Dueling With the Duke (Brotherhood of the Sword)

by Robyn DeHart

  A carriage rolled past. A man jumped out and grabbed Isabel. Gabriel was on him in an instant. Isabel squirmed away and rushed back to Lilith’s side.

  “Get to the rig!” Gabe shouted between punches to the man’s face and torso.

  Lilith froze, simply stood watching the two men exchange blows.

  “Lilith! Now!” Gabe yelled.

  She moved into action, grabbing Isabel and racing across the street to their waiting carriage. She could leave Gabriel here, tell the driver to take them somewhere and allow him to fend for himself. But she couldn’t abandon him. She peeked out of the small window just in time to see Gabriel land a blow to the man’s gut, and with that he turned and sprinted to their carriage and jumped inside with a yell to the driver, “Go!”

  “Did you know that man?” Lilith asked once they were moving.

  He leveled his hazel gaze on her, the intensity seeming to turn her insides to liquid. The muscles along his jaw ticked and flexed, then he shook his head. “I was hoping you recognized him.”

  “Me? No, I’ve never seen him before,” Lilith said.

  He eyed her for a moment as if gauging whether or not to believe her, and then he nodded.

  “What does he want with Isabel?”

  “I didn’t give him a chance to tell me,” Gabe said. “But it’s quite obvious she’s in danger.”

  “I am right here,” Isabel said. “No need to discuss me as if I am deaf.”

  “Did you recognize him?” Gabe asked her.

  “No, but I rarely leave the school.” She frowned, and suddenly she looked far older than she truly was. That school had been no place for a girl to grow up. “Why am I in danger?”

  Gabriel looked directly at Lilith as if she could easily provide the answer. He must truly believe she knew more about Thornton’s activities. “I don’t know, but I will keep you safe.” Lilith patted Isabel’s knee.

  Were they both in danger? What had Thornton done that had sent people after Isabel and gotten him killed? The only thing she hadn’t told Gabriel was about the threats Thornton had received. He hadn’t even known that Lilith had seen them, so it stood to reason that no one else knew. Still, she yearned to trust Gabriel, to tell him everything and finally have someone with whom to share the burden, but experience had taught her that she could trust only herself.

  They had traveled for at least a quarter of an hour when Gabe knocked on the roof of the carriage to bring them to a stop.

  “What are you doing?” Lilith asked.

  “Merely ensuring your safety,” he said. He climbed down from the rig and closed the door behind him. Several minutes later he returned, and again they rocked forward on their path.

  After what seemed like enough time to return to her townhome, she peered out the tiny curtained window and noticed the view of London was different than what she’d expected. “Where are we going?”

  “Somewhere safe,” Gabe said.

  Lilith sat forward. At this rate, she would never be alone with Isabel long enough for them to run. “No, I must insist that you return us to my townhome. I have much to discuss with Isabel.” She grabbed the girl’s hand and squeezed.

  They were not that far apart in age. Isabel was rapidly approaching her nineteenth birthday, while Lilith herself was only six and twenty. Though she certainly felt as if she’d lived four lifetimes in that time. She’d gone from one overbearing man’s house to another, first with her father, and then she’d been, more or less, sold to Lord Thornton. Not to mention involved in the scandalous duel between her late husband and Gabe’s brother.

  She would be damned if Isabel ever had one day in such a man’s house. She would be free to make her own choices. Marry for love, even. Perhaps decide not to marry at all and instead pursue goals of becoming an artist since Isabel was fond of drawing. Lilith had had dreams once, fanciful dreams, her father had said; still, she’d studied them quietly. But once she’d been married, Thornton had dissolved any thoughts of having a life outside of being his wife. He’d even gone so far as to toss her telescope off the third-floor balcony of his country estate. She hadn’t looked at the sky since, at least not in the same way.

  Isabel would have a different life. Lilith would make certain of that.

  “I demand to know where we’re going,” she said.

  Gabe ignored her.

  It was quiet for several moments, and then Isabel spoke. “Lilith, why did you come get me?”

  Lilith didn’t particularly want to have this conversation in front of Gabe, but her options were limited at the moment. “You have been at the school long enough, wouldn’t you agree?”

  “Well, yes, but every time I asked Lord Thornton if I could leave, he refused me,” Isabel said.

  Gabe’s brow rose. “You call your uncle by his title?”

  “He insisted on it,” Isabel said.

  “He will no longer be insisting on anything,” Lilith said. “He is gone.”

  “Gone?” Isabel asked.

  “Dead, my dear.” Lilith braced herself for whatever reaction Isabel might have. She didn’t think the girl held any misguided affection for the man. He rarely saw her. Still, she herself had loved her own father despite how cruel he was to her. Perhaps Isabel loved her uncle. But Isabel said nothing, merely nodded. If she felt anything, she kept the emotion inside.

  The carriage came to a stop. Lilith looked outside and saw a traditional redbrick townhome with a portico framing the large green door. “Who lives here?”

  “Lord Ellis,” Gabe said. He held his hand out to them. “Ladies.”

  They followed him to the door, where he knocked once, then was quickly granted entrance by the butler.

  “Your Grace,” the servant said. “This way, please.”

  Lilith followed, but she wasn’t pleased about it. She used the length of her legs to match Gabe’s stride. “I’ll have you know I don’t take kindly to being abducted.”

  He gave her a sideways glance. “I believe I saved your lives, so that should make you grateful for my protection.”

  He was smug. Not the way his brother had been. His brother had been arrogant without reason. Gabe had reason to be arrogant. He was far more perceptive than most people, intelligent, and judging by how he’d beaten that man at the school, he was obviously stronger than any nobleman had right to be.

  The butler led them through a door to their right. A study, as it turned out. And the man who’d been with him earlier at her townhome sat behind the desk. He came to his feet as the butler announced Gabriel.

  “Ellis,” Gabriel said with a nod.

  “Are you traveling about London picking up stray women tonight, Lynford?”

  “Not precisely,” Gabriel said.

  Ellis came around his desk. He nodded to Lilith. “Lady Thornton, a pleasure to see you again.”

  She inclined her head. “I still do not understand why we are here. Not that I do not appreciate your hospitality, but is there a reason we could not return home?”

  “I believe Miss Crisp.” Gabriel paused and looked at Isabel.

  “Isabel is fine,” she said.

  “Very well, Isabel is in need of protection.” He came forward, lowered his voice. “We could discuss this in private if need be.”

  “Unnecessary. I trust your assessment. Who is she?” Ellis asked.

  Isabel coughed gently. “She is Lord Thornton’s niece. I can certainly speak for myself.”

  “Duly noted. I shall address you directly in the future,” Ellis said.

  She nodded, then turned to face Gabriel. “Why am I in danger?”

  “We don’t know that for certain,” Lilith said, coming forward. There was no need to unsettle Isabel on her first night away from the school. “Perhaps that man was going after any one of us and by chance grabbed you.”

  “Someone tried to grab you?” Ellis asked.

  “Yes. He did not have hold of me long before Lord Lynford tackled him, though,” Isabel said. There was something dangerously
close to admiration in her tone. Lilith needed to get them out of here before her charge began to see Gabriel as some sort of hero.

  “Until we know more about what Thornton was involved in, I’m afraid all we know at this point is there is a threat,” Gabe said.

  “Ellis, would you mind getting Miss Isabel set up in a room while I have a private word with Lady Thornton?” Gabe asked.

  “We have nothing to discuss,” Lilith said.

  “On the contrary.”

  Ellis managed to get Isabel out of the room and was introducing her to his housekeeper when Lilith rounded on Gabe.

  “I haven’t seen you in more than six years, and now you’re entirely too interested in my life,” she said, her dark eyes flashing with anger.

  …

  Gabe knew that as long as Isabel was safely in Ellis’s company, Lilith would not leave, thus giving him some measure of time to get information from her. First, though, he’d have to calm her down. Her anger would rob her of reason, and at the moment, it was robbing him of his senses. She was ridiculously beautiful in any scenario, but when angry, she became an entirely different creature. There was something authentic about the anger in her eyes. What was most disturbing was this wasn’t the first time today that he’d felt as if he was seeing the real her. He shook off the feeling.

  Lilith was no fool. He knew he’d have to tell her something, some measure of truth about the work that he did, in order for her to trust him. Or at the very least, in order for her to give him the information that he needed. When the Crown demanded information, people tended to comply.

  “It has been a few years, and I know that it must seem as if I sprang into your life suddenly.”

  “It certainly does,” she said. Her frown stayed firmly in place, and he had to force himself not to look at the way her breasts swelled with her angry breaths.

  “I’m not trying to frighten you, Lilith, nor anger you,” Gabe said.

  “That is difficult to believe.”

  He took a step toward her. “I need for you to trust me.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest; again he fought to keep his gaze on her face and not her tempting curves. “Why the devil would I ever trust you?” she asked.

  “It is I who should have difficulty trusting you, yet here I am fully expecting you to answer my questions honestly.”

  She winced as if he’d struck her.

  He went to put his hand to her face and stopped himself, instead moving to the window though he made no move to look outside. “It’s quite evident that you and the girl are in danger, and I can help, but only if you let me.”

  Her features set in a frown. “We shall be safe enough. I am planning to leave town soon.”

  “Lilith, you can’t lie to me,” he said. “You saw what happened at the school. Certainly you cannot deny that Isabel is in danger.”

  “No, I do not deny that, but it does not mean I require your assistance.”

  “Enough!” he said, more forcefully than he’d intended. He walked back to her and gripped her upper arms. “We can dance around this all night.” He softened his tone. “But hear me now when I say that like it or not, I am in your life for the indeterminable future, and I will get answers. I can only help you protect the girl if you give me some information.”

  She released a low breath. “What do you want to know?”

  “Who is she?”

  “Thornton’s niece.”

  “You don’t believe that any more than I do,” he said. “Thornton was involved in something deadly before he got himself killed, and that girl has something to do with it. He wouldn’t have holed her up in a school outside of London if he weren’t hiding something. I don’t think it is as simple as her legitimacy.” He dropped his hands off her. Standing this close to her, touching her, it was an assault on his senses, and her allure was clouding his mind.

  Lilith was quiet for several moments before she spoke again. “The truth is, that’s what Thornton always told me, but I haven’t believed that for some time.” She shook her head. “But I honestly don’t know much about her. She does favor Thornton’s sister, at least judging by her portrait, she died before Thornton and I married.” Lilith moved away from him and sat on the leather sofa. “My main concern was not allowing Thornton to sell her off into marriage. I will be damned if I allow that to happen, and I have no notion of what sort of plans Thornton’s heir will have. I’ve only met him once, and he seemed no better than his cousin.”

  “So you plan instead to—”

  “Take Isabel somewhere else. Give her a new name. Let her choose her own future.”

  He nodded. “That is what the money is for.”

  “Yes.”

  She looked vulnerable in that moment, almost fragile, but he knew better than to succumb to how things appeared with Lilith. While he believed what she said about the girl, he knew there was much more left unsaid. She was many things, but altruistic wasn’t one of them.

  “How is it that you and Viscount Ellis have the resources to protect us?” she asked.

  “I cannot tell you that.”

  “Cannot or will not?” She looked up at him. “We will not stay. I’ll run at first chance, and then you’ll never see us again.”

  “You would risk that?” he asked.

  “I need to know why you think you can protect us. You owe me that much after chasing me all over London tonight.”

  Ordinarily he would not answer such questions, but she had a point. They’d had to tell Evelyn Marrington, Ellis’s cousin, about the Brotherhood when she’d agreed to pose as Queen Victoria. This was a similar situation, and as long as Lilith was here with him, she couldn’t divulge said secrets to anyone else.

  He sat on the sofa. “I belong to a group of men dedicated to protecting the throne. We are known as the Brotherhood of the Sword.”

  Her mouth opened for a moment, then she closed it. “So you do work for the Crown.”

  He nodded. “I do.”

  “Both you and Viscount Ellis are part of this group?”

  “And many more. We are all over the country and serve in many different capacities. Ellis and I happen to be in the most elite circle, closest to Her Majesty.” He considered telling her he’d been the only one trusted to protect Victoria while she’d been injured, but thought better of disclosing the information. He placed his hand over hers. “Lilith, believe me when I say that we can protect you and Isabel.”

  Her gaze moved from his to their hands and back up. Her lips parted.

  Damnation, she was beautiful.

  The moment ended as Ellis reentered the room. “Lady Thornton,” he said. “I believe your charge wishes to retire for a while. Perhaps a change of clothes.” He frowned, looked back at the corridor behind him. “In truth, I’m not certain what she wishes, but she does seem rather restless.”

  Lilith nodded. “I shall tend to her. Thank you.”

  “There is breakfast being served in the dining room. Perhaps food would help,” Ellis said.

  Gabe waited until Lilith had left the room before speaking. “They cannot be allowed to leave.”

  “Already taken care of. I have all the doors being guarded,” Ellis said. “Now, what happened outside that school?”

  Gabe paused, uncertain what he should share, but Ellis was, and always had been, his most trustworthy comrade. “There was a man outside the school. He’d been loitering in the alleyway and then tried to snatch the girl when we brought her outside.”

  “And you believe this has something to do with Thornton’s attempt on Victoria?”

  “It’s the only thing that makes sense. If Thornton was involved with a plot, then whomever he worked with is still out there,” Gabe said.

  “Why would they want his niece?” Ellis asked.

  “I’m not certain. Lilith doesn’t believe that she’s merely Thornton’s niece. Perhaps she knows something.”

  Ellis nodded. “And whomever Thornton had been working with took his body, but w
hy the devil would they do that?”

  “It could be nothing more than a cover-up, a way to protect the people he was working with,” Gabe said.

  “Which means that somewhere there’s evidence, a trail that will lead us from Thornton to whoever is behind the attempted assassination.”

  “Potterfield will never approve of the investigation since we have already broken protocol,” Gabe said.

  “You’ll have to do this on your own,” Ellis said.

  “Abandon my oaths to the Brotherhood?”

  “Yes, but remember, if you’re right, then ultimately you aren’t abandoning anything. You are, instead, steadfastly upholding them in the face of adversity.” Ellis took a deep breath. “I can cover for you for a while, but you know Potterfield.”

  “He is relentless about following the rules. Normally, so am I, but I feel certain that Thornton is—was—involved in this, and I need to know to what end. Need to know with whom he worked.”

  “Presumably the threat is still there.”

  “While I am working this investigation, can I trust you to protect the girl?” Gabe asked.

  Ellis frowned. “I am not equipped to be a nanny.”

  “She’s in danger and might prove important. No one will look for her here.”

  “That’s certainly true. My townhome is the last place anyone would look for a maiden,” Ellis said.

  “That is true. It is why I brought her here. I know I can trust you not to be tempted by the girl’s virtue.”

  “Indeed.” Ellis paused a moment. “Will you be all right? Working so closely with Lady Thornton?”

  Gabe knew what the man was asking. Lilith would be a temptation for any man. But not all men had the strength he had; not all men had made the same oath he’d made. “There is a reason they call me the Priest. I shall be more than all right.”

  Ellis didn’t look convinced, and if Gabe were completely honest with himself, he wasn’t totally convinced, either.