Page 22 of Stolen By the Heartless Duke

She did not go directly to his house. She was unchaperoned, and she’d risked too much already going to Bow Street alone.

So, instead, she’d go to him at night. Just like he had when he’d come to her house.

Late afternoon blurred into evening. She kept her distance near the route she suspected he would take, watching, observing, and telling herself she was being strategic rather than reckless.

When the carriage finally appeared, it was not ornate, nor the kind she would have expected for a duke. It was dark and unmarked, and moved with purpose.

Jane’s pulse tightened.

He was alone. Or at least unaccompanied in any visible sense. She followed.

Keeping her distance on horseback through London streets required careful timing. Just enough space to avoid suspicion, but close enough not to lose him. Jane’s focus narrowed until everything else blurred: the sound of hooves, the shifting light, the occasional glance from passersby.

Eventually, the carriage left the more respectable parts of the city.

The buildings grew closer together. The streets narrowed. The air changed. Jane slowed instinctively. This was not a district in which she belonged.

The carriage stopped near a side street that led into a darker cluster of buildings. A brothel sat prominently at the corner, its windows dimly lit, its entrance guarded by a woman who watched everything with tired, practiced awareness.

Jane hesitated.

Of all the places…

Her cheeks heated before she could stop it. Instinctively, she drew her cloak closer around her to make herself less visible.

The duke stepped down from the carriage.

He did not look around. He simply moved into the alley beside the building.

Jane’s hesitation lasted only a moment longer. She dismounted quickly and led her horse into a narrow side passage where she tied it loosely. Her hands were slightly unsteady now, but she forced them still.

This is necessary, she told herself.

The alley was narrow, damp, and smelled faintly of smoke and refuse. The sound of the city dulled here, replaced by something quieter, more intimate. Jane kept close to the wall, moving carefully, her boots barely making noise against the stone.

At the end of the passage, the duke was nowhere in sight. Jane frowned slightly.

Then a voice came from behind her. “What on earth are you doing here?”

Chapter Three

“My lady…” the voice hissed.

With that, Jane turned sharply. The duke stood a few paces away, half in shadow. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

His gaze moved over her, and something unreadable flickered across his face. Not anger, exactly. Something more complicated. Like disbelief tangled with confusion.

Jane lifted her chin immediately, reclaiming composure she did not entirely feel.

“That question,” she said evenly, “seems rather unfair coming from you.”

His eyes narrowed slightly. “You followed me.”

It was not a question.

Jane’s pulse beat harder, but she refused to let it show. “I was already in the area.”

“That is a remarkable coincidence,” the duke said with a hint of amusement in his voice.