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Like taking care of the children of the next generation. That made Eleanor feel like she was giving back.
Stepping out into the street, Eleanor tugged her bonnet down over her head and wrapped her coat tighter around her. A chill had suddenly set in, and it was making her shiver. If she hurried, she would be able to curl up in front of the fire for a while before bed. Providing her father Edward Heavenly didn’t find out about Jonathan coming back without her.
She was at the end of the street when she heard someone following her. The footsteps were quiet, but Eleanor’s ears picked up on them. She glanced over her shoulder and saw a dark shape duck into a nearby alley. Eleanor slowed, her heart picking up the pace. Someone really was following her.
Eleanor had said she could take care of herself, that she was able to stand up to anyone. In broad daylight, that might have been the case, but in the dark, her confidence seemed to have left her. Eleanor was beginning to panic. She wanted to be at home. She needed to get home. Now.
Turning, Eleanor began to hurry across the street. Despite its proximity to various theatres and other places of entertainment, the street she was on was surprisingly quiet. If something happened now, there would be no one to come to her aid.
Why did she have to be so arrogant? Eleanor was beginning to regret it.
She was at the end of the road when she turned and looked again. She could hear the footsteps, but there was no one there. Nobody there at all. Eleanor was confused. There had been someone following her, so where…?
It was probably someone heading home in a different direction. Eleanor slumped in relief and shook her head.
“I’m getting spooked at shadows now,” she muttered.
“Serves you right for going out on your own.”
Eleanor shrieked and spun around. A tall man with his face bathed in shadow was leaning against the wall in front of her. How had he managed to get there? Surely Eleanor would have seen him. She backed away, shoving her hand in her pocket for her knife.
“Keep back.” She hated that her voice was wavering. “I’m armed. I will hurt you.”
“No more than I’ll hurt you for being out on your own, Lady Eleanor.”
He knew who she was? Then Eleanor peered closer. His face shifted so she could clearly see him under the gaslight overhead. And she found herself staring. What was he doing here?
“Captain Reynolds? What...what are you doing here?” Eleanor stared at his clothes. “And what are you wearing?”
Reynolds wasn’t dressed as he had been earlier. That refinery had disappeared, being replaced with simple street clothes the working class would wear, dark-coloured and dirty from his simple cloth cap down to his sturdy boots. It was a strange look on him, as was the grime wiped on his face.
What the…?
“It’s just something to help me blend in with the crowd down here.” Reynolds shrugged. He simply lounged against the wall with his hands in his pockets.
He smelled like a lowerclassman too. Eleanor resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose. She was more confused as to why he was wearing it in the first place. She had heard noblemen could have some weird hobbies, but this was one of the strangest.
“What on earth are you doing?”
“I’m on army business.”
Eleanor rolled her eyes. Army business. “That requires you to walk around in clothes that don’t match your title?”
“I need to be inconspicuous. No one is going to talk to me if they know I’m a member of the nobility.” Reynolds pushed off the wall, his expression hardening. “And I need answers.”
“Answers to what?”
“Like why I’m heading back to rendezvous with my friend, and I see you walking home without an escort.”
Chapter Seventeen
Eleanor knew that she was blushing, but she didn’t look away. She simply squared her shoulders, lifting her chin defiantly.
“My footman was unwell, and I didn’t want him getting the children sick, so I sent him home.”
“Without asking for a replacement to be sent.”
“I thought I would be home before it got dark, but I got swept up in things again.”
