Microsoft Word - Burning Lamp - Quick_ Amanda by noel Page B

some resistance at first. But he and the other enforcers had been won over
    when the fragrant aromas of a hearty breakfast and strong coffee had begun to emanate from the
    kitchen.

    “Men generally respond very well to a good meal,” Mrs. Trevelyan explained to Adelaide.
    “Indeed, it has been my experience that they are more faithful to a good cook than they are to a
    lover.”

    Delbert waited now at the foot of the stairs with Lucinda’s cloak. His coat was fastened around
    his bulky frame in a less than successful attempt to conceal the large revolver he carried in his
    shoulder holster. If Lucinda noticed the bulge she was too polite to question it.

    Delbert was clearly unaccustomed to the business of assisting a lady into her cloak. He fumbled
    a bit with the long, sweeping length of fine wool and turned quite red when it did not settle
    properly around Lucinda’s shoulders. But Mrs. Jones did not seem to notice.

    “Thank you,” she said politely.

    “Yes, ma’am.” Delbert turned even redder.

    Out in the street, rain was falling steadily. Adelaide watched from the doorway as Delbert used a
    large umbrella to escort Lucinda down the steps to the waiting carriage. The vehicle’s windows
    were securely closed against the damp weather.

    The carriage door opened when Lucinda got close. A man dressed in a high-collared coat and a
    low-crowned hat kicked down the steps and got out. The heavy rain, combined with the hat, the
    coat and the fact that Delbert’s broad back and the bobbing umbrella were in the way, made it
    difficult to get a clear view of the gentleman. Adelaide was certain, however, that she was
    looking at the other half of Jones & Jones .

    There was a subtle intimacy in the way Caleb Jones handed Lucinda up into the cab. It spoke
    volumes. Mr. Jones, Adelaide thought, was very much in love with his wife and she with him.

    The carriage door closed and the vehicle rolled off into the rain. Adelaide opened her senses and
    looked at the prints that the Joneses had left on the pavement. Hot energy burned in the rain.

    Delbert lumbered back up the steps, paused to shake out the umbrella and then moved into the
    hall. He closed the door and looked at Adelaide. Anxiety scrunched his broad features into a
    grim mask.

    “Will the Boss really be all right, ma’am?” he asked.

    “Yes,” Adelaide said. She was aware of the other two enforcers, Jed and Leggett, listening from
    the shadows of the hall. “Jed and I got the bleeding stopped very quickly and the doctor who was
    summoned appeared competent.”

    “He bloody well better be competent. Owes the Boss a favor, and that’s a fact.”

    “I see. Well, rest assured, I called in Mrs. Jones merely as a precaution against infection.”

    “Yes, ma’am.” Delbert hesitated, glancing up the staircase. “It’s just that the Boss is sleeping so
    soundly. Has us a bit worried, if you want to know.”

    “Why? Sleep is what he needs now.”

    “The thing is, he hasn’t been sleeping well for some time. The way he is at the moment, it strikes
    us as a bit unnatural is all.”

    “He’ll awaken soon,” she assured him. “When he does he will need some nourishing broth.
    Please ask Mrs. Trevelyan to send up a tray in an hour.”

    Delbert squinted. “How do you know the Boss will be awake by then?”

    “Trust me.”

    She seized handfuls of her skirts and flew up the stairs. The last thing she and Mrs. Trevelyan
    needed just now was for Griffin’s enforcers to wonder whether she was trying to murder their
    boss.

    10

    CALEB WATCHED LUCINDA LOWER THE HOOD OF HER CLOAK. Her energy was a
    tonic to all of his senses. He still could not believe that he was married to this remarkable
    woman.

    “Obviously you were not immediately thrown out of the house as I predicted,” he observed.
    “Winters must, indeed, be in a bad way if he allowed a woman named Jones to attend him.”

    “Mr. Winters does not even know that I was summoned,”