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“I just said I promise I will.”
“Good, thank you,” she said.
Surprising even herself, she suddenly leaned toward him and planted a soft kiss on his bristly cheek.
He turned to stare at her, but couldn’t hide his smile. Releasing her hand, he slid an arm around her shoulders and drew her against him.
“Whatever happens, just stay close to me,” he whispered.
“I will.”
“Promise?” he murmured, teasing her.
She tipped her head back to look at him and smiled. “I promise.”
Joe sighed when a companionable silence settled over them. He loved the fact that she wasn’t one of those women who felt the need to babble nonsense constantly. Marguerite was quite happy to allow the silence to fall and evidently knew when to leave him to his thoughts. Those thoughts, right now, were working through how he could keep her safe with Sayers so close by. It went against every instinct he had to take her with him. He wanted her to remain in the safe house where she would be warm, dry, fed, and safe. It was ridiculous to have to take her, the one person Sayers’ truly wanted, out onto the streets, but he suspected that as soon as he left she was going to head straight for her father’s workshop without him anyway. God only knew what would await her once she reached it.
“We are here,” Joe murmured when the carriage began to slow down.
Marguerite’s stomach flipped. Holding her elbows, she tried to quell the fear that threatened to overwhelm her as she slid across the seat and waited for Joe to open the door. The urge to tell him that she had changed her mind so she could go back to the house where it was safe was almost overwhelming; until she thought about her missing father, and what fate might befall him if she didn’t manage to find him.
Joe looked at her from the folds of his cloak hood as he handed her down. She looked terrified but was battling it well enough to at least remain calm-for now.
“Here, pull this up to cover your face. We will look as though we are bundled up against the weather, that’s all. Anybody looking for us will struggle to identify us from a distance because of the hoods,” he murmured quietly. “We need to stay hidden for as long as possible.”
His fingers brushed the soft strands of her hair when he tugged the voluminous hood over her face. It was a shame to hide such refined beauty, but he had no choice. At least with it covered up she was less of a distraction. Still, there was something about her that exuded femininity and drew forth all of his protective instincts. He took a moment to cup her face in his hands so he could look deeply into her eyes.
“Right, stay close to me and don’t speak unless you absolutely have to. If you do see something, try not to react. Don’t allow your step to falter. Just act normally. We will go to the rear of the shop first.”
Marguerite nodded. Her father’s shop was only a few streets away. Now that she was here she was terrified. It was the longest walk of her life. Her nerves were frayed, and she was about ready to jump out of her own skin by the time they turned the corner, and she the shop’s front door. The urge to race to it to see if her father was there was strong, but she forced herself to concentrate on keeping her step as even as possible.
“Do you see anything?” Marguerite murmured. She was aware that Joe had tensed beside her and was keeping guard. It was difficult to know if that was a good thing or not because his tension left her with no clue as to whether anything sinister lurked nearby.
“Just keep going,” he whispered.
Her gaze remained locked on her father’s shop as they approached it.
“How do we get round the back?” Joe asked.
“There is a small alley between the clock shop and the bakery,” she replied quietly. “Do you see it?”
Joe nodded but then realised she couldn’t see him because of their cloaks. “We will use that.”
He hated alleys, not least because all sorts of things could stop him from leaving again, but he knew it was the fastest way to get to where he needed to be. He knew Marguerite hadn’t had time to fetch any keys from her home because they had left in such a hurry so he had to break in. He couldn’t do that if he was on the main road and visible to anyone who passed by.
Joe signalled to Kerrigan, who coughed gently in response. Satisfied that his friend was in position and keeping watch, Joe led her to the alley.
With each step he took closer to the shop his gut warned him that Marguerite really should be back at the safe house. He wanted to stop and go on alone but suspected she would create a scene they didn’t need. So far, he couldn’t see anybody else but knew from experience that everything could change in a few seconds.
“That’s odd,” Marguerite whispered as she studied the shop front.
“What is?” Joe asked glancing up and down the street as far as he could see.
“My father’s shop is closed.”
Joe looked at her. He knew it should still be open by now, the trading day still having a few hours left to go.
“Come on, we will find out why soon enough,” he murmured.
