Chapter 27

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

" S o not everything has changed about you," Leo said. "You still sneeze when you are nervous and are clumsy."

"I am not nervous. There is a great deal of pollen about," she lied.

"Of course there is, silly me," Leo drawled. "You are still as beautiful as you always were, but there are other differences also."

He'd just put his hands on Cyn. He'd kissed her breasts and tasted the skin of her neck. Her scent was now lining his nostrils, and the feel of her body was imprinted on him.

Something about this older, wiser version of her got to him. Once he'd thought only that she would make him a pretty, dutiful wife; he now respected her, but there was more.

She was stronger and determined to help those women who needed it. She was intelligent, which she likely always had been but hid that side of herself from him.

Because you were a shallow-minded fool and saw only what you wished .

Cyn was raising her late husband's children, which could not have been easy. What had her life been like with the late Lord Lowell?

Looking at her seated across from him, hands clasped neatly in her lap, eyes out the window, Leo felt his chest tighten. She was bruised and sore from yesterday's attack but still determined to go to the agency and make sure all was well there.

She was natured like the women in his family, Leo realized.

What did he feel for her? And did he want to pursue it, knowing that she walked in society when he didn't? That any connection with her would mean he would have to, as he could not ask her to leave the life she'd always lived.

Could he step back into that? His eyes studied the side of her face, and he felt it again, the burn of heat in his chest. As the carriage had stopped, he pushed it aside, like everything else he had no wish to address in his life.

After helping her down, she paid the driver before he could. Leo swallowed his protest and followed her to the Phoenix Agency. He saw the flowers as she bent to pick them up. Someone had placed them on the steps along with a note.

"Who would have left these?" Cyn asked, opening the missive.

Leo read it over her shoulder.

These will be the flowers people place on your grave if you don't stop your meddling, Lady Lowell. The fire may have been extinguished, but you will not be so lucky next time.

Leo took the card from her now-trembling hands. "Come, let us go inside." He took her arm. The flowers he left there, and he crushed them under his heel as he guided Cyn up the stairs. She had yet to make a sound.

"Lewis, can you please remove the flowers from the bottom step?" Leo said when they entered and saw him seated at the desk.

"Of course," he said, shooting Cyn a look.

"It's all right," Leo said, taking her arm. "I am here with you."

She spun to face him, pale eyes wide. It was anger he saw, not fear.

"A faceless bully who uses his men to intimidate and harm people will not intimidate me!"

"Good girl, and he shouldn't."

"But I don't know what to do now, Leo."

"I do. We are going to have a meeting with my family, and they will have ideas. Especially Gray."

She turned in a circle, taking in the building's interior. "I can't let anything happen to this."

"We won't."

The door opened again, and in walked Lewis with the Mulhollands on his heels. Monty's face bore bruises the color of a moldy peach today, and one eye was nearly closed. Toby looked angry.

"Oh, Monty." Cyn walked to him. "I am so sorry. You should be resting."

"'Tis not your fault," the man said, clearly uncomfortable with her apologies. "And I have no need of more sleep."

"Check on Clara," Leo urged her.

While Cyn went to Clara, Leo talked with Lewis, Miss Coulter, and the Mulhollands.

"You must all be vigilant now. The Baddon Boys see Lady Lowell as a threat, and the Phoenix Agency is where the women they believe are theirs have come."

The staff all showed signs of what had happened yesterday. Two bore bruises, and the third, Lewis, was grim faced. Toby was the only one unscathed.

"I will let no one into this house," Lewis vowed, his eyes going to Miss Coulter, who gave him a shy smile. "But I fear they will keep trying, considering what has happened just today."

"Clara is not well enough to be moved," Monty said, looking a little mean with that black eye and anger in his eyes. Anger that all the people in the room felt.

"Could she be moved next door?" Leo asked.

"Pardon?" Toby frowned.

"My family has taken the lease there," Leo said. "If we can get you all in there with no one seeing, you will be safe."

Cyn walked into the room, looking so sweet and pale, he wanted to hold her.

"You have taken the lease on the property next door?" Lewis asked.

"For business purposes, but no one is using it as yet," Leo said.

"What are you discussing?" Cyn asked.

He told her what he'd suggested.

"Yes," she said instantly. "If we are being watched, I'm not sure how we can get you or what you need next door, but I would rather you all were moved for your safety."

After a thorough inspection of the fence between the properties, it was decided to make an opening. Monty began pulling boards free with Leo's help. Cyn, Lewis, and Miss Coulter began assembling what was needed for them all to live next door.

Two hours later, they had everyone, including Clara, who Toby had carried, next door. It would be easy to collect anything they needed, but for now, they were safe until the danger passed.

"And now we are going to speak with my family," Leo said to Cyn. She'd worked as hard as everyone, which was just another sign she wasn't the woman he'd once known. "Come, Cyn. We will leave via the agency. "

She allowed him to lead her back through the fence and up the steps. Then they were walking out the front door and down onto the street. Leo looked around but could see no one watching, which did not mean they weren't, only that they were well hidden.

"Come, we will walk until a hackney approaches. For now, everyone is safe." Taking her hand, he slid it through his. Leo was tired, so he could only imagine how she was feeling.

"I was supposed to go to the Luton ball this evening. I'm pleased to say I am not well enough to do so."

"I think that bruise on your face would create a sensation."

They soon found transportation and were heading to Crabbett Close.

"But will Ellen and her husband be there?" Cyn said.

"They will," Leo said.

"But how do you know?"

"My family will be there, Cyn," he said. Because they would know he needed them, and that he had not returned from his morning walk. "If they are not there, they will be out walking the streets to find me. I left early and did not return."

She looked horrified. "You should have sent word."

"I have been a trifle busy."

"I should change. I look grubby," she said, studying her nails.

"You look beautiful, as you always do." His words had her looking at him, but she did not speak again, clearly nervous about the turn her life had taken and what lay between them.

"Welcome to the madness," Leo said, waving Cyn up the steps to 11 Crabbett Close fifteen minutes later. The front door was open, and he heard raised voices from within .

"How the bloody hell do I know where your foolish brother is!" Mungo thundered.

"Oh dear, are you the brother they speak of?" Cyn asked him.

"Very likely. Come along. There is nothing for it but to enter the fray." Placing a hand on her back, he nudged Cyn in through the door.

"He's a bloody adult. He'll be fine!" That was Alex's voice. "He does not need to account for his every minute, surely. Leo could simply be seated in a warm tea shop consuming scones slathered with jam. It's what I'd do if I were him."

Cyn giggled and then clapped a hand over her mouth as the eyes of everyone in the entranceway turned to face them.

"Where the bloody hell have you been?" Mungo roared.

"If you'll calm down, I will tell you," Leo said. "Take off your outer clothing, Cyn."

"Tell Bud we will need a rather large tea tray, please, Mungo." The Scotsman was now a foot from Leo and still glaring. "I'm sorry you were worried, but I will explain the whole of it shortly," Leo said so only the angry Scotsman heard.

He turned and stomped away without another word.

"I want answers, nephew," Uncle Bram said, coming to greet him. Leo was then hugged hard. Cyn had her cheek kissed. "But we can wait. Come along, the others are in the parlor."

They all disappeared, leaving Leo and Cyn alone with Chester, who was sitting in front of them with his head to one side.

"Is it wonderful?" Cyn asked him, her voice sounding wistful.

"What?" He guided her forward.

"To be surrounded by so much love?"

"It is possibly the best part of what happened to us," Leo said, wondering who loved Cyn other than her children. Had her husband treated her fairly?

"Chester, shake hands with Cyn," he said to the dog. He raised a paw, and Cyn took it and shook gently. "Good boy."

"I have an enormous cat called Berry," she said to the dog. "I think she would like you, as would my children."

"Then we must ensure they meet."

"Leo. Get in here now!" Alex roared.

Urging Cyn into the parlor, he found his family scattered around it, but it was Ellen he saw first. She was weeping.

"What's happened? What did you do to her?" He shot Gray a glare as he hurried to his sister's side.

"Leo, we have covered this before. I love your sister. Therefore, I would not ‘do' anything to her," Gray said from his position at Ellen's side. He was mopping up her tears.

"Then why is she weeping?"

"Oh L-Leo," she sobbed, staggering to her feet. She then threw herself at him. "I was so worried about you."

"You're crying because I went for a walk and stayed out for a few hours?" Leo was confused. Ellen rarely wept.

"There is a bit more to it than that," Uncle Bram said. "Tell him, Gray, as Ellen is incapable."

"We are to have a child, Leo," Gray said.

"What?" Leo felt the smile tugging his lips up. "You are to have a child?"

She nodded.

He hugged her again, this time gently, then shook Gray's hand after nudging her back down onto the sofa.

"A niece or nephew," Leo said slowly. "I will spoil it atrociously as I do all the small people in our life."

"There was never a doubt," Gray drawled. "Now sit and tell us your story. You also, Lady Lowell."

Leo turned to find Cyn watching from the doorway. Uncle Bram guided her to a chair, and Leo took the one beside it.

"I'm really not sure where to start with this story," Cyn said when the room fell silent. "You all likely know what happened yesterday, and how Ellen and Leo came to our aid when those men set upon us."

"Good God, you were with child." Leo felt the color drain from his face. "You could have been hurt."

"Which we have discussed extensively," Gray added in a hard voice.

"Yes, I know," Ellen said. "Tell us about today."

"First, I need to tell you about the Phoenix Agency," Cyn said, shooting Leo a look before continuing. "The house belonged to my late husband and was sitting empty. I went to view it and found a woman sleeping at the rear of the property. She was homeless and without funds to support herself, as many are. I took her inside, and she told me she had once been a lady of the night."

"Mary?" Leo asked, and Cyn nodded.

"I started the agency to help women like her who had nowhere to go if they wanted to escape their lives. Over the last few months, a few of the women who have come to us have had unpleasant experiences at the hands of the Baddon Boys gang. Women who are known to them through associates also."

Mungo arrived, hefting a tea tray and lowering it to the table. He then poured tea into a mug, added a large dollop of honey and a slug of whisky without asking her, and handed it over to Cyn. She quickly took it, shooting him a nervous look.

"His bark is a great deal worse than his bite, my lady," Harriet said.

"Please, you must all call me Cyn," she said.

"It'll steady ye nerves," Mungo grunted .

She sipped to please him and coughed but managed to keep it down.

"Carry on," he then said grandly, going to lean his large bulk on the wall.

"A young lady called Leona came to me last week, wanting to leave her life as a prostitute at the Bird of Paradise, which is a place gentlemen frequent for, ah?—"

"We understand," Leo said.

"Yes, well, it is owned by the Baddon Boys."

"Which we also know," Alex said. "Also, as I told you, your husband keeps showing me the bird and that you are in danger."

"Is he still doing so?" Cyn asked. Alex nodded.

"Carry on with your story," Leo urged. He then intercepted a look from his uncle and Alex that he had no wish to interpret.

"Leona told me that the man they call the Wolf, who is the Baddon Boys' leader, is not happy that a lady he called a high-class nob was interfering with his women, and she may have to be stopped, which is clearly me after what happened yesterday and today," Cyn said.

"You went to find Clara knowing that?" Leo asked. She nodded, and he pushed down his anger. No good would come from voicing it now. The damage was done, and somehow, they needed to keep her safe and get the Baddon Boys to stop pursuing her.

Looking at her sitting with her back straight—every inch the lady she was—and surrounded by his family, Leo realized something. She fit here, and he didn't want her to leave. Which, of course, was not possible, as she had a life and two children, but it did not stop him from wanting it anyway.