by Shelley Gray
After taking a fortifying breath, Owen continued. “The captain told me he had everything in hand, but he needed me to walk the perimeter. That’s when I saw Miss Berkley, Caroline Berkley, standing alone. Just as I was walking toward her to tell her not to be anywhere by herself, someone knocked into me and got me with his stiletto knife.”
“You didn’t catch a glimpse of who stabbed you?”
“All I noticed was a dark suit. It could have been any of the gentlemen here.”
Just then, Captain Keaton approached them. “Ryan! Go ask your fancy heiress to help you locate this girl’s family.”
“All right. But, Owen here—”
Owen shook his head. “I’ll be all right. Go.”
“When I get back, we’re getting you help.”
“Thanks.”
Sean stared at him a moment longer. It was evident Owen had something else on his mind but wasn’t in any hurry to share it.
As he stepped back into the party, all of Eloisa’s group immediately stopped chatting and turned to stare at him.
“Lieutenant Ryan, is everything all right?” Eloisa asked.
“I’m afraid there’s been an incident. Detective Howard needs medical attention.”
Eloisa’s eyes grew wide. “Where is he? Can I help?”
She really was the kindest woman he’d ever met. “I’ll take care of him, but I am asking for the rest of you to help me find Miss Caroline Berkley’s family. Do any of you know them?”
“Why?” Cassandra asked. “Is she hurt? Did something happen?”
On another evening, in a different situation, Sean might have tried harder to keep what had happened quiet. But he was too tired of this cat-and-mouse game they were all playing with the Slasher. “She has been accosted. I don’t believe she’s injured, merely shaken up. But she needs her family. Owen and my captain are with her now.”
Collingsworth nodded. “I believe she’s here with her parents and older sister. They’re over near the quartet.”
“Please ask them to follow you outside, toward the wooded paths.” He paused. “I might mention that it would be best for everyone if you attempted to keep their daughter’s situation private. Not only will it stir everyone up, but it could harm her reputation.”
“I’ll go with you, Jack,” one of the women said.
“And Avery and I will go with you and stay with her until they get to her side,” Eloisa spoke up.
Every protective bone in his body wanted her to stay where she was, stay safe. “Eloisa, I’d rather you didn’t.”
“Please, Sean. Don’t put me in a crystal box. I have no desire to be treated as if I am about to break.”
“No, no, I suppose you are not. Come with me, then.”
Minutes later Avery and Eloisa were at Miss Berkley’s side, offering her comfort. And as soon as Jack and another concerned-looking gentleman arrived and Sean ascertained they would not leave Eloisa’s side, Sean motioned for Owen to follow him.
It was now evident that Owen was no longer going to be able to hide his discomfort.
Or hide the blood seeping from his wound, for his handkerchief was now stained red.
CHAPTER 21
The pounding on the door was accompanied by a harsh voice. “Maeve. Maeve, open up.”
Just as Katie was debating whether to leave her makeshift bed on the couch and answer the summons, both Maeve and Jack raced down the stairs.
As Jack unlocked the deadbolt, Maeve cast a harried eye in her direction. “Put on your robe, Kate. Be quick about it.”
“Maeve. Now!” the voice called out.
With more than a few inappropriate words under his breath, Katie’s brother-in-law pulled open the door. “Get in, then,” he said with a glare. “But you’d better have a good reason for waking up half the street.”
Now with her robe fastened securely about her waist, Katie stood motionless as Sean burst in, Owen Howard at his side. Owen looked rattled and pale—the complete opposite of his usual self. Katie gasped.
That, unfortunately, directed Owen to glance her way. Straight away a look of shame filled his gaze.
“It’s near on eleven, Sean,” Maeve said.
“I know that, but we need your help,” Sean replied. “Owen is hurt. I need you to sew him up.”
Jack groaned. “Really, Sean? You couldn’t think of anyone else to involve besides my wife?”
Still grasping Owen firmly, Sean said, “I’ll explain everything in a minute. But for now, we really need to get him to a chair.”
“Bring him in the kitchen, then.” Maeve looked her way. “Kate, go upstairs and get my kit.”
Katie did as she was bid. On her way back downstairs, she passed her brother-in-law. “Is everything all right, Jack?”
“I think so. You can go on into the kitchen. I’m going back to bed. I’ve got an early shift in the morning.”
Katie nodded, then hurried to the kitchen. “Here you go, Maeve.”
Her sister was washing her hands at the sink. “Thanks, dear. Go set it over by Mr. Howard, please.”
“Katherine Jean, seeing you here is a surprise,” Sean stated.
“I’m visiting with Maeve for a few days.”
“Because?” Automatically, he thought of a dozen scenarios where Katie could have gotten into trouble with Conner.
“Because nothing,” Maeve said impatiently. “Sean, now isn’t the time to be fussing with our Katie.”
“So something did happen.”
Neatly sidestepping the statement, Maeve shook her head. “No, I’d say it looks as if something happened to our guest.”
Edging closer, Katie held her breath as her brother helped Mr. Howard out of his dinner jacket, revealing a dark stain of red on his side. “Oh, Detective Howard. Look at you.”
Detective Howard pointedly ignored her outburst. “Do you think you can sew me up, Mrs. O’Connell?”
“What happened?” Katie asked.
“Nothing you two ladies should be worrying about,” he murmured.
“You have lost a lot of blood,” Katie cried, feeling slightly queasy.
“Oh, stuff,” Maeve bit out. “He’s gotten stabbed, Katie.” Her gaze hardened. “Don’t you turn into a crying baby on my watch. If you can’t be of use, you need to leave this kitchen—and be quick about it.”
Katie flinched at her sister’s criticism. “That’s hardly fair, Maeve. I don’t go around acting like a baby. Ever.” It took everything she had not to glance Detective Howard’s way. The last thing she wanted to see was him, too, looking at her like she was too silly to be of use.
Or worse, that she had a terrible crush on him, something he was no doubt used to happening. A man as handsome and charming as he was probably had scores of admirers, each one far prettier and more accomplished than a girl like her.
“Just remember that you asked to be here,” Maeve muttered as the kettle started whistling. “Sean, get his shirt off.”
“I believe I can do that myself,” Mr. Howard said as he unfastened the buttons.
“I imagine you could. I believe you could also manage to do more damage by twisting this way and that,” Maeve added, her voice as sharp as a tack. “Let us help you, please.”
Immediately Mr. Howard’s hands fell to his sides, the new position revealing a sliver of his bare chest. “Of course.”
Katie bit her lip so she wouldn’t smile. “Don’t mind my sister, Mr. Howard. She’s gruff with everyone.”
He glanced up at her, winked, then sat up as Sean began to pull off his shirt from behind him. “Good to know,” he quipped before stifling a wince as his side started to bleed once again.
Katie suddenly felt light-headed. She’d seen blood before. Of course she had. She’d also seen a man’s bare chest. After all, she was one of eight children.
But there was something about seeing Mr. Howard’s bare chest while he was sitting in her sister’s kitchen bleeding that made her heart ache and her insides twist and knot. He was in
need and she had no earthly idea how to help him.
Holding the soiled shirt, Sean darted a glance at her. “Buck up, Katherine.”
“Or as I said before, leave,” Maeve ordered with another harried glance at her. Then her voice turned sweet. “We’ll clean your wound, Mr. Howard, then I’ll stitch you up. I’ll try not to hurt you too much.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll be fine.”
Katie found herself holding her breath often over the next thirty minutes as her sister carefully cleansed Mr. Howard’s side with clean rags and hot water, then sewed seven stitches into his side.
Through it all, their guest—such as he was—sat silent and still. Only the muscles straining in his face gave any indication that he was in pain.
When her brother knelt down to help Maeve, he tossed Mr. Howard’s soiled shirt into her hands. Katie found herself gripping the cloth tightly, practically wringing it into a hopeless mass of wrinkles.
Then Maeve stood up and smiled tiredly. “That’ll do it, I think. If you wash it every morning with soap and keep clean, you should heal in no time.”
“I’m obliged, Mrs. O’Connell. Please forgive my intrusion into your home so late in the evening.”
Again, something gentle crossed her sister’s features. “Think nothing of it. Between my siblings, my husband, and my own two children, I’ve done more than my share of patching up scrapes and cuts over the years.”
“Maeve has become something of our savior,” Sean said, irony lacing his voice. “Our mother has never been particularly skilled in any situation involving blood.”
“Faints at the sight of it, she does,” Maeve blurted. “It’s still a mystery to us all how she birthed eight children.”
Seeing Mr. Howard’s blink, Katie was mortified. “Maeve!”
Maeve looked at their gentleman guest. “Sorry for my plain speaking, sir. I hope I didn’t offend your sensibilities,” she added with a wry look at Katie.
Detective Howard’s lips twitched. “Think nothing of it.”
“Well, now. I’m going to go find you one of my husband’s shirts so you can be on your way.”
“Thanks, Maeve,” Sean said. After she left the room, he looked at Katie. “You’re looking pale, dear. I have a feeling you might have inherited some of our mother’s squeamishness.”
“I am fine. Though I’m still not understanding why you came here, Sean. I would have thought you policemen would have access to a physician. Or that you would have your own, Mr. Howard.”
Mr. Howard smiled weakly. “Either of those options would have taken far more time. It would have also necessitated me answering more questions than I would be inclined to answer. This is police business, not a physician’s.”
“Why?”
“That is none of your concern, dear,” Sean said. His tone was gentle, always far more gentle with her than Maeve ever had been. But in its own way, it was just as firm and made it known that he would brook no arguments.
She was prevented from questioning that remark with her sister’s return. “This cloth and tailoring won’t be what you are used to, Mr. Howard, but it should get you home all right.”
“I’m sure it will be fine, Mrs. O’Connell.”
Sean snapped it out of Maeve’s hand and held it out to assist him. “Easy now.”
Detective Howard glared at him. “Give me my shirt, Ryan.”
“I can play valet with the best of them, sir. Deal with it. The last thing you want is to pull a stitch and have my sister redo her handiwork, fine as it may be.”
Looking put upon, Detective Howard stood up and let Sean help him on with the shirt. “I will have this laundered and returned to you tomorrow, ma’am.”
“Thank you, Mr. Howard,” Maeve said as she cleaned up the last signs that any of them had been in the kitchen at all.
After helping Owen on with his dinner jacket and overcoat, Sean smiled again at his sister. “Thanks again, Maeve. Tell Jack I’m sorry for disturbing his house, but I didn’t feel like I had a choice. I owe you.”
Reaching out, Maeve gently pressed a hand to Sean’s cheek. In that moment Katie realized that Maeve was giving thanks that it had not been Sean who’d been stabbed. “You don’t owe me a thing. I was glad I could help.”
Sean glanced Katie’s way, at Owen, then seemed to come to a decision. “Katie, walk out with Owen and me, if you please.”
Maeve stiffened. “What are you about, Sean?”
“None of your concern. Katie, if you will come with us?”
Katie’s hands trembled. Obviously, she was now going to get questions about being at Maeve’s instead of at home. About whether or not she’d fought again with Conner. About staying in the kitchen instead of retreating back to the couch. About asking Detective Howard cheeky questions instead of remembering her place and being more respectful.
Once more, this would all take place in front of Detective Howard, and he would again witness her embarrassment.
“Katie?” Sean’s speech was clipped. “Now, if you please.”
“Yes, Sean.” Leaving Maeve alone in the kitchen, she joined her brother and Mr. Howard next to the front door. Steeling herself, she faced him. “Yes?”
Then, to her surprise, the corners of her brother’s lips turned up. And then he took hold of her hand. “Dear, Owen asked if he could speak with you privately for a moment. Would you be willing to do that on the front stoop?”
As she gazed at Detective Howard, she felt a myriad of emotions that could only be described as a mixture of shock and joy. “Of course.”
“Thank you.”
And with that, he opened the door and gestured for her to precede him out the door. Then, to her surprise, Detective Howard closed the door and shared that top cement step with her. He was standing very close to her. So close she could feel his body heat. So close, she was able to see the lines of strain around his eyes and mouth.
Close enough that, if her imagination took hold, she could imagine leaning against him as he circled his arms around her waist. Close enough to let herself imagine what it must feel like to have a man like him as a beau.
She tilted her head back, stared into his dark-brown eyes. Felt her own lips part.
He noticed. After the slightest hesitation, he stepped down. Allowing more air to flow between them, but maybe it wasn’t really that at all? Maybe it was more a matter of him recognizing that they needed to keep a respectable distance from each other.
It was the right thing to do, but she felt the loss like it was a tangible thing. Like she’d had her opportunity to be in his world, and now that moment was gone. It made her sad, but she wasn’t surprised. Not really.
“Miss Ryan, thank you for your assistance this evening.”
She looked down at her feet. “We both know I didn’t do anything.” Actually, they both knew that she almost fainted right in front of him.
“You and your brother and sister did everything. You saved me a lot of questions and a lot of bother as well.”
Something in his voice sent up a red flag. Did he not see his worth? Or were there not enough people in his life who did? Hesitantly, she said, “Detective Howard, are you sure you’re going to be all right?”
“I’m better now, I believe.”
“I fear you’re going to be hurting something awful in the morning.”
“I’ll be all right. I’ve overcome worse,” he added, as if he were sharing a secret joke that she had no hope of understanding. “Miss Ryan, I asked you to speak to me out here for a reason.”
“Yes?” Worry claimed her. Was he going to take her to task again for walking around the city streets by herself?
He straightened. “I would still like to have tea with you.”
“You would?”
A hint of a smile played across his lips. “Would you still care to join me? I’ll ask your brother to join us as well, of course, so there will be no hint of impropriety.”
She was tempted to tell him the boys in
their neighborhood didn’t worry so much about impropriety. In her world, couples dating simply went for a walk or for a stroll in the neighborhood. But, of course, here most of the neighborhood watched them every step of the way.
“Mr. Howard, are you sure you’re still wanting to? I don’t want you to feel obligated.”
“Obligation is not what I am thinking of.”
His words meant everything. “Then, yes. Yes, I still want to. Thank you.”
“On Sunday afternoon, perhaps? I should be right as rain by then. Sean said he is going to be accompanying Miss Carstairs to Hope House. Perhaps you could go, too, and then I could meet you?”
“I would like that.” She ached to ask him a hundred questions about his wishes. About why he was seeking her out. Wanted to ask what she’d done to ignite his interest. She yearned to ask him questions about himself, to discover why a man like him would ever lower himself to even contemplate seeing a girl like her.
But when he looked at her like that, when she was standing so close to him and no one else was around to say a word, not a single word of her own came to mind. Instead, all she seemed to be able to do was smile at him.
But perhaps that was enough, because he smiled right back. “Thank you, Miss Ryan. You have just made a difficult night far better.”
He stepped next to her again, paused for a moment, then opened the door and gestured her inside. “You’d best go in now. You’ll catch a chill otherwise.”
Obediently, she stepped through the doorway.
Then she looked back his way. “Good night, Detective Howard.”
“Good night, Miss Ryan,” he said before turning toward an awaiting coach.
As she watched it start forward, Katie let herself smile. Even though he’d been bleeding and in pain, he’d still been thinking of her.
“Is he gone?”
Startled, she glanced at her brother, who was standing against a wall, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Yes.” Sean had already agreed to her having tea with Owen, and he must have known that was what Owen wanted to talk to her about. Still, she braced herself for a dozen questions, followed by another lengthy lecture about proper dating. She might be Sean’s favorite sister, but she had no doubt that his fondness for her would in any way prevent him from sharing his thoughts.
