The Heart of a Hellion

by Jess Michaels

  “Robert gave me earrings at our brother’s wedding a few months ago,” she explained. “And they’re gone. That could be how he got my glove. Derrick, I seem to be a victim of the Faceless Fox!”

  Chapter 18

  Derrick fastened his trousers and tucked his shirt into the waistband as he watched Selina pace the room. Every step was restless, shaky. She was certainly no longer the intensely confident woman who had tested his every boundary.

  She was also still clad only in a flimsy dressing gown, going on about her lost earrings in fits and starts. He wasn’t sure if the near-nudity was truly because she was distressed and hadn’t realized she was still unclothed…or if it was nothing more than an attempt at distraction.

  It certainly worked as one, for he couldn’t stop staring at how her body shifted beneath the silk, even now when everything in him told him she was a liar.

  He shook his head as that word ricocheted through his brain, not for the first time since confronting her about the glove. He hated that word. Hated that he aimed it at her, even as a question.

  And hated that he now had to put himself into his role as investigator with her. But he did it, even as his uneasy heart throbbed. He watched her rather than listened. Every tic, every breath, every flutter of her hand was a tell. Together they told the story, whatever truth she might try to hide. Whatever truth he might not really want to reveal.

  She was afraid, that was clearly true. He could see it in the way she moved, in the elevated pitch of her voice, in the way her hands shook ever so slightly at her side. She was afraid.

  What he didn’t know was the reason for the emotion. Was it because she thought a criminal had slipped into her chamber and stolen from her while she slept a few feet away? That could engender fear in even the most confident and brave of people.

  Or was it because she was a criminal and Derrick had nearly caught her by the fluffy fox tail?

  He found himself praying it was the first. Because if she’d truly been victimized by the Fox, she couldn’t be the Fox. And that would make everything easier, bearable…

  “Derrick, that would explain everything, wouldn’t it?” she asked, drawing his attention back to her in this moment and not all the ways he was trying to absolve her in his mind. No, not his mind. His heart.

  “I suppose it would,” he said slowly. “Though the Fox’s modus operandi is a bit…different.”

  Her gaze fluttered away from his. “Oh? How so?”

  He shook his head. This was not a conversation he should be having with a suspect in his investigation. In fact, considering how compromised he was, perhaps he shouldn’t be having a conversation with her at all.

  He cleared his throat and tried to clear his mind so easily. “Come, we must speak to Barber.”

  Her eyes widened. “But…why?”

  “Because if you have been robbed by the Fox within the last twelve or so hours, that means he’s on the move and Barber needs to be kept up to date.” He dropped his gaze from hers. “Get dressed.”

  She stared at him a beat. He felt those blue eyes boring into him even when he didn’t look at her. She even drew a breath as if to say something. He waited for her to do so, waited not knowing exactly what he wanted her to say. A denial? A confession? Neither one would satisfy.

  But then she shook her head and instead went looking for her stockings in the mess on the floor around them.

  It felt like an eternity as she dressed, though it couldn’t have been more than a quarter of an hour, in truth. Selina was efficient—she even was able to fasten herself. Perhaps that came from how she’d grown up. He wanted that to explain it. He wanted not to wonder how she was so practiced when she now had a companion to help her.

  He tried not to add it to the growing list of reasons to think her the Fox. He also tried not to stare as she wound her hair up in a loose bun and pinned it in place. Gone was the woman he’d made love to. She now looked as pulled together as she was when he’d found her playing piano a few hours before. As if that woman were a mask she wore.

  He feared she was.

  He cleared his throat. “Is there anything else you need?”

  Her gaze dropped to his lips, but she shook her head. “No, I’m ready. But you might want me to peek into the hallway to ensure we won’t be caught leaving my chamber together. Not everyone has such a liberal-minded view of unmarried people making love all afternoon. We wouldn’t want you caught up in something you didn’t want.”

  She slipped past him as she said it. He stared at her as she looked into the hall. She meant he might be forced to marry her. There was a thought. Marrying her. Being with her every day for the rest of his life.

  Knowing she might be lying to him every one of those days.

  She gave a strained smile from the door. “All clear. Let’s go before that changes.”

  He followed her into the hallway, and they walked in silence back downstairs toward the workspace provided for him and Barber. Tension coursed between them with every step they took, but for the first time it wasn’t merely erotic tension. For the first time he truly felt like an investigator with her.

  Perhaps he should have been all along, given what he now suspected.

  As they entered the study together, Derrick’s eyes found Barber sitting at the desk, his dark head bent over the timeline he and Derrick had been formulating together the past few days. Derrick’s heart sank. In some small part of him, he’d hoped they wouldn’t find his partner. That he’d be able to put off this inevitability for a little while longer.

  But he wasn’t so lucky, it seemed. Barber looked up from the desk. His gaze flitted over Selina and then swung to Derrick. He held there for a long moment, and Derrick saw him analyzing the situation. Barber knew what he’d been doing and from the deepening frown on his face, he didn’t approve.

  At last, he rose to his feet with a sigh. “Miss Oliver,” he said. “Good afternoon.”

  “Mr. Barber,” she said. “I’m so sorry to intrude on your work.”

  “My work?” Barber repeated, his eyebrows lifting toward Derrick again. “I’m merely a visitor in your brother’s home, miss. I assure you I was doing no work.”

  The room spoke otherwise, of course, with its papers strewn about, notes written on them, desks pushed together in the middle of the space.

  Derrick bent his head. “Selina knows,” he said softly.

  Selina caught her breath, as if she only just realized they were outing her knowledge of Derrick’s true identity. She rushed forward, hands raised in a gesture of surrender. “Mr. Barber, you must understand, I rudely eavesdropped on the conversation you and Mr. Huntington had with my brother last week. You were never betrayed by your partner.”

  Derrick flinched. Selina said he hadn’t betrayed Barber, but of course he had. He’d kept her knowledge about their work secret for over a week. He’d kept his suspicions about her secret for days. And judging from Barber’s expression, they would be having words once Selina was gone.

  Barber arched a brow. “I would never assume my partner betrayed me, I assure you. I trust him.” Those words were pointed, thrown toward Derrick like a casual bomb. A piercing reminder. “Tell me, Huntington, how much does she know?”

  “That we’re here after the Fox,” Derrick said.

  “I see,” Barber said. “And how many people have you told about our true reason for being here, Miss Oliver?”

  “No one,” Selina said. She swallowed. Derrick saw the working of her throat, caught the hint of pink that briefly swirled on the exposed skin on her collarbone. Then it was gone. The tell erased. But he’d seen it.

  Was she lying about telling others? Vale, perhaps? Her companion? Why? Idle gossip of a lady to her trusted servant? Or a thief to her partner? Vale, after all, was part of why Derrick’s suspicions had been raised against Selina in the first place.

  Barber folded his arms and his expression was blank and unreadable. Derrick frowned. Barber was too good at hiding his reactions. H
e couldn’t tell if his partner believed her or not.

  Believed him or not.

  The second stung like a bullet.

  “You two look as though you have something quite important to say,” Barber said. “Otherwise, why would you barge in here and suddenly confess Miss Oliver’s knowledge of our case?”

  “Yes!” Selina burst out, hands clasped before her. “Something has happened, Mr. Barber.”

  Barber leaned back in his chair. “And what is that?”

  “Selina has had something of hers stolen,” Derrick said, and nearly choked on the words. “We think it might have been the Fox.”

  Barber paced away from the desk to the window. He stood there for a moment, staring out at the yard. Gathering himself? Derrick couldn’t tell. Barber was methodical in all things. It made him a good investigator.

  He turned back at last. “Very well, sit down, Miss Oliver. And tell me all about what the was stolen from you and why you believe it was the Fox.”

  Selina’s hands were shaking. Normally she would have fought to maintain control over that reaction. Physical reactions could easily reveal too much, especially to close observers like Derrick or Barber. But today she allowed it to happen. She hoped the men would read the fluttery reaction as fear over being robbed by an infamous thief. It could easily lend credence to the story she was telling. The lie.

  However, she wasn’t certain of what either of them thought at present. It was frustrating to the highest degree. Barber sat at the desk across from her, fingers steepled before him, occasionally taking a note on a piece of paper before him. His expression was utterly blank.

  And Derrick sat behind her, perfectly positioned so that she couldn’t see him at all. But she felt him there.

  Oh, how she felt him.

  “And so I opened my drawer and discovered my earrings were missing,” she said as an end to her short tale of the supposed robbery. “They were a present from my brother, Robert. You would have to ask him their worth, but I believe they were not an inexpensive gift.”

  She frowned at that thought. She had loved those earrings. She mourned that she would likely never be able to wear them in public again thanks to this lie.

  Robert would be upset, he would worry over her. She didn’t deserve that care. Or the replacement he would surely offer. God, but she hated this. Hated that she had been cornered into displaying her worst side. Hated that she had to lie to so many people she loved.

  “And why would you think this was related to the Fox?” Barber asked, interrupting her thoughts.

  She blinked. That was a good question. Derrick had mentioned something earlier about how the robbery of her earrings hadn’t fit into the style of the Fox. Of course it hadn’t. She knew that full bloody well. She had made the suggestion out of pure terror, just a quick way to get Derrick off her scent.

  Luckily, she didn’t have to come up with an answer. Behind her, Derrick cleared his throat. “I meant to mention this to you, Barber. The Duchess of Roseford found me this morning while you were out and mentioned that a mysterious glove was found in Lady Winford’s chamber this morning. Selina’s glove. It was during our discussion about how it could have been found in the countess’s chamber that Selina discovered her missing earrings.”

  Selina nodded. “I thought perhaps this Faceless Fox person had come to my chamber first and taken my earrings and my glove. That would explain the transfer of the glove to Lady Winford’s.”

  Barber’s lips thinned. “Indeed, it does explain it perfectly.”

  Selina almost flinched at the dry, flat tone. It was impossible not to like Barber, even as he all but stalked her across the room. He was a clever man and normally that sparked her interest in a person. There were far too few clever people in the world.

  Only this clever person was hell-bent on turning his brilliant mind on her. Her lies. Her truths. And she could tell he had his doubts. Unlike Derrick, he wasn’t looking for a reason to believe her. He wouldn’t bend the facts in her favor.

  “Funny that Lady Winford hasn’t reported anything stolen yet,” Barber added, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms.

  She stiffened. “Well, as you say, yet. Perhaps she hasn’t noticed whatever was stolen. Or perhaps the thief—”

  “This Fox person,” Barber added helpfully.

  She swallowed. “Yes. Perhaps he was interrupted.”

  She was talking too much. And she knew better. Silence was a great weapon against curiosity or suspicion. And yet she couldn’t stop talking. She actually bit her tongue to keep herself from continuing to explain herself into a corner.

  Barber leaned over his papers and wrote a few sentences. How Selina wished she could read his notes, but they were in a small, tight hand, upside down and too far away to be deciphered. When he was finished writing, he glanced up at her, almost dismissively.

  “I think that’s all for now, though we may have more questions for you later.” He stood and she staggered to her own feet. “I would like to speak to Mr. Huntington alone for a moment, if you don’t mind. Perhaps you’d like to go talk to the duke about this update yourself, as it is his gift to you gone missing.”

  She barely kept herself from flinching as guilt ripped through her yet again. “Y-Yes. I suppose that would be a good idea. Thank you, Mr. Barber.”

  She moved toward the door, and Derrick stood and walked behind her. When she reached it, she turned back to look up at him. Would this be the last time she could do it without irons around her wrists? Without him scowling at her as if she were a stranger?

  He leaned closer. “All is well,” he reassured her beneath his breath, though his smile didn’t reach his eyes. “We’ll…we’ll resolve this, I swear to you.”

  She forced her own false smile, even though she didn’t want them to resolve anything. Resolution was ruination, for everyone. Because of her.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, and slipped from the room.

  Only she had no intention of going to Robert. No, she had someone else to speak to. Someone else who might have the answers to how she’d ended up in this trap.

  Chapter 19

  Derrick quietly closed the door as Selina stepped into the hall, and leaned his hand against it for a moment, unready to turn and face the barrage he was sure was about to come.

  “So…” Barber said, dragging the word out too long. “Let me see if I understand. You discovered Selina Oliver knew about our true identities upon our arrival and you didn’t tell me.”

  Derrick finally pivoted and faced his friend in silence.

  “And then,” Barber continued as he stepped around the desk and came closer, “you found out about her glove in a potential victim’s chamber and spoke to her about it before me, as well.”

  Derrick forced himself to hold Barber’s stare. He owed him that. “Yes,” he said softly.

  “Also you’re fucking her,” Barber added.

  Derrick flinched at the bawdier term. One meant to raise his ire, he thought. Barber was using investigation tactics against him, it seemed. “I won’t lie to you. I’ve taken her to bed.”

  “You won’t lie to me again,” Barber corrected. “Because I think we both know you have been lying to me. Over and over for the past week or more. I assume there’s even more you haven’t told me between ‘she eavesdropped on a conversation’ and ‘her glove was found in a suspicious location’.”

  Derrick scrubbed a hand over his face. “You have every right to be angry with me.”

  “Oh, thank you for that.” Barber snorted. “And I am angry. I’m also concerned. You don’t involve yourself with suspects, Derrick. You never have.”

  Derrick blinked at Barber’s use of his first name. It was a rare thing. Something that highlighted the seriousness of this infraction. “Is that what she is now? A suspect?”

  It was said weakly, and Barber rolled his eyes. “Of course she is. And I can see from your eyes that you bloody well know she is.”

  Derrick walked away t
o the window and stared out at the stables so Barber wouldn’t see how much further he’d already gone with his suspicions. He wasn’t fully ready to share them. To say out loud what echoed in his head. To say out loud what would doom her, and them, forever.

  “Why have we always believed that the Faceless Fox was a man?” Barber asked.

  Derrick bent his head and gripped his hands at his sides. This was a snowball let loose at the top of a hill. It was already rolling, gaining momentum and mass. It was inevitable that it would crush everything in its path.

  And yet he still struggled to slow it down. “Barber,” he said in a weary tone.

  “Answer the question. Why?”

  He pivoted to face him, arms folded. “Because that’s always how others have referred to the Fox,” he said through gritted teeth.

  “But he was never more than a shadow,” Barber said. “An outline slipping from a window in the night. No one ever saw him…or her…clearly enough to name their sex with certainty.”

  “And I suppose because many of the victims would not believe a lady capable of such a crime,” Derrick added reluctantly. “They see women as fitting into a certain category. Helpless victim, not clever thief.”

  “That would give a woman far more freedom, wouldn’t it?” Barber pressed. He dug around in the papers on his desk and came up with one. “Here it is, the descriptions given by those who got a glimpse. Shall I read them?”

  “No,” Derrick whispered.

  Barber ignored him. “‘Slim.’ And here’s another: ‘Moving with an unexpected grace.’” He glanced up at Derrick. “And this one is perfect. ‘Quick as a fox.’” He set the papers down. “I could go on and on. Perhaps we’ve thought of this wrongly, to the benefit of our quarry.”

  Derrick fisted his hands at his sides. “So you are determined that the Fox is a woman now.”

  “And you are desperate for her not to be,” Barber said.

  “I’m desperate not to falsely accuse someone,” Derrick said, throwing his hands up. “Selina is not the Fox.”