Free An Unlikely Alliance by Patricia Bray Page B

seem as if he were pulling away. But he did not want her to touch him. He did not want to think of her as a person with hopes and feelings of her own. He had a mystery to solve, and for now she was still under suspicion. He could not let his emotions get in the way. “But someone knew differently. Someone had arranged for him to be tampered with, and knew he would lose.”
    She nodded, unsurprised. “I thought as much. After you questioned me at Lady Burnett-Hodgkins’s I knew it had to be something of the sort.”
    She had an answer for everything. But it was all too easy, too perfect. Before he had left England he had been a trusting fool. But in India, Alexander had learned to depend on his instincts in situations where knowing who to trust meant the difference between life and death.
    Now his instincts were telling him to proceed cautiously. She had told him the truth, but not the whole truth. She was holding something back. It could be nothing but it could be the clue that would link her to the horse race and answer the question of why she was attacked.
    “I must thank you for your kindness last night and for the breakfast this morning,” she said. “And now I really must be on my way. My friends will be worried over my absence.”
    He had no intention of letting her out of his sight. Not until he was absolutely certain that her secrets held no bearing on this matter.
    “I have hired a Bow Street runner to look into this for me,” he said. “I am meeting him this morning and I’d like you to come along so you can describe your attackers to him.”
    “Is that really necessary?”
    “I thought you’d be grateful to have Bow Street looking for these men. Unless you’d prefer to meet them again on your own?”
    A look of fear flashed across her face but she swiftly brought herself under control. “It seems you have thought of everything,” she said in a tight voice. “Tell me, do you feel responsible for me because you think you saved my life? Or is it simply that you still don’t trust me?”
    “A little of both,” Alexander said, surprising himself with his honesty.
    He could swear there was a look of disappointment in her eyes. But what cause had she to be disappointed? He had never pretended to be other than he was.
    “I’ll tell John to have the carriage ready,” Luke said, breaking the awkward silence. “Do you want me to come with you?”
    “No need. I am sure you have your own errands to keep you occupied.”
    “As you wish,” Luke said, nodding almost imperceptibly in the direction of their guest to show that he understood. While Alexander and Magda were busy with the runners, Luke would be seeking out the truth of her story.
    The meeting had been arranged for a tavern known as The Pickled Egg. Alexander helped Magda into the carriage, then took the opposite seat. They rode in silence, and he used the opportunity to study her. She wore a red countrywoman’s cloak, borrowed from one of the maids. It was a good color for her, bringing warmth to her features. With a few decent meals she would be almost pretty, he mused. It was a strange direction for his thoughts to be taking, and he blamed it on the awkward silence.
    “Er—” He opened his mouth to speak, then realized he had nothing to say. “Are you comfortable?” he asked lamely.
    Magda gave a brittle laugh. “Isn’t this amazing? We really have nothing to say to one another.”
    It was absurd. There ought to be some topic they could converse on. But they were also from two very different worlds, and every topic that came to mind was unsuitable. If she were a gentleman he would speak of business affairs and politics. If she were a lady he wouldn’t need to make conversation, for a lady would already be chattering away with the latest on-dits . But what did one say to someone who was the next thing to a servant? For a moment he wished he had Luke’s free and easy way of dealing with people. Luke would have no trouble making