The group stepped inside the foyer and waited as footmen appeared to take the luggage up to their respective suites. Hannah nodded knowingly to Audrey, then dutifully followed another servant up to begin unpacking her trunk.
“Audrey?” Griffin tilted his head to catch her attention.
“Hmm, I’m sorry. Just woolgathering,” she said with a weak smile. “What were you saying, my lord?”
“I was asking if you two would like a bit of tea. I’ve had a tray put in the South Parlor. Unless you’d prefer to go upstairs and rest after your long journey?”
She nodded. “No, tea would be fine.”
Griffin moved to take her arm, but Audrey took Noah’s before their host could touch her. He frowned slightly but then motioned them down the hallway toward the sitting room.
As Audrey settled onto an ottoman in the parlor, she stared around her. The house hadn’t changed much.
“Your parents used to come here quite often, didn’t they?” she asked.
“Yes.” Griffin grinned. “Although as Earl Father had a much grander house in the city, I believe he and my mother were nostalgic for the days when they first married and he held the title I now hold. They loved this place.”
“So did I.” Audrey sighed. “As we were coming up the drive, I was remembering all the times Noah and I came here and the havoc the three of us wreaked.”
“You used to follow us around!” Noah said with a grin. “We wreaked the havoc.”
“Well, I stand corrected,” she said in a haughty tone before dissolving into a light laugh.
She glanced over to find Griffin staring at her again. When their eyes met he quickly broke the stare. She chided herself for wishing he’d held her gaze a moment more.
Clearing his throat, he said, “Yes, there were many happy times here. I had forgotten them over the past few years. It’s good to have you both here to remind me.”
Audrey wrinkled her brow as the sadness she had sensed in him before suddenly returned. She reached for a topic that was safe. For the moment, her mind was blank. The only subject she could think of was Luci Berenger. That was obviously the very last thing Griffin wanted to discuss.
Why did this place made him so unhappy? Luci and their unborn child had died at their country estate. But perhaps memories of the happy life they’d shared in London were too much for him to bear.
“I’m sorry to interrupt.”
Audrey turned to find the butler standing at the door. He bowed smartly and said, “A Mr. Ellison has arrived. Should I allow him in, my lord?”
Griffin didn’t answer, keeping his eyes fixed on Audrey for a moment more before his butler’s words seemed to sink in. Finally, he nodded.
“Yes, Cotter, that would be fine. Show the gentleman in.”
After the man was gone, Griffin turned to Audrey, his gaze intense. “I must state again that I have qualms about this whole arrangement.”
Noah nodded. “Because of that, I thank you all the more for your help.”
Griffin frowned, but before he could protest further, Ellison entered the room. The bitter stench of Macassar oil preceded him, nearly gagging Audrey before she smoothed the reaction from her face and rose.
“Mr. Ellison,” she gushed, holding out a hand to the man. “What a pleasure it is to see you again.”
In comparison to Griffin, Douglas Ellison looked small and weak. He was much shorter, only slightly taller than Audrey. His oily black hair was slick with the smelly hair tonic he used to put it into place. As always, his gray eyes, slid up and down her body greedily before he placed a kiss on her hand.
“Lady Audrey, I’m so glad you have arrived in London at last.” He maintained his grip on her hand a fraction longer than was necessary.
She forced a smile as her stomach turned. She was accustomed to the sensation, as it was her general reaction anytime Ellison touched her. She turned her face and was surprised to see Griffin’s eyes narrow. He looked ready to kill over Ellison’s unwanted familiarity.
But that was ridiculous. Griffin only cared that Ellison was a blackguard and a traitor, not about anything else. When it came to her, there had never been anything else at all.
***
Griffin hated Douglas Ellison with his dandified clothing, the starched collars that nearly touched his ears and his slick hair. He hated the way the man looked at Audrey as if she were already his property. But most of all, he hated that Audrey took his neighbor’s arm with what looked like genuine pleasure, even though he knew it wasn’t. She was no more than a practiced liar.
Just like Luci.
Running a hand through his hair, Griffin held back a groan of displeasure. Audrey was nothing like Luci. That he’d even considered the possibility made him seethe inside.
“Berenger?”
Griffin realized with a start that Ellison was daring to refer to him as if he were a familiar.
“Yes, Ellison, I apologize. What was that?”
Griffin ground his teeth. He wouldn’t do anything to break Noah and Audrey’s cover, even if he wanted to rise up and pummel Ellison into unconsciousness.
“I was saying how sorry I was to hear about your wife,” Ellison repeated. “Pretty woman, Lucinda.”
As he fought his desire to crush Ellison, Griffin caught Audrey’s gaze. Her face was soft with concern, almost as if she understood his feelings. But how could she?
“Lady Berenger died too young,” he choked out. “I thank you for your sympathy.”
Ellison’s face lit with the slightest of smirks. “You’re welcome.”
“Well,” Noah said as he rose to his feet. “I’m certain you’d like a moment alone with Audrey since you two haven’t seen each other for so long. Griffin, didn’t you want to show me some sketches in your office?”
Griffin blinked in disbelief. Were they about to leave Audrey alone with this traitor, this murderer?
“I…” he stammered.
Noah came to his side and motioned for him to lead them from the room.
Griffin had no choice but to do so, but he threw one look over his shoulder at Audrey before he left. Not that she noticed. She had already turned her entire attention to the man sitting beside her. It was as if Griffin didn’t exist. A fact that boiled his blood.
As he and Noah moved down the hallway, he snapped, “You’re leaving her alone with him?”
“Calm down,” Noah said. “The door is open. It’s perfectly acceptable for them to have a moment or two alone.”
“Do you have any idea what can happen In a moment or two?” Griffin asked through clenched teeth.
Noah rolled his eyes. “He’s not daft. Ellison wouldn’t dare try anything in this house with you and me just down the hall. And if Audrey cannot be alone with the man, she can’t very well do her job.”
Griffin understood his friend’s reasoning, but he bloody well didn’t have to like it. He opened the door to his study and slammed it behind them. He stalked over to mix Noah a drink. His friend arched an eyebrow at his emotional reaction before sinking into one of the plush leather chairs.
Griffin smashed the tumbler down on the side board. “Damn her job. She shouldn’t have to sell herself like some kind of…”
“Hey!” Noah interrupted, half-rising from his chair to clench his fists. “Audrey is a good agent, but she isn’t a whore. You would do well not to forget that in either my presence or hers.”
Griffin barely held back a curse. Again, he’d been comparing Audrey to his late wife, but he had no right to do so.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”
“I don’t care what you meant or didn’t mean.” Noah snatched the drink Griffin offered. “Why the hell does her work matter to you so much anyway?”
Griffin downed his drink in one swig. Did he have an answer for that question? Certainly not a satisfying one. “She’s an old… friend. I don’t want to see her hurt.”
“Hmmm,” Noah muttered. “Just be sure your ‘protectiveness’ isn’t wha
t ends up hurting her in the end, old man, or you’ll have to deal with me. Because I fear you have more ability to harm her than Douglas Ellison could even fathom.”
With that, Noah put his empty glass on Griffin’s desk and strode out of the office. Griffin stared at his friend’s retreating back. What could he have meant by that remark? There was no way Griffin could harm Audrey because it was plain she felt nothing for him anymore.
And that was all the better for both of them.
Chapter Four
Audrey shivered while she watched from Griffin’s big picture window as Douglas Ellison strode toward his own townhouse just a few steps away. He walked like a man who had staked his claim on life.
She let the curtain drop and grimaced. Ellison believed he owned the world and would soon own her. Both thoughts were disturbing.
Not that Ellison had behaved in any untoward fashion when it came to her. At least, not yet. In Avonblithe he’d courted her respectably, and even though he’d sat too close to her for her own comfort a moment before, he hadn’t touched her in a way that made it clear that he wished to ravish her. But by the desire that muddied his pale gray eyes to charcoal, she knew that was exactly what he wanted to do.
“Yuck,” she muttered as she scrubbed a hand over her face.
“My curtains bother you so much?”
She spun around to find Griffin leaning against the doorway with a half-smile.
“Because if you hate them, I’ll have them removed immediately.” He straightened up to take two long strides into the room.
“The curtains are fine,” she said, laughing though the sound was shrill. “Trust that nothing about you or your home would ever make me react that way.”
“Then what is it that bothers you so much?”
“I was actually looking out the window.” She turned away from the gaze that was far too intense for comfort. “Watching something unpleasant move away from me.”
“Ellison,” he said under his breath, his teasing tone suddenly deathly serious.
There was no use in lying. “Yes.”
Pivoting to face him, she found he’d stepped even closer and was now mere inches from her. Reaching out, he took her hand.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked.
Until that moment, he hadn’t touched her bare skin. Gloves had always been a thin barrier of protection between them. But now the heat of his hand warmed hers, his palm rough beneath hers, and his grip strong, but gentle.
Struggling to maintain her calm, she said, “Because so much has been lost already. One agent is dead because of Ellison and his accomplices. He had a family and was a good man. If I do my duty perhaps I can prevent more pain and injury.”
She slid away from him to put distance between them. She needed it.
“I know about pain and injury,” he said. “But I know about risk, as well. Whatever you’ll prevent… is it worth the price you’re paying right now?”
She grimaced. Griffin was thinking of the little baby son he’d never know and the wife he loved so much. His loss was much greater than anything she could fathom.
She blinked back sudden tears. “Oh, Griffin. How I wish I could have prevented your pain. How I wish I could restore what you’ve lost in your child and your wife.”
For a brief moment he looked away. When he turned back, Audrey was surprised to see no emotion in his dark eyes. He’d hardened his face just as expertly as any agent for the Crown would have done.
“You tried to prevent the pain I went through,” he said softly. “Once you tried to warn me…” He shook his head as if he hadn’t meant to voice those words. “But that doesn’t matter now.”
Audrey tilted her head. What he had planned to say before he censored himself?
“Griffin, you would have made a wonderful father,” she whispered, compelled to comfort him, even as he withdrew into some dark place in his soul. A place where he didn’t want her intrusion.
A strangled noise in his throat was Griffin’s only answer before he turned his back and took several steps away from her. She ached to wrap her arms around him and hold him. Instead she cautiously followed and placed her hand on his arm.
At her touch, Griffin turned to look down at her. They were too close, he just inches away, her hand gripping the muscles of his lower arm. She didn’t know what he would do, and it seemed neither did he. Finally, he reached out and placed his hand on top of hers.
“I suppose we’ll never know that now, will we?” he choked out before he slipped away from her to pause at the door. “Luci made sure of it.”
Audrey froze as she watched him stand there and battle with his emotions. What was going on? Something had apparently been amiss between Lucinda and Griffin before her death. Audrey wanted to ask about it, to have him take her into his confidence.
But that would be a mistake. She hadn’t come to London to chase away Griffin’s demons or even her own. She was there to catch a killer. It would be best to get back to that and forget her dreams.
“Griffin?”
“Yes?” Naked need darkened his face. It was almost as if he wanted her to ask about Luci. As if he wished to share his secrets.
“I… Don’t forget the Covent Garden Opera is tomorrow.” It was so hard to ignore the opportunity he’d given her to glimpse his soul. “Douglas Ellison will be accompanying us and sitting in your box.”
For a moment he didn’t move, just held her in a heated stare that made her feel like an animal in a cage. Then he sighed. “I remember, Audrey. I’ll be ready.”
He turned down the hallway and disappeared from sight. She heard his long, steady stride until he was far away and she was alone. It was only then she realized her hands trembled.
***
Griffin stifled a groan as the footman pulled back the curtain on his opulent box and allowed him into the seating area of Covent Garden Opera House. The room was packed, brimming with the cream of Europe for this first public event of the Jubilee. The heat was already unbearable and the noise was worse.
What was he doing here? The last thing he needed or wanted was to be surrounded by the tittering, posing masses of the ton, all of whom wanted him to get over Lucinda’s death and begin a search for a new wife. He had no desire to be reminded of their frivolity that was so much like Luci’s.
But when the footman pulled back the curtain a second time, Griffin was reminded of exactly why he’d come.
Audrey.
She wore a gown that was dark as midnight and clung to her in a scandalous manner. It was the latest and most revealing fashion of the day, silk held together by a few ribbons and flowers.
But she didn’t wear the gown for his pleasure. No, she wore it for Douglas Ellison, a blackguard and a traitor who didn’t deserve to be in the same room as Audrey Jordan, let alone touch her hand, which he was doing at present as he guided her to her seat.
“Ah, a lovely box, Lord Berenger,” Ellison said as he stepped forward to take in the view. Griffin didn’t fail to notice how he stared in the direction of the Prince’s box before he stepped back to face his host.
“Thank you, Ellison. I’ve always enjoyed the theatre,” he ground out, trying to find any words that didn’t cause a fistfight. What he wanted to do was pick the man up by his starched collars and deposit him over the box railing and into the crowd below.
“Well, we’re happy you allowed us to share in your passion tonight.”
Ellison interrupted Griffin’s wandering mind by placing a long-fingered hand on Audrey’s, effectively claiming her as his property. His use of the word ‘we’ gave Griffin a cold chill. Apparently he believed Audrey was his - permanently.
Ellison continued, “With all the excitement, it would have been impossible to get into the show otherwise. And this is one I wouldn’t want to miss.”
With a smile, he took his seat next to Audrey. Immediately she shifted her attention to the man, leaning over to have a more private conversation with him.
“You mi
ght try to smile a bit, old man,” Noah whispered. “You look like you’re attending a funeral, not a celebration.”
“It will be Ellison’s funeral if he doesn’t take his hands off your sister,” Griffin whispered back, wincing as Audrey let out a quiet laugh at something Ellison had said.
She shifted her focus back to him. For a moment he could do nothing but stare, taken aback once more by how lovely she was. Two bright blotches of color tinged her cheeks as she stammered a response to one of Ellison’s questions.
She looked away from him with another, deeper blush and he was overwhelmed by a desire to pull her away from the man at her side. Before he could do something so foolhardy, the curtain to the Prince Regent’s box was pulled back and His Royal Highness entered, followed by several of the visiting Crown Princes. All were dressed extravagantly, with the Prince’s clothing clinging to his huge belly in a most unattractive fashion.
The crowd rose when His Royal Highness lifted his hand and the curtain went up. As the strains of “God Save the King” came from the orchestra below and the crowd joined in the singing, Griffin took another look at Audrey and Ellison. She had her face turned toward the Prince and her lilting voice was just distinguishable over the other masculine ones in the box. He’d never heard her sing before and smiled. Her voice fit her, soft and gentle, with just the right tone and pitch.
But when Ellison leaned forward, giving Griffin a clear view of the other man’s face, his heart leapt to his throat and all pleasant thoughts fled his mind. Ellison glared as he clenched his fingers in a tight fist. He didn’t sing, instead he craned his neck to see the others in the Royal box.
For the first time, Griffin saw the treachery in the thin man and the danger Audrey was in. Then Ellison leaned back and his face was hidden from view again behind Audrey’s fan.
The Secrets of a Lady Page 4