“Did he ever…?”
Pia shook her head. That was the worst of it. “No, he tried twice and then never again.” Tears blurred her vision. “He left me nothing because I was never his wife. He gave it to his mistress. All of it.” She’d felt betrayed at his death and then she’d blamed herself. No one truly wanted her. Her eyes, yes. If they could reach into her skull and pluck them out, they would. She possessed a treasure, but she had little value outside of them.
Only her Aunt Melody and the few here in Sirius’ home saw her.
And him.
She blinked, let the tears slide down her cheeks, and met Sirius’ gaze.
His anger was gone, replaced by frustration. He yanked her skirts down and cursed.
Did he not want her now?
He grabbed her hips and placed her on her feet once more. After smoothing her skirts out, he cupped her cheeks. “You are a very desirable woman. The fault does not rest with you but with him.”
His eyes no longer shined with longing. Pia found it hard to believe.
“He had a mistress. He left her everything when he died.” As though he’d not humiliated her enough while they lived, Lord Ginter had made it so the ton would know her shame.
“Did this mistress provide him with any children?” Sirius asked. It was the same question Gillian had asked when Pia had first told her about it.
“No.”
“Then there you have it,” Sirius said. “The only logical reason he’d have taken a mistress was because he knew how it would hurt you.” Leaning close, he said, “And if he were still alive, he would pay for the pain you feel.”
Gillian had said the same for years, but neither of them knew the whole truth.
“He died of the pox. It began to appear on his face a month before he died. I didn’t notice at first, because he used paste to hide it. Then he was gone for a fortnight and upon his return, it could not be hidden. His nose had caved in. I have no idea how long he’d had the sickness. It could have been years.” Pia shook her head. “He looked terrible and he tried…”
Sirius placed his hands on her hip. “What did he do?”
“He tried to infect me, but I ran. He was weak and delirious. He died that very day.” She stared into Sirius’ angry expression. “So you see? If he was that ill—”
“There are other ways, other forms of intimacy that can attract the disease. He didn’t even have to enjoy it. He could have likely just done it to prove himself.”
She nodded. “I know,” she whispered.
He touched her cheek. His expression was curious. “What do you know of intimacy?”
“I have a rather adventurous aunt,” Pia said. “Her home is full of books and statues dedicated to…”
“I can’t understand why your father allowed you to spend so much time with your aunt.”
“It was my grandfather’s doing, to banish the whores together. It was what he called the women born with violet eyes. My brother was sent away as well. He, too, has them, but he does not live in England and I doubt he’ll return until after my father’s death.”
“Your grandfather called you a whore?”
Pia shrugged. “My whole life. Melody can hardly be blamed for the woman she became. Being his daughter, she received far worse treatment than me.” Aunt Melody had simply done exactly what her father always accused her of.
“You did not follow in your grandmother or your aunt’s footsteps.”
“I was married before I got the chance.”
He shook his head. “No, it was never in you.”
How did he know? What had Sirius known of her as a young girl? They’d rarely spoken, either before or after he proposed.
Either way, Pia’s thinking had begun to change. She didn’t want to marry, but she wanted Sirius. She wanted him to continue what he’d started at Lord Venmont’s house. Actually, the sensual pull between them started long before that. It was there at the first glance by the mail coach.
He’d been a large figure dressed in black with long black lashes surrounding the most beautiful eyes.
She’d never felt so hot and cold at the same time.
Pia wondered the best way to return them to that place where they’d been fevered with lust.
But he stepped back before she could act. “I should see to my work before we go.”
“If you don’t mind me asking…”
He held his hand out, motioning for her to go on.
“You’re an earl. Surely, there is someone else who could do what you do for you. That way, you wouldn’t get hurt.”
His expression warmed. “Worried for me?”
“Yes,” she didn’t hesitate to admit.
He cupped her shoulders. “Thank you. You’ve renewed my strength. I’m an earl. It’s my duty to keep you safe.”
“Safe from what?”
“Safe from things that women have no reason to worry over.”
At her frown, he chuckled and moved in close again. “Think of it like this, if you never know what to be afraid of, then you’ll never be afraid.”
“Is there a reason I should feel fear?”
He pushed back stray hair from her cheek. “No. You’ve no reason to fear anything.”
She hadn’t feared anything before she’d asked the question, but Sirius’ calm words set her heart fluttering.
∫ ∫ ∫
2 5
* * *
Milly greeted Sirius as he walked into Van Dero’s home. He was hours late, thanks to his family. The girls had seemed to forget everything and kept running back to their rooms. Everyone had packed as though they would never return, except for Pia, who Sirius realized had very few belongings.
He’d spoken to his mother about that and was certain she’d see to the problem.
“Finally, someone I recognize,” The duchess’ smile warmed Sirius’ heart. Never had he met a more dedicated wife than Lady Van Dero.
After giving the butler his hat and coat, he took her hands in between his own and smiled gently at her. “I take that to mean there has been much coming and going as of late.”
Milly puffed a breath that lifted a black curl just before it settled down again. Her gray eyes looked troubled as she placed her hands on her stomach. She wasn’t showing much. There was only a slight bump. There would be many months before the baby came. “Men and women have come and gone, but it’s different now.”
“Different how?”
She took his arm as they started from the foyer. “As you know, I don’t know all the details of my husband’s work. I do understand that he is powerful and often helps those who ask. I am used to seeing mild nervousness on the faces of the… Oh, I don’t even know what you call them.”
“Them?”
“The people who come and beg for his assistance. It is not only money they seek. Some of the requests can be quite odd.” In a lower tone, she added, “Or… frowned upon, I’m sure.”
Sirius smiled. “Yes, people do make requests for things that are frowned upon.”
“Are they clients?” she asked. “I feel as though the word could apply, but then again, it doesn’t feel right. Cassius is so powerful, yet I don’t want to call them his subjects. He’s not a king. Not really.”
Sirius shrugged. “Not many people are higher than a duke. But why don’t you tell me what is going on?”
“They’re frightened. Everyone who comes and goes is frightened.” She stopped a few feet away from Cassius’ office and said, “And I’m not allowed to leave the property anymore. Also, I’m not to interact with the guests. I’m constantly being watched. Even now, I know Allen hovers in the shadows.” Allen was her footman, but he was more so a guard.
“I’m not hovering,” Allen said as he stepped into the hall from behind another wall. He had a plain face, which made it easy for him to blend into crowds. “It is my duty to serve you.”
Milly turned to Sirius with wide eyes. “Please, talk to my husband. Calm him if you can.”
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p; Sirius didn’t know if he could, especially considering he was partly the reason she was being watched so thoroughly. He’d been the one to tell Cassius about the threat made to her. “I’ll see what I can do.”
She brightened. “Bless you.” She patted his shoulder before she moved away.
Allen caught up when she called his name.
Sirius walked into Cassius’ office and saw that Nick was already there.
Cassius had his back to them and was staring out the window. He looked tense.
Once Sirius was announced by a footman, the door was closed.
Sirius took a moment to look at his friends, to take in the moment. Then he turned to Nick. “Look at us. We’re working for the Duke of Van Dero’s organization.” It was something they’d thought would never happen again. Sirius had been certain Nick would protest until the day he died. “How did he convince you to do it?”
Nick scowled. “Milly is in danger. Once she is not, I’ll return to my position as head of business. The legal business,” he clarified.
Cassius said nothing, but his gaze seemed to say otherwise. “At least I put you over the Foragers.” Cassius turned to the window. “And not the Dispatcher you should be. Dispatch is where someone with your talents is more useful.”
Nick rubbed his temples as though the very thought was bringing a migraine. “I’ve looked into Sweets. I’ve found nothing. The endearment is common, far too much so to narrow it down.”
Sirius spoke to Cassius’ back. “Every stolen coin has been accounted for.”
Cassius turned around. “How did you do it?”
He lifted a brow. “I played the Tooth Fairy.”
Nick leaned forward in his seat. “Doesn’t the Tooth Fairy only take teeth? Where did you get the coin?”
He flexed his gloved hands. “I might have changed it up a bit.”
“What are you planning to do with the teeth?” Nick asked.
Sirius tilted his head. “Pia enjoys making porcelain. I could grind them all into a fine powder. Make it into a cup and use it to serve my enemies tea.”
“That’s terrible.” Even still, Nick grinned.
“So, the money you collected is not the money that was stolen,” Cassius said. “Since we don’t know who took it to begin with.”
“You’re correct.” Sirius grimaced. “I only managed to find those who’d aided these enemies of ours. Apparently, many of them are much smarter than my brother. Their identities are a mystery. However, by placing the debt on the shoulders of those who work at the storehouse, I believe I’ve ensured the theft doesn’t happen so easily again.”
Nick smiled. “And if it does happen at all, perhaps someone will snitch. Clever.”
Cassius nodded. “Good work. I hope your trap works. The money is only secondary to the real issue here. There are men who believe I don’t deserve my title because I was never a part of Society. Their disrespect must be addressed and soon.”
Nick shifted to face Cassius. “And exactly what do you plan to do once you find these lords who wish to take you down?”
“I’m not sure,” Cassius said. “It would depend on the numbers.”
“Well, they’ll never get what they want.” Sirius moved farther into the room and took a seat and then glanced at the shelves Cassius had put up. Gregory’s Book of Affairs had been converted to a library. Most of the books that lined the walls were stories of the very men who were trying to get rid of Cassius.
The pages were blank, however. If any regular man came in and tried to read the books, they would find nothing. Cassius wrote with invisible ink. Created from some sort of plant, the ink would only be revealed under particular circumstances.
Only Cassius knew those exact circumstances, but in the event that he died, the duke had already told Sirius that he’d be given the collection.
He’d become the most powerful man in England.
With this much blackmail, Sirius knew exactly what he would do.
Nick narrowed his gaze upon him. “You look like you’ve thought of something.”
“I’m calculating the risk of my plan and whether it would work.”
“What plan?” Cassius asked in a hurried tone. He was worried, and Sirius knew what he was most afraid of.
He didn’t fear anything happening to his wife, not truly. He didn’t even fear his own death. What Cassius was fighting for was his life. He stood on the divide of good and evil. With a breeze, it was clear that Sirius’ friend could turn and change into something he wouldn’t like, a beast that Milly would find hard to love.
He could become the villain that Gregory once was. He could make the Duke of Van Dero the haunted title that it once was.
And then he would make it worse.
As if knowing where Sirius’ thoughts had gone, Cassius lowered his voice and said, “I’m trying to prevent a catastrophe.”
The blood of lords all over England and beyond would run like rivers. Cassius had an army, an army that had fought and won battles. With a single word, he could change the course of history forever.
“Help me stop the disaster that is starting to seem imminent,” Cass said. “I don’t want to disappoint Milly.”
Sirius prayed nothing ever happened to Cassius’ wife. Otherwise, he feared the tight reins of love that held Cassius’ nature back would snap.
Every man in the room knew violence and death far too intimately.
“We kept the men who helped Tobias alive,” Sirius said.
Nick cut in. “Are you suggesting we kill them?” He, more than Sirius and Cassius, searched for a peaceful way to end most situations, which Sirius always thought to be humorous since Nick was more deadly than them both.
He fooled many with his blond innocent looks.
Sirius shook his head. “Not kill them.” It had been Nick’s idea to punish them but keep them alive just in case. Now, Nick’s idea of mercy would work to their advantage. “I suggest we leak secrets but, like an infected wound, we draw it out and make it painful. A detail there. Something else there. Put in the papers. Have them go mad with worry.”
“But Foxton and Callum said they didn’t know the other men,” Nick said. “He said the meetings were always done with masks.”
No one in the room knew who these masked men were, but they’d been told the lords didn’t know who they were working with or for. Yet they enjoyed the camaraderie and the money their benefactor gave them.
According to Foxton, the meeting locations had all been different during the Season and now that it was over, their only way to communicate would come through a gift. He didn’t know what the gift would be. He’d been told that once he got it, he would know what to do with it and there would be a signal for the best time to act.
Cassius asked Sirius, “You believe Foxton and Callum will have more to say if we publish their wrongdoings in the papers?”
“Not their wrongdoings. The wrongdoings of their friends.”
Cassius nodded and smiled. “Oh. I see. I like it.”
Nick sighed. “And let me guess. Are we to link Foxton and Callum to this betrayal?”
“Naturally,” Sirius said. “A different story in every city. It’s easier to control what one sees now that the Season is over. Let the men think you’ve figured them out as being guilty. They’ll either come to you to declare their innocence or act in a way that gives the whole plot away.”
Cassius nodded and then ran his hands over his face and pulled in a breath. “Let’s move to something else before I go mad.” He liked the idea. The tension in the room lowered. England would sleep easily tonight.
Which Sirius thought was a shame.
“Talk about something else.” Cassius took his seat. “Anything.”
Nick smiled. “Well, I didn’t get to mention as of yet, but I’ve met Pia.”
Cassius blinked and turned to Sirius. “Adam’s Pia?”
Sirius nodded once and tried to fight the grin that pulled at his cheeks. The thought that she was close, tu
cked away at his home under an hour’s ride away, brought him some pleasure, but seeing her again would bring more.
They hadn’t had a private moment alone since their time in his office. He was anxious to get her alone again yet was also nervous about what being in Adam’s home would do to her. Would she push him away? His past seemed a constant divide.
He was glad that she’d loved Adam, but Sirius wanted those feelings for himself.
Cassius straightened in his seat. “From your expression, I would say you still have feelings for her. I thought she tried to kill you.”
“No, she pushed me, but apparently, it was for my own benefit, as was leaving me under the tree.” He shared the details with his friends.
“You should see the way they look at each other,” Nick told Cassius. “It reminds me of you and Milly.”
Cassius had his own private smile at the mention of his wife.
His golden gaze eventually found Sirius again. “Have you told her who you are?”
“No, and I don’t plan to. I’m Sirius now. Adam is dead.”
Cass gave no response. Sometimes, it took Cassius a while to figure out what was morally correct. Morals had been beaten out of him.
“What are your plans where she’s concerned?” Nick asked.
“Marriage,” Sirius said easy enough. It pained him to know that she’d suffered through years of believing herself unpleasing in some way, yet and he was anxious to teach her otherwise. When he finally took her intimately, he’d leave her without a doubt of her beauty or desirability.
Denying him the pleasure of her body the other day had been painful. There she’d been, sweet and willing on his desk, but her virgin state had reined him in.
How had a woman as beautiful as her not taken a lover all these years? No matter. In Sirius’ mind— the part of him where a small portion of Adam still resided— Pia has saved herself for him. It had been destined that they’d come together at this time.
“She has a right to know who you are,” Nick said. “If she’s to be your wife, she should know who she’s marrying.”
Cassius narrowed his gaze. “That sounds reasonable.”
Sirius shook his head. “You didn’t see the way she mourned for him a few weeks ago. It is best I let Adam rest in peace. Resurrecting him will do no one any good.”
The Secret Pleasures of an Earl: (The Valiant Love Regency Romance) (A Historical Romance Book) Page 13