“Mrs. Harper said she’d have somebody tell me what to do. God, what a stink. Where did you say we were going again?” Miss Ramsey’s gloved hand pressed over her mouth and nose, and her forehead wrinkled in distaste. How strange that such a repugnant expression could look so lovely.
“We are going to my aunt. She is ill.” He stopped to allow a tradesman’s cart to pass before continuing. “But as for the rout, Mrs. Harper intended for Henrietta to show you how to go on. Henrietta wanted Fannie’s position for herself. She made it quite well known that she’d be most happy if the dowager found you unsatisfactory.” He bit back the part about prison. No reason to frighten the girl.
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as they entered St. Giles. To distract her from the wors-
ening conditions in the streets, he began reciting a litany of advice for the morrow.
“The dowager is His Grace’s mother. You will need to be most careful while in her presence. Mind how you go there.” He steered her away from a pile of filth in the street. “She does not tolerate mistakes from her servants.
You’ve one chance to impress her, and once lost, you shall never have another.”
“So, no pressure,” Miss Ramsey said dryly, tucking an errant blond lock behind her ear. “Not only is my future mother-in- law a former duchess, she’s also a terrifying dragon lady. Good thing I brushed up on my dragon-slaying etiquette.”
She fell silent, and Avery let her take in the scene of the square.
It was familiar to him. After all, once his mother had passed on, he and his father had come to live here, in one of the shanties by the church. The foul odors, the calling curses loud in the air, the crowded conditions were all as native to him as breathing. He turned, and his throat closed at the shock on Miss Ramsey’s face.
“Your sick aunt doesn’t live here, does she?” Her words were thick with horror.
An odd mixture of shame and offended pride filled him. “It’s not such a bad place. There’s a roof over her and enough food to fill her belly. If I had the means, she would make her home in a more comfortable situation.”
She turned to him, biting her lip before speaking.
“Avery, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”
He dismissed her apology with a wave. “No matter.”
“You used to live here, didn’t you?”
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Gina Lamm
Her insight nearly felled him. He drew himself up higher. “Yes, I did.”
Her small hand curled around his arm. “No wonder you’re so tough. You had to be, growing up here.”
He cast a glance over to her. She was looking into his face, without pity, without any sign of condescension.
She simply stated fact, but there was a light behind her eyes, one that made him wonder if she esteemed him for overcoming his former hardships.
Though he longed to reach out, bathe himself in that light, he cleared his throat and continued. “Follow me, if you please.”
Despite his longing at having her so near, he made sure to remain as close as her shadow as they wound their way through St. Giles toward his aunt’s one-room hovel.
Guiding her toward the next corner, he pulled down his hat and prayed as he passed The Wolf and Dove public house that no one would notice him. The first time he’d gone to a mill, which had been against his will, was at the insistence of the proprietor, Benedict Turpin. He’d won half a crown, as promised, but had made the acquaintance of the Thomas Prachett in the bargain.
“Quickly now,” he said in a low voice to Miss Ramsey, hustling her past the door.
“Russell, as I live and breathe,” a cackle came from the door of the pub. The man leaning against the door spat into the street, then smiled with a mouthful of rotten teeth at Avery. It was Turpin, of course. One of Prachett’s men. The one who’d introduced them.
Avery’s stomach, having changed into a sack of lead, plummeted.
Then again, luck never had been much on his side.
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Eleven
“Fancy meeting you here, you old devil.” The man’s accent was thick, making it hard to understand him.
Leah turned toward the voice, curiosity momentarily overtaking the nerves that had been ruling her brain. She’d been to some scary places in her day. Hell, once she’d had an overnight layover in Detroit. But even that hadn’t prepared her for the harsh reality of the London slums.
Avery’s shoulders, lined with tension before, tightened even further as he turned to face the one who’d addressed him.