He opened his eyes. “I’d never hurt you.”
“I know.” Her gaze was sensual. “I’ve never felt safer than when I’m with you.”
He flung back the sheets and didn’t bother resisting his abundant need for her. There was no need to pretend. She was everything to him and that would never change.
∫ ∫ ∫
4 2
* * *
Madison walked into the kitchen holding Edmond. “I think we should talk about what it is you do.”
Leo put down his cup and leaned back in his seat. Without his jacket and cravat, her husband could have passed for any man. While extremely handsome, he had the look of a worldly man. With his height, fine body, gleaming dark hair, and stunning pale eyes, she could easily see him as a footman or even a king.
No doubt his ability to blend had helped his career. One she knew very little about.
Matthew’s comments from the previous night made guilt heavy on her soul. She didn’t know her husband as well she should. She knew some of his family history. She knew he hated his father and didn’t think well of his mother.
She knew he’d begged for food and had hurt his brother Oliver at his father’s command.
But she knew little else. She wanted to know everything. She wanted to know him better than she knew Judd. And she needed to know his connection with Lord Van Dero.
He motioned her forward and she was surprised when he took her into his arms and pulled her down to sit on his lap.
Edmond was between them, awake, and he touched the boy’s head and smiled at him before looking up at Madison.
“I’m a jack of all trades,” he said. “I do whatever needs to be done. I’ll hunt down criminals, find the lost, break in and out of places, deliver messages, spy, rescue… assassinate.”
She sighed. “For who?”
He tucked her hair behind her ear. His expression became somber. “You do know that you can’t repeat what I’m telling you, don’t you? Before I married you, I took into account how good you are at keeping secrets. You let Matthew abuse you for months in the hopes of finding a solution that would save you, keeping the truth from even your parents.” He gave her a meaningful look.
“You mean, I can’t tell my parents?”
“You couldn’t even tell Edmond when he got older.” Leo touched their son again, cupping his head. “Not until I thought it time.” Meeting her eyes again, he said, “You can’t tell a soul. You can’t even whisper it to yourself when you think no one is listening.”
“You know, I think Mrs. Wilson likes Mr. Trim. They’d make a handsome couple, don’t you think?” she asked.
He frowned. Her sudden change in subject was startling.
She kept going. “You should have seen the way they bickered this morning when he and his son brought in your tub. They’ve both been widowed.” She switched her son to her other arm and sighed. “I think I should do something about it. No one should be alone. Everyone needs someone. Someone to laugh and cry with. Someone to share their secrets with.”
Leo’s eyes warmed in understanding. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. “I felt alone until you came into my life.”
She lowered her voice. “I’d never tell your secrets, Leo. They are mine just as much as you are mine.”
He bent his head to touch hers. “I work for Van Dero.”
She gasped.
He leaned back. “Why does that name shock you?”
Her belly turned as she thought about the secret she’d been hiding from him. Judd’s papers.
They’d been Judd’s secret. She hadn’t felt right talking about them with anyone else, but Leo wasn’t just anyone else. He was hers. She only prayed he wouldn’t be upset with her, that this wouldn’t drive them apart.
He searched her eyes. “Madison, have you ever met the duke?”
She shook her head. “I don’t even know what he looks like.”
“Then why are you afraid? Are you hiding a secret? I can’t imagine it being too terrible. He wouldn’t blackmail you. As my wife, you’re safe from him.”
“Blackmail?” she whispered. “Is that what Van Dero does?”
“Yes but only with his enemies, which you are not.”
Her heart pumped zealously. “Would he hurt Edmond?” She didn’t know if Judd’s secrets could affect him.
“No, Cassius is my friend.”
Her eyes widened. “You call the duke by his given name?”
He chuckled. “Sometimes. When it’s just friends and there is no one to think less of him for having them.”
“You’re friends with the Duke of Van Dero?” she asked in disbelief. It was one thing to work for a man, because working for someone didn’t mean having direct contact with them. Often there was a manager, someone who stood between a duke and others.
This appeared to not be the case with Leo.
He laughed. “Yes, Cassius is my friend. Now tell me why you’re troubled.”
Her lips trembled as anxiety filled her blood. “I don’t want you to be angry.”
His humor left his gaze. “Madison, you are the only person in the world who makes me this nervous. Please, just tell me what it is.”
Edmond started to fuss and she laughed. “He knows,” she whispered as she put her son close to her breast and began to undo her dress. “He knows I’m scared.”
Leo turned her chin to him. “Tell me.”
She pulled in a deep breath. “I was with Judd the night he left. I went to him and told him I was pregnant. He gave me a key to a desk in his cellar. I was to take whatever I found in that drawer to Van Dero if he died.”
“Did you get what was in the draw?”
She shook her head.
“Do you know what it is?”
“No.”
“Do you still have the key?”
“It’s on the dresser.”
He kissed her and then touched his head with hers. Their eyes held. “Thank you for trusting me with Judd’s secret.”
“You’re not upset?”
He shook his head and smiled. “No, you’ve only proven you’re as trustworthy as I knew you to be. I’ll take the papers to Van Dero.” Then he leaned back. “Is there anything else you wish to tell me?”
She thought long and hard and then shook her head.
He helped her up. “I’ll go tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“We’ve only tonight to do this. Tomorrow we leave for Venmont Hill. I’ll break into Lord Arland’s home and slip into the cellar…”
“Or we could simply go together,” she said.
He turned to her. “What are you thinking?”
She smiled, glad he hadn’t simply forbidden her idea before hearing it. “My father informed me that he received a letter. Lord Arland wishes to meet Edmond. As my husband, you’d accompany me.”
Leo smiled. “And I can excuse myself and get into the cellar.”
Her grin grew. “Actually, I think they’d be willing to give us whatever we wanted.”
He looked curiously at her and then nodded. “Let’s get dressed.”
A little over an hour later, they were being warmly welcomed into Lord Arland’s home.
Judd’s cousins were lovely people who’d moved up from the middle class after Judd’s death.
Matthew’s chastisement of her a few weeks ago for conspiring to give Edmond the title had led Madison to inquire into the family.
She’d visited her mother during the week that they’d spent waiting for Mr. Collins’ party. Geneve had come over as well. Both women had revealed that Judd’s cousin had been struggling before he’d received the title. Though he’d barely had money for his own brood, he’d still found a way to provide for his brother and extended family.
He was a kind man.
And so, when Madison’s father received the banknote from Matthew in the mail, Madison had sent it where it belonged. To the new Lord Arland.
Lord Arland hugged Madison
and Leo looked surprised. She was forced to tell her husband what she did as they were escorted into the drawing room.
Leo’s eyes widened further. “You gave a fortune away? You didn’t think to keep it for Edmond?”
She shook her head. “Edmond doesn’t need it. His current father has provided for all his needs.”
Leo actually blushed.
They spent a great deal of time simply talking to the family and meeting everyone. There were Arland and his wife, their mothers, his siblings, and their wives, and over a dozen children who were anxious to see young Edmond.
Madison wondered if the family would have been so welcoming if she hadn’t sent them the money, but then she knew they would have. They were genuinely kind and she was glad that everything had worked out the way it had.
Her life was so much better than anything she could have thrown together. She didn’t want to be Judd’s false widow. She loved being Mrs. Leonard Childs.
She watched her husband as he interacted with the family. The children warmed to him quickly and being middle class, they hadn’t been trained to have restraint. They were quickly hanging from his limbs and asking to get tossed into the air.
Everyone laughed and Leo’s eyes glowed with happiness.
The older boys asked him more serious questions and admired him instantly.
“We’re so glad to have family in the community,” Lady Arland said over a lovely meal that evening. “It’s been hard fitting into Society. People know we don’t truly belong. I’m hoping we find kinder faces in London.” Though neither Madison nor Leo had intended to stay long, they quickly realized that they didn’t wish to leave either.
Lady Arland, whose true name was Birdy, was a gorgeous woman who appeared to be in her forties and though she dressed the part of a lady, her accent and manners gave her away.
“Leo and I are bound for London as well. We’ll get together and I’ll help you.”
“Would you?” Birdy asked.
Madison nodded. They got along famously. Madison’s mother still commented about her breastfeeding, but Birdy had never had the choice for a nursemaid and enjoyed the act of nourishing her child just as much as Madison did.
The children sat with the family at the dining table. Edmond was on Birdy’s mother’s lap and stared out in silence, stunned by the noise. There was a great deal of shouting and laughing.
A young man flung a carrot and it struck Madison on the chest.
Everyone gasped.
∫ ∫ ∫
4 3
* * *
Madison picked up the offending carrot and ate it. “Oh, I was quite hungry. I’d like to thank my food angel for this unexpected delivery.”
They laughed.
Leo, who sat by her side, leaned over and kissed her cheek.
There was much of that at the table as well. Kissing. Warm looks between couples. Madison held Leo’s gaze and whispered, “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being so wonderful.” He could have been cold to Lord Arland—who he now called James—and the others. He could have held their connection to Judd against them, but he didn’t.
Leo smiled. “I used to watch families like this through their window. Thank you for sharing your family with me.”
She touched his cheek. He kissed her fingers. He thought the move discreet until some of the boys made hacking sounds, just as they did with their parents.
Leo chuckled, but his eyes held a touch of anxiety. “I want more children.”
“Me, too.”
“Do you think… I’d be any good…”
“You’d be the best father in the world,” she said with conviction.
He didn’t seem sure, but he gave her a soft smile. “I want at least a dozen.”
Her eyes widened, and she looked around the table before she turned back to him. “We’d never fit this many people in our cottage.”
“Then we’ll have to build or buy something bigger.”
She pouted. “But I love our little cottage.” It was tucked away from the rest of the world.
He touched her cheek again. “I love our cottage as well.” He sighed. “But there is no harm in dreaming.”
Dreaming?
She hadn’t thought they were simply dreaming. She’d thought they were planning their future. She would give up the cottage for a bigger family. She’d always wanted siblings closer to her own age. The children fought, but they clearly loved one another.
She didn’t understand Leo’s hesitation.
She couldn’t help but think about the way they coupled. He always made certain his seed ended up anywhere but inside her.
She’d thought he was simply being considerate of the fact that her body had just had a baby... but what if he never tried to have children with her? They hadn’t discussed that before they’d married. Would Edmond grow up alone?
An announcement that games would follow dinner pulled Madison from her thoughts.
It was late when Leo pulled James to the side so that they could have a private discussion. Then Leo disappeared.
“Do you think Edmond would want a portrait of his father?” Birdy asked. “If Leo wouldn’t mind, of course.”
“I don’t think he would, but I’ll ask.”
Leo returned sometime later with papers in his hand. From his expression, she knew he was ready to leave.
Birdy asked him about the portrait, likely so Leo would know it had been her idea and not Madison’s.
“Take whatever you think Edmond would want,” Leo said. He was wearing a smile, but Madison couldn’t read his eyes. He didn’t seem upset. Neither was his expression cold.
But…
She shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I…”
“That one.” Leo pointed to the largest portrait of Judd in the room. “Edmond should have it. He’ll be able to see what he’ll eventually look like. I have no doubt he’ll be just as handsome.” A flicker of warmth entered Leo’s eyes.
Madison smiled and nodded to Birdy. “Thank you.”
They loaded the portrait and said their goodbyes before they were on their way.
“What did you find?” Madison asked the moment the carriage door was closed.
Leo sighed. “Judd had secrets.”
Edmond was in his basket. He wasn’t asleep yet, but she had no doubt the carriage ride would soon have him drifting away.
Madison fiddled with her hands. “What secrets?”
“Are you sure you want to know?”
She wasn’t. “Were they terrible?”
Leo said, “I told James about The Circle. He said he had received an offer to join a brotherhood but had yet to make a decision. Birdy wanted him to join. She believed it would help Society to like them more.”
Madison stiffened.
“I told him to decline and he said he would,” Leo went on. “Our visit might have just saved his life.”
Madison took a deep breath. “What did Judd do? Did he kill Matthew’s father?” If she were to learn anything, she had to know the truth.
“Yes, but he didn’t want to. He thought doing it would spare his own father.”
She felt lightheaded and was glad she was sitting.
Leo took her hand.
She shook her head and fought back the urge to cry. “It didn’t spare his father.”
“No, whoever is after them isn’t being kind. This seems like revenge.”
“What about Van Dero?”
“He wants to put them down as well, but Cassius tries to limit murder where he can. Also, he isn’t out for revenge. He just wants people free from the tyranny of those who oppress them.”
“You admire the duke,” she said.
“I do.”
“What are we going to do?” she asked. “We leave in the morning?”
“Anson is coming to the hunt. Our killer, if he wants him, might come there.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Anson will come to London. We�
��ve no other options at the moment. I want you and Edmond safe.”
Then he leaned away and pushed back the curtains so he could see into the night.
Was he watching out for the murderer?
As she studied him, she thought about how different her life had become in the last year. Her once peaceful existence was full of betrayal and death.
She wanted peace again and she wanted that with Leo.
She’d do everything she could to make that so.
∫ ∫ ∫
4 4
* * *
Venmont Hill held few good memories for Leo. As he’d told Madison, the happiest day of his life had been the day his father died. Watching that man fall was like watching poetry in action.
Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
He’d been at the top of the lighthouse when his father made his descent to the Earth. He wouldn’t have been surprised if the ground had chosen that moment to swallow him whole.
Lord Leonard Childs, first of his name, hadn’t suffered. Upon impact, he was done and that was all that had mattered to Leo.
As he watched the carriage roll past the thick line of trees, he wondered over and over again why he ever came back. He’d run away only to return days, weeks, or even months later.
And his father would be there with a knife, almost giddy for Leo to torture his older brother Oliver. In order for the violence to stop, all Oliver had to do was strike Leo first.
Had Leo been severely injured, the exercise would have ended. But Oliver always refused.
Over and over again, Leo had driven a blade through his brother and every time he came back, he prayed Oliver would finally strike him and end it all.
End his misery. End his life.
But Oliver would not.
He hated this place.
Though he pretended otherwise, he was already growing tense with each moment that passed. They were getting closer to the house. They’d been on his brother’s property for the last ten minutes or so.
The carriage shook and Madison adjusted her position against his chest. Leo had his arm around her as she slept. Edmond was awake. He was in a basket on the floor. His eyes were open and wandered around.
The Long Awaited Lord Page 21