A Scot in the Dark (Scandal & Scoundrel #2) - Sarah MacLean Page 0,114

and get back to Scotland to a life that did not include her. A life that had satisfied him.

Until he’d met her, and all of it had gone to hell.

And he’d failed her on all levels.

And to make it all worse, fallen in love with her.

He yanked the paper from the butler’s ridiculous silver tray and opened it, dread pooling deep, certain this day could only get worse.

I require your assistance.

Meet me tonight. Half-twelve.

—L

Below, a line of direction, the mews behind the Royal Academy of Arts. It was then that Alec knew her plan—pride flooding through him at the realization. She was beautiful and brilliant and brave as a damn warrior.

Of course, she was the instrument of her own saving.

She was magnificent enough to save herself and the world in the balance.

If only she could save him, as well.

Several hours later, he drove his curricle into the mews that ran behind the Royal Academy, the night casting deep, dark shadows across the empty space. He was deliberately early, wanting to be there before her, to assess the danger of this particular mission.

He stepped down from the driver’s box, his attention already on the building ahead of him. He had half a mind to do it himself, without her.

But he should have known better.

She was already there, stepping out of the shadows as though she’d been in the darkness forever, a queen of the night.

A queen in trousers, cap pulled low over her brow.

How long had she been here? Anything could have happened to her. And he would have been too late to save her. A failure again.

Never enough.

He headed for her, frustration and desire warring within him. “What is this?” he said, pressing her back into the darkness, shielding her from prying eyes.

She reached for him. Took his hand in hers. Slaying him with the simple touch as she opened it and ran her hand over the bandage at his palm. “You bled last night.”

“What of it?”

“You bled for me.” She pressed a kiss to the bandage, and an ache began, high and tight in his chest. She looked up at him, her eyes shielded by the brim of her cap. He would have done anything to see those eyes. But they were not for him. “I wish to make him a laughingstock for that alone.”

Not for herself? Not for all things Hawkins had done to her?

He swallowed around the knot in his throat. The desire. The need. He pushed himself to remain aloof when all he wished to do was pull her into his arms. “You summon me with two lines on a scrap of paper? You come alone? In the darkness? To commit a crime?”

She stood her ground. “It is not the first time I have attempted this particular crime, Your Grace. Nor is it the first time you have.” She smiled, white teeth flashing in the shadows. “But it will be the first time we succeed.”

Christ. He loved her.

“Be careful, or you shall curse us.”

She grew serious then. “No. The universe could not possibly deny me this, as well.”

Before he could ask her to elaborate, she moved to the window. His gaze slid to her backside, where the trousers she wore fit indecently. Perfectly. His mouth went dry as he watched her stand on her toes, unsuccessfully attempting to look inside.

“Trousers again,” he said.

She turned to him, making a show of looking to his plaid. “Well one of us should wear them, do you not think?”

He raised a brow at the smart words. “You think I cannot do all required in a kilt?”

She watched him for a long moment, until he thought she might not reply, and then she said, “I think you can do anything you like, wearing anything you wish.”

The words were tempting beyond reason, and made him want to press her to the wall and show her all the things he would like to do.

He was prevented from doing so, however, by the task at hand. “I require a boost.”

He blinked. “A what?”

“That is why you are here.” She smiled, as though it were a perfectly ordinary request. “You shall boost me up. And I shall come around and open the door. And we shall get it done.”

“You are not going inside alone.”

She turned to him. “What do you think will happen? I shall be mauled by a sculpture?” He narrowed his gaze and she sighed. “I do not think I could boost you, Alec.”

He reached up and clasped the window, which opened wide