A shadow on her side made her turn just in time to see George approach. “Don’t bother the lady anymore.”
The next second happened in a blink. With the last spill of sunlight, Mena saw the flash and screamed just as the man struck George, his eyes menacing. The stranger’s hand remained still and close to George’s chest, wrapped around the handle of a dagger, before he pulled it out, snatched Mena’s purse, and ran, the sound of his feet slapping the pavement the only sound before Mena heard something heavy hit the ground.
She turned and found Mrs. Gale laying limp and cried out again as George crumpled to the ground. Watching George fall seemed like watching a Montgolfier hot air balloon deflate. He simply fell like the wind had been cut from him and unlike when Morgan was stabbed, she could tell that George was truly gone.
Someone must have heard her screaming, because a crowd gathered. She had no idea how long she’d screamed and didn’t remember what happened next, but as Allie put her to bed, she knew she wouldn’t find sleep and wondered if she’d ever sleep soundly again.
* * *
18
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
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“Do what you must.”
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“We’ll put another two men at this entrance and then another two down the alley.” Simon pointed to a map that had been constructed of Mena’s house. It was something they’d had for a year, but up until now, Morgan had never cared to look at the minor details. It was different staring at the house of the woman he planned to marry, deciding where she was most vulnerable, and finding he didn’t like it at all.
“Unless Creed brings a horde of men to this dinner, it will be easy to take him if we have to,” Simon said, and it wasn’t a lie.
Morgan, like the others, had all bought homes in not only safe areas but ones that had a design that allowed men to always have a place in each room that kept his back safe. Mena’s home made her the perfect victim if a man was so inclined to make her one.
It was yet another reason to rush the wedding, though he doubted it was reason enough for her to agree.
The other reasons had less to do with safety and more to do with an all-consuming need to make her his. Completely. Utterly and wholly.
And to finally give himself to someone with equal measure.
He’d never thought he’d want that so much, to give himself over to anyone’s hands, but Mena had bound him with her smiles. Just like one of his ships that pulled into the bay, he was well fastened to her, secured and attached in a way that had no weak points.
Philomena was everything. She was life and hope and he needed her.
He regretted ruining their tryst in the closet. Nothing in his life had come close to making him feel as happy as he’d been in her arms. If he were less honorable, he could see himself abandoning duty to his country and men just so he could take her far away to a place where he existed as nothing but her husband. There’d be no Lord Durham. No spy. He’d simply be Morgan, the man who fell for Philomena. A love untouchable and unimagined by even the most famed poets.
He touched his side where it had started to ache. He’d been standing too long today. He was currently in his sitting room, only a few feet away from his bedchamber, and once the meeting ended, he planned to go there and simply think about Mena.
He wanted to dream about her.
What he didn’t want to do was make a plan that would upset her if she ever discovered what the men were up to.
“Place a man on the balcony as well,” Warren said.
“The balcony?” Lucas leaned back and crossed his arms.
Warren smiled. “That’s how Sopherina snuck into my house.” While the world had thought Sopherina dead, she’d later confessed that she’d been training with Sir Max St. Cloud on the Isle of Wight. He’d also trained the men, and it went without saying that Sopherina was very skilled. While she’d debated on what she would do once allowed to return to the world, she’d slipped repeatedly into Warren’s bedchamber and visited him while he’d been abed. She’d done so for months and all the visits had been unknown to him.
“Two men on the balcony,” Simon said. “They’ll have to keep themselves well-hidden as to not give themselves away until that becomes necessary.”
Simon was going on the belief that dinner could be a great opportunity not only for their side, but Creed’s as well, meaning there was a chance that Mena— unknowingly— could be leading them all into a trap. Why else would Creed have agreed to let her marry him?
Their conversation was interrupted when Ralph burst into the room, his hands gripping the doorframe as though he would be leaving the moment his words left his lips. There was urgency in his posture and every man in the room went still. His eyes looked at everyone before landing on him and Morgan stiffened.
“Mena.” He knew it before Ralph said a word. The pain in his side took an inferior position in his mind as he stood. “What happened?” He heard the other chairs scrape back and feet settle.
“There was a carriage incident. Her driver was stabbed.”
He flinched at the news. It was the second stabbing in as many days. “And Philomena?”
“She was only a witness.” Ralph’s grimace, however, implied the news didn’t make him that happy.
“Did the driver make it?” Simon asked.
Ralph shook his head.
Morgan moved past him and started toward his front door. “Where is she?”
“Some of the people on the street saw her and Mrs. Gale home. I sent one of the other men to see it done.” Ralph, along with three other spies, had been following Philomena’s every move but had been told not to interact with her until it became vital. That a knife had been produced so close to Mena for a second time in less than a week didn’t sit well with him.
The others were on his heels when he made it to his carriage.
“Do you think Creed behind this?” Simon asked as he entered with Ralph at his heels. Warren and Lucas also followed.
“I don’t know,” Morgan said. “I don’t understand why he’d go after her.” He turned to Ralph. “I want to know everything that happened.”
Ralph didn’t hesitate to relay the story. When he was finished, he said, “It was clear that Mena was not his mark if this was planned. He took her purse but didn’t harm her. One of our men went after him but found he’d disappeared once they’d reached the corner onto a busy street.”
“You think he had transport waiting?” Lucas asked.
“It’s likely,” Ralph said. “Though I’m not sure.”
“What would Creed gain from scaring her?” Warren asked.
Morgan sighed. “Maybe it’s something else.”
“No.” Simon shook his head. “It’s Creed. I can feel it.”
“Perhaps now she’ll rush the wedding,” Warren said.