Lured Into Sin By The Wicked Earl (Steamy Historical Regency Romance)

by Olivia Bennet

  “Don’t use water,” he said as he tied his handkerchief over his face. “It’ll make it worse.”

  Adam moved quickly. It looked like the fire was mostly around the worktable, and the shelves containing his notes and books. He grabbed a blanket from one of the drawers, put there for this purpose. He tossed it to Susannah. “Smother it. We need to limit the oxygen.”

  She took it, and then threw it over the place where the flames were the worst.

  Grabbing another, he threw it over the flames, trying to staunch the flow of oxygen to them. As he worked, he tried to see what the source of it was. He hadn’t left anything flammable out. Nothing that would cause such a large blast.

  Susannah helped him, stamping at the blanket with her slippered feet. She didn’t question, she just did as he instructed her to.

  Adam’s mind focused entirely on the task. They needed to work fast, or else his store of harmful chemicals might catch—then the fire would be too dangerous for any of them to stop.

  Others joined them, Mr. Howard had brought extra blankets, and Mr. Fort was helping to put out the flames that were rising toward the ceiling on the bookshelf.

  The footmen were stamping out what they could. Everyone worked quickly and quietly. Adam moved without thinking, smothering the flames, quickly stomping to put them out.

  Together, they put out the fire. It seemed to be concentrated on the one side—away from where Adam stored the harmful chemicals. As soon as the fire had been put out, Adam breathed a sigh of relief. His eyes and his throat were raw. He looked around, finding that his entire lab had been destroyed.

  “How did it start?” Susannah murmured, her voice muffled. She was still holding her coat up, the flannel cloth covering her face.

  “I don’t know,” William, the footman said. “We all heard the blast from the kitchen.”

  Adam peered into the wreckage, looking for something that could have started it. As he looked, he filled up with dread. There was no sign of his device in the wreckage, nor his notebook.

  “Someone’s stolen my device, as well as my notes for its improvements,” he said, the horrible realization dawning on him. This was not an accident. It had been done to hide the fact that a crime had occurred.

  “Look,” Susannah said, using the poker from the fireplace to sift through some of the burned and smoking wreckage from the lab. Spearing it with the end of the poker, she held up the broken and charred remains of a gunpowder box, showing it to him. “This must have caused that loud blast.”

  Adam stared at it. “That very well could be what started the blaze,” he agreed. He looked around at his lab. His mind swam. The fire hadn’t gone on to the rest of the house. It was just the lab, to draw the attention away from what had been stolen.

  Just long enough so that they could escape.

  “William!” Adam called out.

  “Yes, My Lord?” the footman asked. He was still dressed in livery, from serving Adam and Gerard their supper. The white bands on the sleeves were black with soot.

  “I need someone to investigate for me,” Adam said. “Would you be able to do so without drawing too much attention to yourself?”

  “Yes, My Lord,” William said. “I can do whatever you need me to.”

  “Go and change out of your livery and into something a little less distinguishable. Take Mr. Fort with you,” Adam said, handing him the box. “Go to the shop listed on the box. See if you can find anything out about recent sales.”

  William bowed to him, taking the box. “You can count on us, My Lord.”

  Chapter 31

  Susannah and Adam stood in the parlor. Her eyes and her throat were sore from the fire. It wasn’t very late. The fire had occurred just after supper, at just a few moments before seven.

  Mr. Howard came in. For once, the butler was only in his shirtsleeves, which were covered in soot from the fire. He looked as shaken as the rest of them were.

  “How is Simone?” she asked him, desperate for news.

  “She’ll be fine. The physician says that it’s nothing life threatening. She won’t be able to do any work for a week or two, until the skin has healed. She’ll have a bandage on her hand, and maybe some scarring but nothing more than that. So, that’s some good news.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. When she had seen Simone lying there on the ground, she had worried that she’d been very grievously hurt.

  “The physician says that he’ll see you when he’s finished, My Lord,” Mr. Howard said to Adam.

  “Very good, Mr. Howard.” Adam was filling a glass of brandy for himself.

  “I can attend to her chores,” Susannah offered. She could do it along with her other chores. It would make for a longer day, but with the lab off-limits for a while, she would have one less room to clean.

  “We’ll all pitch in, while she’s healing,” Mr. Howard assured her with a smile.

  “Of course, we will,” she agreed.

  Mr. Howard left. Susannah turned to Adam. He was sitting in the armchair, sipping from his glass. He was frowning thoughtfully, his eyes on the fire. She walked over to him, kneeling in front of him.

  He looked at her, his eyes golden in the firelight. He reached out, cupping her cheek in his hand. She smiled up at him. He rubbed her bottom lip with his thumb. Desire, warm and golden, was a fire in the pit of Susannah’s belly.

  “I love you,” he whispered. Susannah couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have found the love of her life.

  “I love you. Are you well?” she asked, knowing that he was devastated by the loss of his device that he’d worked so hard on.

  “I’m just trying to make sense of who could have done it,” he said. “Who would have had the nerve to break in, steal it, and then blow up my lab and almost burn down my entire house—” He shook his head.

  “Do you think it’s Mr. Sullyard?” she asked. He was the only person that she could conceive of doing such a thing. He seemed to be Adam’s only enemy. While Adam didn’t love the ton, it seemed to her that he wasn’t openly disliked himself.

  “He’s the most likely suspect,” Adam mused. “If he has, then he’s gotten a lot more dangerous than he was while we were fellows at All Souls.”

  “Really?” Susannah felt a wave of dread at the thought that someone dangerous was targeting Adam. Fear was a cold finger, running down her spine.

  “Yes,” he replied. “The last time, he merely knocked things over. Nothing was damaged except for my results. It was done in such a way that nothing dangerous occurred. This is an extreme escalation. The danger of setting a lab on fire is extreme. It could have killed all of us if certain chemicals had been caught in the blaze.”

  She kissed his hand. “What do you need me to do?” she asked. She wanted to help but wasn’t sure how.

  “Sit here, with me,” he said, “until William and Mr. Fort return.”

  “I can do that.”

  “Brandy?” he offered.

  “Please,” she said, standing up. She’d never had brandy before. In her father’s house, alcohol had been forbidden. Susannah wanted something steadying. Something to blunt the abject terror that she was experiencing.

  “I’ll pour you some,” he said, standing up. They were close. He kissed her quickly on the lips, then moved past her toward the sideboard. He grabbed a glass, then poured a small amount of amber liquid into it.

  Returning, he handed her the glass. She accepted it. “Thank you.”

  He smiled, holding up his own glass. “Here’s to the house still standing.”

  “And that no one was gravely injured,” she replied, clinking her glass against his. She took a sip, wincing at the taste. It burned all of the way down.

  I think I’ll stick to tea after I finish this.

  * * *

  Adam and Susannah were sitting together, drinking in silence. He smiled as he held her gaze. She tilted her head to the side. He loved sitting here with her like this, sipping brandy, and watching the firelight dance on
her skin. He was reminded of his dream, and desire flickered inside of him.

  Reaching out to trail the tip of his finger over her arm, he watched as goosebumps rose across her skin.

  Her lips were wet, from the brandy. They were plump, kissable.

  She grinned. The drink was making her cheeks pink. Adam was relieved that they no longer had to hide their relationship. Now that they were engaged, they could partake of the few freedoms that an engaged couple could have. She was his sole consolation. He would have been a wreck were it not for her presence.

  Mr. Howard opened the door, then. “They’re back, My Lord,” he said. Adam and Susannah both stood up, glancing at each other. He didn’t know what to expect. His heart began to race in anticipation.

  William and Mr. Fort entered, and Mr. Howard stood by the door to listen. Adam was glad that he stayed. His thoughts on the matter at hand would be important. They would all need to come up with an immediate plan of action.

  Both Mr. Fort and William were dressed in plain, dark clothing. Mr. Fort handed Adam the burned gunpowder box which they’d taken with them.

  “Someone indeed bought a large box of gunpowder, just this morning,” Mr. Fort explained. “The seller remembers him, as he had a distinctive scar on his face. It’s in the shape of a question mark, just at his temple.” Mr. Fort gestured with his finger, making a curve around his eye and down toward his cheekbone.

  “He said that he was fair-haired, and wearing plain, dark clothes,” William added helpfully. “He had on a cap. He’s a regular customer, but the seller doesn’t have a name.”

  “Interesting,” Adam mused, trying to recall if he’d ever seen someone with such a scar on his face. He hadn’t.

  “It’s most likely a mercenary—someone for hire, don’t you think?” Mr. Howard mused.

  “Yes, most likely,” Adam agreed. “I believe this is Mr. Sullyard’s doing. He was the one who was very vocal about wanting to see my plans. I suppose he thought that I planned to keep them from him indefinitely, so he took matters into his own hands. He’s well off now, so he’d certainly would not get his hands dirty.” It was the only explanation he could think of. “It’s going to be difficult to connect them.”

  “How are we to find one man in a city as large as London?” Susannah asked. “It’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack.”

  They all thought about that for a long moment. She was right. It would be difficult. Adam considered having Mr. Sullyard followed. However, he would most likely not be anywhere near this man with the distinctive scar, not any time soon.

  “Probably the Waterman,” Mr. Fort said, “or the Horse and Dragon.”

  “Mr. Fort? How do you know that?” Susannah asked.

  “My brother sells his own talents as such,” Mr. Fort said grimly. “He’s taken up some work here and there doing odd jobs and the like. Sometimes, he gets himself in trouble. If you’d like, I can have him bring me around.”

  “If you wouldn’t mind,” Adam said. “I can certainly make it worth your while.”

  “Of course, My Lord,” Mr. Fort said. “I’ll be happy to help. An attack on the house is an attack on all of us.”

  “I’d be happy to go with them,” William added stoutly. “Just in case.”

  Adam smiled. “Thank you,” he said, looking around at all of the familiar faces, his eyes settling on Susannah last. “All of you.”

  “We’ll find the men who did it,” William said.

  “Just find him,” Adam told them. “Come to me when you do, then we’ll figure out how we plan to approach him. I want to question him myself.”

  * * *

  The next morning, Susannah checked in on Simone. The older house maid was sitting up in her bed. Her steel gray hair was loose from its usual bun, falling around her shoulders.

  “I brought you a cup of tea,” Susannah said, smiling.

  “That’s kind of you,” Simone told her. Her left hand was wrapped in bandages, which went all the way to her elbow.

  Susannah set the cup on the bedside table. “I can bring you some toast, too, if you’d like.”

  “Yes please, Susannah.” She grinned. “Just think, soon, you will be the Countess and we’ll all be calling you My Lady.”

  Susannah blushed. “Are you in pain?” she asked, sitting down beside her in a small chair that had been pulled up next to the bed.

  Simone took the cup in her good hand, gingerly taking a sip. “Yes, very much,” she admitted soberly. “But it could have been worse.”

  “Why were you there?” Susannah asked.

  “I heard noises,” Simone explained. “Coming from the lab—the sound of the window being opened and voices. I knew that His Lordship was upstairs with Lord Wrentbour because I’d been clearing the dining room after supper.”

  “Did you hear what they were saying?”

  “No,” Simone said, shaking her head. “They were keeping their voices low.”

  “Did you see them?”

  “I turned the doorknob just as the explosion happened. All I saw was a bright light, then I was knocked back by the door being blown open.”

  Susannah nodded, realizing that Simone had come very close to being very seriously injured. She had been lucky that the door had taken the full force of the blast.

  “Let’s just be glad that it wasn’t worse. If you’d had the door opened—” She shuddered to think that Simone might have been hurt even worse.

  “The door was locked up tight, so I didn’t get a good look at them. Breaking into Lord Malmore’s lab and stealing his things—” She shook her head. Simone was made of tough stuff.

  “Well, you just get your rest,” Susannah told her.

  “Will you tell Lord Malmore what I said?” Simone asked hopefully. “It might help.”

  “He’ll likely come to see how you’re doing. You can tell him yourself.”

  “He’ll come down?” Simone asked, clearly touched.

  “I have no doubt about it,” Susannah assured her, standing up. “I’ll go and get you some toast. And maybe an egg?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Susannah left Simone’s room. As she walked down the hall, she considered what she’d been told. They had been professionals. They had gotten in and gotten out without being seen. It had only been by chance that Simone had been right where she could hear.

  “Susannah?” Mr. Howard called out.

  “Yes?”

  “I figured that today you and I would assist Lord Malmore in cleaning up the lab.”

  “Of course.”

  Chapter 32

  Adam stood in the wreckage of what had formerly been his lab. It was a burned mess. He looked around, trying to figure out what to do first. There was a knock at the door. He turned to find that Susannah and Mr. Howard were there.

  “We’ve come to help you clean the lab, My Lord,” Mr. Howard announced.

  “That is much appreciated.” He hadn’t even sent for anyone yet. They had just appeared.

  “Where would you like to start?” Susannah asked. She was wearing her maid’s frock, an old apron over it. Her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows.

  “If we could go through and throw out what is ruined beyond repair. Then we can get a handyman in to put in a new floor and re-plaster the walls.” He would have to get new tools and many new supplies. It would be like starting over again. “Leave any notebooks in a pile. I want to salvage as much of my notes as possible.”

  “Would you like me to send up another house maid or one of the footmen, My Lord?” Mr. Howard asked as he rolled up his sleeves. He had on an apron over his uniform.

  “Between the three of us, I think we’ll be able to handle it,” Adam said. “After all, the rest of the household has their own chores, plus Simone’s.”

  Mr. Howard nodded, then waded into the wreckage, picking up what had once been Adam’s desk chair. It was merely a hulk of burned wood.

  Adam had checked in on Simone earlier. She seemed to be resting comfort
ably. Apparently, she had heard the men breaking into the lab from the dining room. His mind turned over the information, as though he could look at it from another angle and discern something new.

  That there had been more than one suggested that this was a group of professionals. That they’d gotten in and out in the space of only a few moments suggested the same. Adam wouldn’t put it past Mr. Sullyard to hire professional thieves to do his dirty work. He had the money, and he was so eager to get his hands on Adam’s invention that he was the most likely suspect.