Seeing Danger (Sinclair and Raven #2)(2)

Her words were breathless, yet he heard the elation in each one.

“My heart near stopped, Miss, seeing you hanging from the carriage.”

“B-but I had to stop them taking him.”

“Madam, my name is Lord Sinclair. Will you allow me to help you?”

Her gasp was loud on the night air as she turned her back on him. Dev then watched her hands reach for the hood of her cloak, pulling it up so she could shield her face.

“I-I need no help, thank you. And thank you for coming to my aid.”

She walked away from him to where the four children stood silently.

“They'll keep trying, Lilly.” A little boy stepped forward. “They already got five of us.”

She dropped to her knees right there in the street, without a care for the dirt and filth. The man she had called Wilson moved to stand at her back.

“There will be no more, Toby. I promise you. We foiled this attempt, and we will foil others.”

“But how can we stop them, Lilly?”

“We'll find a way,” she vowed. “Now you take everyone to Temple Street, especially Leo. Make sure he is not injured after what he endured tonight. Tell Mrs. Davey that you are to stay there until morning. I shall call by tomorrow, and we shall talk more then.”

Dev couldn't fit a name to that soft, cultured voice, and yet a sense of awareness inside him told him they'd met before. He reached her side as she rose.

“Thank you, Lilly.” The boy she had just saved also stepped forward.

“Are you all right, Leo?”

He nodded, and she squeezed his shoulder.

“Go now,” she said to the children, and seconds later they had fled, disappearing down the road and into the shadows.

“Can I assist you back to your carriage, madam?”

“No, I have help, thank you.”

“Why are you out here at this hour? Who was that man who attempted to abduct that child?”

He had so many questions, but the most important was to find out this woman's identity. Her voice and actions suggested she was from his world, yet surely that was not the case. No woman of his acquaintance would have taken the risks she had tonight. Except his sisters, of course; they would have done the exact same thing.

She was doing everything she could to avoid looking at him, but Dev was not having that. He stepped into her path as she started walking, forcing her to stop.

“Will you give me your name?”

“Please excuse me, I must leave.”

“I think not.”

Dev grabbed her arm once more.

“Release her!”

“Easy, Wilson,” she soothed the man with her.

“Tell me your name.”

Shaking his hand from her arm, she stepped back and lifted her face.

“You!” Dev staggered backward. “What the hell are you doing out here at this time of night?”

Lilliana Braithwaite’s face did not carry its usual silly expression. Dev saw emotion now, both fear and anger.

“I have no time for this now. No time for you.”

Dismissing him, she walked away. Dev shook his head to clear it. That didn't work, so he did so again. When he looked for her, she had vanished.

“Damn.” He followed. No woman, even her, should be out in this neighborhood with a single servant to protect her. He walked back down the street, but could see no sign of Miss Braithwaite. Closing his eyes, he changed his vision.

Dev and his siblings had strong senses. His was the gift of sight. With his normal vision he could see long distances, and with his other vision, he could see the colors that belonged to a person, no matter where they hid. Of course, he did not know what color Miss Braithwaite was, but he didn't think too many people would be hiding in this lane at this hour. He just prayed he did not come upon a pair of lovers.

His eyes searched first left and then right. He didn't think Miss Braithwaite and the man could have gone far.

“Why am I bothering?” he muttered. It wasn’t as if he even liked the woman, and she had certainly given him no indication she liked him either. He should simply go home and get that second helping. But something was stopping him. Something tugged at him to find her. Sighing, he kept searching.

He saw blue, and then—it can't be! Stopping, he inhaled deeply. Christ, the shorter of the two people hidden in the narrow opening between two buildings was his exact shade of green. Shocked to his toes, he tried to take it in.

Every person had a color. Blue, pink, orange, or brown, no matter the color they all had one in varying shades, and yet until this very moment, no one had ever been his exact color match.

Closing his eyes, he reopened them in his normal vision. Was it her? Surely not, he prayed silently. The woman was extremely foolish, and then there was the business of her hideous taste in clothing.

Dev walked slowly down the street, finally reaching the spot where she and Wilson, were hiding.

“You can come out now, because I am not going anywhere until you do.”

He heard a soft curse, and then she and the man appeared.

Lilliana Braithwaite came out first. She had lowered her hood now that the game was up, and for some reason left off her glasses. For the first time he saw her beauty.

Usually her hair was severely drawn back and covered in lace, feathers, or something type of flora or fauna, but tonight it had no adornment, was just pulled back in a simple bun.