Fearless (Scarlet Suffragette, Book 1): A Victorian Historical Romantic Suspense Series by Nicola Claire

to bear. Wilhelmina helped, as much as she was capable of helping. But often I spent more time caring for her than she cared for me. Oh, she loved me, as I did her. But Mina required too much of her strength to survive each day, there was never enough left over to ensure that I had managed it intact.
    But Inspector Kelly had strength enough for all of us. A bottomless well of energy and dedication. He had been my rock. The one thing I could cling to at the beginning.
    But it was clear now, that the beginning was at an end.
    I looked down at my mourning dress. Black satin, beneath a black woollen cloak. I suddenly wanted to be clothed in something other than ebony. I suddenly wanted to be bathed in red.
    Scarlet , Kelly had said. I resolved to empty my closet as soon as I returned home, and order a complete new wardrobe. In every shade of red.
    “Anna?” Inspector Kelly said quietly. “You know I say this only for your own good.”
    “I know no such thing, Inspector.”
    “Oh, Anna,” he said softly, as though it pained him as much as it was paining me.
    We stood silently for a long moment, the sounds of the dockyard rising above the buildings, mixed in with the odd cry from a gull overhead. I twisted the parasol handle around in my hand, watching the shadow it cast on the ground as it spun.
    I hadn’t told him yet. The letter had only arrived a few days ago. There hadn’t been a chance.
    And now I wasn’t certain it would change a thing.
    I let a slow breath of air out, the weight of disappointment making it hard to stand straight. Blinking my eyes quickly, I looked up and across the small square, spotting Blackmore as he spoke with a dock worker, jotting down notes in his ever present book.
    “He’s a dedicated officer,” I remarked. Kelly shifted to stand beside me and looked out toward where Blackmore did his job.
    I wondered how long the inspector would entertain me. How long it would take before he waved down a hansom cab and packaged me up to send on my way.
    “He’s a good man.”
    “He fights?” I asked, not sure what else to say to keep him with with me. Not sure why I was still troubling myself.
    “Very successfully, from all accounts.”
    “You’ve not watched him?”
    “I see him in action every day, just not fisticuffs in a ring on a wager.”
    I smiled. I could just picture Sergeant Blackmore having a secret second life.
    “What amuses you?” Kelly asked, the words barely above a murmur. I hadn’t been aware he was looking at me. But maybe the man had good peripheral vision.
    “I’d like to see him fight,” I offered.
    “Out of the question,” came the immediate and resolute reply.
    “Because I’m a woman?” I demanded, rounding on the man.
    “Because you’re Anna !” he shot back, leaning forward to deliver the words. And then he blinked, stunned at his own passion.
    “Well, that was telling,” I announced, picking up the edge of my skirt as I began to walk away.
    “Where are you going?” Inspector Kelly demanded.
    First he doesn’t want me here. Now he doesn’t want to let me go.
    “I have a surgery to run,” I replied, anger edging my tone.
    “Oh, well, yes,” he managed in somewhat of a stammer. “Very good, then.”
    “Yes, I thought that might cheer you up, Inspector.”
    He huffed out a breath of laughter behind me. The man was mercurial.
    “How did you get here?” he pressed, matching my fierce stride. I tried not to pay his limp too much attention, but my need to soothe his aches won out.
    I slowed my pace. His cane came down even harder.
    “I hired a cab. A hackney to be precise.”
    “Damnation, woman! And the driver let you off here?”
    “With several warnings.”
    “Warnings are hardly enough where you are concerned,” Kelly muttered. “I’ll drive you,” he added at a more normal volume. “My curricle is just over there.” He nodded down a side road that led onto Custom House Street. A direct line back to Queen and toward my house.
    “Thank