Twice Tempted by a Rogue (Stud Club #2)(40)

She didn’t finish the thought. No one at the table needed her to.

Bellamy cleared his throat. “Yes, that was Leo. Always considerate of others, regardless of their station. Most fair-minded man I’ve ever known.”

“So you went to Whitechapel,” Rhys prompted.

“Oh, yes,” Cora went on. “And that boxing match was a sweaty, smelly business. All the men shouting and shoving and carrying on. Didn’t like it at all, but at least it was finished quick. Afterwards, the whole crowd was milling about. Leo was foxed on brandy and giddy from the fight.” She turned to Meredith again and murmured low. “You know how men are. They get riled up by the violence. Makes ’em randy.”

Meredith gave the girl a patient smile. Behind it, he could tell she was chewing a mouthful of unspoken remarks. Rhys wished he could look forward to going to bed with her tonight, just to hear all the thoughts she was so obviously keeping to herself.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason he wished they were sharing a bed tonight. Nor even the main reason.

“Leo took me round the corner. He started talking very sweet to me. What a lovely girl I was, and how lucky a man would be to enjoy my favors.” She laughed a little. “I told him he didn’t need no luck with me, just a shilling or two. He laughed and kissed me on the cheek and promised to give me three. Well, I thought he meant to just duck into a dark corner and lift my skirts, like most of them do—but no. He said he wanted to take me home with him, and would I be lovely to him there? A real bed, he wanted!”

“Fancy that,” Meredith murmured.

“Leo sent a boy to call the hack. While we were waiting there, a gent called out to him from the shadows. Leo seemed to recognize who it was. He told me to wait right under the streetlamp, and he’d be just a few paces away. The two of them went round the corner to discuss.”

“Discuss what?” Bellamy asked.

“I don’t know, do I? Couldn’t make out the words. But they were discussing it angrily, I could tell that much. Then it got very quiet, and I started to prickle all over. Thought perhaps they’d forgotten me, and I’d be lost all alone in Whitechapel. All I had to my name was the half-crown sewn into my stays for emergencies.” She drained the rest of her cordial, as if for courage. “Seemed like ages I stood there, not knowing whether to follow after them or not. And then suddenly I heard sounds. Horrid sounds. Punches, blows, cries. Worse than the boxing match.”

She gave a little shudder. “Were it anyone else, I would have run home that instant. But I’d grown so fond of Leo, and I was ever so scared … I turned into the alley and let loose with a scream.”

Everyone went silent. Rhys supposed, like him, the others were waiting to see if she’d demonstrate.

Fortunately for Meredith’s cordial glass, the girl didn’t.

“It took a few moments before I could make out a thing, what with the dark and shadows. But there were two big, coarse-looking men standing there. And at their feet, Leo and his friend were moaning on the ground. I screamed some more. The two men took off running the other direction, disappeared at the end of the alley.”

“Could you recognize them if you saw them again?”

She shook her head, and a blond ringlet bobbed against her cheek. “They ran away so fast. All I know is that they were big and brutish and fearsome, like …” Her gaze darted toward Rhys, then quickly away. She cleared her throat. “Oh, and one was bald—I remember his head gleaming in the moonlight. And the other … well, I heard him shout to the first as they ran away. Sounded Scottish. That’s all I know.

“Besides, all my cares were for Leo. I went to him. He was knocked cold. His friend looked to be in bad shape, too, but he could speak. He told me to go for a hack, and then he gave me an address.” She looked to Bellamy. “Your address.”

Rhys and Bellamy exchanged a look.

She sniffed. “So I ran back to the street, and as luck would have it, Leo’s boy had just returned with the hack. I made the driver come help me. Told him there were two gents as needed a doctor and quick. But by the time we rushed back to the alley, the dark-haired man had vanished. Only Leo was there.”

She sniffed again, and a tear streaked down her cheek, trickling through the fine dust of face powder. Bellamy pulled a square of white linen from his pocket, and she accepted it wordlessly.

“We brought him to the cab, and I tried to keep him warm. He was shivering and so pale. His breathing was all rattled. ‘Don’t die,’ I told him, over and over. ‘Don’t die, Leo, please don’t die just yet.’” She sobbed into the handkerchief. “But he did. He died right there in my arms. And I kissed him, I couldn’t help it. I tell you, it broke my heart clean in two. Only a few hours, and I was half in love with the man.”

She cried noisily.

Rhys averted his eyes. Perhaps it was all the lingering arousal and emotion from their encounter at the pool, but he was strangely moved by Cora’s story. He was glad Leo had some tenderness as he went, even if from a stranger. Charm and fine looks helped him to the end. Most men who died by violence weren’t so fortunate. How many times had his own wounded, broken body been dragged from a tavern floor or battlefield? And never once had he awoken to find a little blond angel hovering over him. Hell, Cora couldn’t even look at Rhys without flinching. The thought of her weeping over his battered form … it made him laugh.