Page 24 of The Viscount of Shadows

She gathered up her wig and the few pins. “Then I will do all I can to assist you in protecting your brother. I must go.”

Tensbridge reached forward and clasped her hand. “Don’t go. Not yet. At least allow me to give you a ride home. You have a room at Cleveland Street, correct? Allenby mentioned it.”

His holding of her hand was not aggressive or restraining, but he held it gently and reverently like a man courting a woman.

Oh, how ridiculous.

But for the life of her, she could not pull it away. Tensbridge’s hand was warm and strong, his fingers long and elegant, and his touch seared her skin.

Claudia met his gaze. “What are you doing?”

The viscount looked down at their joined hands. Neither of them wore gloves. “I have no earthly idea.”

Finally, she pulled her hand away. “Don’t do it again. You are a client at my place of employ, nothing more.”

Tensbridge sat back in the shadows. He pounded on the window behind him. It slid open.

“Yes, my lord?”

“149 Cleveland Street, Kennedy, and hurry,” Tensbridge demanded in a frosty tone.

“At once, my lord.”

With a snap of the reins, they were off at a swift trot. The only sound was the horses’ hooves clattering against the cobblestones. The inside of the carriage was awkwardly silent.

Her tone of voice and sharply spoken words were possibly too abrupt, but she had to end this growing attraction between them. A viscount, heir to an earl? It was utterly untenable. The fact that Olivia and the owners of the Galway Investigative Agency became involved with dukes was an anomaly.

Untenable. Anomaly.

Yes, she had a smattering of a good education before Whinstone pulled the plug for good on their comfortable life. The bitterness that she carried inside of her was not healthy. To taste the higher classes only to be kicked to the cobbles? It had left permanent scars on her soul. And it had killed her mother. The only person in this world that had loved her unconditionally.

But getting back to her attraction for Tensbridge. She did not think an heir to an earl was too good for her, far from it. Claudia believed she was respectable enough for any man, regardless of rank and wealth. But it wasn’t Claudia’s experience that wealthy men acted in a gentlemanly manner or spoke with empathy. Because of this, she had no interest in any man of the upper classes.

But Tensbridge was decidedly different.

Regardless, their lives would not mesh, not in any way. Life on the streets was a whole other kettle of fish. It was brutal, violent, and unrelenting. It had changed her. And in some ways, not for the better. Claudia should apologize, but it seemed it was all she had done to Tensbridge since they had met.

Nevertheless, she could not speak to offer that apology. How troubling to find she was on the edge of tears. Claudia gazed out the window, watching them travel along street after street. The carriage finally stopped. Claudia didn’t wait for the driver. She opened the door and jumped down.

“Two o’clock Friday. I will expect your report.”

Claudia did not reply. The words caught in her throat.

She ran for the front entrance and, once inside, slammed the door and leaned against it. And for the first time in ten years, the tears that had welled in her eyes spilled over, trailing down her flushed cheeks.