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Worst decision he’d ever made And not just because Carnelia was uninspired in bed

Leo had attended the fight without him And afterward, he’d been attacked and beaten in a Whitechapel alleyway--murdered in the street by a pair of footpads A random act of thievery, it was concluded by most

Julian knew better That attack had beenwithin a day’s travel of London If the scent of blood hung in the air, he followed it--no matter how the spectacle turned his stomach He could not rest until he reckoned with Leo’s murderers, lest they beco these matches will lead you to them?" she asked "You have scarcely any description of thenext to you on the street, and you would never know"

"You don’t understand" Though he had a better description of the ue at best He kneell how ineffectual the search was It didn’tup was unthinkable

"No, I don’t understand I don’t understand a great et froer’s wheelbarrow in Mayfair?"

"After the bout, there was a bull-baiting The beast snapped its tether, and the crowd panicked" Julian closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, his thoughts crowded out by s’ frenzied barks, the thunder of footfalls as everyone rushed for the exits at once

He raised both hands between them--one balled in a fist, the other extended as an open paled" In illustration, he drove the fist into his pal so in front of the beast to save a hobbling grandfather" She put a hand under his chin and tipped his face to the light, exa line toward his mouth--he must have a scratch there, he supposed He licked his cracked lips

Her touch skipped to the bandage encircling his are under the fold

The casual inti his head, he pulled her hand away "Nothing noble I was just the one stupid enough to be wearing red"

"Julian" Her dark eyes gliers "You et"

"I was only squashed No real injury, save the pain in my arm I decided to walk hoged his good shoulder, easing his hand frorip "It’s not so far" Not for hi all quadrants of the city

Last night, he’d made his way back so far as the square where Harcliffe House was situated This house was always the last stop on his nightly rounds He would pause on the corner down the street If he stood half on the pavereen … then craned his neck … he could just glihted to Lily’s bedcha and at peace He, too, could relax On the nights he found a la, he ached for her sorrow And he siht went dark or the sun came up--whichever occurred first

In the weeks after Leo’s death, he’d found that la more often than not As the rown less frequent Last night, he’d been comforted to see thedark And just as Julian had turned to seek his own home, that faint pain in his arm shifted to a deep, persistent throb

He said, "I was passing nearby I stopped under the streetlamp to have a look at my arm Just a flesh wound, but I hadn’t noticed it earlier Solass, I think" He touched his bandaged arrasped it and pulled it out, and there was a fair amount of blood Quite startled me, and I …"

"And you fainted"

"Fainted? No"

"You swooned"

"No," he said stoutly, ja his hand under his arm "Absolutely not I didn’t swoon, Lily Men do not swoon"

"You sluer to find Sounds like a fainting spell todifferent Apoplexy Malaria" Anything

Her eyes rolled toward the ceiling "You don’t have apoplexy or malaria Aside fro wrong with you Not physically, at any rate You’re sih the night?"

"Can’t recall, honestly"

"Hm And when’s the last time you had a proper meal?"

"Ah, now that I remember I had a very fine steak at the Stoat’s Head"

"Yesterday?"

He hedged, pushing a hand through his hair "Not precisely"

One dark eyebrow arched in disbelief "You fainted, Julian"

"And what if I did? What would you have rette?" He chuckled to hi buck in London would be carrying the same Like Beau Brummel before hi, hair, even mannerisentlemen of the ton Just as he’d planned from the start

"Don’t be ridiculous I want you to start taking care of yourself, that’s all Sleep Eat Avoid scenes of violence and mayhem Is it really so difficult?"

"Yes It’s i the force of his reply He regretted his vehemence, but not the sentiment

She said quietly, "I want you safe I care about you What’s so i

He yanked the coverlet about hiet out of this bed, this house … before this conversation went places it shouldn’t He planted one foot on the floor and transferred his weight to it

Dizziness swamped him The rooht back to the mattress