“Carter, please take off your clothes.”
Carter turned and dropped his polishing rag on the floor. Clutching his hands together, he gulped. “Are you quite alright, sir? I’ve heard that love can do some strange things…”
“For goodness sake, Carter, I’m not in love,” Hades said exasperatedly. Had the butler been listening at the keyhole?
Carter relaxed. “You could have fooled me my lord, the way you kissed her…”
“Enough! Take off your clothes.” Hades began to strip himself. Carter did not move an inch. “Carter, I want you to wear my clothes, and I will wear your clothes. There is someone from the Viper’s entourage watching the house. We need to fool him into thinking that I am going somewhere that I am not.”
Poor Carter’s brain was addled from the request. It took him a while to understand. His lips moved as he repeated back what Hades had said. Suddenly he brightened. Hades sighed. Finally.
With alacrity, Carter pulled on Hades’ clothes. They didn’t fit well, but it was enough to create a superficial difference.
“I’ve always wanted to know what it was like to be an earl!” Carter said, admiring himself in the hall mirror.
Hades couldn’t really say that he had always wanted to know what it was like to be his butler. He already had a fairly good idea that catering to the demands of an irascible gentleman was hard work.
“Carter, go out and get into my carriage and tell them to go to Lady Colchester’s. It’s somewhere I always used to go, so it shouldn’t be too unexpected. I will leave via the stables on foot. If I put on a hat and cloak as well, that should complete the deception.”
Carter nodded. Hades knew that the household would not tell anyone from the outside about the change. And hopefully there was no longer a mole on their staff—the servants who were currently in the house had been in his employ for at least five years if not more. Of course there were some who had also worked for his mother…
Carter left through the front door and strode straight to the carriage. Hades had to admire his aplomb. Carter had even altered his walk to imitate the earl. To anyone more than twenty yards away there would have been no difference.
Once Carter was safely out of the door, Hades left through the kitchens. Neither Carlos nor Charles gave him a second look.
Should he go to Victoria’s to change back into his normal clothes? No, as his butler, he would be able to be in places that the Viper might not expect, especially the Royal Society.
It was a brisk walk through Mayfair, past the Royal Academy, down the bottom half of Piccadilly, through Trafalgar Square and then onwards up the Strand before he arrived at the home of the Royal Society at Somerset House.
He had entered the Royal Society as a guest on numerous occasions, but as he made towards the stairs he was stopped quickly but politely by a uniformed guard.
“I’m sorry sir, only members and the quality allowed up there,” the man said.
“Oh.” Hades glanced at the reception desk in the corner. “Err, my ladyship has asked me to make an enquiry.” He scrabbled for the words. “To whom should I address it?”
“Who do you work for?”
“Lady Colchester.” Hades twisted his fingers behind his back. He really didn’t want the Viper to find out he had been making enquiries.
The guard’s face softened. “Lovely lady that, you lucky man. Go to the small booth opposite the stairs. The clerks at the reception there will help you out.”
Hades nodded. “Thank you.”
The clerks at the reception looked up and just as quickly went back to what they were doing. Hades was beginning to understand the difference between being Carter and himself now very clearly. He cleared his throat.
“Yes?” the clerk said in front of him, without lifting his head.
“Please can you tell me if any meetings took place on the date of—” Hades licked his lips. What had been the date of the bet? “—20th March?” he finished with relief.
“On what basis?”
“Pardon?”
“Why would you like to know?”
“Oh! Lady Colchester was invited to attend a meeting that morning but was called away to a most important musicale. She couldn’t quite remember what the meeting was for. She wanted to send her apologies to the appropriate person and make sure she made reference to the right meeting.” God if they swallowed that they would swallow anything. Most important musicale? What claptrap.
The clerk nodded as if this was the most normal thing in the world. Hades blinked. He himself had never sent an apology for missing a meeting once.
“Wait.” The clerk pushed his papers under the counter. He moved to the back of the booth and began to open the drawers that lined the wall. “Nineteenth, twenty first, aah, here is the twentieth.” He reached into the deep drawer and withdrew a pile of papers. Setting them back on the counter, he thumbed quickly through them and looked up at Hades with a frown on his face. “It’s a bit odd.”
“What is?” Hades put a tentative hand on the counter.
“There was only one meeting on the twentieth.”
That was pleasing, so much easier for Hades. “If you could let me just…”
“For a group of only six people on the subject of Ibex in the Pyrenees.”
“Ah.” Hades could see the clerk’s problem. It would have been fairly unlikely for Lady Colchester to have attended a meeting on Ibex in the Pyrenees with such a small number of invitees as well.
“Who was she invited by?” the clerk asked.
“Err, she wasn’t sure about that either.” Hades waved his hand in the air. “She didn’t want to talk to anyone about it at the risk of offending her acquaintances.”
Again the clerk nodded as if this was the most natural thing in the world.
“Perhaps,” Hades said, tentatively tapping his finger back on the counter, “Perhaps you could give me a copy of the attendees and some notes on the meeting, just in case it jogs her memory?”
“Of course,” the clerk said. “All of these papers are of the notes and attendance. We normally have several copies made up in case our members ask for a copy, but in this case with such a limited subject we seem to have rather over-catered.”
Stopping himself from reading the paper that the clerk handed over, Hades pushed the notes into his pocket and thanked the man.
“Oh. I forgot.” He took a deep breath. “Was there ever a Mr. Sumner here? A botanist I believe, at the Royal Society I mean.”
The clerk’s face softened. “Mr. Arthur? Arthur Sumner? Yes. Lovely man that. Came here with his little daughter. Sweet little thing, parroting the names of the flowers her father was discussing in the meetings. It was terrible news when Professor Lisle told us about his accident.”
Hades nodded. Sweet little thing. Yes she was.
The walk back to Mayfair seemed to take twice as long as his walk to Somerset House. He took a different route, just in case the Viper had watchers all across the area. But there were no incidents and soon he was back in his house.
This time Carlos and Charles gaped at him as he entered through the kitchens. It was obvious that Carter had already returned. He gave them a cheery smile which made them stare even more.
“I think I need a sit down,” Charles said.
“Me too,” Carlos gulped.
Carter lurked in the hall. “Your clothes are upstairs in your room, sir,” he said, smoothing down his uniform. “It didn’t feel right to stay in them. I have a second uniform so I put that on instead.”
“What did Lady Colchester say?” Hades was curious.
“Nothing. She had a visitor who seemed to be causing her to be a little flustered. He called himself Bill Standish. He was enormous.” Carter’s eyes were round as he remembered.
Hades laughed. He remembered meeting Bill Standish before. Bill was an unlikely part of Lord Granwich’s spy ring.
Carter grinned. “He even called Lady Colchester his petit beignet de crème!”
Up in his room, Hades quickly stripped and donned his own clothes. Mercifully Carter had made the valet put out a new set of shirts. He sat down on his bed and pulled out the list of participants to the Royal Society meeting.
Discussion on Ibex in the Pyrenees
Attendees: Mr. C. Holden, Lord S. Falloway, Professor B. Lisle, Mr. L. Trump, Viscount D. Waddern.
Notes: The members discussed Mr. Trump’s recent field trip to the Pyrenees… Professor Lisle contended that when he was there in 1896 studying Hierophis Viridiflavus he noted the Ibex were…
And so it went on.
Hades’ eyes flicked back again and again to the one name that stood out. Mr. L Trump was the same name as that of Leonard Trump who had entered the bet into the White’s book.
Without wasting any time he sent Carter out to find out the whereabouts of Leonard Trump. But it was not a good reply.
“I’m afraid he’s away, my lord. The house is all shut up. They say he’s gone to his house in Ottery St. Mary.”
How opportune. Ottery St. Mary was the nearest town to Brambridge, where Henry had his country residence. It seemed it was time to take Henry up on his invitation. Perhaps there he could beard the Viper in his den.
But only after he had checked on Melissa.
CHAPTER 16
Melissa pulled another weed out of the flowerbed and passed a hand across her forehead. It was hot work in the early summer sun, and already she could feel herself beginning to perspire. Water collected on the bridge of her nose where her spectacles perched. She reached down and pushed the grass to one side. She was always surprised at the resilience of the garden. This was the third time that she, and now Mr. Hobbs, had tended to the torn landscape, but each time the carefully planted herbs kept coming back.
Pushing her hands behind her back, Melissa stretched, her body aching. She had spent the past few days scouring the shelves of the second hand shops around Bayswater, Mayfair, Marble Arch and even as far as Marylebone for the books that the butcher had given away. It was to no avail. There were plenty of bound books on the high shelves of the dusty shops, but every time, after negotiating a rickety ladder to pull them out, she would find that whilst the outside of the books were superficially the same, they were not those written by her father and his contemporaries.
Bending over the grass again, Melissa gasped as her shoulders ached in unison with her feet. She had also spent long hours trying to recreate some of the lists of remedies that had been in her small journal that Mrs. Hobbs had given to the Viper’s accomplice, but it was slow going.
With a wince, Melissa stood up straight and leaned on her shovel handle, turning her face to the sun. What was Hades doing at that moment? In fact, she admitted to herself, she always wondered what he was doing. Had he reclaimed his chair? Did he think about the kiss as much as she did?
Who was she to care? Judging by the visitors that Carter turned away and from what she already knew of the formidable man, she was just one in a long line of ladies to have fallen prey to his charms. She slammed her spade into the dirt. Had he treated them all in the same way? Had some other woman experienced the tracing of his fingers on their back and shivered as she had done in delight?
Melissa tipped her face away from the sun again. She had said that she would never be controlled by anyone ever again. But she missed the house in Hill Street, Mayfair, the comforting feeling of safety that she had in the house, especially when Hades was in residence. She could have sat forever in the leather chair, surrounded by its high sides, enjoying the fire while Hades occasionally gave her odd glances. Or escaping to her room to read and read and read. He hadn’t pressured her. That was the one thing that she remembered.
But he had also been scathing after he kissed her.
With a short pull, Melissa heaved her shovel out of the soft soil. She would probably never see him again. And that was a good thing. Wasn’t it?
“Melissa!” A short whisper caught her hearing. She left the spade in the grass and moved closer to the garden wall. “Melissa, open the gate.”
With a sigh, she opened the gate, and nearly closed it again.
“Carter?” She took her glasses off and rubbed them against her dress, pushing them back strongly on her nose. “Who—Hades?”
“Don’t laugh,” Hades said, bowing to her whilst still holding her gaze with his. “Take me through to your house as quickly as possible. We are being watched.”
Melissa swallowed. She turned and walked quickly up the path to the house, and straight into the kitchen, stopping to see if Hades had followed. He paused to take off his hat and cloak. Glancing quickly from the kitchen door, he followed her into the hall.
Clutching at her skirts, she led him into the front room and silently pointed to a chair that sat a long way back from the window. Pulling forward the stool that sat by the fire, she perched on its hard surface. She needed her wits about her with Hades around. He had a capacity to muddle her thinking. Look at her mooning in the garden not two minutes before.
“My house is being watched?” she said flatly.
“Err, yes.” Hades had the grace to look embarrassed. His great lion’s mane of hair tumbled in waves over the collar of Carter’s uniform, brushing against the material that strained against Hades’ muscular shoulders. Even in the servant’s uniform his power was not diminished.
“Who by?”
“Err…”
“Stop hedging, Hades, and tell me.”
“One of my guards, and probably the Viper too.”
“One of your guards?” Melissa stopped as a coolness spread across her body. “I walked into that, didn’t I? I thought I was clever escaping with Lord Lassiter when in fact you wanted me to go.”
“No!” Hades stood and sat again in quick succession. He twirled his thumbs.
“You wanted me to go,” Melissa said slowly, her eyes on his hands, “because you still intended to use me as bait for the Viper.”
Hades stopped moving and sat stone still, his face as hard as granite.
“It worked. You must have seen your old footman enter and leave again?”
Hades blinked. “What?”
“I do have a mind, you know, Hades. Isn’t it time we stopped playing games? I can help you, and you can help me.” That wouldn’t constitute him controlling me surely? She brought her hand to her lips and rubbed them gently. She looked up to see Hades’ eyes riveted on her fingers.
So he did remember their kiss. Perhaps more than he wanted. Little by little the coolness that had invaded her body receded slightly.
“It’s the fourth time he’s been to this house.” She swallowed and clenched her fingers in her skirts. “Mr. Hobbs believes he may be an acrobat. They assaulted Mrs. Hobbs.”
“They?”
“Him and an older man. Mrs. Hobbs can’t remember much about the man. Just that they were searching the house.”
“It sounds similar to a description that I was given,” Hades said, sitting back. His gaze moved from her mouth to look her in the eyes directly. “But it doesn’t get us any further.”
“What do you have?” Melissa took off her glasses and cleaned them. She stared hard at Hades. The corners of his eyes twitched and he looked away from her.
“I don’t have anything else. Apart from that piece about your book. Have you managed to find it?”
Melissa sat and waited. But Hades did not say anything else. Should she tell him that she suspected that the only thing the book could be was one of the six books that she had owned from her father? No. That wouldn’t help them. She knew most of the books inside out and there was nothing in them that would cause someone to kill for it.
Still Hades said nothing. In fact the longer she waited, the flintier the look became in his eyes.
“No,” she said, standing up to light a candle.
The warm sun from earlier was now fading behind the houses. “We’ve looked everywhere. You can ask Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs. We’ve no idea where the book could be.”
Hades nodded. Melissa stood. “I had better let you get on your…” She stopped as Hades stood too, the buttons on Carter’s uniform brushing against her chest as Hades unfolded to his great height. He was so close, too close.
She froze as Hades put out a tentative hand and ran the tip of his forefinger around the lips of her mouth. Melissa parted her lips slightly and couldn’t help the sigh that breathed gently past his fingers. She closed her eyes and opened them again as he slowly pulled her glasses, frame by frame, from her face.
She didn’t even need to narrow her eyes to see the fire blazing in Hades’ face. Slowly his arms stole around her waist, hot and heavy against the flare of her hips. He pulled her closer, the buttons on the coat digging into her warm skin. But he didn’t kiss her lips, pushing his face instead into her neck, fluttering kisses against her collarbone, working his way up to her ear where he nipped at her earlobe.
Melissa shivered, her head tilting backwards of its own accord. Hades reached out and cupped it with his hand, his kisses continuing down her jawbone until he reached her lips.
And then he swooped, nuzzling at her parted lips. She gasped as he ran his tongue gently over her teeth. Closing her eyes in delight, she wickedly sucked on the probing tongue.
Hades bucked against her in obvious surprise, pressing more and more firmly against her body. One foot nudged between her skirts as his lean thighs pressed hard against her body.
“Oh Hades—”
“I’ll just put these here then shall I, Miss Sumner. Miss Sumner, I… oooh… my.”
Frozen, Melissa stopped and dropped her hands from where they clutched hard around Hades’ shoulders. She blinked and pulled her head forward. Hades’ hands remained hard around her waist, his face hidden in her shoulder.
“Mrs. Hobbs I…” Melissa gasped as Hades licked behind her ears once and withdrew, stepping back.
Dangerous Diana (Brambridge Novel 3) Page 11