Chapter Twenty

When Adam returned, Lily unlocked the shop door and slipped inside, beckoning him in after her. Once inside, she shut and locked the door once more. Then, the gloom enveloping her, she turned to look at her husband.

“Why did you insist on coming here tonight? I haven’t had time to tend to the shop, what with our purpose… And where were you for so long?”

Adam didn’t answer. He turned on his heel, striding into the shop as if he’d frequented it all his life. It was Lily who knew the shop with her eyes closed. However, she followed him into the storeroom, where she found and lit a candle.

He turned to her. “We needed someplace private to talk.”

She stiffened. She didn’t like the grim note in his voice. What did they have to speak of? Only the fact that she was warming his bed.

They were man and wife, regardless of how long they would be reunited. If he tried to tell her that what they were doing was wrong…

“Where were you? You weren’t waiting for me when I left the house.”

He ran his hand over his face before dropping it to his side. “I was speaking with Chatterley.”

“Impossible. I was speaking with him.”

He nodded amiably. “Indeed you were. Perhaps I should have said: I was searching his bedchambers and after you left, he found me there. That was when we spoke.”

Her breath stuck in her throat. She reached out, blindly clasping his hands as if to reassure herself he still stood before her. “He found you?”

Adam grimaced. “He did, but I don’t think he realized my aim. He assumed I waited to ask after you.”

Softly, barely daring to hope, Lily asked, “Did you find anything?”

She didn’t know if they could avoid being separated again, but Zeus, she wanted to try. Her entire focus was on taking advantage of the time they had left. But if…

Grimly, Adam shook his head. Her hopes shriveled to the size of a raisin.

“Not in time. I think I may have discovered his hiding place, though. If I can manage to enter the household again…”

“It’s too dangerous. What if he shoots you?”

Adam shrugged one shoulder. “Then I’ll bleed.”

She dropped his hand with alacrity, pulling back and hugging her arms around herself. How could he be so flippant?

His cavalier attitude faded as he considered her. “That wasn’t why I asked you here. We must speak of our next move.”

The last thing Lily wanted to discuss was business. She and Adam had so little time together. She rubbed her tongue over the dry roof of her mouth. “What do you propose?”

“You have the drawing of the armband?”

Lily shook her head, hugging herself tighter. “It’s at home.”

“Bollocks. Well, you held the artifact in your hand. You studied it.”

“For only a minute. Not even long enough to make certain it was genuine.”

He cocked his head to the side. “Funny you should mention that…”

She frowned but didn’t interrupt him.

“Do you think you could forge one?”

Lily turned away from him, disgusted. “First you have me forge my name on documents, now you want me to do the same with jewelry?” In the past month she had turned from her path as an artisan to become a mountebank.

But that wasn’t his fault. Adam had only provided her with solutions to the problem Reid had caused.

His touch ghosted over her back between her shoulder blades. “I have every confidence in your abilities.”

He did, of that she had no doubt. She patted the dry skin beneath her eyes, feeling like a petulant child. She had to face this business sooner or later. Sooner, if Reid got his way. What news would she provide him in a short two days? Taking a deep breath, she turned to meet Adam’s gaze again.

Sensing her change in mood, his voice took on a briskness. “Is it possible? If you can create it, we’ll switch the two artifacts and no one will be the wiser.”

She pulled a face but tried to think of the logistics of creating such an item. “I have some materials here that I might be able to use, particularly if I’m willing to melt down the metals from the jewelry I have yet to sell. But it might take more finesse than I possess.” She met his gaze, lost. “I’ve never done this before.”

He touched her cheek, his fingers gentle. “Darling, I will do everything I can to ensure you never have to do it again. But I haven’t found a way out from under Chatterley’s thumb. We must pretend to keep busy or he’ll move forward with his threats.”

Weak, she leaned into his touch. She pressed a kiss to the heel of his hand. “I’ll try. That’s all I can promise. I don’t know how long Reid will wait.”

“He’s agreed to a month. I don’t think we’ll get much more than that. We’ll have to work quickly.”

She stepped back, squaring her shoulders and looking into his eyes. He didn’t realize the dangers he asked her to face, but she had faced them before. “I know a man who can help us gather the rest of the materials. I’ll send a message to him.”

…

If Adam had known that in order to recreate the relic they would have to meet with the criminal underbelly of London, he would have found another way. As the knock sounded on the shop door, punctuating the stillness of the evening, Adam touched Lily’s elbow. She seemed to sense his reserve, a notion he had expressed copiously and been overruled.

“Let me handle this.”

She pulled away from him. “I’ve dealt with the Hand before. I’ll speak with him.”

“Who calls himself the Hand?”

She ignored Adam’s muttered complaint. Her gaze cut like steel as she turned away. “He has quick fingers. Watch your pockets.” She left him to cross to the door and opened it, beckoning the man inside.

He didn’t come alone. A great bear of a man stepped in after him, a foot taller and twice as broad as the man who fixed Lily with a wide smile.

“Miss Bancroft, it’s been some time. I feared I would not hear from you again.”

He took hold of her hand in his left, the right arm hanging limply beneath his cloak, in shadow. When he raised her hand to his lips, a growl worked its way from Adam’s throat. Involuntarily, he found himself taking a step forward to guard her back.

“Mrs. Darling.”

The Hand let go of her and raised his eyebrows, undaunted. He glanced toward Adam briefly, immediately dismissing him from his mind as he focused on Lily. A mistake.

“Have you hired new help? I hadn’t realized the shop was doing so well.”

“Please ignore my associate. I have a proposal for you.”

The man gave her a crooked smile, pressing his left hand over his chest. “Be still my heart. Don’t tell me you’re finally going to cast off this mad claim of marriage and accept another. I’d be so much better than your absent husband, and you know it.”

Adam bristled. He reached forward, intending to lay his hand on Lily’s back, but she danced out of his grip. He fought not to scowl. He didn’t like this conversation at all, and he particularly didn’t care for the Hand.

“I’m afraid this is a business proposal. If you’ll come in?”

The man gave a theatrical sigh but followed her into the storeroom, where they had set up a table and two chairs. Lily took one.

“Someday, you will change your mind…”

Not in this lifetime.

The Hand took the vacant seat and pulled it nearer to Lily before he sat.

“What can I do for you? I have a few good pieces looking for new homes…”

Lily sat primly on the edge of her chair, her hands clasped in her lap. “I’m afraid I have something more specific to propose.” She slipped her hand into her bodice and pulled out a folded slip of paper. She slid it across the tabletop toward him. “I’m looking for these items. And if you can find them for me, the price I’ll pay is listed at the bottom.”

The man gave her a rakish smile. “I can find anything, you know that. But…” He trailed his fingers over the still folded piece of paper in small circles. “If it takes a little time to discover, we may have to renegotiate the price.”

Adam would renegotiate. He would renegotiate by slamming the man’s head against the wall. When he cracked his knuckles, the Hand jumped and turned. As clever as he seemed to think himself, he hadn’t been paying attention to Adam’s location. Adam, on the other hand, was viscerally aware of the muscle the man had brought into Lily’s shop. He’d already calculated the precise set of moves he would use to incapacitate the two men if matters turned awry.

Lily said quickly, “Within reason.”

Again, the man offered her a smile. To Adam’s satisfaction, it was far more brittle than the one he’d offered earlier. “Within reason.” He lifted her hand again, holding it halfway to his lips. “Of course, I might be persuaded to lower my price for the right incentive…”

Adam stormed forward. He refused to stand here and watch this man slobber over his wife. As he reached out to grab the man’s collar, his bodyguard intercepted, grabbing hold of Adam’s wrist. He broke the hold easily, pushing the bigger man back against the wall with a rattle that shook the storeroom.

The Hand jumped to his feet, looking at Adam with renewed respect and perhaps a healthy dose of fear. Adam used the fear to his advantage, speaking without releasing the bigger man.

“You’ll do it for the price listed. And you’ll do it quickly.”

“Adam,” Lily snapped. She stepped between him and the Hand, donning a diplomatic and cold expression. “I would like those items as soon as you’re able. Perhaps I’ll give you a couple days to look into them before you give me a better estimate?”

He glanced from her to Adam and back. “I’ll see what I can do.” The Hand gave her a jaunty little bow but didn’t reach for her again.

It was just as well. If Adam watched him touch her again, he would break the man’s “quick fingers.”

The moment they were gone, Lily rounded on him. “What was that?”

Adam curled his lip. “He doesn’t respect you.”

“I know that. I’ve worked with him before.”

“Has he ever brought a bodyguard before?”

She shrugged. “A time or two. This fellow is new. They don’t tend to last long.”

The fact that he had brought so intimidating a man, coupled with the way the weasel had acted toward Lily, making no secret of the fact that he wanted to warm her bed, made Adam wonder if the Hand had hoped to overpower her. I’d kill him. He trembled in the grip of a rage so potent, it raised phantoms from the past. Injustices he had witnessed and been unable to stop. Helpless.

“Adam?”

Lily’s light touch on his arm made him shudder. She stepped closer, firming her touch.

“Is this like the nightmares?”

Her voice was soft. Still trembling, he stepped back and leaned against the door to the street. A strong barrier between him and anyone who meant to do Lily harm. “No,” he said, his voice as rough as gravel. “I fear for your safety.”

She stiffened, her hands flexing as if she wanted to reach for him again. The look in her eyes cut him. He couldn’t face her disappointment.

“I’ve taken care of myself this long.”

Yes, she had. “I know. I still worry.”

He hadn’t been able to stop his brother from bleeding out in his arms. What if he couldn’t protect Lily, either? He shuddered at the thought. He couldn’t leave her to the mercy of men like the Hand. He couldn’t walk away.

I have to. I have no choice.

The doorframe dug against his shoulder. He used the pain to ground himself. The pain, the sweat clinging to his palms, the stale air of the shop, neglected these past weeks. Feigning nonchalance, he changed the subject. “It sounds as though we’ll have some time before we receive the materials we need. How do you feel about learning how to use a blade?”

There’d been a time when she would have told him not to be absurd. But when she opened her mouth, she hesitated and shut it again. “You mean a sword?”

“No. Too difficult to conceal. I was thinking more along the lines of a boot knife.”

She looked down at her feet, as if contemplating it. “That sounds like a useful skill.”

For her to accept so easily meant she felt the danger of dealing with men like the Hand, too. His heart twisted painfully. Take her away, far from here.

She wouldn’t come willingly. She’d made that abundantly clear. At least, this way, he was doing something to see to her protection.

His brother had been able to defend himself. It hadn’t helped.

Adam tried not to dwell on that agonizing truth.