He stifled a sigh. He already knew everything he was asking Ness. The letter from Juliet had told him this much, but it had been clearly written in haste.
Ness needs to be hidden, protected.
No one can know she’s with you.
She is off-limits.
Details had been lacking. Especially on that last line. Did Juliet really think he couldn’t keep his cock in his trousers? Especially when it came to a battered and bruised woman?
But Ness’s story thus far matched what Juliet had written. Small favor. At least he wasn’t dealing with a liar.
“Do you know who I am?”
“You’re Talen Blackstone. You just told me that.”
He shook his head. “No. Not my name. Do you know what I am, what I do here in London?”
She blinked. Then blinked again, slowly, like she was trying to make her mind work through the opium muddle that had taken over her brain. “Juliet said to mention the Selkie South Brothel.”
“Aye.”
Her look lifted to him. “So you deal in brothels?”
“No.” He exhaled a sigh. “Not since the one I had burned to the ground.”
Her right eye opened wide. “But, Juliet—no. She cannot be…I cannot believe it.”
“Believe what?”
“Juliet couldn’t have been from a brothel—she said she knew people—the wrong sort of people, but I never imagined. But then you and that other man called her ‘Madame Juliet.’ I remember that.” Her head shook. “But no. Not Juliet.”
Talen smirked. “She does know the wrong people. And she is exactly what you are afraid to think she is. But I can tell you this, Juliet is a lot of things, including a very good friend to you if she called in the Selkie South Brothel favor for you.”
Her right hand lifted, heavy and slow, and she set her fingertips along her hairline at her temple. Her head shook slightly. “I am sorry. I cannot think…think quickly at the moment. Why can I not think?”
“You still have laudanum in your body.”
“You gave me laudanum?”
“Aye.”
“Why?”
“To ease the pain as the bone in your arm was reset.”
Her head shifted on the pillow, her gaze going down to her left arm. “I…I didn’t even notice. When did that happen?” Her right hand went down and her finger started to tug at the bandages.
“Two nights ago.” He grabbed her hand and pulled it away from the bandages. “Don’t move it. The bonesetter was specific.”
Her hand jerked out from his hold as though he’d scalded her. Between that and how she’d recoiled from Declan’s touch, it was clear she didn’t react well to men.
But then she looked up at him, her peculiar amber eye settling on him with wariness. “Why do you owe Juliet?”
“She didn’t tell you?”
Ness shook her head.
He took a step away from the bed. “Then it’s not my place to tell you.”