for coming to the Stag in the first place would do no good, especially when he was charged with keeping her—no, them—safe. Burying his fists into his ribs, he fought to keep control of his words. His tightening knuckles reminded him of the bruising they’d taken. That sister needed a good horsewhipping for what she’d put Kat—and him—through.
“Why didn’t you come and get me?”
A delicate eyebrow hiked with incredulity. “What for? Surely you don’t have special privileges to defy curfew or any other law.”
“I know my way around them enough to not get caught. I’ve had enough practice.”
She picked the small club up off the table. As sure as a soldier handling his sword, she wrapped her fingers around the leather handle and thumped it against her other palm in a monotone beat. “Will they come after us?”
“Nazi guards pummeled by two women is hardly something they want to advertise.”
Worry clouded her eyes. “They won’t leave you out of their report.”
“No, but they won’t gain much traction with a suspect who kept his face covered.” He’d spent a week in Glasgow’s slummiest jail cell to learn that lesson long ago. She wouldn’t last ten minutes in such conditions.
Her bludgeoner beat an erratic pace against her palm. Reaching across the table, he laid his hand on hers. “I’ve told you, you’re safe with me.”
She jerked her arm back as if he’d burned her. Every moment with this woman he seemed to take a wrong turn.
Giving up on his questions, he pushed to his feet. Best to divert her attention and channel his irritation to something useful. “Come on. I’ll give you a few pointers so that the next time you can take them all on your own.”
“What happened to sticking to my side from here on out?”
“I need to know you can handle yourself should my fists have too many attackers to take on.”
The SIS message he’d received yesterday prodded the back of his brain like a needle. He needed to tell her about the change of plans, but not now. She was ready to leap as it was, and that would send her straight off the ledge. Best to ease her into the absurdity as painlessly as possible.
She hesitated as he started out the back door. “I can’t leave. Ellie will wake up soon.”
If by soon she meant late afternoon, then they had plenty of time. Laying the little drunk out on the bed upstairs last night had been like putting the dead to rest. Her wall-rattling snores had kept him awake until the wee hours of the morn from his position on the downstairs settee.
“We won’t go far, and Mrs. Bonheur is here if she needs anything.” He stepped out onto the back stoop and breathed in deep. Dawn’s mugginess had dissipated into a late-morning haze that filled the small courtyard. “The world won’t fall apart if she gets her own self out of bed today.”
“You make me sound as if I have nothing better to do with my time than wait on her hand and foot.”
“And do you?”
The kitchen floor creaked as she crossed the room to the open door. Leaning her shoulder against the doorframe, she considered him with half-hooded eyes. “Think you’ve got me figured out pretty well, don’t you? Always trying to please the wrong people—isn’t that what you said that day you first took me to your training room? You don’t know the first thing about me and my sister.”
Tugging a worn mattress from behind a stack of chipped clay flowerpots, he dragged it to the middle of the bricked courtyard and threw it down. “Prove it to me.”
Her eyes jumped from the mattress to him. The club twisted in her hand. “Mr. Anderson, I’ve made my opinion on such things very clear.”
“There you go again, thinking the worst of me. Kissing you like I tried to last night wasn’t the most accurate representation.” Her face blanched white. “Oh, I know your genteel upbringing forbids talking about such base things, but there it is.”
Pulling the knife from his back pocket, he gestured to the mattress. “Let’s move on.”
The color returning to her face didn’t remove the scowl. Her eyes turned upward to the surrounding buildings and windows. “Your neighbors won’t find this odd?”
“Nope. Nothing new to them.”
She sighed. “Of course not.”
“The SIS bought up the entire block the Stag sits on to cover up the comings and goings.” He pointed to the plain brick backside of the Stag that stood on the opposite side