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The two blackguards must have sensed his seriousness, for they turned tail and ran off in the opposite direction. The lady exhaled slowly and released his jacket, stepping away from him. He sheathed his rapier and turned to face her, consciously aware he was bracing himself. The impact of her loveliness still rocked him back on his heels and pierced his chest with an uncomfortable sensation. Or perhaps it was the bold curiosity at which she stared up from beneath her feather-plumed bonnet that stirred long-dormant senses.
“Thank you,” she murmured, her cheeks turning pink underneath his unabashed appraisal. “I do appreciate your kind assistance, Mr.…?”
“Lucien,” he replied.
Her cheeks pinkened even further, and those blue eyes glittered brightly. “Thank you, Mr. Lucien. You have been most kind and heroic.”
Heroic?For a moment, he stared at her as if she were a creature. “You are welcome. Please permit me to ask your name.”
She seemed hesitant, as if uncertain what to do next. “For this meeting, you may call me Miss Mimi.”
No one would be outrageous enough to name their child Mimi. He sensed that to be a moniker of sort and presumed something about him had informed her that he was no true gentleman. How fascinating. Those who deemed themselves better always seemed to know at first glance, even if he was dressed in the first stare of fashion, that he was not one of them. That he belonged to the rubble and the gutter, and all his wealth and elegance were a mere pretense.
He tipped his hat. “Miss Mimi, will you allow me to escort you to your destination.”
She glanced over her shoulder, noting the emptiness of the street and then at the sky, no doubt observing the dark lavender hue as the sun lowered. “Oh dear,” she said a bit fretfully. “I really stayed out much later than anticipated.”
“Where are your servants?”
Even he knew every well-bred young lady had a man or a woman that followed them about wherever they went, even in these fine parts of London.
Her eyes suddenly twinkled. “I quite accidentally left them at home.”
“How did one manage to leave required servants at home.”
“Accidentally,” she pointed out slowly as if he were dim-witted.
“Of course,” he said, biting a smile.
“I thank you for the offer of the escort, Mr. Lucien; regrettably, I must decline.”
“Why regrettably?”
The question shot out of him so fast she blinked up at him owlishly. “I beg your pardon?”
“Why do you regret that you must decline?” He badly wanted to know. “Is it the keenest sort of regret, or is it mild?”
Those lush lips twitched, and humor brightened the sheer beauty of her eyes.
She glanced about the street as if watching for anyone who might observe them.
“I was merely being polite…well, it seemed like the polite thing to say; now I can see that it implies I am in want of your company but must act with a sense of propriety, hence I feel regret.”
He smiled. “Are you always this…honest with your words?”
“No. I recall at least three fibs I told my siblings last week. One was rather badly done of me for it cost her a most charming bonnet.”
Lucien laughed. “There is no one else in my carriage. I promise it will be circumspect and very much aboveboard should I deliver you home.”
She took a cautious step backward. “I do believe that if we were alone in that tiny confined space, Mr. Lucien, it would be a problem, not the solution you think it to be.”
He was…charmed. Had he ever been charmed before in his entire six and twenty years on earth? He canted his head and considered the oddity before him that had roused that astonishing sensation. Before he could come up with a pithy reply, she dipped into a quick curtsy.
“I do hope one day I might be allowed to repay your kindness, sir.” She held up a finger as if that would halt his thoughts from running down a wicked and errant path. “That is not a promise that I am in your debt and must submit when you collect.”
Lucien was affronted that she seemed to be able to read his thoughts. He was a gambler and part-owner of a gambling den. He was the unflappable sort that men could not easily read.
That is the problem, his inner voice taunted,she is a lady.
