The Impostor Prince. Tanya Crosby Anne

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СКАЧАТЬ them into a pile before him. She wanted to tell him to be careful, but in truth, she wanted him to hurry. What did scratches on silver matter when lives were at stake?

      The crowd that had gathered began to disperse, apparently bored with the lack of blood and gore. Claire searched the remaining faces for the man who’d been pursuing her.

      “Hurry!” she demanded, though not unkindly. “I must be going! It’s much too late!”

      “A lady shouldn’t be walking the streets at this hour anyway,” the employer had the audacity to say.

      Surely, he hadn’t meant it the way it sounded, but Claire took offense anyway. She glared at him. “I beg your pardon! I am hardly walking the streets, sirrah.”

      He blinked, probably realizing what he’d implied. “I meant to say that it isn’t safe for a woman to be out and about at this hour,” he explained.

      As if she hadn’t already realized that. “I was on my way home until you waylaid me.”

      Claire ignored the rain smacking her in the face. She didn’t bother to wipe away the droplets. Her hair was doubtless a sad wreck—if not from the fall, then from the rain.

      She wished they would both just go to bloody Jericho!

      The blond man couldn’t begin to realize her present chaos of mind.

      The sun was quickly waning and she did, indeed, have a long way to go if she couldn’t locate a hansom.

      Lord, what if she couldn’t? She almost groaned aloud at the thought. What if the streets grew dark before she could make her way to safety? Panic took a firm foothold in her stomach.

      Calm down, she commanded herself.

      The footpad had surely fled by now. Anyway, he hadn’t been following her, she tried to convince herself.

      “If you’ll allow us the pleasure of your company,” the employer said, “we would love to offer you a ride home.”

      Claire tossed a pitifully bent fork into the mangled box. A ride home with perfect strangers was the very last thing she required at the moment. For all she knew, that’s how her brother had disappeared. “I can find my own way, thank you.”

      And then she spied the man who’d followed her from the pawnbroker’s. He stood inside a little shop across the street, staring out the window, waiting.

      Claire’s heart flipped.

      Lord! He was following her.

      “Well, then…please accept our humble apologies, madam. I suppose we’ll be on our way.”

      Claire snatched up the last of her silver and lifted the box, thrusting it at the employer. “Be a gentleman,” she commanded him. “Carry my box to the carriage.” Then, without a word, fearing they would change their minds, she stood and hurried to their vehicle.

       Chapter Three

       I an watched her march to the rig and let herself in.

      Evidently, she considered him the lesser evil.

      The thought brought a wry smile to his lips. There were many folks who would disagree.

      He glanced over his shoulder, trying to determine what it was she’d spied that had changed her mind so suddenly.

      No one stood out.

      Ryo, too, seemed a little befuddled. He scratched his head and they shared a look of confusion before Ian motioned for Ryo to return to the driver’s seat.

      The instant Ian mounted the rig, his saucy little passenger snatched the silverware box from his hands and settled it atop her lap.

      “Grosvenor Square, thank you very much,” she snapped, and then sat primly before him, doing her damnedest to ignore him, her lovely face a mask—all but the stark green eyes that betrayed her fear.

      Ian willed her to look at him.

      She refused, denying him even the slightest glimpse into those jade-colored eyes.

      Her skin was flawless, save for the fresh scrape on her chin, and he felt aggrieved that he’d had a hand in marring her otherwise perfect complexion.

      He eyed the silverware box balanced precariously on her knees, silver protruding despite her efforts to conceal it, and wondered to whom it belonged.

      Stolen goods?

      It wasn’t unheard-of, a female canter, but she didn’t strike him as one. And he should know a thief when he saw one.

      So who was the little she-dragon trying so hard to ignore him?

      One needn’t be a London native to know the address she had given him was prime. But why would a woman of her apparent stature walk about London completely unattended with a box full of silverware in tow?

      Were the silver a new purchase, the box would have been delivered by the dealer. No upstanding merchant would allow a gentlewoman to risk herself so stupidly.

      He studied her while she continued to snub him. Her dark gray gown was neatly pressed, though the cut and material would hardly turn the heads of most women of means. It was as modest as the dresses his mother’s nurse often wore, and God knows Chloe couldn’t afford extravagant purchases on the meager salary Glen Abbey Manor afforded her.

      So, then, was his reluctant passenger merely someone’s abigail?

      Whatever the case, the lovely little poser was the most intriguing female he’d ever laid eyes upon.

      Though he knew better, Ian couldn’t keep himself from baiting her. “Most reputable merchants deliver their wares,” he suggested, and waited for her to respond.

      She caught his meaning at once, smart little bird.

      Her gaze snapped up, eyes flashing with a brilliance an emerald would envy. Her scraped chin lifted. “Are you implying, sirrah, that I would do business disreputably?”

      Like a cornered fox, she was quick to defend herself.

      Ian assessed her, taking advantage of the directness of her stare. Her green eyes were striking, with glittering gold flecks that caught the outside light.

      Mesmerizing.

      Under his scrutiny, her cheeks stained a deeper rose, but she didn’t kowtow to him; nor did she seem moved to explain her possessions, even when he narrowed his eyes. Instead, she straightened her spine, bringing his attention to the lovely shape of her breasts. They strained against the bodice of her gown and he couldn’t help but note the pebbling of her nipples.

      An unexpected surge of desire bolted through him, the sensation so keen it made him shudder.

      She was waiting for him to respond, he realized, and it took him another befuddled instant to remember what it was they were speaking of.

      Acutely aware of his unwanted arousal, Ian forced his СКАЧАТЬ