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The man smiled. “Alfie wants to talk to you. He ain’t happy you walked into his joint and took what weren’t yours.”
She nodded. “I’ve suffered Alfie’s punishments before.”
He tilted his head in Clayborn’s direction. “Now ’im... I weren’t expectin’him. There’s a price on his head. Imagine my surprise when the duke’s carriage turns up wrecked on the road as I’m on my way to fetch you, Addie? The duke, who’s travelin’ with the Matchbreaker? Now, that’s a lucky day, I’d say.” He sniffed. “’Course, it’s the duke’s own fault for ridin’ with a seal on the door like a real ponce. And a set of wheels made for money and not muscle.” He tsked. “Not the smartest of choices, Addie. Your da won’t be happy.”
Her da?
“Who’s got money on the duke?” Adelaide asked.
“Havistock don’t like loose ends, and is payin’ handsome for a few dead bodies.” He sniffed. “I intend to deliver ’em.”
Havistock.Henry knew Havistock wanted him ruined, but, “Why does Havistock want me dead?”
Danny shrugged, but didn’t even look at him. “Don’t matter to us—money spends for good reasons and bad.”
“Alfie took a job killing a duke?”
The man cut her an arrogant look. “Alfie takes whatever jobs I tell him to take now.”
“Well, you ought to send him direct to Bedlam for takin’ this one,” she said, her tone gone full South London. “Killin’ a duke will ’ave you swingin’ from a rope faster than you can gut a man, Dan-o.”
“I’ll take my chances. Now my only question isthis—do I return you to your da, as requested, only a bit worse for wear, or do I bring you back to London as the Matchbreaker? There are enough rich bastards lookin’ to see you dead that we could sell tickets and set ourselves up for life.”
She sucked in a breath at the words, and Clayborn stiffened at the harshness in the sound. The concern in it. Her secret—the one he knew because he seemed to be the only person in London who could not miss Adelaide Frampton’s light—out, and in the wrong hands.
While he considered what it would take to keep her enemy silent, Adelaide said, “So, what, you think I’ll pay for your silence?”
“I think you haven’t got a choice,” the man replied. “But let’s be honest—you can’t pay me near what the rest of Mayfair will pay to get revenge for the way you’ve ruined them already. Not even if your girls empty their coffers.” He looked to Clayborn again. “Not even if your duke tosses in a coin or two. Mayfair hates you that much.”
“Is that supposed to sting?” she asked.
He grinned. “It ain’t supposed to feel good, kitten.”
She pressed the tip of her blade deeper, and a droplet of blood trickled down the side of his neck. When he inhaled sharply and the grin fell from his face, she said, “I think you’ll find it takes more than the collective opinion of mediocre men to upset me, Danny.”
“You’re still a bitch, ain’t you?”
Before Clayborn could tear him to shreds for the insult, the man condemned himself to hell, catching her blade hand in his, yanking it around to her back and using his strength and speed to pull Adelaide close, running his filthy hands over her body, grinning his mouthful of rotten teeth at her.
Henry went wild.
“Get your hands off her,” he growled, the words coming from a place he rarely acknowledged—somewhereout of control. They both turned to the sound, and the intruder moved with lightning speed, the moon gleaming off his blade.
Adelaide sucked in a breath as it kissed her neck and Henry stopped instantly, vibrating with frustrated fury.
“Now ain’t that divertin’,” said the man, his eyes gleaming with perverse delight. “Look at how quickly he stopped. Like a child’s toy run out of string.” He slid a hand over Adelaide’s torso, fisting the bedsheet in one filthy hand. “I always wondered if you were any good in the sheets. Looks like you’re good enough.”
Henry growled, low and dangerous. “Let her go.”
“No, I don’t think I will,” the man said. “You see—I was wondering how it was that we were going to collect you. It ain’t every day you get a chance to catch a duke, you know.” The blade tightened against Adelaide’s throat and she closed her eyes. “But here you are, willing to do anything to keep our Addie safe, ain’t you?”
Thatourwas another infraction for which this man would pay. Henry was keeping track.
“You will pay for every second you touch her,” Henry said, the words raw with furious control. She was still and unmoved, her face revealing nothing of her thoughts. But there, in her eyes as she met his—there was something he didn’t like.
“Aww... it weren’t nothing,” Danny said. “We go back, don’t we, gel? Painted with the soot of the South Bank. No hard feelings, right, Addie?”
“No more than usual,” she hissed.
