Read Online The Darkest Sin by Caroline Richards - Free Book Online

entreaty in her voice, the hard lines of his face transformed into an expression she wished desperately to interpret as warmth. Rowena blinked and then just as suddenly the smile faded. “Miss Woolcott,” he said, her name on his tongue unreasonably pleasing to her ears, “much as I would like to help you, I must reiterate what I said to you yesterday evening. I am not the man you think I am. Trust me when I say that your consorting with me can only bring you more harm. The best I can do is offer you funds so you may return to your home safely. Otherwise, you will simply be compounding an already difficult situation.”
    â€œDifficult for whom?” Her hands curled into fists. “I get the distinct impression that there is something you are unwilling to reveal here, sir. Why is it that you are keen to unravel the mystery behind a stranger’s death, but you will not help me?” The words left her mouth before she knew it. She was, after all, as much a stranger to him as the actress lying cold and dead on Mrs. Banks’s table in Shoreditch.
    He raised a brow. “Simply because I found myself embroiled in the Cruikshank murders does not mean that I am prepared to involve myself in every lamentable situation that comes my way.”
    Rowena flinched at the dismissal in his tone, narrowly reining in the urge to tell him the whole truth, or at least what she knew of it.
    Rushford continued, “In short, Miss Woolcott, I suggest that you flee the scene as quickly as you are able.”
    â€œThen you admit that I am in danger. How could you possibly know that, sir?”
    â€œYou’ve told me on several occasions, if you’ll recall.”
    â€œAnd now you believe me suddenly. So what has changed?”
    â€œYou would have made an excellent barrister, Miss Woolcott,” he said drily, a glimmer of admiration in his eyes.
    She unclenched the fingers on her lap. “Then I’m not finished questioning you, my lord. Why is it that you find yourself embroiled in these nasty situations, the Cruikshank murders and now this poor actress? There is something at work, I’m convinced, that compels you to come to the aid of those who have nowhere else to turn. It is the reason behind my appearance at your town house last evening and the reason why I am sitting across from you here today, my lord.”
    He considered her over steepled hands. “You are tenacious, Miss Woolcott.”
    â€œMerely desperate,” she corrected him. “There is no one else to whom I can turn for the appropriate expertise. You are a man who could spend his time gambling or boxing or riding in Hyde Park, and yet you choose to devote your time to matters far outside your station. Why?”
    Rushford placed a hand over his heart in mock surprise. “I protest, Miss Woolcott. It is you who are the sleuth, shadowing my every move and gathering the most intimate of information about my personal habits. Given your propensities, you most likely know how much I wagered last night at Crockford’s and the condition of my linen.”
    Despite her desperation, Rowena felt her cheeks warm, the image of Rushford’s impressive musculature, and the memory of his attempt at intimidation, difficult to banish. He was teasing her, she knew, as only a man of his experience could do. Well, she was no schoolroom miss, ready to run with her hair aflame at the thought of being alone with a man. Still, the thought caught her unawares, like the tendrils of a dream at dawn. “I had no choice but to meet with you as I did,” she said in an attempt to justify her actions. “Of course, I had to learn everything I possibly could, and it seemed to make perfect sense at the time . . .” Inexplicably and illogically, all of this felt somehow right, like the tumblers of a complex lock falling into place.
    Lord Rushford was a stranger, she reminded herself again, which did nothing to account for the