The Secrets of a Lady

by Jenna Petersen

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Griffin spun around in a circle looking for Audrey. It was impossible with the people all around him surging up to block his view. With the throng screaming out at every volley and boom of the battle reenactment in the canal, he couldn’t even try to listen for her voice if she was calling out. His frustration was at a peak, for he knew with each moment he couldn’t find Audrey she was in greater danger.

  Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of the glowing pagoda on the bridge in the center of the canal. That would be the perfect place to survey the entire park for Ellison and Audrey. At least it would give him a better vantage point than he had from the ground.

  Using elbows and sometimes a few well-aimed boot toes, Griffin made his way through the crowd. They were a good-natured bunch due to all the alcohol they had consumed during the festivities. Most laughed when he pushed them aside. He was happy for that. The last thing he needed was a fight, as much as he wanted to hit something.

  Finally he stood at the bottom of the pagoda. It rushed up high above his head, as tall as, and even taller than most buildings in London. He was surprised the small door on the West side was cracked open, he’d been sure he’d have to break it down to enter.

  Thankful for this one piece of good luck, he stepped in. The interior consisted of a wide staircase that spiraled toward the top. Because the enormous building was so empty, every noise echoed around him. As he started to climb the first few stairs, he thought he heard a sound. Freezing, he listened.

  “No!” came a scream from above.

  Audrey!

  He almost shouted her name before he realized he had the upper hand. If Audrey and Ellison were fighting then the villain wouldn’t hear him approach.

  He climbed the stairs as quickly and quietly as he could. Griffin damned each of the seven stories as he climbed ever higher. Finally he reached the landing that supported the gas lighting structure in the center.

  “Get off me, you bitch!” Ellison yelped from within. “Stop your biting!”

  Then there was a smack and a thud. With a curse, Griffin burst into the room to see Audrey on the floor. Despite a bruised cheek and bleeding lip, she was struggling to her feet to charge at her captor again, while Ellison desperately fiddled with the pagoda’s gas lighting.

  “Audrey!” he called out as he hurried toward her.

  “Griffin!” Her voice was a mixture of relief and shock. When he took a step in her direction she held up both hands as if to ward him off and said, “No, not me, him! If he snuffs out the light they’ll assassinate the Prince.”

  Griffin pivoted on one heel and immediately switched his focus to Ellison. He charged toward the other man and took great satisfaction when he knocked him from his feet. With a grunt, he flipped the man over and punched him squarely in the face. Ah, that’s what he’d been waiting to do for weeks.

  “There will be no holding back, Ellison,” he growled as the man blinked up at him in surprise. “I should have finished this the night of the ball.”

  “He’s got a gun, Griffin!” Audrey pulled herself to her feet and took a step toward them.

  Griffin turned his head in her direction. Her warning still rung in the barren room around them as he felt the cold steel of a gun barrel press into his neck.

  “I should blow your head off right now,” Ellison said. He sneered as he wiped the line of blood from his face. “I’d take great pleasure in that.”

  “Griffin,” Audrey whispered, her blue eyes filling with tears.

  He was going to die and hadn’t even told Audrey he loved her. That he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life.

  “I’ll be fine. If he was going to shoot me, he’d have done it already,” he taunted, hopeful he would draw enough attention away from Audrey that she could escape to find Noah.

  But instead of edging toward the stairway, Audrey stood just where she was, watching the two men square off with horror in her eyes.

  Ellison chuckled. “Don’t be so sure. I still may. In fact, I probably will. But timing is everything, isn’t it?”

  Griffin joined in with the laughter in hopes it would appease Ellison. The other man began to bend sideways to turn off the gas supply to the light. Just as his hand touched the lamp switch, Audrey let out a scream. Griffin took advantage of Ellison’s distraction to throw another punch that dropped Douglas to the ground. The gun spun out of his reach, clattering as it bounced down the stairs.

  As Ellison fell back, his foot caught on the lamp edge, flipping the fire on its side and catching Ellison’s pant leg on fire at the same time. He let out a blood-curdling scream and tried to beat out the flames. As he thrashed and yelled, Audrey covered her ears in the corner.

  “Put him out!” she screamed. “Put him out!”

  “I’m trying,” Griffin grunted, trying to turn over the burning man. His flailing made it difficult.

  “Hold still.” He pounded out the fire that had burned Ellison’s legs so badly.

  The flames were quickly spreading across the floor toward the stairs. “This whole place is going to go up.”

  Griffin stared down at Ellison. The man was badly burned and had lost consciousness from the pain. As much as he wanted to leave him behind, Griffin couldn’t. He turned to Audrey as he scooped the limp Ellison over his shoulder.

  “Go! I’ll carry him down after you,”

  She hesitated for a fraction of a second, then ran, hurrying down the stairs as the fast-burning fire trailed after them, devouring the dry wood, paper and chemicals that made up the pagoda.

  “Be careful,” she warned, “The stairs are starting to buckle under my weight.”

  “Just keep moving, sweetheart.”

  Griffin tossed a glance at the limp man in his arms. If the stairs were having trouble with Audrey, how would they handle two full-grown men?

  Blocking out the thought, he hurried down behind her, coming ever closer to the bottom. They were only about two stories up now, but the fire was blazing hot above them. With each step the stairs creaked and moaned under his feet. Audrey had gotten ahead of him and stepped off the last stair. Turning, she glanced up at him.

  “Get out!” he said, “Get out before you…”

  He never finished the sentence. At that moment, the stairway gave way under his feet, sending him crashing downward in a pile of rubble and fire.

  Audrey’s scream seemed very far away from him as he hit the ground hard. His breath was knocked from his lungs as a hail of wood and embers covered him.

  When he’d finally regained his breath, he called out weakly, “Just go. I can make it out myself.”

  Of course, she didn’t listen. Both annoyance and relief surged through him as she picked her way into the flaming rubble. Tears streamed down her grimy face as she ran to his side.

  “Are you trapped?” She pulled dusty beam fragments from him.

  “No.” He coughed and his lungs ached with inhaled dust and smoke. He took her proffered hand and rose to his feet. The second he tried to put weight on his right leg, pain shot from his ankle to his knee.

  He glanced down at Ellison. The other man’s body had broken Griffin’s fall and he now lay still and twisted in the rubble around them. Dead.

  “Go Audrey, there’s no way you can support me.”

  “That’s what you think.” In completely unladylike fashion, she sniffed and wiped her nose on her forearm. “Lean on my shoulders and let’s move.”

  He slanted a glance at the teetering pagoda above them. “Audrey.”

  “Don’t argue, move!” she barked with the angry efficiency of a general.

  He did as she asked, leaning his weight on her as they moved toward the door. Arches of pain ripped through him with each step, but they continued on, closer and closer to freedom.

  Finally, Audrey gave the door a kick. It flew open, allowing a burst of fresh air to hit their faces. Outside the people around the pagoda cheered, apparently thinking its blaze was part of the evening’s ente
rtainment. But as Audrey and Griffin appeared from the smoke, Griffin heard some of the closer voices turn from screams of delight to gasps of horror.

  “’Ey! ‘Ere’s peoples in there!” said one voice. “Come on boys, we’ll give the little lady a hand.”

  Suddenly three men were lifting him, none too gently, onto their shoulders. He heard Audrey’s weak calls of thanks and her telling the men that no one was left in the pagoda alive that she knew of. Then he was being set on soft grass as someone ran to fetch a doctor.

  He looked up to see the starry night sky blocked by Audrey’s sooty, beautiful face.

  “You were so strong.” His voice cracked from emotion and the smoke he’d inhaled. “I take back everything I said about you being ill-prepared for this. You can protect my country any time.”

  She smiled, but the tears she’d pushed away to save him now returned. “I hope you mean that.”

  “I do,” he said with a cough as the pain overtook him, taking him down a path toward darkness. “And Audrey?”

  She took his hand. “Yes, my love?”

  “You look like an angel.”

  He slipped into unconsciousness, but not before he heard her make a sound, though he wasn’t sure if it was a laugh or a sob.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Griffin opened his eyes to find himself in his own bed. With a start, he sat straight up, then groaned as his head began to throb.

  “Easy there,” said a familiar feminine voice. “Needn’t try to do everything all at once. You’ve had quite an adventure.”

  Squinting as his blurry eyes cleared, Griffin looked in the direction the voice had come from. “Audrey?”

  No it wasn’t Audrey’s. Her voice had a richer tone, more of the sound of laughter in it.

  “No, it’s Hannah, Lord Berenger,” said the woman with a laugh. “But you needn’t worry, Audrey is fine. The doctor and Lord Golding never would have allowed her to travel if she weren’t.”

  “Travel?”

  Griffin eased up onto one elbow and finally looked at the woman with comprehension. Her dark hair was pulled back from her face, revealing a nasty bruise next her eye that was already healing from black to purple. Her arm was secured in a real sling now, and though she favored it, her movements were sure and swift.

  “Left two days ago, by my guess.” Hannah said. Her sharp, green eyes watched his face carefully to judge his reaction. “Though not before she was reassured you would fully recover.”

  Griffin flopped back on the bed in disbelief. “I was asleep for two days?”

  “After we brought you back here and the doctor set your leg, he gave you a mighty amount of drugs to sooth you. After all, you were thrashing about and screaming for Audrey so much you near killed yourself.”

  Griffin blushed, an unfamiliar feeling that was entirely unpleasant. He didn’t like being so exposed to this woman who he hardly knew.

  “And why didn’t you go with your friend?” he asked.

  “I wanted to, but she said she needed to go home. And she thought three days in a coach wouldn’t be good for my arm,” Hannah said with a shrug. “In truth, I think she wanted to make sure someone was here to take care of you.”

  “And Noah?”

  “Should be back any moment,” Hannah said. “He’s just finishing up with his paperwork.”

  “I’m here now,” Noah said, coming in the door with a smile for his friend. “Glad to see you awake, Grif. I told that doctor not to knock you out forever, just give me a break from your complaining.”

  Griffin couldn’t muster a smile, not after finding out that Audrey had left without even saying goodbye to him. Instead, he shifted on his pillows.

  “How did the case turn out?” he asked. It was an awkward question when what he really wanted to know hung between them. Still, he wasn’t sure he was ready to talk about Audrey with an audience.

  Noah smirked. “Very well. Though Ellison didn’t live to see trial, we did manage to squeeze the names of the associates out of his staff and glean some information from his files. The Department has made several arrests in the past few days.”

  Griffin arched an eyebrow. “What about your precious list?”

  Noah nodded. “It was in the box, just as Audrey said it was. When Ellison took her, he put the thing in his pocket. It survived the fire far better than he did and served out the final evidence against several key players in the plot. We’ve been making arrests most of the past two days.”

  “So this is over,” Griffin sighed. He should have felt relief, but he didn’t.

  “In more ways than one, at least for me. I’m retired.”

  “What?” Griffin sat up too quickly again and paid the price of a throbbing head.

  “You heard me. Lord Golding felt Audrey and I were too revealed during this case. He relieved us both from duty with thanks and hearty bonuses. I suppose I’m just an Earl again. Damn boring job, I must say.”

  His friend gave Hannah a side look and the woman nodded in understanding. “I’ll leave you two. I’m glad you’re recovering, my lord.”

  Griffin nodded to the woman then turned his attention back to Noah as the door closed. “I suppose everything will go back to normal then.”

  “I suppose so.” Noah looked at him evenly. There was an awkward pause before he spoke again. “How long do you plan to be such an ass?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “How long before you ask me about Audrey?” Exasperation was heavy in Noah’s tone.

  “What about her?” Griffin turned his face away so Noah wouldn’t see his tormented emotions. “She left.”

  “Yes. Mother found out about the whole bloody business and wrote Audrey a long letter. The first in a long time. Audrey went home to patch things up, but she left a message for you.”

  “For me?” Griffin asked, hoping he sounded uncaring even though his whole body came to attention. “What is it?”

  Noah frowned. “She said it was better for her to leave things as they were, without a big scene where you pretended to love her. I tried to make her wait, but she was bent on going. But then, I can’t tell her what she needs to hear, so nothing I said would have made a difference.”

  Griffin covered his eyes with his forearm. “And what does she need to hear?”

  “You know what she needs to hear.” Noah stood up with a screech of his chair. Wincing, Griffin lowered his arm to look at his best friend. “If you don’t care for my sister, then leave her be. Let her move on with her life now that she’s rebuilding with our family. But if you love her, Griffin…” he trailed off, clenching his teeth.

  “I know what I need to do.”

  His tone sounded angry even though he didn’t feel anger. He felt anticipation as he threw the covers off his legs and staggered to his feet. Pain shot through his lower body when he put weight on his injury, but he ignored it as he hobbled to his armoire. Where the hell was his damned valet when he needed him?

  Noah jumped to his feet to put a steadying arm on Griffin’s shoulder. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “I’m taking your bloody advice.” He gripped the edge of the armoire.

  Noah smirked. “I haven’t even given it yet.”

  Griffin rolled his eyes. “Let me guess. It has something do with telling me to stop being a coward. To go to her and make up for everything?”

  “Hmmm…” Noah nodded with a grin. “That pretty well covers it.”

  Griffin returned his smile. “I’m going to need help.”

  “You’ve got mine.” Noah frowned. “But it doesn’t include dressing you. I draw a line somewhere.”

  With his heart feeling lighter than it had in ages, Griffin laughed. “First, we need a plan. Aren’t half-assed plans your department?”

  ***

  Audrey threw open the shutters on her windows and breathed in the scent of the country air. Fall was beginning to make the breeze a bit cooler, but the soft warmth still hung beneath it. It had been two weeks si
nce she left London. Though she had received letters from Hannah and from Noah, Griffin had sent no word. She heard he was improving, but there was nothing else to give her a hint about his feelings for her.

  What did she expect? It wasn’t as if she’d asked Griffin to write to her. And she’d specifically told Noah not to force the man to come to her unless he wanted to.

  Which he obviously didn’t.

  Turning from the visions of changing leaves and warm sun outside, she folded her arms in disgust. She thought she’d been a ninny the last time she’d broken ties with Griffin Berenger, but this time was much worse. Though she didn’t feel the pangs of youthful grief, she did feel a solid ache inside her. This time she’d experienced first hand what Griffin could offer her, and had been forced to turn it down.

  What would have happened if she had accepted his proposal?

  No, she couldn’t think of that now, it was only torture to her already broken heart.

  After the excitement of the past few months, her home seemed calm and subdued. Because her father had been ill, he liked quiet evenings at home. While she enjoyed being reunited with her parents, she sometimes longed for the thrill of a case.

  Her time with her mother had been especially good. Though Tabitha had been disapproving of the life she’d lead at first, nearly losing her first-born daughter seemed to put things into perspective for her. She’d even apologized for nearly forcing Audrey into a marriage she didn’t want.

  With a sigh, Audrey sat down on one of the chairs in her chamber’s salon. Her mother had gone calling and her father was taking his daily afternoon nap. Even the servants had seemingly disappeared after several strange looks for her all morning. Audrey had the odd feeling she was being left out of some kind of joke. People had stopped talking when she entered rooms all day.