“To Tom!” Murphy crowed. “Who knew a charming gentleman lurked beneath that ugly exterior?”

“Fuck off.” Tom took a hearty drink of his ale and managed not to toss his sire into the wall.

Anne’s eyes were sparkling. “I liked her. Very much. She’s delightful, Tom. Pleasant, mature, and sensible.”

Tom would have listed “sensible” fairly far down on the list of Miss Shaw’s attributes. Anne’s recitation of her virtues made Josephine Shaw sound dull. And the woman was anything but dull. But then, Tom had seen Miss Shaw running around the garden in her nightclothes and Anne hadn’t. That probably influenced his impression of her.

Anne continued to rave. “She’s very intelligent. She seems a voracious reader, and she speaks six languages. Can you imagine? Six! English, Irish, French, Latin, Greek, and Italian. Her great-grandmother was Italian. I think her mother’s family were all quite artistic. What fun company she will be!”

Italian, eh? That might explain her fairy eyes. But good Lord, how could Tom possibly keep the interest of a woman who spoke six languages? He barely spoke one.

“You know,” Declan said, “if you wore that fancy getup out more, I think the ladies would be a bit keener on you, old man. Something about a rough-looking bloke in a suit.”

“Tom doesn’t need to worry about all the ladies,” Anne said. “Only one for right now. And Miss Shaw could barely keep her eyes off him.”

“Oh really now?” Tom tried not to squirm. “Well, she seems a nice enough girl.”

“She’s not a girl,” Murphy said thoughtfully. “She’s a smart, intelligent woman. I think she’s appeasing her father with this whole business, because I felt no sense of the desperate spinster about her.”

Tom nodded. “Agreed. She is very independent.”

“She may like Tom,” Anne said. “But do you think she’d marry him? And if she doesn’t, will Shaw still follow through on the contract?”

“I think he’ll follow through, but it would leave room for his relations to challenge in the courts if we don’t have any family connection,” Declan said. “The nephew, Neville Burke, could be problematic.”

Murphy shrugged. “Does he have any influence? Any political allies we’re unaware of?”

“He has Beecham,” Declan muttered.

Tom sat up straight. “He has who?”

“Beecham.” Declan raised his hand when Murphy started to speak. “I know. I discovered they’ve developed an acquaintance only tonight.”

“Damn,” Anne said quietly. “So much for Beecham not noticing this deal.”

“There was never any real question of that,” Murphy said as he sat next to his mate. He took her hand, kissing it absently. “We knew he’d not be able to ignore me once I made my move with Shaw. Once I buy Shaw’s boat works, I’ll control more jobs on the waterfront than he does. A good third, even counting the humans. There was no way that crazy old bastard wouldn’t notice.”

Tom asked, “Dec, did he have any acquaintance with Neville Burke before now? Any history of business with the man?”

“Not that I could find. According to Burke’s driver, they’ve only been socializing for the past month or so.”

“But often?”

Declan nodded and Tom scowled. Suddenly, romancing Josephine Shaw had taken on an entirely new urgency. If Beecham was cultivating a friendship with the human, it could only be because he saw some vulnerability in Murphy and Shaw’s alliance.

An even more alarming thought struck him. “Murphy, do we have guards around the Shaws’ home?”

“No.” Murphy shook his head. “I didn’t think it was necessary.”

“It is.” Tom stood up and walked toward the door. “I’ll take care of it. Right now.”

All Tom could picture was Josephine dancing in the garden under the moonlight. She was as vulnerable as a babe. Anything could happen to her. Violence. Vampire influence. Hell, she’d been chatting with him in the shadows as if she hadn’t a care in the world only three nights before.

Well, Tom decided, proper lady or not, Josephine Shaw would be getting a few more guards, and they’d be the most vicious lads he could find. No one, save him, was touching her.

TOM spotted her assigned guards the next night when he called on Miss Shaw. The two humans nodded at him, then went back to chatting behind newspapers as they waited in the square. He knew two more guards would be concealed in the garden behind the house, including a young vampire from Cornwall who’d come under Murphy’s aegis only two years before.

She was a merciless little bit of an earth vampire whose lover was originally from Dublin. Kerra looked like a waif. If any of the humans spotted her, they’d likely try to feed her and give her a hand-me-down coat, not knowing she could tear their throat out before they’d have time to scream. She was the perfect guard for his woman.

He knocked on the door, a slim book he hoped Miss Shaw would like clasped in his hand, and the solemn butler ushered him into the gaslit entryway. He could hear voices coming from down the hall before he took off his hat.

“…know his supposed interest is only about your money, cousin.”

“And I’m sure your interest is purely familial.”

“I’m your cousin. I care about you.”

A wry laugh. “It’s almost as if you think I’ve forgotten all your slights over the years.”