Guiltily, Rose glance down at her curves and sighed. At the moment, her feminine inadequacies were insignificant, and now was not the time to think about them in more detail. She had just witnessed two men being killed in cold blood and she couldn’t get distracted from that. What the killer was going to do next was considerably more important than how wide her hips were and whether men found them attractive.
“I don’t know what to do,” she admitted in a shaken whisper.
Barnaby sympathised. He had been in this kind of situation on more than one occasion in the past. It wasn’t anything too unusual for him given his line of work. However, to someone like Rose, it was a massive shock to her delicate sensibilities, and he had to keep that in mind at all costs if he wanted her total compliance in what they were about to do.
“All he can see is our heads together when we stand like this. He will think we are nothing more than lovers making use of the darkness. We are not going to correct him about that misapprehension by doing anything rash. Do you understand me?”
Rose nodded jerkily.
“Can you still see him?” Barnaby murmured for her ears only.
Rose took another cautious peek over his shoulder, but this time there was no sign of Chadwick.
“Is that his name? Chadwick? And no, I don’t see him.”
Barnaby sighed. He had no intention of furnishing her with any information. He wanted her to answer his questions.
“We are going to turn around and walk back inside, but very slowly. Put your arm through mine as we go so we look like lovers wandering back to the ball. He has no reason to suspect anything.”
“He has just been staring at us,” Rose protested, knowing deep inside that this was never going to work. Someone was going to see them – one of the awful gossips inside, maybe. Then she would go from being the one person in the room everyone ignored to the person everyone gossiped about, but she had no choice but to go along with his suggestion. If she managed to get back inside without stumbling across the gunman, then she was happy to go with him – for now. Once they were inside, though, matters would be different.
Barnaby sighed heavily. Picking her hand up, he slapped it on his arm and glared down at her.
“Just do as I say and we will get out of here without being shot at. Of course, you can take your bloody chances and go your own way, but he is a better shot than you are a runner. You won’t reach that door before you get struck down,” Barnaby snapped.
“You don’t have to swear,” Rose scolded. She had no idea where the admonishment came from. It had been the last thing she had been thinking. It had come out of nowhere and had surprised her as much as it annoyed him.
Barnaby glared at her. “Look, you might want to stand out here chatting all night but I would prefer to get somewhere a little safer. Preferably somewhere I won’t get shot. Now, are you going to do as I ask or shall I leave you out here for him to pick off at will?”
Rose stared at him. “I want to go inside,” she whispered.
“Good. Then do as I say,” Barnaby began. “Once we are off this balcony, you are going to have to come with me. If you alert anybody about what you have seen the room with erupt into chaos. A man like the killer is going to take advantage of that. If you wish everybody inside to stay safe, keep your head down, move slowly, and do not stop for anything.”
“I can’t go anywhere with you,” Rose protested, horrified at the thought. Having just witnessed two men being slaughtered she wasn’t going to just hand herself over to a random stranger, even one as handsome and daring as this one.
“You have to,” Barnaby said flatly.
“Where did you come from?” She pinned him with a suspicious glare.
Barnaby sighed and dug deep for his patience. “I am not going to discuss that with you now. Just move.”
He saw no reason to tell her that he had been following Albert Chadwick for several weeks now. Chadwick was a street fighter of the worst kind. He didn’t just fight until his opponent hit the ground, he fought to the death. Albert was so ruthless that he put an entirely different meaning to the phrase ‘down and out’. Most of the people who crossed him never lived to see another day. Barnaby wondered whether to tell her all of that but the thought of sending her into a fit of hysterics was enough to stop him. Information on Chadwick would be passed on to her later if needed. It was important that he keep at least one bargaining chip to one side to use should she balk at an order in the future.
“Damn it all to Hell, let’s go,” he growled.
Rose dug her heels in when he began to propel her toward the door. It was ridiculous really because being inside was considerably safer than spending another second alone with this man. It was where she had wanted to be only a few minutes ago. Now that she had to face the prospect of being forced there by this handsome stranger she wanted to protest against it and remain on the balcony.
“Let go of me,” she protested. She tried to prise his hand off her elbow but was forcibly pushed to the door anyway.
“Move,” Barnaby bit off a curse when she struggled against him with surprising strength.
He didn’t know what the hell she was stalling for, but he wasn’t going to stick his arse to the wind for a second longer than he absolutely had to. It would be him who got shot if Chadwick decided to stop them now. He wasn’t going to risk it for some recalcitrant female. Yanking the door open he stood back to allow her to precede him into the room. Before he closed it behind him he glanced at the coal yard. The bodies remained untouched. There was no sign of Chadwick. He hadn’t run though. He had moved down the street and now stood in the shadows directly opposite the ballroom staring up at him. Aware that the woman was likely to disappear if he didn’t hurry, Barnaby closed the door and went to join her.
“This way,” Barnaby growled as he forged a path through the seething mass of people, tugging the woman behind him.
Rose tried to make her way to the far corner of the room, in completely the opposite direction to the one the stranger wanted her to go, but he caught her wrist in a tight hold and hauled her against him. Using the press of bodies around them to hold her still, he practically dragged her toward the main entrance.
“I am not going with you,” Rose protested.