Page 96 of Juliet's Touch

“I was worried about you,” she said. “I decided I wanted to be close in case you needed me.”

By God, he loved this woman who was willing to leave her beautiful world to stand by his side in a filthy rookery. He nudged her around, placed his hand in the small of her back, and guided her toward the carriage. The footman stood a few feet away, watching. Eric suspected Juliet had convinced him to let her enter the building, following close behind her.

“Did you get the answers you needed?” she asked.

He nodded. “I did.”

“You didn’t hurt him, did you?”

He shook his head.

“I knew you would do the right thing. He deserves to pay for his misdeed, but I don’t want his death hanging over us.”

Perhaps spending his life wallowing in a filthy flashhouse, drunk on cheap swill, was the man’s payment.

“We have a happy life ahead of us,” she said as if reading his mind. “Now, we can concentrate on our marriage and home.”

“That sounds perfect,” he said.

She leaned close to whisper, “And ridding London of ne’re-do-wells. But you can just knock them out, tie them up, and leave them in front of prisons.”

“You plan to join my crusade?” he taunted.

“I don’t think I’d be much help in a dark alley facing a large, disgruntled man. However, I will take my role of cheering on Knight Roamer quite seriously.”

He hadn’t given his crime-fighting future much thought over the past few days. But interestingly, he was relieved that he could continue with his mission if he so desired, and it seemed that he very much wanted to.

Grinning like a fool, he helped his fiancée into the carriage.