The Bachelor Bargain (Secrets, Scandals, and Spies)

by Michaels, Maddison

  Glancing across to Lady Chilton, Livie noted she was dressed immaculately as usual in a tailored day dress made of black silk crepe to reflect her period of mourning, and her golden hair was artfully piled atop her head at exactly the right angle to showcase her classic profile. But there was worry on the woman’s face as she stood and motioned Livie over to her. “Please, come and take a seat and do have some tea.”

  “Is everything all right, Lady Chilton?” Livie asked as she walked over to her.

  For a brief moment it looked as if Lady Chilton didn’t quite know what to do or how to reply. But then the woman seemed to collect herself. She glided over to where Livie now stood and took Livie’s outstretched hands in her own and air-kissed her cheeks.

  “Forgive me, Lady Olivia,” Lady Chilton said. “I’m not quite myself since my sister’s death. I do grieve, as I’m certain you also must.”

  Yes, Livie did. Every time she thought of Alice an almost overwhelming sadness gripped her. She could only imagine how much worse such feelings would be for Alice’s sister. “You’re upset. It’s only to be expected.”

  “Well, this new pamphlet doing the rounds certainly didn’t help.” Lady Chilton nodded over to a side table, and Livie immediately recognized the gazette’s pamphlet sitting there. “Have you seen it? It was all anyone could talk of last night at the Barrington ball.”

  A sense of satisfaction filled her with the news. “Yes, I saw it this morning.”

  “It seems everyone is either thrilled or terrified at the prospect of who is to be critiqued. Speculation is rife as to who the three bachelors will be.” Lady Chilton’s gaze turned curious, great intensity in its depths. “You were talking of trying to expose the man who ruined Alice. Is this what you had in mind?”

  “No. Not at all,” Livie lied.

  “No, of course not,” Lady Chilton agreed with a nod of her head. “Not that I am in any way suggesting you have anything to do with such a publication. You are a duke’s daughter. Obviously, you have no involvement in such a scandal sheet. But it must please you that a publication has arisen with its sole purpose being to expose scoundrels.” She stared off into the distance. “I suppose if it had been around sooner and exposed the man who seduced Alice, she may well still be alive today. And I wouldn’t be in such a predicament.”

  Livie hadn’t seen such vulnerability or worry on the woman’s face before. Normally, Lady Chilton was the epitome of aristocratic arrogance, seemingly impervious to everything. But today she looked worried as Livie had never seen her before. Livie sat in the chair the lady gestured to her to take.

  “Anyhow, enough talk of the gazette. Would you like some tea?” Lady Chilton picked up the pot from the table, her hands slightly shaky.

  “Yes, thank you. And if you’ll forgive me for saying so, you mentioned a predicament? Is there something amiss?”

  Uncharacteristically, Lady Chilton nearly dropped the teapot, hastily placing it onto the table with a clatter. “’Tis that obvious, is it?”

  Livie smiled gently. “I am afraid so. Is it something I can assist with?”

  Instantly, relief seemed to replace the concern. “I certainly hope so. Though I must ask for your word of honor that you will not reveal to another soul what you’re about to learn. Alice’s memory is already tarnished enough. I have no wish for it to be any more so.”

  Livie leaned over and squeezed Lady Chilton’s hand briefly. “I will do my utmost to ensure discretion, though I cannot promise something until I know what I am truly promising not to disclose. And like I have told you before, I fully intend to find out who it was that ruined her, and I believe murdered her. Then I intend to ruin him in turn and have him locked up for life. Perhaps I shall send in his name to the gazette once I learn of his identity.”

  “If what you say is true, about Alice being murdered by the man who seduced her, then you have no idea of the sort of pain I wish to inflict upon him, too—and I do hope you send his name to this gazette. Here, I got you the guest list and I’ve put an asterisk behind the three men I remember as paying her particular attention that weekend.” She handed the paper to Livie. “But this isn’t the only reason I agreed to meet with you again. Or rather, not directly.” Lady Chilton took in a deep breath. “Do you recollect I told you Alice’s maid fled after Alice’s death, taking several items of jewelry and silver with her?”

  “I do.” It had been a frustration to Livie, as she’d wanted to talk to Alice’s maid, for who better would know of any secret liaison than her maid? But no one had known where the maid had fled.

  “I will trust your discretion with what I’m about to tell you.” Lady Chilton pressed her lips together, looking like she’d just swallowed a slug. “You see, I received a note from Alice’s maid yesterday afternoon. It would appear her maid is not only a thief but is also now trying her hand at blackmailing me!”

  Blackmail? Livie hadn’t been expecting that. Though she’d had little to do with Alice’s maid, Mary, Alice had only ever had positive things to say about the girl. It seemed somewhat strange for the girl to not only have fled into the night after Alice’s death, stealing some of Alice’s jewels in the process, but was now also resorting to blackmail. Although, without a job, people did do desperate things to survive, though why the girl fled in the first place was a question Livie knew needed answering.

  “I was under the impression the maid couldn’t read or write,” Lady Chilton continued. “However, that is obviously not so, as her demands are very plain.” She pulled out the letter from its envelope and handed it to Livie.

  Glancing at the page, Livie felt the first glimmer of excitement, instantly recognizing the scrawl as the very same that was used on the note purporting to be from Sebastian. She began to scan its contents and her excitement changed to dread, her heart starting to thud painfully upon reading the words. Slowly, she glanced back over to Lady Chilton. “Alice was with child?”

  The truth was mirrored in Lady Chilton’s deeply troubled expression as she nodded heavily and glanced beyond Livie, out the window to the canopy of trees beyond. “She was. It was a fact I thought no one but myself and Alice knew of.” Without warning, Lady Chilton stood and strode over to the window.

  The woman was holding herself rigidly in front of the glass pane, her hands fisted by her side, anger radiating from her. “I told Alice not to tell anyone nor write about it in her journal,” Lady Chilton continued. “But you, more than anyone, knew what my sister was like, foolhardy and reckless at the best of times. Clearly, she did not listen to me and wrote of the matter in her journal, which her maid stole along with the jewels before she fled. And now it would appear that this Mary Applewaite has decided to use the knowledge of Alice’s shame to try to extort money out of me to buy back the journal from her. Such an affront to decency I have never seen before. It is an outrage!”

  “Have you been to see the police about this?” Livie asked.

  “Good gracious no!” Lady Chilton turned back to face her. “They would happily sell such information to the papers and then the whole of Society would know the true shame that befell my sister and why she jumped from the ledge that rainy night. Though I know you believe she was pushed.” She took a steadying breath. “I cannot let knowledge of this come to light. Alice’s memory must not be tainted any more than it already is. I have tasked some Bow Street Runners with trying to find the girl, putting out the word that she stole the jewels and offering a reward for her capture, though of course I made no mention of the journal. Unfortunately, they have come up empty-handed thus far, which is why I agreed to speak with you again.”

  Lady Chilton walked over and sat down next to Livie. She picked up Livie’s hand. “That is where I’m hoping you may be able to assist. You are still seeking vengeance against the man who ruined my sister, and you say you have an acquaintance with the resources to find out his identity, do you not?”

  �
��I do.”

  “Good. Then perhaps you might request your acquaintance to use some of those resources to finding Mary. Needless to say, I do not intend for you to try to apprehend her. In fact, I would have you promise me that if you did find her location you would get word to me immediately so I may notify the Runners of her whereabouts and they can arrest her. What do you say? Will you assist me to try to keep intact what little remains of Alice’s reputation?”

  There was such distress in the woman’s plea that Livie could see how desperate she was to find the maid and stop information of Alice’s pregnancy from becoming known at large. Livie would do all she could to stop such a thing from occurring, too. “Of course I shall.”

  Now, more than ever, it made better sense why Alice was pushed from the ledge that night. She’d written in her letter to Livie that the man responsible for ruining her and then refusing to marry her had agreed to give her funds so she could start that new life in America. But what if he’d agreed to meet her only to get rid of her?

  The three men Lady Chilton had placed asterisks next to were all ambitious men, vying for more power in Parliament. A scandal involving seducing and then getting a countess’s sister pregnant and then refusing to marry her would ruin any man and his political aspirations.

  It seemed she’d found the true motive for Alice’s murder.

  Oh, Alice, why didn’t you come and tell me? Livie thought, not for the first time.

  “I will do my best to find where Mary is hiding,” Livie continued. “But tell me this, what do you intend to do with the demand that the blackmail be paid on Thursday night?” She’d noticed that in the note, and the fact that Lady Chilton was to leave a bag with the money in front of the angel headstone in the Bethnal Green Cemetery.

  Lady Chilton shook her head, complete bewilderment in her gaze. “I haven’t a clue, actually. The very idea of attending a cemetery alone at midnight tomorrow quite chills me to the bone. But if I don’t, then my family faces further scandal.”

  Livie could well understand, as she felt the same apprehension. But the cemetery was in the heart of Sebastian’s territory. She wondered if he knew anything of the blackmail attempt. It was rumored there wasn’t a thing that went on in the Rookeries that he didn’t know of. She would have to ask him.

  “Have you told Lord Chilton about the note?”

  “Good gracious, no.” The woman raised a hand up to her heart. “My husband is already greatly perturbed over the scandal my sister brought to the family with her ruination. I did not dare tell him of the blackmail demand.”

  “What about the Bow Street Runners? Could we use them to assist tomorrow night?”

  Lady Chilton shook her head. “I’ve told no one about the blackmail, apart from yourself. I dare not risk telling the Runners for fear they would try to extort me over the matter. I must admit I was starting to get rather beside myself about what to do, especially as the note was extremely clear that I am to attend the cemetery alone.”

  “You can let go of your worry, for I shall go in your place.” Though the thought of going to a cemetery alone at that hour of the night was not a welcome one, Livie knew it was potentially the only way to find the maid and speak with her. She had to get some answers. The man who destroyed Alice’s life needed to be found, and it seemed Mary had the means to find him through Alice’s journal.

  “But the note was clear I was the one to go, and I alone… Not that I wish to, but I must get that journal back.”

  “We are roughly of the same height, are we not?” Livie replied. “Indeed, if I wear a hooded cloak, Mary will be none the wiser until she gets close and starts speaking with me.”

  “Yes, I do suppose that sounds as if it could work. But you’d be taking a great risk on my behalf. I cannot in good conscience ask you to do such a thing.”

  “You are not asking, I am offering, and I doubt it’s much of a risk. Mary is desperate for funds, so it’s unlikely she would hurt the source of where those funds might come from.”

  “A long as you are certain.” Lady Chilton squeezed Livie’s hand. “I do not wish for you to come to any harm on my account.”

  “I will be safe,” Livie vowed, intending to have Sebastian accompany her—well, at least staying to the shadows, if he agreed. Which she was confident he would, wanting to keep his investment for his sister safe. “And I will do all I can to convince Mary to hand over the journal and tell me what she knows of the man who ruined Alice.” Livie was pleased her voice sounded confident, because inwardly she wasn’t feeling so at all, and she didn’t know who she was trying to convince more, herself or Lady Chilton.

  “How shall you convince her to do so without handing over a bag of money? Because I will not be able to obtain those sorts of funds unless I ask my husband, which I cannot do. I doubt this maid will be willing to hand over something of value for nothing.” There was some skepticism in Lady Chilton’s tone that Livie could well understand, as she was feeling rather skeptical herself.

  “I’m not exactly certain. But leave it with me. I have an idea.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The sharp sound of a fist cracking against flesh and bone reverberated through the air and the crowd went wild. Cheers and yells accompanied the blood that spurted like a fountain from the nose of one of the boxers, splattering droplets of crimson onto the spectators crowding in close to the edge of the ring.

  Seb nodded in satisfaction and leaned forward, resting his hands on the balcony railing. To all who glanced up at him, it appeared as if the King of the Rookeries was enjoying a grand day, completely in charge of his own domain as he watched his champion pummel the challenger, making a fortune in the process as the money flowed in thick and fast from the frenzy of betting taking place in the pits.

  It was an impression he was happy to foster as it disguised his true purpose in attending.

  For instead of paying attention to the sporting spectacle as he normally would, his eyes were circumspectly scanning the bodies below, looking for his quarry.

  Jack McGinchy was somewhere among the masses gathered below, and Seb was determined to have a word with the fellow. A very special word with him, as the man surely had information to share about the attempt on Seb’s life, despite any reluctance to do so. And there were ways to turn reluctance into compliance, no matter what it took. Seb would know the identity of the rival gang leader before the day was through; of that, he had no doubt.

  A commotion on the far side of the room drew his attention abruptly, the hairs on his arm stood on end, and all of his senses went instantly on alert as he stared at the spot of the disturbance. Rather than capturing McGinchy as he’d hoped, his men were instead escorting a woman through the throng.

  Goddamnit! What in the bloody hell was she doing here? And though she was dressed in head-to-toe black, including a veil, her slight limp and cane, along with her regal bearing were enough for him to instantly recognize her. The three men accompanying her in rather ill-fitting suits were all his men, the three Rowan had obviously sent to protect her.

  Judging by the way she was talking with them as she moved through the room, she’d discovered that fact, too.

  And if she was trying to blend into the assorted crowd, she was failing miserably, looking as out of place as a rose amongst weeds, with her finely tailored black pelisse jacket and bustled skirt that fit her to perfection, giving off an air of complete mystery. Topping it all off were the little black crystals, sewn intricately along the trim of her jacket, which caught the sunlight streaming into the venue from the windows above, making her outfit glitter like diamonds.

  Lady Olivia was causing quite the stir. Those in the crowd who caught a glimpse of her turned and stared at the sight she presented, the carnage of the match forgotten with their eyes eagerly following her, as Seb’s men led her toward the stairway and up to his private box.

  It was a rare occurrence f
or a lady, particularly one dressed anywhere near as finely as Lady Olivia, to ever visit the Rookeries, and especially not the Red Arena. It was called such not so much for the red chairs and curtains within the space, but more because of the blood regularly spilled in and around the ring’s surface. Seb doubted most of the people here had ever seen someone from her lofty station in Society set foot in Bethnal Green before.

  But like the masses, his eyes, too, were powerless to do anything but track the path she took as she followed his men while they weaved through the bodies below.

  The woman seemed determined to not only invade his dreams and his thoughts, but his goddamn sporting space, too. A pain in his backside is what his new business partner was fast becoming, even if his pulse had quickened upon seeing her again.

  Weren’t damn duke’s daughters meant to be more timid and demure than this one was? Her father and brothers must let her run wild if she was showing up to such an arena without a chaperone. Though it was doubtful that anyone from the Rookeries would know who she was, even if it appeared as if every single person there was eager to know. His men included.

  They’d most likely assume she was his mistress, which would offer her protection, but also place a target on her back. The idea of her being hurt or being used to get to him, for some reason bothered him greatly.

  The sound of footsteps climbing the stairs echoed in the space, the distinct click from the heels of Lady Olivia’s boots and the muted thud of her cane against the wooden floor as she made her way up the stairway, escorted by only one other. One of his men, no doubt, from the heavy thud of his boots against the wooden steps.

  “Sorry to bother ya, boss,” the man said a moment later from behind Seb, “but the lady insisted on seeing you. She said you was expecting her.”

  Seb didn’t turn around but instead kept his face to the crowd and nodded. “Thank you, Croucher. See we’re not interrupted.”