He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it gently. “Tina.”
His voice was deep and quiet, and it made her shiver inside. His lips were warm and intimate, and that shiver intensified. Despite their being nearly strangers, she felt close to him, as if they shared a secret.
Which of course they did.
Although for the moment Tina wasn’t certain she completely understood just what that secret was.
Chapter 5
“Archie, I have to go out. Business.”
The accompanying lift of Richard’s eyebrows spoke volumes about the nature of his business. Guardian business.
“Very good, sir. Would you like me to accompany you?”
“No, I won’t need you this time. I’m just doing a little reconnoitering. I don’t expect to find out anything of importance. Or get into any trouble.”
“If you say so, sir.”
“Have Samson saddled.”
Richard caught Archie’s smile as he left the room. It was true there had been times when his work with the Guardians had resulted in a black eye or a bloody nose. And one memorable evening he’d sustained a blow to his head that had laid him low for days. Anthony had died on a mission.
He tended to be more careful now. Although he wanted to avenge Anthony’s murder, he also wanted to live to experience the satisfaction of the moment.
His thoughts drifted into more pleasant realms.
While he didn’t expect to be out of town for long, he’d written a note to Tina Smythe for Archie to deliver to Mallory Street. He pictured her now in the clothing they had planned together, the dark green dress with the cream lace and the low décolletage, clinging to her sweetly rounded bosom. Why, he wondered idly, hadn’t he thought of employing his skills with young ladies before? They were considerably more stimulating than the gentlemen he usually dealt with. But then again was stimulation necessarily a good thing?
Richard also remembered he’d decided on an extra pair of eyes to keep watch in the Smythe household.
When Archie returned to tell him that Samson was ready, Richard said, “Archie, I have a job for you. Well, two actually. I want you to deliver this note to Miss Smythe.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And there is something more while you’re at it. A little mission.”
“A mission, sir?” Archie’s eyes twinkled. “I hoped you might find something for me. What is it?”
Richard explained the situation.
“Ah. You think there might be a pretty maidservant I can win over to our side?”
“That did cross my mind, Archie. Do you think you’re up to it?”
Archie grinned. “I may not be as young as I used to be, sir, but I’m not in my dotage yet. I’m told that now I have turned forty years of age I have a certain gravitas.”
“I’ll leave it to you then.”
Samson was saddled and ready, and Richard lost no time in setting off. He was heading out of London, going southeast, on the road that then turned into the major coaching route to Kent. However, Richard wasn’t intending to travel far. His destination was a popular inn situated where the city turned to country and was frequented by coaches, public and private, and run by an acquaintance of his. If there was anything to be learned about mysterious travelers coming and going at the time of the Bossenden Wood incident, then Gareth was the man to ask.
The Great Southern Inn was as busy as he remembered, and Richard settled into the parlor with a tankard of ale, amusing himself by watching the antics of a large family who’d broken their journey for food and drink. The children were overexcited, the mother at the end of her tether, and the father pretending they didn’t belong to him. While the young nursemaid looked as if she was about to hand in her notice.
His own family, he mused, had been very different.
Richard and Anthony had been born two years apart, and a younger sister had died as a baby. Their father was a traditionalist, stern and distant, but their mother was warm and loving, the heart of the family. She had died when her sons were still children, and afterward, their father only grew sterner and more distant. It was his decision to send the brothers away to school rather than deal with their grief himself.
Richard had a difficult time at school. Anthony, for whom the whole notion of boarding school was far easier, became his protector and, more importantly, his friend. They’d been very close, and remembering those days now only made what happened later all the more painful and regrettable.