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“Yes, but Iamin the guise of Catriona. Calling you ‘sir’ is a reminder to myself. If it bugs you, I’ll stick to Dr. Gray.”
“While I call you by your given name? You call Isla by hers in private. Would you not call me Duncan in your world?”
“Our voices are carrying. I’ll take the lead.”
I pass him as he mutters, “I pity the man who would grab you from behind, mistaking you for a delightful confection.”
“I heard that. Also, I amverydelightful, in my own special way. Now, hush. We’re tailing someone.”
We’ve been speaking in low voices, needing only a whisper to be heard in this dark and silent place. We can hear our target’s boot clicks, far ahead. She’s moving fast, and as we pick up speed, we stop talking and I roll my footsteps.
The close is a disappointment. Being so dark, it’d seem the sort of place where a mugging came guaranteed, like the one where the young man followed us earlier. But this one is too narrow for an attacker to lurk without being tripped over by their target. The young woman we’re following obviously knows the area and realizes she faces minimal danger cutting through here.
She reaches the end and turns left. I hurry along and peek out, only to stop short as a man slides from the shadows and sets out after the young woman.
Behind me, Gray gives an irritated grunt, and I glance back to see his narrowed gaze fixed on the woman’s newly acquired stalker.
“Two options,” I whisper. “We can follow and see if he causes any trouble, or we can make a bit of a scene in hopes of scaring him off.”
“The latter.”
I smile at him. “Excellent choice.”
I loop my arm through Gray’s, and we continue along up the hill. The woman and her stalker turn right onto another road, taking them out of our sight. I walk faster, and Gray matches me. When we round the next corner, I let out a yelping giggle and fake a stumble. The woman doesn’t notice, but the man glances back.
I lean against Gray. “The road is very uneven. I can scarcely walk upright.”
“I do not think it is the road.”
I swat at him. “Are you implying I am inebriated, sir?”
“I am notimplyinganything.”
The man shoots us a glare of annoyance, and as he does, I recognize himfrom the pub. He’d been one of the guys talking about the poison ring. Is that a coincidence? Or had he also overheard the women’s conversation?
I break from Gray’s grasp and prance ahead with my nose in the air. “If that is what you think of me, sir, then I fear you shall lack for company this evening.”
Gray grabs me by the waist and swings me up, making me shriek in surprise that’s only half faked.
Gray growls a laugh. “I think you aredelightfullytipsy, my dear. It brings out the roses in your cheeks.”
“Put me down, you… you…” I don’t finish the line, mostly because I’m unsure of the period-appropriate term.
Gray continues to walk while holding me outstretched before him. “Are you certain, lass? You seem quite unable to stand on your own. I am helping.”
“You are manhandling me.”
“Of course. Because I am a man. I cannot handle you in any other way.”
I sputter a genuine laugh and turn it into a girlish squeal as I struggle. We have now caught the attention of the young woman. Seeing the man behind her, she stops short. Then she wheels, as if to run, and her stalker charges.
“Goddamn it,” I mutter as Gray plunks me down.
He takes off after the two. I bring up the rear, hampered by my skirts as I struggle to hike them higher and only succeed in fumbling the endless layers and almost tripping.
As I pass a building, a figure lunges from the doorway. I spin, about to raise my knife, only to realize that hand is also clutching my damn skirts. I manage to drop the skirts andnotthe knife, but that split-second delay costs me any advantage I gained by seeing my attacker’s charge.
Hands grab me. I elbow hard, getting a satisfying gasp in response. Then another pair of hands grab my legs and hoist me into the air.
