Page 90 of His Improper Lady

“You expect me to—” Tom started, but Desiree stepped forward, putting a hand on his arm.

“Wait.” She stared intently at Falk. “That wasn’t your man who attacked me in my studio?”

“I don’t know what the devil you’re talking about,” Falk shot back. “Yes, I had you followed. I knew you two were up to something. And you ought to be glad I did, or my men wouldn’t have been there last night. But I never sent a man to attack you. What would be the point in that?”

Tom glanced at Desiree and she gave him a nod.

“Really?” Tom asked her. “You believe him?”

“Yes, I think I do. Somebody did help us last night.”

“Then who the devil is after you?” Tom asked Desiree. Ignoring the continued pounding on the door, he swung toward Falk. “Why are you looking for this will?”

“Somebody paid me, what d’you think? I didn’t even know the bloody thing was a will.” He addressed himself to Desiree and said, “I told you everything I know about it. A document from this lawyer, name of Blackstock, in the Moreland office. I don’t know anything else.”

“Who hired you?” Desiree asked.

“I can’t go giving out names like that!” Falk protested. “I have a reputation!”

“The only reputation you have is for dirty dealings. Give me the name.” Tom stared at him flatly. “I would welcome any opportunity to pay you back, so if I were you, I’d start talking.”

Falk sighed theatrically. “Oh, very well. Lloyd Paxton hired me.”

Falk’s answer was so far from anything Desiree had expected that it took a moment for his words to sink in. “Paxton? What does Paxton have to do with it?”

“And why the hell would Lloyd Paxton come to you?” Tom added.

“Oh, old Pax and I go way back,” Falk said with a sly smile. “I knew ’em both, him and his noble friend. Your da was more of a stickler, Dez, but Pax always liked his fun. Hadn’t seen the man in an age before this. They say Pax stopped his gambling and whoring.” He shrugged. “More’s the pity.”

“Why does Paxton want Alistair Moreland’s will?” Tom asked.

Falk shrugged. “I don’t ask my customers why. I just ask how much they’re willing to pay to get it.”

“Of course you do,” Tom said in disgust.

Desiree studied Falk for a moment. “What are you not telling us?” He was a difficult man to read. Lies and subterfuge were so much a part of his reality that they didn’t stand out; it was like finding something in the dark. Still, she was certain that he was concealing something; the glee he took in such things was palpable.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know something else,” Desiree insisted. “What is it?”

“I know lots of things,” Falk said smugly. “But it takes money to find out.”

“I don’t know,” Tom retorted, grasping the other man’s shirt front in one hand, his other hand doubling into a fist. “I think it might just take a few bruises.” He turned to Desiree. “What do you think?”

“He’s not worth the effort,” Desiree said. “I want to talk to Lloyd Paxton.”

Outside the door, there was a sudden silence. Falk gave them a wicked smile. “One thing you didn’t plan on—there’s a spare key to the office. Don’t worry, Desiree, like I said, I wouldn’t hurt you.” His malicious gaze went to Tom. “Now, Tom Quick is a different matter.”

Desiree’s senses were fully open, and she had already registered that the danger outside the door was growing. She cast her gaze all around the walls. There would be another way out; Falk always had one. And there it was—a thin line of light on the wall to their right. A door-shaped line of light. She ran to the low table that stood in front of it and yanked it back. As she suspected, it was fastened to the wall, and as she pulled the table, a section of the wall opened with it. As Falk stared at her with a stunned look on his face, Tom joined her. Desiree flashed her former boss a smile. “Surely you didn’t think I wouldn’t find your getaway door.”

Desiree closed the slender section of wall after them just as the outer door crashed open. Tom had already lit a match, and they went down the stairs in its feeble light. At the bottom, a section of wooden wall opened beneath Tom’s push and they emerged into an alleyway so narrow that Tom’s shoulders brushed it on either side as they ran. The corridor ended at another lane, and they turned, walking quickly in the opposite direction from Falk’s office.

Desiree took a complicated route back to their carriage, but they saw no sign of any pursuers. When Tom expressed surprise, Desiree said, “Falk might not even tell them where we went. I’m sure he doesn’t want anyone to know his secret entrance.”

Tom laughed. “How did you know it was there?”

“Falk always has a back door,” she replied. “I could see that something about that wall was at odds with the rest of it. The wall looked smooth, but in reality, there was a crack there, a door-shaped crack. Its ‘truth’ didn’t match its appearance. The truth looks sharp and bright to me. It was like a line of light outlined the door in my mind. It’s very like the way I ‘see’ that a person’s words aren’t in line with reality.”