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Notthat Anton would be happy about her hearing of such matters but such gossip was unavoidable and an eligible, attractive man like Luke was bound to set tongues wagging.
“Do you have news for me?” She remained standing, hands clasped together.
He shook his head with a bold smile. “Not a thing.”
“Well you do not have to look so pleased about it.” She scowled. “You found nothing or there was nothing to report?”
“Both I suppose.”
“Luke.” She glared at him.
“The business does not exist. Wherever you heard the name, it was either incorrect or someone was toying with you.”
She shook her head. “No, that cannot be. It was in the—” She paused and huffed out a breath. “It must exist.”
He lifted a shoulder, drawing attention to the sheer size of him. Men’s physiques rarely held her attention unless there was a reason for her to take note but something about having been wrapped in those arms meant she kept paying special attention to the way his clothes formed around his muscular form.
Her stomach gave a little flip. Most likely because she should not even be thinking of Luke this way. He had made it clear he thought of her as nothing more than Anton’s sister or a good family friend. She should consider him the same. Which she had. Until about two weeks ago, she supposed.
But Jane needed her attention. Luke’s shoulders most certainly did not. There were plenty of women more than willing to pay him interest. He did not need one extra.
She paced to the window and peered out at the great oak trees that partially shielded the house from the busy London road. “It must exist,” she muttered.
“There is no record of such a company being formed,” Luke explained. “And no one has heard of it.”
She twisted to view him over her shoulder. “Could it just be very new?”
“It’s a possibility.”
She frowned at her reflection in the window. The will had supposedly been written years ago. “What reason could a company have for not registering?”
Luke came to her side. “A good many and none of them good.”
“That is what I feared,” she murmured.
“Cassie?”
She forced a smile. “Thank you for helping me, Luke. You have my gratitude.”
“Am I to understand your search is over?”
“Of course.”
Luke’s lips quirked when she affected the most innocent of expressions. Damn the man. Did he have to see through her so easily?
***
ANTON MIGHT HAVE saved his rear in Oxford, but they most certainly had to be even by now.
Luke tweaked the brim of his hat and paused to glance back at the house. He half-expected Cassie to dash out the door as soon as he left but the woman was too clever for that. He pressed fingers to his temple and shook his head. His options were few. Stay with her and try to persuade her to give up the truth as to why she wished to search for this company or do something else. Was he really going to spend the day following her to try to find out what the devil she was up to?
Probably.
He did not believe her protests of innocence one jot, no matter how wide her eyes had been and how much he’d wanted to believe her. It would have been easier. He had things to do damn it—people to meet, duties to attend to, bills to look over. But if he was ever going to prove himself better than his past, he could not break his promise to Anton.
And, in truth, he could not let Cassie get herself into any more trouble. If the day at the docks had taught him anything, it was how boldly she was willing to throw herself into any situation. Hell, if that pickpocket had been any older and less starved, she would not have been able to wrangle him so easily.
He allowed himself a brief smile as he rounded the corner of the house. Her skills of observation were to be admired, though.
