa is on our trail.”
Ian’s glare shifted from Beatrix to Diana. “I’ll call for the harbor watch myself if you don’t tell me exactly what this is all about.”
Chapter Fourteen
