“Gleason, Gleason,” Lionel said, brow furrowed, tapping his lips. “The name is familiar, though I can’t quite place it.” He cocked his head to the side with a wry grin. “Isn’t that an unfamiliar sensation.”
“What name is this?” David Wirth said, walking out of the back office, his nose in a file.
Lionel instantly snapped straight, his face going pink and his eyes flashing with desire. “My brother has a private detective on his tail,” he said, his voice changing to a softer, more alluring timbre. Everything from the way he stood to the lilt in his steps as he moved closer to Wirth changed to the tactics Phin had seen his brother use when he had a conquest in his sights. “We should all be so lucky.” He sent Wirth a flirtatious smile.
Wirth was so focused on the file he was reading that he didn’t notice the overt flirtation. Or, if he did, he was as used to ignoring Lionel’s silliness as Phin was. And if that was the case, Phin liked the man instantly. But he hadn’t come to Lionel’s place of work to watch him seduce his employer.
“I am about to leave town for an undetermined amount of time and I dropped by to say goodbye to my brother,” Phin said, rolling his eyes at Lionel.
Lionel shot him a defensive look that also managed to convey that Phin was no better when it came to objects of his affection. “I was about to offer to walk my brother to St. Pancras so that he can catch a train home. Do you have any errands that need running? Anything I can do for you? Anything at all?” He flickered one eyebrow seductively.
Phin had to cover his mouth with one hand to keep from laughing. Again, Wirth seemed to be more interested in his file than Lionel.
“If you have time, you might pay a visit to Dr. Cameron in Harley Street to ask about the medication he prescribed for Mr. Greer. I’m still convinced there is some sort of malpractice involved in that case.”
“Your wish is my command,” Lionel said. He bowed gallantly, raking Wirth with a lascivious look as he did, then crossed to fetch his coat and hat from the rack by the door. Wirth wandered over to one of the many bookshelves lining the office to search for a book, still either oblivious or unimpressed.
“Don’t you know it’s shamefully unprofessional to seduce your employer mere months after being hired?” Phin asked with a smirk as he and Lionel headed out the door and began the search for a cab to take them to St. Pancras.
“I have no intention of seducing him,” Lionel said with a disappointed sigh. “Though if I could, I’d’ve had him bending me over one of those delightful sofas in the office on a regular basis long before now.”
Phin chuckled and shook his head. It was a relief to laugh at Lionel’s warped world for a few minutes instead of being mired in his own, as well as Lenore’s, problems. Though as they caught a cab and started their journey to the train station, there wasn’t much more of Lionel’s story to tell.
“Damned vow of celibacy,” Lionel finished his story, then turned to Phin to say, “I take it you don’t have the same problem at the moment.”
“No, I don’t,” Phin said, not particularly in the mood to swap tales of romantic conquest with his brother. Besides which, Lenore was so much more than a conquest to him. “I’m much more concerned with keeping Miss Garrett safe at the moment than I am with bending her over anything.”
“Though I’m sure the two activities could be combined,” Lionel added with a grin.
Phin stared flatly at him. “I’m afraid this matter is far more serious than anything we’re used to. You didn’t see the genuine fear in Lenore’s eyes. This Swan fellow isn’t some comic stage villain. He is a real-life murderer, and Lenore has to be kept safe.”
Lionel lost his teasing grin. “I’ll see what I can find out.”
They spent the rest of the ride to St. Pancras discussing ways Lionel would handle Phin’s business while he was gone and messages Phin would deliver to their sisters. Phin wished he had more time with his brother, mostly because Lionel had a way of steadying him that few other people did.
By the time they reached St. Pancras, Phin almost wished he could ask Lionel to come with him. He considered asking right up until Lionel escorted him to the ticket office.
“I take it that is your mysterious and alluring lover?” Lionel asked with a twitch of his lips, nodding to the line leading up to the ticket windows.
Phin’s brow flew up at the sight of Lenore dressed in a traveling coat, a massive hat on her head that had a long scarf draped over and around the hat and her shoulders. It concealed half of her face, and she wore a pair of shaded spectacles to hide her eyes. The disguise might have hidden her identity, but it drew an inordinate amount of attention to her at the same time. She looked like a heroine out of a mystery novel.
“That,” Phin said, adjusting his own spectacles with a grin, “is the love of my life.”
“You poor thing,” Lionel said, thumping him on the back.
Lenore spotted them and walked forward, traveling bag in hand, glancing this way and that as though Swan would leap from the shadows and tackle her at any moment.
“Miss Garret, you remember my brother, Lionel, don’t you?” Phin asked, tempted to grin in spite of the seriousness of the situation.
“Ssh,” Lenore hissed. “No one should know I’m me.”
“Godspeed, dear brother,” Lionel said, his eyes dancing with mirth even as he kept a straight face. “And best of luck to you, Miss Garrett. Rest assured that I will employ my full powers of investigation and all of my connections to see what can be done about the delicate situation you find yourself in. Good day.” Lionel bowed dramatically, as though making an exit on stage, and backed away.
“He is a bit of a popinjay, isn’t he,” Lenore said, lowering her shaded glasses enough to glance over them at Lionel’s retreating form.
Phin laughed and reached to take Lenore’s suitcase from her. “He likes to think so.”
As soon as they joined the queue of travelers and bought their tickets, then headed to the platform to catch the train to York, their moods sobered.
“I only hope that leaving London will put Bart off the scent,” Lenore sighed as they found the first-class compartment Phin had booked—in spite of it being just out of his price range—so that the two of them could make the journey unobserved. “I pray that he gives up and goes home.”
“Do you think he’s likely to?” Phin asked, storing both of their suitcases in the racks above the seats as Lenore flopped into hers.
“No,” she lamented, unwinding the scarf from her neck. “Not if he came all the way to England in search of me.”
“I agree that making such a journey seems—”
Phin’s words were cut short as the train jolted unexpectedly, causing him to fumble Lenore’s suitcase. It fell from his hands and landed awkwardly on the floor. As a result, it popped open, spilling some of the contents, including a few unmentionables that had Phin grinning.
“I’m terribly sorry,” he said, crouching to gather a handful of Lenore’s knickers to shove back into the suitcase. “How clumsy of me.”
Lenore leaned over with a sigh, sending him a wry look, as though he’d intended to drop the case just so he could handle her underthings. “I would tell you to stop looking at my unmentionables, but we both know you’ve seen more than this.” She batted his hands away and shifted the suitcase closer to her, opening it all the way.