He would be eternally grateful for acting the moment he saw those stairs. Lenore wouldn’t have been able to hold onto the edge of the roof for more than a few seconds if he hadn’t risked his neck to grab her and yank her up to safety with him. He’d never tell her how close he’d come to spilling over the edge of the roof himself, and if he were honest, it remained to be seen if they were safe.
“You found her,” Freddy gasped and leapt away from Swan’s hotel room door as soon as Phin and Lenore spilled into the hallway.
“She’d already climbed out the window and attempted to make it to the roof,” Phin panted, gesturing for Freddy to speed ahead of them down the main stairs. Phin would have taken three or four stairs at a time if he didn’t think Lenore might stumble trying to keep up with him. “What in heaven’s name is that idiot concierge doing with Swan?”
“I couldn’t tell,” Freddy said as they charged down to the lobby. “I think the young man grew a backbone at the last minute and tried to ask about Lenore. Swan shouted at him.”
“That’s why there was no gunfire,” Lenore gasped.
“I beg your pardon?” Freddy asked as they dashed through the lobby and out into the night.
Lenore had regained some of her color, but fleeing into the cold, lamp-lit night made her look as pale as a ghost again. All she managed to say as Freddy signaled to the driver waiting for them was, “He has a gun. More than one, if I know men like Bart.”
“Then we need to get you to safety as quickly as possible,” Freddy echoed what Phin had said on the roof.
“Swan will go to Reese’s house first,” Phin said, pausing to give the driver his own address before leaping into the carriage. “Lenore will be safer with me for the time being, but we need to leave London as soon as possible.”
“Bart will come after me,” Lenore said, panting to the point that Phin feared she might hyperventilate.
He threw his arms around her and held her close as the carriage lurched into motion. “He might try, but Reese wasn’t just heading to Scotland Yard for help, he went off to fetch Lord Clerkenwell.”
“Jack has wanted to act on our fears from the start,” Freddy added, resting a reassuring hand on Lenore’s leg. “He’s been hampered by formalities, but after tonight, I think he’ll be more than willing to take matters into his own hands without formalities.”
Lenore nodded tightly, then sagged against Phin. In spite of the danger that still nipped at their heels, Phin felt an immense sense of pride and love as he hugged Lenore close. He’d been a damn fool to be angry with her over preserving her life. While he still thought a lot of trouble could have been spared if she’d been honest with everyone, with him, from the start, he could see the full terror of her situation now. He didn’t want to think what would have happened if he had hesitated even a little in going after her. Timing had saved her life.
He loved her. He already knew that he did, but as Lenore’s breath steadied and her trembling stopped, as she clung to him and hid her face against his shoulder as she recovered from her trauma, he knew it in every fiber of his body, in every beat of his heart. He loved her with a passion that would forgive any mistake if only so he could keep her in his arms forever. If Swan’s sense of vengeance meant they had to flee London, flee England, and hide in the middle of the Amazonian jungle, he would go there happily, as long as he could be with her.
The world seemed abnormally calm as they reached his house and climbed out of the carriage.
“I’ll head back to Howsden House in case Swan shows up there,” Freddy said, staying in the carriage. “It’s where Reese is likely to go once he’s fetched Jack anyhow.”
Phin nodded to him. “If it becomes necessary for us to travel, I’ll send word somehow.”
“I’m sorry you’ve been put through all of this, Lenore,” Freddy told Lenore, a look of genuine affection in his eyes.
Lenore broke away from Phin and rushed to hug Freddy. “You know I love you, don’t you? You’re like a brother to me.”
“I know,” Freddy said, hugging her back. When he let her go, he stared hard at Phin. “Keep her safe, Mercer.”
“Oh, believe me, I will,” Phin said in reply, reaching for Lenore’s hand.
With a final wave goodbye, Freddy closed the carriage door and signaled for the driver to move on. Phin pulled Lenore toward the house, ushering her through the front door as fast as he could and locking it tightly behind her. He grabbed her hand and headed straight upstairs without bothering to turn up the lantern in the hall. At least Dora had left the lamp burning low so they didn’t have to stumble through complete blackness to make it to his room.
“It won’t do for you to make a grand escape wearing a ball gown,” he told Lenore as he lit the lamp in his room.
Lenore laughed restlessly. “It’s not exactly in the best condition now anyhow,” she said.
Phin glanced over his shoulder at her. Indeed, her dress was ripped and soiled in several places. At least the rips didn’t seem to be caused by Swan attacking her.
“How would you feel about wearing some of my old clothes and disguising yourself as a boy for our grand flight?” he asked.
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Lenore said, immediately reaching behind her for the fastenings of her gown.
The dress was far more complicated than Lenore could ever have managed on her own. Phin helped her with the impossible buttons down the back, then stepped to his wardrobe to find something small enough to fit her. The best he could come up with was an old pair of trousers and a cotton shirt, but they would have to do.
When he turned around to take the clothes to her and saw her in nothing but her chemise, drawers, and stockings, his heart chose the most inconvenient time possible to throb in his chest, sending a pulse of desire through him.
“Even in the middle of running for your life, you’re the most beautiful and desirable woman I’ve ever met,” he said, sounding as maudlin and lovesick as it was possible for a man to sound.
Lenore glanced at him after throwing her corset aside and laughed. “If you think I’m beautiful right now, then you must be in love.”
“I am,” Phin confessed, tossing the shirt and trousers onto his bed and moving to sweep her into his arms. “I am so in love that I cannot think straight. I gave my heart away to you long ago, and I don’t think I’m ever going to get it back.”
“Phin, you are the dearest, maddest man I’ve ever met,” Lenore laughed, a wild but loving light in her eyes as she threw her arms over his shoulders.
“I fully admit to being mad.” He laughed with her, the entire situation feeling absurd but wonderful. “I am mad for you. And I’m sorry that I ever doubted you or even thought of being angry at you for things that I now see were beyond your control.”
She shook her head, pressing her body against his. “I should have told you sooner, you’re right.”
“I know now,” Phin said, bringing his mouth down to hers.
He had a thousand other things to say, a million ways he wanted to tell her how much she meant to him, but all of that vanished from his mind as his lips crashed into hers. He kissed her with every bit of need and love he felt for her, pouring his soul into their kiss. She sighed and lifted to her toes to kiss him in return, giving as good as she got. The intensity of her passion only fueled his own. She was his equal, his mate, in every way. His life would never be boring with her, but he’d never wanted a boring life anyhow. His heart knocked so loudly against his ribs that he could feel it in every part of himself.