Page 58 of Noble Scoundrel

“Glory? Gold? Because I’m bloody good at it?” He shrugged dismissively.

It was a non-answer, but she didn’t argue further. He didn’t even realize he’d just proven most of her previous points.

“What do you hope to do once all this is over?” she asked.

The way he narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow suggested he was reluctant to answer. She hoped he’d be as up-front about his future as he’d been about everything else. For some reason, it mattered a great deal to her that he would move on to something meaningful after his job with them was finished.

“Will you go back to offering loans to men who bet on the fights?”

He started shaking his head before she even finished the question. “No.”

She tilted her head. “Then what?”

There was a brief flicker in his gaze before he replied casually, “I plan to open a training center. For men hoping to make a living by their skill and might. Flash men and bouncers.”

“Bodyguards,” she added with a smile, recalling his request for a reference.

A twitch softened his lips. “Aye.

“I suspect you’ll quickly have more clients than you know what to do with.”

Rather than reply to her declaration of confidence, he simply stared back at her, his mouth curling subtly at the corners. Then he gave a short nod and turned to extend his gaze beyond their carriage.

She tried not to note how the shift of his attention felt like a loss. She’d enjoyed speaking with him. Learning about him. Mason Hale had been steadily proving to be far more multifaceted than she’d first imagined.

They’d gotten well into the park by now, and no matter where she looked, she saw the same thing. Casual people doing casual things. No one looked familiar. No one seemed inordinately threatening or suspicious.

Except...maybe there?

A gentleman riding toward them on a large grey gelding couldn’t seem to glance away from their carriage. He even paused to tip his hat. Katherine narrowed her gaze at the stranger until he’d passed.

When the same thing happened as they rode past a couple of young bucks standing near the Italian fountains, anxiety tripped through her. But then one of the gentlemen staring back at her stiffened and sent a sharp elbow jab into the ribs of the man beside him. Both young men turned and walked swiftly in the opposite direction.

Turning to Hale, she noted the heavy scowl darkening his brow and realized it was his menacing countenance that had startled the gentlemen. It was odd to have someone so ready to battle on her behalf and a strange warmth filled her.

When he turned to look at her, the glowering expression immediately cleared. “You’re drawing some attention, dove.”

“I noticed that,” she replied thoughtfully. “Do you think those men could be involved in the plot against Frederick?”

He laughed. “Not a chance. Those two had nothing more sinister in mind than bedding you. Thoroughly.”

Katherine didn’t understand why the man felt the need to tease her with such a ridiculous and inappropriate suggestion. “I doubt...”

Her next words slid from her mind as she noticed a strikingly familiar figure standing beneath a tree across the lawn. It was the same gentleman she’d spotted the day she and Frederick had gone shopping. Today, in the afternoon sunshine and general gaiety of the park, the man’s detached manner appeared distinctly out of place, and the sight of him caused a tingle of trepidation to cross her nape.

“What is it? What did you see?” Hale’s expression was ruthless and focused. The intensity coiled inside him made her think of a lion preparing to pounce.

Katherine glanced back to where the man had been standing, but he was gone. How was that possible? There was no horse nearby, no carriage waiting. She scanned the area around the tree but there was no sign of him.

Had she conjured the man from her imagination?

“Lady Katherine.” Hale’s deep voice brought her gaze back to him.

“It was nothing.”

His eyes sharpened. “Don’t lie to me, duchess. You’re practically trembling. You saw something. Tell me.”

She wanted to argue that she wasn’t trembling at all, but she couldn’t deny the quiver of foreboding that remained within her. “It could be nothing,” she clarified.

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