“What are you doing here?” she asked him.
He’d come to threaten Lord Mullon, but he’d make certain Pia was gone before he got to his own business. He was planning to court her and, unlike Cassius and Milly, he had no intention of exposing the truth to Pia. “I’m working as well.”
The questions ceased as they made it to the drawing room.
Lord Mullon was rising from a chair at their arrival. He smiled at Pia, but then lifted a questioning brow at Sirius.
Pia spoke. “Hello. I’m—”
“Lady Pia. I know. I can tell from your eyes. You’ve your aunt’s eyes.” The words were said with warmth and accompanied by a hot gaze that set Sirius’ teeth on edge. Mullon would pay for his rudeness.
“This is the Earl of Gordie,” Pia said.
Their host stilled and turned a ghastly white as he met Sirius’ eyes. It was clear the man knew something about him. Maybe he knew how close Sirius was to the duke. Perhaps, the man knew about the attack that had taken place two days ago.
Mullon’s eyes slid past Sirius.
And Sirius had his answer.
Everything that followed happened quickly.
Sirius reacted. His knife came out. He spun and pushed Pia out of the way just in time to avoid the blade of the footman who’d walked them into the room. When the man slashed high, Sirius grabbed the servant’s wrist, stretched him out, and stabbed the man in the belly.
The footman groaned and fell.
Sirius turned back to Mullon, who was clinging to the far wall.
“Maxwell!” Mullon screamed.
Sirius started forward but was grabbed and flung back before he realized what was going on. His feet left the ground. Pia cried out, and Sirius braced for impact. His back hit the door first. His head snapped back. The wood gave way, cracking.
Sirius groaned. “I should have stretched my limbs before this,” he said to calm Pia.
The butler, who must be Maxwell, glared down at him. He tilted his head and the muscles in his throat and arms bunched.
“Sirius,” Pia called.
Tossing his knife in her direction, he said, “Kill anyone who approaches you who isn’t me.”
“But how will you fight him without a knife!” she asked. From the corner of his vision, he watched her crawl to the blade and then back away with it.
Good girl.
“Don’t worry about me.” Sirius stood. His back ached. It cracked with a quick torso twist, causing the pain to fade instantly. Taking the chair on his right, he jammed it underneath the doorknob.
And just in time. A fist slammed against the weak structure.
“Save me!” the lord cried.
Sirius hated his weakness. “You can send men to kill a duke and an innocent woman and child, but you can’t handle a little pain yourself.”
Mullon gasped. “I didn’t try to kill the duke!”
Sirius rolled his shoulders. “I’ve begun a tooth tax for lies. I’m guessing you have at least twenty-two of them. Keep talking. I’ll enjoy ripping every last one from you.”
Mullon screamed, “Kill him, Maxwell!”
“No!” Pia cried.
Sirius looked at her. “Don’t fuss, my love. I’ve taken on men twice his size.”
She gasped. She held the blade close to her chest as though it were a precious object. Her wondrous expression was adorable. “Really?”
“No,” he said honestly, just as the ox charged at him.
There was a sideboard to his right. Sirius bent his knees.
He waited.
When Maxwell was close, he jumped onto the sideboard and grabbed the man’s shoulders. Using them for leverage, he sprung over the butler, rotating in the air and coming down for a gentle landing.
Maxwell was momentarily stunned, and Sirius took advantage. His fist connected with Maxwell’s lower back and Sirius hopped back just in time to miss the butler’s answering fist.
He’d not confuse the ox again. The first jump always startled the other fighters. After that, Sirius was forced to dance.
This was how he’d stayed alive all these years. The men who came to watch enjoyed his showmanship. Sirius rarely had to fight to the death and if he was losing, the crowd would pull the fight apart just to be certain Sirius could perform the next week.
Georgiana had suggested he join a traveling circus when he was young, anything to keep him from fighting, but Sirius had liked fighting. Also, there had been more money in it. A great deal more.
The ox struck out left and right and Sirius ducked and moved with him, backing up, and heading toward a screaming Mullon.
“Not this way! Not this way!” The lord tripped and Sirius dipped and rolled across the ground before springing to his feet with his arms stretched wide. It was what he’d always done after a performance.
Pia stared at him, completely baffled.
The ox’s feet tangled with Mullon and then he was going down.
Mullon screamed right before the ox landed.
She covered her mouth with the hand that wasn’t wrapped around the blade. Her gaze slowly returned to Sirius and then she smiled.
Her smile felt like a caress in Sirius’ weakest places, stroking his desire instantly.
His blood was pumping. He often got this way after a fight.
As Mullon and the ox continued to try and untangle their limbs, Sirius crossed the room and took the blade. Once it was in his pocket, he lifted Pia into his arms.
Her arms went around him. Her hands locked around his neck. She jerked up and kissed him quickly before pulling away. “That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” Her eyes burned with her own desire.
Sirius blew out a breath and tried to cool himself. “Oh, how you suit me, woman.”
She smiled.
A fist broke through the door.
Sirius ran to a pair of glass doors and kicked them open. Out on the balcony, he set Pia down and looked over the rail. There was a column. It would have to do.
He went to the glass doors and closed them. “Your shawl, my lady.”
Pia gave it without protest.
He wrapped it around the knobs and backed away.
Glass shattered when Maxwell’s fist went through. Mullon’s shouting could be heard from the other side, informing his men where Sirius and Pia were.
He turned to her as he took off his jacket. “Wrap yourself around my back. Quickly.” He turned and bent.
“Sirius! We are not climbing out of here.”
He looked back at her. “Trust me, Pia. We must go. Now.”
She frowned.
Maxwell roared and broke his fist through the other door.
Pia sprung onto Sirius, and he hoisted her up.
“Hang on.” He went to the rail and swung over the edge.
Pia screamed. Her arms tightened on his neck. Her knees dug into his hips.
Sirius’ depraved mind thought about how good that would feel if she were facing him.
Then he inched his way to the column. Taking his jacket, he wrapped it around her tightly. “Don’t let go.” It was the only warning she got before they were falling through the air.
She screamed the entire time.
Sirius slowed their decent closer to the ground and then bent into his landing in an effort to keep Pia seated.
She stood and he grabbed her hand. “Let’s go.”
They ran to his carriage and he put her in before shouting to Pia’s confused driver, “Return to the duke. Tell him I have Pia.” Then he got in and his driver took off.
∫ ∫ ∫
3 4
* * *
Pia looked out the window as the carriage raced over the rough terrain. “Will they follow us?”
“Likely not.” The clicking of metal had her turning to Sirius. He had a gun and was loading it. “I have a home here. My driver will take you there.”
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“To catch Mullon.” He grinned merrily.
“I’ll see you tonight.” He leaned forward and gave her a bruising kiss.
Pia closed her eyes and emptied her mind of anything but the feel of Sirius. She was obsessed with his mouth.
He slowed the kiss. “Close the door after me.”
Pia was confused, but when the kissing stopped, she opened her eyes and the carriage was empty.
She looked around. The door was open. “Sirius!” She looked out the window but saw no one.
“Close the door, my lady!” the driver shouted.
Pia obeyed and then sank into the bench. She tried to slow her racing heart but too many emotions rode her nerves.
What had just happened?
All she’d wanted to do was deliver porcelain. It was a very easy job. There had never been a complicated moment in the past.
Then Sirius had arrived, and Pia found herself dropped into one of those fantastical stories. Much like the ones written by James Fenimore Cooper about the American frontier, presenting readers with riders in dusty leather who fought over the wilderness.
Pia straightened and fear gripped her heart. Sirius was one man. Mullon would likely surround himself with an army wherever he went. What could one man with a gun and a blade do?
“Who is this man?” she asked aloud. The way he jumped around…
Once again, the similarities to Adam struck her.
There were so many coincidences.
She prayed he’d survive.
She needed answers. She would speak to the driver once they arrived at Sirius’ home.
When the driver stopped, Pia wondered if he were mistaken. The house, if one could call the decrepit structure a house, sat in a maw of trees. It was covered in vines and the paint was aged.
“This is Lord Sirius’ home?” she asked, just to be certain.
The footman who escorted her nodded. He offered his arm as they stepped through a stone path that hadn’t been weeded for some time.
He opened the door and what greeted her on the inside was much like the outside. More peeling paint. Spartan furnishings.
She stood in the middle of the foyer and refused to take another step. She didn’t want to touch anything. “Perhaps, I could wait in the carriage.”
“It’s better upstairs,” the footman said as he walked ahead.
Pia tested the steps as she went up. The footman opened a small door she was certain led to a broom closet, but instead, her eyes were met with beauty. The stately red bedchamber made her feel as though she’d stepped into another place entirely.
Her entire day was giving her an otherworldly sort of feeling. Had Sirius truly fought a man twice his size and lived to tell about it? Had she truly kissed him in front of Lord Mullon?
And why would Lord Mullon wish him dead?
She turned to ask the footman, but he spoke first. “I will bring food. You are free to rest. Lord Gordie will return and answer any questions you have.”
She sighed. His message had been clear. He’d tell her nothing. She’d have to wait. “Thank you.”
He left and closed the door behind him.
Pia ate some time later and a minute after she finished her meal, all the excitement of the day seemed to drain her. Tired, she walked over to the bed and crawled underneath the sheets.
They smelled like Sirius. She smiled and seconds later, she was asleep.
She woke to the sound of a crackling fire. The room was dark. She sat up and stilled at the sight of Sirius.
He lounged in a chair by the fireplace, his legs extended far out.
Pia took in what she could see of him. He was alive, but she couldn’t tell if he’d been hurt. He seemed healthy enough, but his face was pensive. He glared at an object in his hand.
Her turtledove.
“Sirius?”
He didn’t look at her. “Did you know?”
The fire cracked.
“Did I know what?” she asked.
He closed the turtledove in his fist and looked at her. His face was shadowed by the dark, but she knew his eyes were on her. “Did you know about your aunt’s hatred for the duke?”
Pia’s heart thumped within her chest. A crawling sensation spread over her skin. Fear. “I don’t think my aunt hates the duke. Fears him, yes, but hate… She doesn’t know him.”
“Did you know she was plotting to kill him? To kill Milly and the baby?”
“Sirius!” Pia got out of the bed and stood. “Aunt Melody would never do something like that. Whoever told you that was lying. If you knew my aunt at all, you’d know my words to be true. My aunt could never kill anyone.”
“But she has friends who could,” Sirius said. “She has friends who would benefit from his death.”
Pia crossed her arms and shook with anger. “She has friends who don’t like the duke, but from the stories I’ve heard, they all have their reasons.”
Sirius pulled himself together and got to his feet. “Cassius lacks what Society would call usual charm, but he’s a good man. He’s helped hundreds, thousands, of innocents.”
“But he’s hurt people, hasn’t he?”
“Only if they deserved it.”
Pia walked over to him and lifted her chin. “Who would you say deserves the duke’s ire?”
“Pia.” He held the turtledove in her face. “Do you know what this is?”
She swallowed and stared at the turtledove. “It’s porcelain. It’s a turtledove.”
He cupped the back of her neck and pulled her close. His eyes were troubled. Angry. “Pia, no one pays a woman five guineas to deliver such a simple object unless it was more. Surely, you asked why you were getting paid such an amount.”
Pia blinked. She had thought her income high. “It’s my aunt’s shop. Why wouldn’t she spoil me? She’s all I have the world, Sirius, and I’m all she has. She has no children of her own.” She shook her head and backed away from him, breaking his hold. “You wouldn’t understand. You wouldn’t know what life was like for me.”
“I do.” He turned to the fireplace and rested his arm on the mantle. “Adam told me about your past. No one loved you in your family. No one but your grandmother and your aunt Melody.”
She couldn’t believe Adam would tell Sirius such a thing. That had been private information, far too intimate for anyone else to know. She hated pity. “I had no one else after Lord Ginter died. It was either work or go to my father and if I went to my father, he’d have forced me to marry...”
Sirius looked at her. “Forced you to marry me, you mean?”
Her eyes widened. “You remember?”
He frowned. “One doesn’t forget a betrothal.”
She moved closer to him. “You’ve said nothing about it until now. Why?”
He shrugged. His eyes were brilliant in the flickering light from the fireplace. “I didn’t want you to think I planned to force myself on you.”
She looked down at the flames and rubbed on her arms. “I didn’t know how much you’d changed.”
“And had you known?”
She said nothing.
He lifted her chin, his gaze demanding an answer. “Had you known, what would you have done?”
She sighed. “I don’t know. I didn’t know you. I still don’t know you. I don’t understand what happened today. Why would Mullon want you dead? Why would he respond in such a way at the sight of you? Did you do something to him?”
“I protect the duke,” he said. “That is all he cares to know about and now he knows you’re with me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I caught up with him. He’d already sent a note to another woman in town and told her about you. By now, that woman has likely shared what she learned.”
“What she learned?” she asked.
“You’re a turncoat.”
She narrowed her eyes. She knew the term. “How is that possible? I wasn’t even aware of the war.”
Once again, his hand
was behind her back. “Pia, I can’t protect you if you’re lying to me. I need to know the truth.”
“I know nothing.” She placed her hands on his chest. “You must believe me.” Her eyes burned as she recalled what this man claimed to do to liars. Would he take her teeth? Would he take her life?
He put the turtledove on the mantle and cupped her face with both hands. “Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you.”
She felt herself tremble in his hold. Tears fell from her eyes. She was so scared. “S-S-Sirius… I…” She shook her head slightly. “I didn’t k-know…”
He shushed her and then kissed her lips. His mouth soaked up the tears on her cheek and then he kissed her eyes. “Pia, I would never hurt you. I could never hurt you.”
She clung to him and buried her face in his chest. She’d never been so scared in her life. She tried to hold back her sobs, but they burst from her. She didn’t want this to be a part of his life. She didn’t understand this world or this man. She wanted no part in any of this.
“It’s just a turtledove!” she cried over and over again.
He pulled her face back and wiped at her tears. “All right, Pia. I believe you. Just calm down for me. Please. Darling, I can’t stand your tears.”
She hiccupped and wiped her nose.
He gave her a handkerchief and then pulled her down onto his lap.
They sat by the fire. He continued to whisper reassurances as he rubbed her back and smoothed his hand over her hair.
∫ ∫ ∫
3 5
* * *
“Pia.”
Finally, the caress of her name in her ear pulled Pia away from her hysterics.
When she was finally silent, he turned her to look at him.
His face was like stone. “I never want you to fear me again. I would cut out my own heart before I laid a finger on you.”
She cringed at the very image of him doing something like that. Her hand went to his chest as if to protect the organ he’d just threatened. “This has been a very bad day.”
“Not too bad.” He placed a hand on her thigh. “I thought you liked watching me fight the ox.”
“The ox?” She let out a short laugh, surprised that she could. “Is that what you’re calling the butler?” She’d kissed Sirius afterward, so taken with this masculinity and intelligence she hadn’t been able to resist.
The Secret Pleasures of an Earl: (The Valiant Love Regency Romance) (A Historical Romance Book) Page 17