Page 76 of Again, Scoundrel

“Stop it. Stop it right now. You are not responsible for the world. And everything that goes wrong is not your fault.”

He arched that brow at her, incredulous. “I am not responsible for the world? Pot and kettle, Violet.”

The truth of his words made the side of her mouth quirk up in a smile. “Fair enough. But let me stay and help. It will be better if we work together.”

“As you wish,” he said, his face still stern.

But not his voice. His voice was soft and tender.

By noon, Esmee and McGann appeared and moments later the Bow Street Runner.

“Mr. Hughes has arrived,” Williams announced, leading the man into the receiving room where Esmee and McGann had joined Alistair, Violet, and Davy just moments ago.

The Runner was of average height, Violet noticed, with a square jaw and amber colored-eyes. He looked innocuous to her, somehow nondescript. But Esmee, who was seated on the settee next to her, stiffened noticeably upon the man’s arrival.

“About damn time,” Alistair said crossly. “Bring us some tea, would you Williams?”

The valet nodded while Mr. Hughes looked around at their anxious faces, his eyes eventually landing on Davy.

“Perhaps there is somewhere we can speak privately?” he asked politely in an accent that Violet couldn’t place. Like his face, it was utterly nondescript.

“Take Davy with you,” Alistair said to Williams, who motioned for the boy to follow him out of the room.

“No.” Davy puffed up his chest as he spoke, daring the others to contradict him. “I’ll stay. She’s my sister, and she’ll need my help.”

“Aye, she will,” Esmee soothed the boy. “But not at the moment, lad. Go with Williams now.”

Davy frowned, clearly disgruntled, but he followed Williams out, to Violet’s surprise.

“You’re good with him,” Violet whispered. “He listens to you.”

“Nay,” Esmee whispered back. “It’s the coin I pay he listens to, but the result is the same.”

“Davy works for you?”

Violet was surprised by that, too. She hadn’t been back to Nowhere since the day of the medical clinic. Esmee had sent her a note asking if she wanted to hold another, but Violet had refused.

She told herself it was because she didn’t want to cause trouble now that Catherine was very nearly betrothed, but sitting here, across from Alistair, she knew the real reason was because she had not wanted to see him again. It wasn’t fair to him or to her.

Every time she saw him, she lost her equanimity. Or her wits. Or, she thought ruefully, my knickers. She’d take them off again right now if they weren’t in the middle of a crisis and if he would promise never to mention marriage again.

Mr. Hughes cleared his throat and looked at the two women as if they were school children caught whispering behind their governess’s back.

“Now then,” he said. “If I might have your attention. Tell me everything you know about the girl’s disappearance. Don’t leave anything out.”

Alistair repeated what little he knew of Jess’s situation. Despite their daily visits, she’d spoken little of her life before he and Violet had stumbled into it and nothing at all of how she had come to be with child.

Violet filled in the few details she could, but she likewise had been able to draw little information from her patient.

Esmee and McGann had nothing to add, as Davy had been particularly tight-lipped about their life before he’d come to work at Nowhere.

“You employ the child?” Mr. Hughes asked Esmee.

“Aye.”

“And where would that be?” Mr. Hughes asked.

“I don’t see how that’s important,” McGann broke in.