“Nothing less than you deserve.”
“I’ll tell Iris what you did.”
“Go ahead. And then I’ll tell her what you did.” Merritt took a breath to slow his increasing heart rate.
Jasper held up a hand in retreat.
“Why did you do this?” Merritt asked.
He wiped at the blood dripping from his nose. “I needed the money.”
“Let me guess…a gambling debt?”
“I couldn’t ask Iris for any more funds.”
“How many debts of yours has she paid?” Merritt asked.
Jasper shrugged and spat blood on the ground. “A few.”
“From now on, you come to me when you need assistance. Leave your sister out of it. Understood?”
“Yes.”
“And clean yourself up. You are a disgrace to her and your family’s name.” Merritt turned to go, then he stopped. “Know this, Nickerson, I will pay your debts precisely two times. If you continue to behave so foolishly with funds, I shall turn you over to the debtor’s prison myself.”
Jasper nodded. “Thank you.”
Merritt wanted to hit him again, just for good measure, but instead simply walked away.
…
Iris had intentionally missed a meeting with the Ladies of Virtue earlier today because after Merritt left, she hadn’t wanted to face anyone. Not after everything that had happened. She was good and ruined now, and she knew that Agnes would chide her for being reckless, and Harriet would offer tears of sympathy. She wanted neither.
Harriet and Agnes knew precisely what she had been doing in her charade with Merritt. They would ask questions, inquire about her progress, and she had nothing to tell them. She certainly couldn’t tell them the truth.
Missing the meeting mattered not. She’d be missing many meetings in the future. In truth, she’d been surprised she hadn’t been summoned by Lady Somersby herself and dismissed from the group. It would take some time for the scandal about her to work its way through London. But eventually, everyone would know she was a ruined woman. Which was precisely why she was currently writing an advertisement.
Paid travel companion wanted.
There was a commotion behind her, and she stood from her writing desk as her two closest friends stumbled into her study.
“Are you ill?” Harriet asked.
“No, I am busy, ’tis all.”
Agnes eyed her warily. “Something is amiss.”
“Nothing is amiss. I am healthy, perfectly well,” she said. “You’ve seen me with your own eyes. Now, if you don’t mind, I have much to do.” She returned to her desk and hoped they would retreat. She knew that was unlikely, still she hoped that, this once, they’d leave her alone.
A warm hand gripped her shoulder. “Dear Iris, what is the matter?” Harriet asked, her normally cheerful voice full of warmth and concern.
“Nothing. I am preparing for a trip. It is time I travel abroad, perhaps visit Italy. I hear it is lovely this time a year. I am advertising for a paid travel companion.” She held up the piece of paper and waved it around.
“You know we will not be dismissed so easily,” Agnes said. “Come sit and answer some of our questions, and then we shall leave you in peace.”
“Do you promise?” Iris asked. Certainly she could manage a handful of questions to appease them, and then they would leave her alone.
“Yes,” they said in unison.
“Very well.” Iris stood and walked over to the seating area. “Shall I ring for tea?”
“That won’t be necessary,” Harriet said.
They sat together as they had hundreds of times before. These were her friends, her dearest friends to whom she’d gone with all of her problems. At least, all of them before she’d met Merritt. Now he seemed to hear more of her concerns.
“You’ve never missed a meeting before,” Harriet said.
“I’m certain that’s not true,” Iris said, knowing full well that it was. The Ladies of Virtue had been her passion for the last four years. It had been a saving grace when she’d been consumed with worry about Jasper. When he’d gotten in trouble at school. When he’d finally come to London to live with her full time and had gotten into fights, and debt, and essentially become the type of man she never wanted him to be.
“We all know that it is,” Agnes said. “Now, what is troubling you? And what is this nonsense about you wanting to travel?”
“You know I’ve been wanting to write that book teaching women how to protect themselves when they are out shopping or traveling. I can’t very well offer such advice if I’ve never myself traveled,” Iris said.
“True, but are you going to leave Jasper here? With all the trouble he’s gotten into as of late?” Harriet asked. “That does not sound like you.”
“Jasper is an adult. He pays no mind to my guidance, regardless of what I say, so why should I bother staying? I deserve to travel. To see the world,” Iris said.
“Of course you do,” Harriet agreed.
“But not like this,” Agnes argued.
“It is time. I cannot wait my entire life for my foolhardy brother to decide he’s ready to behave as a grown man.”
“If you’re that set on going, there is no need to hire a companion. I shall go with you,” Agnes said. “I traveled to Italy as a girl, and I remember some of the sights.”
She loved her friends, she truly did, but damnation if they were not annoying when she wanted, more than anything, to simply be left alone.
“You have your life here, Agnes. Traveling with me won’t be necessary,” Iris said. “I have plenty of money to hire a worthy companion.”
The parlor door swung open, and Lady Somersby entered. Her eyes lit on the three of them sitting together. “Harriet, Agnes, I’d like to have a word with Iris. Alone.”
Iris swallowed the panic rising in her throat.
She came over to one of the empty chairs and sat. “Close the door on your way out, ladies.”
Harriet nodded, and she and Agnes scurried from the room, wide-eyed and worried.
“We missed you at the meeting,” Lady Somersby said.
“Yes, my apologies. I’m afraid I wasn’t feeling well. I should have sent a message.”
Lady Somersby nodded. Iris had always thought the creator of the Ladies of Virtue to be a beautiful woman. Once upon a time, she’d lived her own adventure, working undercover and posing as Queen Victoria, since they shared a likeness.
“Have you seen this?” Lady Somersby asked. She dropped a newspaper onto the occasional table between them.
Iris stared at the Daily Scandal. Her heart fell to her stomach.
Ladies Fighting Crime
The words in the headline blurred, and bile rose in her throat. How could he? He’d taken a moment he’d spent with her and exploited it, betrayed her. He’d used her and obviously taken advantage of her wanton affection for him, all for the sake of his damned newspaper. He was the worst sort of cad. And the most devastating part was how knowing all of this about him didn’t seem to change the way she felt about him. It would, though, make it easier to move past this.
“I can see from your expression that you were not aware of this.”
“No, I wasn’t. I certainly never told him of our true endeavors in the Ladies of Virtue,” Iris said.
“One of the other members brought to my attention that you had been spending time with Lord Ashby, and that you were likely the source behind the story,” Lady Somersby said.
Iris put a hand to her chest. “I would never betray my oath.”
“Of course you wouldn’t.”
“However, he did see me apprehend a thief.” How could she explain masquerading as a man to the woman she respected most in the world? “No one else recognized me, but Merritt”—she cleared her throat—“Lord Ashby saw everything. He asked, and I only told him that I’d been trained to protect myself because I had lived on my own for so long.” She frowned. “Evidently he hadn’t been jesting when
he’d boasted about his investigative skills.”
“Would that it ended there. But unfortunately, things are about to get much worse. Printing such a story in a gossip rag is relatively harmless, but I have a friend at the Times and have been informed that this particular piece is being reprinted in tomorrow’s edition.”
“Lady Somersby, I don’t know what to say.” Iris shook her head. “I was planning a trip abroad in a couple of months, but I suppose I could leave sooner.”
“No, that would only raise suspicion. And as you know, if you are identified, then the entire organization will unravel. We are all too connected. Everything I have worked for would be ruined.”
Much like her life, Iris mused. What had she gotten herself into?
“Iris,” Lady Somersby placed a hand over Iris’s. “You know how fond I am of you. You are one of the very best members of the Ladies of Virtue. And as much as I am loath to do it, I’m afraid that you are suspended. You will, of course, continue to attend meetings so that no one in the membership has reason to suspect you, but you must remain inactive. Am I understood?”
Iris nodded. “It is forever, my lady?”
“This has never happened, so I cannot answer that. I suppose much of that depends on how much damage this article does. People will begin to ask questions. Rumors will spread. For the most part, we can ignore those and whatever suspicions follow. The real concern is that we quite obviously have a leak somewhere in our ranks. We don’t know who to trust.”
“I’m so very sorry,” Iris said. “I never meant—”
“Of course you didn’t, dear.” She sighed. “My job right now is to protect the other girls, and our privacy. I’m afraid we’ll all have to suspend our clandestine activities so as to not draw unwanted attention, at least until I can discover whom is selling our secrets. I do hope this isn’t the end of our special group.”
Iris felt her heart sink. She, of course, didn’t want to be expelled from the group, but more than that, she didn’t want to have caused the demise of something so beneficial. “I hope that, too.”
“Now, if you will excuse me, I have other business to attend to. And I suspect that Harriet and Agnes are eager to come back in here.”
Iris took a shuddering breath.
“You are a strong woman, Iris, and you shall survive this. We all will.” And with that Lady Somersby walked out.
It didn’t take long for her friends to return to the parlor full of questions. She showed them the article and told them all that Lady Somersby had said. Though she’d been instructed to stay in town, she’d still post her advertisement for a traveling companion for when this mess blew over.
“However did he uncover all of the details of our group?” Agnes asked.
“Someone must have talked to him,” Harriet said. “You know there have been rumors before, but they always dissipated.”
“I’ve made a disaster of everything,” Iris said.
“At least you kept your wits about you and did not give Lord Ashby your virtue,” Harriet said.
She winced.
“Oh, Iris,” Harriet said gently. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
“It would not have changed anything,” Iris said.
“Do you love him?” Agnes asked.
“I hardly see how that matters,” Iris said.
“Well, if he has taken your virtue, certainly he will do the right thing and marry you,” Harriet said.
Iris sighed. “He offered. I declined.”
“Whyever would you do that?” Agnes asked. “You’ll be ruined.”
“Why does anyone concern themselves with my reputation?” Iris said. “I’m unmarried, and until Merritt’s proposal, it would seem I was destined to stay that way. Jasper certainly isn’t concerned with any would-be scandals, the way he’s carousing through London.”
“Still, you must marry Lord Ashby,” Agnes said.
“Why? He has brought me nothing but ruination.”
“Because if you marry him, it will give you added protection if a scandal is about to break,” Agnes said. “No one would ever presume that he would publish a piece that would risk exposing his wife to a scandal.”
“He betrayed me,” Iris said.
“Precisely,” Harriet said, taking her side. “She shouldn’t have to saddle herself with that. She should get to marry for love.”
“No one marries for love,” Agnes said. “It is a business transaction, you know that. And I don’t see how he betrayed you, unless you were the one who confided in him the details of our organization.”
“Of course not,” Iris said. Perhaps he had not truly betrayed her. He had not taken her words and printed them. He had not given his word not to publish a story about the Ladies of Virtue and then done it anyway.
No, his betrayal was more insidious than that.
He must have known that the story would hurt her.
He must have known there would be consequences for her. For their relationship.
And yet, he had still published the article. He had put his business dealings above their relationship. So, no, he had not betrayed her. He had merely revealed how little he truly cared for her.
He may not have betrayed her, but he had destroyed her.
For the rest of their visit, Iris barely heard anything her friends said. They were trying to help, but eventually they gave up and left for their own houses, vowing to check in with her later.
She needed to remember her life before Merritt. Before she’d lost her heart. Or maybe she needed to thank him for waking her up to the fact that she’d never be able to change her brother. Jasper would behave like the man he was, or he’d continue to squander his life and fortune until he had nothing. She could do nothing save take care of herself.
Planning her future trip was precisely what she needed to remind herself that she was more than Jasper’s sister. More than the sad girl who never had a real debut, never had any marriage prospects until a rake of an earl seduced her to save her reputation. She rolled her eyes at the thought.
Chapter Twelve
Iris was still reeling from Merritt’s article when her brother came in. Blood had caked around his nose and mouth, and swelling had nearly closed his left eye completely.
“Good heavens, Jasper, what happened to you?”
“I had a run-in with your friend Lord Ashby,” he said.
Iris’s heart thundered. “I don’t believe it. Why would Lord Ashby do this to you?”
She rang for a servant then requested they bring her a basin and rag. They were quick about it and rushed the supplies straight in.
Jasper held the damp rag to his nose and winced as he wiped at the blood. “I may as well tell you, because I’m certain that Ashby will eventually. He discovered I was blackmailing him.”
And just like that, it was as if he’d pulled the rug from under her feet. Her knees buckled, and she sank onto the sofa behind her. “Jasper,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “Why would you do that?”
He shrugged. “I needed the funds.”
“And you did not think to simply ask me?” Hurt and anger and confusion collided inside her, swirling into a storm that threatened to consume her.
“You said the last time was the last time. I did not think you would give me the necessary funds to pay off my debt.”
“Perhaps you should stop making wagers you aren’t equipped to pay,” she snapped. “You are no longer a child, Jasper. If you want to be a man, a gentleman of the ton, you should behave as such.”
“As your Lord Ashby does? By pounding on a man in need?”
“He is not my Lord Ashby, and you quite obviously deserved a good pounding.” She folded her arms over her chest and allowed her anger to course through her. She’d been worried about him for so long it was nice to feel something different, even if she was mad enough to box his ears.
“I cannot believe you would say such a thing,” Jasper said.
“You admitted to blackmailing me, an
d you’re offended with what I said?” she asked. “Honestly, Jasper.”
“Why were you dressed as a man at the theater?” he asked.
“That is none of your concern.” Damnation, if he hadn’t been the one to get her into this mess. Were it not for her brother’s selfish and reckless ways, she might not have ever met Merritt Steele. She wouldn’t be lamenting the fact that she’d lost her heart to the man and, in the process, likely everything else she held dear.
“We are not done with this discussion,” she told him. She grabbed her reticule.
“Where are you going?”
“I shall return. I have someone I need to see.” How could Merritt not tell her that Jasper was the one who’d sent the note? He’d seduced her with deception and continued to hide things from her. And she should be angry that he’d hit her brother, but she couldn’t quite muster up the sentiment since she still firmly believed he’d deserved what he’d received. Jasper was just proud enough that having a swollen face would keep him home for a few nights. Precisely what he needed.
The carriage ride to Merritt’s offices passed in a blur as she went over in her mind what she’d say to him. Rand looked up as she entered the outer offices, and his brows rose when she swung the door violently open.
Then the man’s lips quirked in a grin. “Right this way.”
She followed him into Merritt’s office, then she leveled her gaze at the man now standing behind the enormous wooden desk.
…
“That will be all, Rand,” Merritt said.
“Are you certain?” Rand asked.
“Out!” Merritt said.
Iris paced the length of the space on the other side of his desk. Once the door closed, Merritt motioned for her to take a seat. Anger flared in her eyes and stained her cheeks and neck a lovely pink. She truly was beautiful. “I suspect from your coloring that you’ve seen your brother. You look angry enough to strangle me.”
She took a steadying breath. “You struck him.”
“I did,” he said. “Iris, please sit.”
She eyed him for a moment, then complied. Her gloved hands pinched and gathered her reticle sitting upon her lap. “Why didn’t you tell me it was him? That it was Jasper who recognized me?”
The Scoundrel and the Lady (Lords of Vice) Page 14