The Matter of a Marquess - Jess Michaels Page 0,48

a place.” His brow wrinkled. “It makes me wonder what else I have misjudged.”

“You thought I’d gone there for pleasure?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Some of the bawdy houses were…titillating, I admit,” she whispered, feeling her cheeks warm. “But some were just frightening. That last one was very frightening.”

His jaw set. “I’m gutted you had to go through that alone. I wish…I wish I could have been there.”

She tilted her head, those words sinking into her skin and her heart and her soul. There was the man she’d known all those years ago. He’d been hiding from her, just peeking out now and then. But now he was truly there, looking into her eyes, his kindness and his compassion on full display.

“You and I have been estranged for so long, I wouldn’t have thought to come to you,” she said slowly. “But if I had, I know you would have helped me even if you…even if you hated me like it seemed you did when I first arrived here. Because you’re you, Nicholas, and you have always been so good.”

“I’m not as sure about that. But perhaps I can help you now. Derrick—er, Huntington—runs an investigative service, you know. He might be able to help you find your friend. He’s very trustworthy. Your story and hers would be safe with him.”

She hadn’t expected this offer and leaned in to rest her hand on his chest. “I appreciate it and I may take you up on it later. But when Katherine came to me, she offered me help from their friend in the War Department. He’s looking for Imogen now. I’m hoping when I return that he’ll have more information on the matter and I can work with him to find her at last.”

“Ah.” He nodded, and she thought she saw a flash of something dark in his eyes as he bent his head. “Well, I’m glad of it. You’ll be safe with someone who works for the Crown.”

“I worry more about her than me,” she admitted with a sigh.

“Of course you do,” he said with a faint smile. “You are you.”

She tilted her head because he was watching her so intently and there were so many emotions on his face. As if there could still be something between them. And though she had put those dreams away a long time ago, she couldn’t help but feel them sparked by his expression. By the way his fingers flexed against her skin.

“Nicholas,” she whispered, lifting her hand to his cheek to caress the soft whiskers along his hard jaw.

He turned his lips into her palm and kissed it gently. “Yes?”

She drew in a long breath, trying to settle and focus herself. Trying to keep all her hopes and dreams and feelings from her voice so she wouldn’t complicate things between them. “What happens now?”

That question echoed through Nicholas’s mind, and he sucked in a deep breath as he pondered it. A few hours ago he would have called this a surrender. Only to happen once. Not to make him forget what he wanted for his future and what had been done in the past.

But now, after hearing her story, he questioned everything he’d always believed and been told. There was no denying Aurora’s bravery. He’d been to a few bawdy houses in his day. The kind she’d ended up in wasn’t a good place. Frightening was an understatement, he thought meant to minimize how terrified she’d been.

There was also no arguing against her loyalty. She had been friends with this woman, Imogen, for a long time, it seemed, but not many would go as far as she had. Most would only cluck their tongues and shake their heads sadly and faintly wonder whatever had happened to a friend in such a situation. He could count on his hand the number who might swing into action and try to save a friend. Even fewer were those who would risk their own life and reputation in the process.

When Aurora spoke to him, it had made his mind turn back to all those years ago. To the night he’d been told she threw him over. He’d been so young then. So uncertain of himself and if he was worthy of a woman so high above his station. It had been easy to believe her father that he’d been wrong about her intentions and walk away to mitigate any further hurt.

Now years had given him far more confidence and experience in reading people. And he questioned everything he’d