.
Justin backed away from Alex, but it felt as though he’d left a part of himself with her when he did.
He’d been a fool to think he could keep his distance. Nothing about Alex would allow it. She’d called him a liar with her every jest and smile. He couldn’t keep away. He had to have her. He simply didn’t know how to go about getting her.
He’d never hated being a lord as much as he did after his father died. He’d been under the influence of too many drinks when he’d allowed Avon to talk him into paying the fee for a seat on Parliament that had opened. He’d thought at the time that politics were a good way to get his mind off his father’s death. He’d had no clue he’d sold himself to Hades himself.
He wasn’t even sure he liked the Tory party.
His father hadn’t been one for politics. He enjoyed his freedom during the Season, instead choosing to box at his gym or host parties for his friends. He’d been well-liked, unlike Avon, who used fear to control everyone.
Including Justin, but no more.
He would have Alexandra because the other option felt like ripping out his own heart. He’d seen the confusion in her gaze as they'd spoken at the table, her obvious misunderstanding at his business-minded attitude. He’d tried to endure, but the threat of her leaving had put an end to that.
Reuben wasted no time when he spoke. “Alicia has been attacked.”
Rose and Alex pulled in a breath as Justin’s body stiffened. He remembered Alex’s family speaking about Ms. Alicia Best the previous night and knew Alicia was Mary Elizabeth Best’s grand-niece.
“What happened?” Alex asked.
Rose grabbed onto Alex’s arm as she stared at Reuben.
“I’m not sure, but I know she’s safe now. Still, I must go.” Reuben turned to Justin. “We’ll have to cut your visit short.”
“We’ll come.” Alex placed a hand on top of Rose’s.
“I’m coming as well,” Justin said. “If the public gets wind of this, they’re likely to listen to an earl when he tells them to go away.”
Reuben looked ready to argue but nodded and started for the door. “Let’s go.”
Alexandra and Rose followed quickly at Reuben’s heels. Justin followed them out, grabbing his hat before stepping outside and into the waiting hack.
He sat by Alexandra while Rose clung to Reuben, tears in her blue eyes.
Alex’s own features were tight, and Justin could tell her mind was racing.
The ride to the orphanage wasn’t long, but the silence made it seem so.
They leapt from the carriage and Justin only had a moment to take in the exterior of the brick orphanage before he was directed around back and into another part of the building that seemed to hold a small house.
Reuben led the way inside, and Justin’s eyes adjusted to the dim lights of the entryway before he was led to a small sitting room.
The air was clean-scented with lemon. The walls had been wallpapered a pale blue.
There wasn’t much to see in the room. It was small with furniture that didn’t quite match, but everything looked to have been well cared for.
Two couches and two wooden chairs made up the seating in the room.
On the couch sat a young woman who was weeping. It took Alex and Rose rushing across the room and saying the woman’s name for Justin to realize that she was Ms. Alicia. There was a second, older woman seated nearby.
Chris and Nash stood in the corner having a quiet conversation that Reuben walked over to join.
The older woman’s head lifted to look at him. “You must be Lord Chantenny.”
Alicia looked up and her eyes widened. “Oh.” She began wiping her at her cheeks. “I didn’t know to expect visitors. I’ll have the maid bring tea.”
Justin moved forward, hunched down to meet her gaze, and handed her his handkerchief. “Don’t lift a finger on my behalf. I’m not here to be served, but to see if I can be of service. What happened?”
Chris answered for him. “A man on the street pulled a knife on her while she was in the market.” The contained rage slipped through his every word. “It was only by luck that one of the owners was willing to step out and protect her.”
“They know who I am,” Alicia told him, handing him back his handkerchief with a small smile.
Justin pressed it firmly into her hand and held her eyes. “You mean they know the heart of gold you possess and are willing to sacrifice their own.”
She smiled fully then.
“Did the man say anything to you?” Rueben asked, drawing her attention.
“He asked me my name,” Alicia said. “Then nothing more.” She shook her head as worry came back to her mind. “I don’t understand. No one has ever attacked me before. He didn’t ask for money. It was my life he wanted.”
“Who would want to kill an orphanage owner?” Nash asked.
Justin’s heart began to beat furiously. “The ton,” he said.
Chris frowned. “What do you mean?”
Justin recalled what Avon had told him and said, “Alexandra’s existence puts the ton in a bind. They will have to accept her or be made hypocrites in the eyes of the public and the church, yet at the same time, they fear being next.”
“What do you mean?” Reuben moved toward him. “What do they fear?”
“More children like Alexandra coming forward,” Justin went on. “The ton fears their secrets spilling out before the world.”
“Yes,” Chris whispered in understanding. His eyes turned to Alicia. “I’ve been meaning to ask… Are you the one who released Ms. Best’s journal entry?”
Alicia blinked. Slowly, her eyes widened. “No. Of course not. I didn’t know my great-aunt even had a journal.”
The old woman in the room grunted. “My sister’s journal would have come quite in handy had I known of its existence years ago.” The comment made Justin realize that she was Mary Francis.
“So you’re not behind the papers either?” Nash asked, if only to clarify.
“No!” Mary Francis placed a hand on her chest. “And don’t ask me questions over and over again. Dear me, no one has done such a thing since those Bell doctors in Scotland.”
Justin knew about the Bells of Scotland. They’d been a surgeon family who'd begun their practice in the 1740s.
That was nearly seventy years ago. He wondered how old Mary Francis was.
Chris surprised him when he rolled his eyes. “One of you had to have published that journal entry. You’re the only ones who could have.”
Justin looked at Alex to find her leaning away and examining the two Best women in the room. She had her suspicions as well.
Alicia frowned. “That’s not true. There are servants, not to mention that my great-aunt knew more than a few solicitors while alive. She could have done this.”
“Done this?” Nash asked in surprise. “You think your aunt planned this from the grave?”
Alicia stared at him. “It does beg the question of how she knew so much about Alicia’s percentage. How did she manage to connect her to the Viscount of Wint?”
The room fell silent, as the question was a good one.
Mary Francis pulled in a breath and said, “There was a young man who used to come around each time a baby was brought to the orphanage. He’d go away for a few days and then return. I often saw my sister whispering to him before giving him a meal and sending him on his way. At the time, I simply thought that she felt sorry for him, but perhaps he was working for her.” She looked at the men. “Do you suppose?”
Reuben crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “She had to have been working with someone to know who Alex’s mother and father were.”
“Maybe the boy is creating the journal entries,” Nash said. “He’d be a man now.”
“No.” Alicia shook her head. “I know Mary Elizabeth’s hand, and you could hear her voice in every word. That page from her diary was all her own.”
The room nodded in agreement.
“Doesn’t mean the boy doesn’t have the journal,” Chris said. “Children move in and out of Best Homes all the time. One of them could have grabbed it for him.”
“Do you suppose?” Nash asked.
Reuben grunted. “And we were worried about the homes overflowing with children after the commemoration. Now the ton will know better than to leave the children here.”
Justin agreed. “But surely there are not that many children like Alexandra.” He looked at her.
Alex wet her lips. “Ms. Best used to call us all lords and ladies. Perhaps…”
“No,” Chris cut in. “You’re a rarity,” he told Alex. “The ton has nothing to fear, and we need to find a way to let them know this so that Alicia is not attacked again.”
Reuben asked Justin, “You say the ton fears this. Do you have anybody in mind for this attack? Someone with the means and who would likely hire an assassin?”
Lord Avon came to mind, but Justin shook his head. “I know of no one who would send a man to kill Ms. Alicia in the market, of all places. They’d have waited for her to be asleep and hired someone to break into her home and end her while she rested. There would be no witnesses that way and the assassin would be gone before anyone was the wiser.”
He looked at Alicia and found that she'd paled. Her body was frozen with fear.
Justin closed his eyes and shook his head. “Forgive me. I should have thought better of my words.”
“Perhaps we should find Alex’s mother,” Nash said. “She might have answers.”
Alex seemed to visibly pull within herself, and that was when Justin moved. He went to her side of the couch and moved into the space that was left, wrapping an arm around her. “We don’t have to if you don’t wish it.”
She leaned into him slightly and looked up. “If it would protect Alicia, then I suppose we should.”
Chris came over. “You don’t have to be involved. You don’t even have to meet her.”
Alex covered her face, and Justin pulled her even closer.
He couldn’t begin to imagine what she was feeling but knew she was hurting and that there was little he could about it. She’d just discovered who her father was, and now they were suggesting they find the woman who’d actually given her away.
He looked at Chris. “We should discuss this elsewhere.”
Chris’ eyes moved from Alex to him before he lifted a brow. “We?”
Justin tightened his hold on Alexandra’s shoulder as a servant came into the room.
“Two men have been standing outside the orphanage door for some time now, and two others have come. I believe them to be newspaper writers.”
Reuben turned to Justin. “It’s time for you to get to work, my lord.”
Justin tentatively let go of Alex, her fingers leaving him just as slowly, before he stood. “What shall I say?”
“The truth,” Chris said. “No one connected to Best Homes published that book.”
Justin took a moment and said, “Perhaps I can suggest that a peer has done it. That should shake the people up a bit, sending them off to bother someone else. After all, to collect such information about Alex would have taken resources… or at least, it’s easy to believe it would.”
Nash and Reuben smiled slowly.
Chris nodded. “Get it done.”
Justin left the room.