“No,” he said. When she wouldn’t move out of his way, he took her thin shoulders in his hands and moved her out of his path. King didn’t know where he would go, but he did not want to sit on the steps and watch his life carried away.
Miss Baker was not done with him, though. She was right on his heels. “My lord, if you do not pay me, I will be forced to involve the authorities.”
King found this threat wholly amusing. The Parliament would vote to attaint the duke and his offspring tonight, no doubt with the full support of the prince regent. Prinny had never liked King, not since King and Rory had played that little joke on him. The prince would be more than pleased to see King stripped of land and titles. And this little chit from Seven Dials thought to threaten him with…what? A constable? A magistrate?
“Go ahead,” he said, dismissing her with a wave.
But before King could move away from the stairs, another man approached, holding a sheet of parchment. “My lord, I beg you to take a moment to look at the charges on your account from Schweitzer and Davidson.”
King turned to the other side, where another man waited. “Your account from Stultz, my lord. If you would be so kind as to settle it.”
Every tailor, hatmaker, bootmaker, and costermonger would be on him in a moment. And he with only—King reached into the pocket of his waistcoat and pulled out a coin—a crown to his name. “This is all I have, gentlemen. Have at it.” And he flipped it into the air. The men lunged for it, but a hand reached out and caught it neatly before any of the men could snatch it. King turned and saw the petite tavern owner secure the coin in a flash.
“You still owe me seven pound, fifteen shillings,” she said. This began a general outcry of men calling out the sums he owed their various employers. King pushed through them, shouldered past the movers carrying his dining room table out, and stood in the yellow light of morning. How could the day have dawned so sunny when he felt as though he was being swallowed into a dark pit?
Ah, but the vipers in the pit had followed him, and the bill collectors crowded about him even on his own stoop. The sound of them was enough to make King’s head pound even worse. He tried to move away and bumped into Miss Baker, but instead of reiterating her demand for payment, she waited until he righted himself then shoved through his creditors and started away. For a moment, King was rather jealous that she could escape so easily. She could disappear into Seven Dials, and no one would find her. God knew he didn’t think he could ever again find that little shack of a tavern she claimed to own.
And if he couldn’t find it, no creditors would think to look for him there.
“Miss Baker!” King called.
She jerked to a surprised halt and looked at him over her shoulder. “Hold a moment.” Now she raised her brows as he fought through the men surrounding him to reach her.
“You said I owe you seven pounds?”
Her hands went to her hips. “Seven pounds and fifteen shillings.”
“Right. Well, I’d like to see the damage and verify it myself.”
Her gaze slid past him to the men still calling out to him. “You want a place to hide,” she said.
He could have denied it, but why the hell should he? He did want a place to hide. Even a wolf needed a den to lick his wounds and recover for the fight ahead. “Just for a day or so,” he said. “Until I can put my affairs in order.” Until he could rally his friends and reclaim what was his.
“And then you’ll pay me?”
A small voice taunted him, saying,You’ll never pay her or any of them. You’ll be lucky to convince a friend to loan you enough so that you don’t starve.
King silenced the voice. He had many friends—rich friends. He might be down for the moment, but he could still turn things around. He always did. “Of course,” he told her. “I’ll pay.”
Her brows came together in a skeptical expression. She was not like the ladies of his acquaintance. She wasn’t innocent and naïve. She had her doubts that he’d pay. And then something like cunning flashed in her clear blue eyes, and King had half a mind to reconsider his plan. He’d always thought he was the wolf, playing with all the sheep for entertainment. But in that moment, her eyes were every bit the predator’s.
King shifted away from her, his instincts telling him to walk the other way, but before he could act on those reflexes, shegrasped the sleeve of his coat and yanked him back into her orbit. The shrewdness was gone from her eyes, and she blinked at him sweetly as she pulled him along with her.
But King didn’t believe it for a moment. As he glanced over his shoulder at his house, the doors open and his furnishings on the street outside, he wondered if he hadn’t just jumped out of the fire and into a raging inferno.
Chapter Four
For all thetrouble he had caused her, she would get her full eight pounds—rather, seven pounds, fifteen shillings. She had the crown in her pocket, one hand fisted around the coin so it stayed there, no matter how many thieves jostled her as she neared home. As they passed the entrance to Seven Dials, where the sundial column had once stood, Violet glanced back at the marquess. He was following her without protest. He’d shaken her hand off his coat sleeve as soon as they left his house behind.
So far, nothing about her plan to force the nobleman to pay for the damage he and his friends caused had worked in her favor. Violet, however, was nothing if not resourceful. If he wouldn’t pay her now, then she’d simply keep him in her sights until he did.
Not that looking at him was any great hardship.
He was an extremely handsome man, even as disheveled as he appeared this morning. His brown hair stuck out from his head at all angles, and there were bags under his red-rimmed green eyes. A shadow of stubble covered his jaw, and his clothes, though finer than any she had ever owned, were wrinkled and stained. But even looking shabby and disreputable in the morning light, he stood out like a peacock among pigeons as he strolled through Seven Dials. Violet could feel the eyes on them as she picked her way around the debris and filth on the narrow streets.
“Could you perhaps hunch your shoulders a bit?” she said after seeing two men in an alley elbow each other as he passed. With her luck, they worked for Ferryman and would report she had a nob with her. Then she’d have his whole gang to contend with.
The marquess looked at her then blinked as though waking from a dream. He really had no idea the danger he was in at the moment. “Pardon?” he murmured sleepily.
