Page 60 of An Unexpected Earl

“But we’re strangers now.” Raw emotion filled her voice. “I don’t know you anymore.”

“You do know me. You always have.”Better than anyone else in the world.

“But the turnpike—and the blackmail…” Her eyes glistened. “You said at the shop that Freddie was involved with a criminal group, with dangerous men.” She swallowed. “How do you know that? Are you involved with them?”

“I’m set on stopping them.”

“How?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“I see.” Disappointment rang like a bell in that short response, and she turned her back to him, facing the fireplace.

Pearce raked his fingers through his hair. The last thing he wanted to do was place her in more danger by telling her about Scepter. Or betray the men of the Armory. But if he didn’t tell her, if she didn’t understand why he was doing this—

He’d lose her again. This time for forever.

He dragged in a deep breath. “The group is called Scepter. They’re involved with smuggling, prostitution, bribery, blackmail—not just the criminal underworld, as you would expect, but penetrating all levels of society, including right up to the highest ranks of the aristocracy. And now into the government.” The bitterness bit like acid on his tongue. “Thanks to your brother.”

Slowly, she faced him. Her eyes still glistened in the firelight, but at least she was willing to listen.Thank God.“What do you mean?”

“The men your brother has placed into government appointments all have ties to Scepter. Men who now have positions all over Whitehall and the Court of St James’s.” He paused to punctuate the gravity of what he was confiding in her. “Men who are willing to commit murder and destroy lives to protect Scepter, to maintain its secrecy and power.” He slowly approached her. “Your brother’s only a pawn, but perhaps I can use him just as Scepter is. If he can help me make contacts in their organization, then I might be able to stop them.”

“But a handful of government positions, mostly low-level ones…” she whispered, barely louder than a breath. “Why would a criminal organization want those?”

“We don’t know.”

“We?”

“The men of the Armory.” He hadn’t wanted to tell her about them either. But if she thought he was doing this alone, she’d most likely do something rash to try to stop him and expose everything they’d been working so hard to achieve. “We’re a group of former soldiers who work out of the old armory just to the north of the City. Scepter came after one of our own and his family, and now we’ve pledged to stop them.” He fixed his eyes on hers. “We won’t let them harm the ones we love.”

He couldn’t tell her anything more. Not yet. But he could offer assurances, however limited.

“Believe me, Amelia.” He gently touched her cheek, and she trembled at his caress. “I would never do anything to harm you. Put your trust in me, and give me the chance to prove it.”

The hard stubbornness to keep him at arm’s length eased from her with the sagging of her shoulders and a faint pressing of her cheek into his palm.

Yet it was a gesture of exasperation, not surrender. She still held little trust in him. Her uncertainties ran too deep to vanish so easily.

A knock came at the door, and one of the barmaids called out, “Yer hot splash an’ good, as ordered.”

When Pearce moved the chair aside and opened the door, the girl beamed a smile at him, which turned apologetic when she glanced past him and saw Amelia wrapped in the blanket.

Pearce bit down a grimace. What she thought had been happening here was the furthest thing from the truth. Regrettably.

The maid carried a bucket of hot water in one hand and two tankards of ale in the other, and on her arm, she balanced a plate of food. Mumbling an apology, she hurried across the small room to place the bucket by the washstand and the food and ale on the desk. Then she pulled a bottle of whiskey out of one apron pocket and a glass from the other. Those she placed on the fireplace shelf.

Pearce tossed her a coin, and she closed the door as she left.

“Hot splash and good,” Amelia repeated the cant, bewilderment edging her voice. “You ordered hot water and food for us?”

Her surprise grated, that it wouldn’t occur to him to think of comforts like this for her. Hadn’t she learned yet? He put her first in his thoughts. Always.

“That river was filthy and freezing.” He snatched up his shirt from the floor. “I thought you’d appreciate hot water to wash with and some whiskey to warm you.”

“I do. I’m just…surprised, that’s all.”

He draped his shirt over the chair in front of the fire next to her dress and grudgingly bit out, “That I would think of that?”