Page 72 of Project Duke

“I know,” said Nathaniel. He was very tense, and Calliope didn’t know why.

She felt him pull away from her, and she didn’t know what to do about it. Fear crippled her. She felt too much for him, too soon. He was a big, strong, kind man…but if she trusted him, made herself vulnerable, he could break her.

Like William had.

And so instead of reaching out to him, asking what was the matter, telling him she was afraid he would hurt her, she retreated back into what occupied pretty much every second of her life when she wasn’t thinking of Nathaniel, the girls, or fixing Roxburgh.

Finding Spencer.

“Right,” she said. “Well then, let’s use our time wisely. Jane’s here, and I want to ask her advice on how to best approach Thorne.”

“Thorne?” Nathaniel’s attention snapped to Calliope for the first time that evening. “Thorne Blackmore?”

“Yes, Thorne Blackmore. He’s Jane’s brother, so he’s my brother-in-law…and yours.”

“Please don’t tell me you want to go to Whitechapel—to goddamn Elysium—to talk to him!”

There he was again, the sea devil, his gaze burning.

“Yes, I do, Nathaniel. Harvey gave us some clues, and I don’t want to sit back and wait until next week if I could have Thorne’s help. Maybe he knows the man. Or he can ask his people to find him. He’s like a king over there, isn’t he?”

“The king of criminals,” Nathaniel spat out. “You promised you wouldn’t go there alone.”

“And I won’t. That’s why I’m talking to you about it. As we agreed.”

If he reacted this way to her talking to Jane’s brother, what would he say to her becoming a professional investigator? Where would this marriage go? Surely he wouldn’t go with her every time she’d need to do some sneaking around.

He’d break her heart, wouldn’t he? This magnificent man who gave her multiple orgasms and protected her like a large golden bear, and chased away the only shadow she’d ever been afraid of…

“And I appreciate it,” he said, his voice softening. “Let’s discuss this after the soirée. How about I introduce you to Admiral Langden? He’s a good friend who helped me with my commission in the navy and had supported me all these years.”

Calliope nodded, a heavy, cold feeling nestling in her stomach. “Splendid idea.”

* * *

* * *

The sun was about to set behind the roofs when Argos stood up from the cobblestoned ground of the mews and growled, looking at the gate.

Violet, trying to ignore the dog, angled Calliope’s book so that the last golden rays of the sunlight fell right on the page she was reading. The investigator in the book had just climbed in through the suspect’s first-floor window, and as he’d landed, the floor had creaked under his foot!

“Argos, sit!” Poppy exclaimed.

She sat right on the ground in the dirt and unsuccessfully tried to interest Miss Furrington in playing with a dry straw.

Poppy had brought Miss Furrington out to the mews to play with the dogs, and instead, Miss Furrington had joined Cerberus in the dirt, cuddling in between the dog’s front legs, happily blinking her sleepy eyes. The straw didn’t stand a chance.

Oh, Calliope was going to be cross…all that white fur turning gray… And Mrs. Nicholson was going to have fits at the state of Poppy’s dress.

But instead of ceasing his growls, Argos barked. And when Argos barked, walls shook.

“Argos!” cried Poppy, jumping to her feet.

Unfortunately, Orion came running from the other side of the yard, his own barking, though not as tremendous as Argos’s, fierce and loud. Argos stood on his hind legs and leaned over the gate with his whole body. Violet laid Calliope’s book aside while Poppy continued yelling for the dogs to sit, and walked to the gate, staring at Argos.

Standing, Argos was as tall as she was, his large, meaty jaws positively terrifying, with those huge clashing, sharp fangs.

“What is it, Argos?” asked Violet.