Taming of the Beast (Scandalous Affairs #2) - Christi Caldwell Page 0,75

relationship with Tynan had a finite time to it that didn’t involve a future. It certainly didn’t include visits with the sister he was determined to keep secret from the world. Suddenly, she, who abhorred tears and couldn’t remember the last she’d shed them, felt a blasted sheen glaze her eyes.

Sara’s brow dipped in confusion and concern.

“I would like that very much.” She settled for honesty, but also a lie of omission. She couldn’t come back here even if she wished to, because of what Tynan wished for.

They headed as a trio for the small, brightly lit foyer, and a maid came forward with her cloak. Faye accepted it with a murmured word of thanks.

Still, even as she draped her black leather satchel over her arm, she lingered there, not wanting the visit to end.

Chapter 18

From the narrow slat of the windowpane, Tynan watched Faye as she took a path across the quiet streets. As he followed her with his gaze, he also surveyed the area, ensuring her journey was safe.

How was it that she still thought nothing of going about on her own? Even after her run-in with Bragger, she galivanted off, alone. The idea of it sent a chill scraping along his spine that had nothing to do with the frigid cold left behind when Faye had stepped outside.

This was why he didn’t let people in. This was why he didn’t become close to strangers. Because with relationships came worrying. And he didn’t have the time to be focused on anyone beyond his sister and himself.

“I quite like her,” Sara said from behind him.

Faye reached the opposite end of the street and stopped.

“Hmm?” he murmured.

Raising a hand to her brow, she did a sweep of her surroundings. What was she doing?

“Miss Poplar,” Sara clarified. “I rather like her a lot.”

“You don’t know her,” he pointed out, his reminder coming from all the years he’d spent ingraining into Sara the need for caution around people. And yet, the truth of it was, he, who despised most people, liked Faye Poplar.

His sister gave him a look. “Are you telling me that she is an unsavory sort?”

A rueful smile brought his mouth up. “No.” There wasn’t a thing unsavory or dark or dangerous about Faye Poplar. He stole another look at Faye, who was still lingering on the street. He frowned. What was she doing?

“Tynan?”

“I’m…” he began, still looking out. “I’m merely pointing out that—”

“I cannot have friends, and you cannot have friends, and it is all really tiring, Tynan,” she exclaimed, tossing her arms up in exasperation.

He glanced briefly at his sister. “It isn’t—”

“Safe,” she supplied, pursing her mouth. “I’m not so certain what makes you think there are people out to harm us. There aren’t.” She paused. “Are there?”

“I work in a prison, Sara,” he said tersely. Or he had. Either way, he was forever linked to Newgate and some of the most ruthless, and also some of the most powerful, people who’d ever found themselves imprisoned. “By the very nature of what I do, there is every reason for us to be cautious.”

“There is a difference between being cautious and failing to live, Tynan,” she said quietly. “I like Miss Poplar very much, and as she was hiding outside, searching you out, well, I rather think the lady means a good deal more to you, too.”

His face heated. His sister was wrong. Or, rather, she was right, but not in the way she believed. “My dealings with Miss Poplar are strictly of a business nature,” he said gently, needing to disabuse Sara, and himself, of the words she spoke.

She gave him a look. “A young woman whom you allowed to hold your favorite book of poetry and read to?”

Unable to meet her suddenly wise-beyond-her-years eyes, he devoted all his attention once more back to the window and the lady still standing outside, looking about. “You suggested I do so, Sara,” he said from the corner of his mouth.

“Come, Tynan, you, who forbids anyone from visiting, would not have allowed her entry and given her the right to hold that book you so love unless you wished it.” With those knowing words and a glimmer in her eyes, she swept off.

Unless you wished it.

His sister didn’t know what the hell she was talking about. He didn’t want anything to do with anyone. And certainly not Faye Poplar…

Only, that thought did not have quite the same teeth it’d had upon their first exchange. Whether he liked it or not, whether