Page 50 of Devil in Her Details

“They live here in Brighton?” Lilly asked.

Dagger nodded. “Quite happily.”

“Well, pests aside, Brighton is not that bad.”

“Why did you choose our seaside town?” Dagger asked. He wanted to dig out every scrap of knowledge he could.

“Me?” Her gaze turned thoughtful. “I don’t rightly know, to be honest. Bath was the obvious choice, so I chose Brighton.”

“And do you regret your decision?” Though he doubted she’d have fared better in Bath. But she wouldn’t have met him.

“Hard to say,” she evaded, stepping back to regard him with close scrutiny. “Those men you captured, did you learn anything from them?”

“No.”

She arched a brow. “Didn’t break enough fingers?”

“Didn’t break any fingers.”

“I see. Well, since our contract is over, you need not bother with them further. Your brothers should be happy.”

His gaze sharpened on her. “What exactly did my brother say to you?” Rage once again erupted in his heart, moving up to his throat and down to the pit of his stomach. He’d skin Saint alive. His brother had crossed a line—they all knew better than to interfere with each other’s affairs to this degree, and yet Saint had walked straight into his and opened his bloody mouth. Whatever he’d said might not have sent her running, but it had certainly damn contributed. Dagger intended to have words about that. Several of them. For now, he tucked them all away.

He’d deal with Saint later.

Tonight, he had other intentions entirely. None of which included returning home.

“I can’t recall,” she evaded.

Dagger didn’t press her. Her retreat didn’t surprise him either, but he had no intention of allowing her to place herself in harm’s way. Too many things had already been put into motion for him to simply step back. “So, you’re going to deal with the marquess yourself?”

“I have a plan.”

“Let’s hear it then,” Dagger murmured.

She averted her gaze. “You should go. It doesn’t involve you.”

Dagger studied the stubborn lynx. “Is this because of what I said earlier?”

She eyed him from the side. “You were very clear that only family may pry into your life.”

Grudge-bearing lynx. He’d acted out of instinct. And perhaps begrudging himself. What were lines anyway? He’d already crossed multiple of them. But the biggest one was the simple, immovable fact of who she was and who he wasn’t. She belonged to a class that lived in spectacular light. He belonged to shadows and daggers and debts paid in ways people like her could not begin to fathom. What accompanied that truth was a wall so high and so thick that no amount of wanting could put a dent in it and equally impossible to scale. He knew this. He had always known this. He knew it now, sitting on the edge of her bed in but a sliver of the candlelight she was made for.

This was as far as he could venture.

But he shouldn’t have hurt her.

“I was too harsh,” Dagger muttered. “Forgive me?”

“Why? You are not in the wrong. You simply said things as they were.”

“I was hasty my with words,” he amended. Both were true, in any case. “Please, Lilly, forgive me?”

“Fine.”

“Tell me your plan?”

She gave him an exasperated look before sighing. “Spread rumors about the man to ensure he dashes back to London.”