Free A Lady Dares by Bronwyn Scott

dwindle to nothing. He jumped in, giving directions to the Blackwell Docks, and sat back.
    The ride was accomplished in short order, a much shorter order than during the day. Without traffic filling the streets, the transition from West End to East End was far swifter. It wasn’t until after he’d paid the driver and had stepped through the heavy gates that his senses went on alert.
    Something was wrong. Dorian reached stealthily for the knife in his boot and stood still, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. There was the sound of muffled motion to his right, the sound too heavy to be mistaken for a rat or stray cat. Besides, this shipyard wasimpeccable. There’d been no earlier signs of animal life.
    He swung towards the sound and called out in a strong voice, ‘Show yourself! You are trespassing on private property. Show yourself now or face charges from the law.’
    They were on him then, stupidly both from the same side. Two burly forms with clubs of their own came at him out of the darkness, but he was ready for them and ready for a fight after the frustration of leaving Elise’s with an uncomfortable hunger.
    The first attacker swung his club. Dorian moved into him, grabbing his wrist and twisting hard, disarming him before bringing a knee up into his groin. The man fell heavily to the ground, groaning.
    The second attacker was more cautious after seeing his comrade fall. He would need his knife for this one, Dorian reasoned, lifting the blade to catch the lantern light in hopes of scaring the second man into surrender. Knives had a special persuasive power all of their own and he had no real wish to carve the man up. the second attacker might be more cautious, but not necessarily more intelligent. He didn’t take the surrender option. Instead,they circled each other while he waited for an opening.
    ‘You’re taking too long. Are you going to strike or not?’ Dorian goaded him, flashing the blade in a fancy arc. Just the feint on his part was enough to send the other man back a step. Dorian feinted again, but provoked no aggressive response. At this rate they’d be here all night. The man’s left side was unprotected. The third time, Dorian lunged and drew blood. The man dropped his club out of reflex to clutch his wounded arm.
    Dorian was on him, blade to his throat. ‘Who sent you? What do you want?’ Even in the dim light, he could see the man was pale.
    ‘Don’t tell him!’ the man’s companion wheezed out between groans.
    ‘If he doesn’t tell me, I’ll try you next,’ Dorian growled. ‘We’ll see how well you do up against a blade.’
    ‘I don’t know exactly,’ Dorian’s man prevaricated. ‘A cove with money. He said all we had to do was look around and report what we saw. We didn’t come here to hurt anyone.’
    Dorian pressed the blade harder. ‘You came with clubs.’
    ‘For our own protection.’
    Dorian didn’t believe that for a moment. ‘What were you supposed to look for?’ Had Halsey tracked him down already? The blade bit into the skin, drawing a tiny bead of blood, just enough to convince the man he meant business if he didn’t get his answers.
    ‘The b-b-boat,’ the man managed.
    Dorian eased the pressure as a token of goodwill and a sign that the man was now supposed to supply more details. He did. ‘We were supposed to come and see if she was building a boat.’
    That was not the answer he was looking for, but there was no time to fully dissect what it meant right now. Dorian pressed again, his efforts redoubled. ‘I’ll ask one more time, who sent you?’ It obviously wasn’t Halsey, which meant he had absolutely no clue. It also meant he couldn’t kill them. Halsey couldn’t very well go to the law without incriminating himself. But whoever had sent these chaps would come looking for them if they didn’t return and he might bring the watch with him. Unless Dorian got to the watch first.
    Dorian backed his man to a post and reached for the twine, tying