“Damn it, I know you want to help me, and while I cannot deny you possess a keen intuition, you’re not a magician. There is simply no way you can assist me with this. And the idea of taking you to the slums of London is out of the question. I appreciate your concern, but—” “But you won’t allow me to come with you.” “No. The riverfront is dangerous. If any harm came to you, I’d never forgive himself.” “Yet you put yourself in danger.” “The risk is not nearly as great for a man.” Frustration simmered in her eyes. “What must I do to prove to you that I can help you?”
Prove that her so-called visions would lead him to Gaspard? A man Bow Street’s finest talent could not find? He wished to hell he could believe that, but he’d given up on fairy tales long ago.
“There is nothing you can do,” he said quietly, hating the hurt his words brought to her eyes, but he had no choice.
Elizabeth could not help him. Of that he was certain.
Elizabeth walked down the stairs carrying a copy of Sense and Sensibility, one of the many books Austin had bought her yesterday. She had no desire to read, but with her stomach cramped with tension from worrying about Austin being at the riverfront, she was desperate for any diversion.
Standing in the marble-tiled foyer, she looked uncertainly from left to right. Perhaps she could first find the kitchens and pilfer a cup of cider?
“May I help you, your grace?” a deep voice intoned.
“Oh!” Her hand flew to her breast. “Carters! You startled me.”
“Please forgive me, your grace.” He bowed from the waist, then stood so stiffly erect she wondered if someone had stuck a plank down the back of his breeches.
“Think nothing of it, Carters,” she said with a smile that went unanswered. “Can you please direct me to the kitchens?”
Carters stared at her, his face devoid of all expression. “The kitchens, your grace?”
A wave of dismay washed over her at the butler’s forbidding tone. She drew herself up and smiled at him again. “Yes. I would like some cider.”
“There’s no need for you to ever enter the kitchens, your grace. I’ll arrange at once for a footman to bring you some cider.” He turned on his heel and started walking away, presumably to summon a footman.
She noticed his limp immediately. She was certain he hadn’t been limping when she first met him. She studied his retreating form for several seconds, assessing his uneven gait. “Carters?”
The butler stopped and turned to face her. “Yes, your grace?”
“I hope you won’t think me rude, but I couldn’t help but notice your limp.”
For a split second he looked startled. Then his mask of blandness fell back into place. “It’s nothing, your grace.”
“Nonsense. It’s obviously something.” She approached him, and when she stood directly before him, she suppressed a laugh. The top of his bald head came only to her nose. “Have you suffered an accident of some sort?”
“No, your grace. ’Tis merely my new footwear. The leather is quite stiff and not broken in yet.”
“I see.” She glanced down at his shiny black shoes and nodded in understanding. “You’re suffering from a blister?”
“Yes, your grace. Several.” He raised his chin. “But they’d never prevent me from fulfilling my duties.”
“Heavens, I never thought they would. Anyone can see you’re the soul of competence. I’m merely concerned that you’re suffering.” She smiled at the dour-faced man. “Has anyone treated your blisters? The doctor, perhaps?”
“Certainly not, your grace,” he huffed, his shoulders thrown back so far Elizabeth marveled that he remained upright instead of falling over backward.
“I see. Where is the library, Carters?”
The butler pointed. “ ’Tis the third door on the left down this corridor, your grace.”
“Fine. Meet me there in five minutes, please.” She turned to go back up the stairs.
“In the library, your grace?”
“Yes. In five minutes.” With that she swept up the stairs.
“Do you know what’s become of my duchess?” Austin asked an under butler, striding into the foyer. He’d returned from the riverfront and had been looking for Elizabeth for nearly a quarter hour without success.
“She is in the library, your grace.”
Austin gazed around the otherwise empty foyer. “Where is Carters?”
“I believe he’s with the duchess in the library, your grace.”
A moment later Austin strode into the library and stopped dead in his tracks. His wife was kneeling before his butler, who sat in Austin’s favorite wing chair. Carters was barefoot, and the legs of his breeches had been rolled back several times, revealing skinny, hairy calves.
Austin watched from the doorway in stupefied disbelief as Elizabeth deftly placed Carters’s bare foot upon her lap and proceeded to rub his heel and sole with some sort of cream. Just when Austin believed he could not possibly be more astonished, something happened that made his jaw drop.
He saw Carters smile. Smile!
A more proper, dour, chillingly correct butler than Carters didn’t draw breath in all of England. In all the years Carters had served his family, Austin had never seen the man so much as crack a grin. Not even a tiny twitching of his lips. Until now.
But what happened next caused Austin’s jaw to drop farther. He heard a deep-throated chuckle come from Carters’s throat. The man was chuckling, for God’s sake.
Austin shook his head to clear it. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear the scene before him was the result of too much brandy. But he was stone cold sober. So it had to be real. Didn’t it? Gathering his startled wits, he walked across the room.
“What’s going on here?” he asked, approaching his wife who never ceased to amaze him and his butler whom he apparently didn’t know at all. Elizabeth sent him a searching gaze, her eyes filled with concern. Carters looked absolutely stricken. Austin nodded to Elizabeth and sent her a reassuring look that drained the tension from her face.
“Your grace!” the butler exclaimed, his face flushing a mottled red. He attempted to stand, but Elizabeth shook her head.
“Stay seated, Carters,” she ordered firmly. “I’m almost finished.” Carters coughed and sank back into the chair. She lowered his one foot to the floor and picked up the other one, gently applying a small amount of salve from a wooden bowl. Her bag of medicines sat open on the floor beside her.
Austin cleared his throat. “What on earth are you doing to Carters, Elizabeth?” he asked, his eyes riveted to the extraordinary sight of his duchess tenderly administering to his formidable butler’s feet.
“Poor Carters has terrible blisters from his new shoes,” she explained, wrapping the foot with a clean bandage. “They were bleeding and stood a good chance of becoming infected, so I cleaned his wounds and prepared a healing salve to relieve his discomfort.” She tucked the end of the bandage in and set Carters’ trousers to rights. “There! All finished. You may replace your stockings and shoes now, Carters.”
Carters hurriedly complied.
“How do your feet feel?” Elizabeth asked.
Carters stood, bounced several times on the balls of his feet, then took a few tentative steps. Pure amazement spread across his thin face. “Why, they don’t hurt a bit, your grace.” He walked back and forth in front of her several times.
“Excellent.” She handed Carters the bowl. “Put this in your quarters and place a wet handkerchief over it to keep it moist. Apply the cream before you go to sleep and again in the morning. Your blisters will be gone in no time.”
Carters accepted the bowl from Elizabeth and shot an uncertain glance at Austin. “Thank you, your grace. You’ve been most kind.”
“It was my pleasure, Carters. If you need any help applying your bandages, let me know. And I’ll have that poultice ready for you to bring to your mother tomorrow.” Elizabeth smiled an angel’s smile at him and Carters grinned back like a besotted schoolboy
.
“That will be all, Carters,” Austin said, cocking his head toward the door in a pointed fashion.
At the sound of his employer’s voice, Carters apparently remembered himself. He straightened, jerked his jacket into place, and wiped his face clean of all expression. Turning smartly on his heel, he quit the room with barely a limp, closing the door behind him.
The instant the door clicked shut, Elizabeth jumped to her feet and asked, “Did you discover anything?”
“No. I was able to confirm that Gaspard has indeed been in the area, but I didn’t find him.”
“I’m sorry.” Her gaze searched his face. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Disappointed, but fine.” Needing to touch her, he slid his arms around her waist and drew her to him. She felt so damn good in his arms, and he resolutely pushed away the memories of the filth he’d seen that afternoon. “I am also amazed. I’ve never seen Carters so much as crack a grin, and you had him laughing.” He dropped a quick kiss onto her nose. “Unbelievable.”
“He’s not nearly as formidable as I thought,” she remarked, resting her palms on his lapels. “He’s actually rather sweet.”
“Carters? Sweet? Good God, now I’ve heard everything.” He rolled his eyes heavenward and she laughed. “I must say, seeing you kneeling before my butler, doctoring his feet, surprised me.”
“Why is that?”
“It’s not something normally done by a duchess, Elizabeth. You shouldn’t be so familiar with the servants. And you certainly shouldn’t have their bare feet perched on your lap.” He smiled to take some of the sting out of his rebuke, but she took immediate umbrage.
“Carters was in pain, Austin. You cannot expect me to allow someone to suffer simply because I’m a duchess and it is therefore deemed improper to help.” She raised her chin a notch, her eyes shooting sparks of challenge. “I’m afraid I feel quite strongly about this.”
A mixture of respect and irritation suffused him. He wasn’t used to being defied, but it had been obvious since the moment they’d met, Elizabeth cared not a fig for his lofty title or position. The fact that she stood before him, eyes flashing, gaze unflinching, not backing away from his possible anger, filled him with pride and respect for her. She knew how to doctor people, and she was going to do it, by God, whether he liked it or not.
And who the hell was he to argue about her flouting propriety? God knows he’d done so himself on many occasions, most recently when he’d taken an American as his duchess. Bloody hell, he felt like hugging her. Of course, it wasn’t necessary to let her know that. Instead he arranged his face into a suitably serious expression.
“Well, I suppose if helping those who suffer is that important to you—”
“I assure you it is.”
“And it would please you to have my blessing and approval?”
“Very much.”
“And if I refuse?”
She didn’t hesitate for a second. “Then I shall be forced to help people without your blessing and approval.”
“I see.” She was so magnificent, he wanted to applaud her for her courage and spirit in spite of her defiance.
Cupping a gentle hand to his face, she said, “Please understand, Austin. I have no wish to defy you or anger you, but I simply cannot stand to see suffering. Neither can you, you know. You’re far too kind and noble to allow others to be in pain.”
Austin drew her closer to him, inordinately pleased that his wife thought him kind and noble.
“I’m so relieved that you’re home,” she whispered next to his ear. Her warm breath tickled him, sending a legion of pleasurable chills down his back. “I was so worried… I couldn’t have borne it had anything happened to you.”
The “Elizabeth” feeling rushed through him like the floodgates had opened. She cared about him. And if this extraordinary woman cared about him, perhaps he wasn’t so bad after all.
Emotion welled in his throat. Leaning back, he framed her face between his hands and gently stroked his thumbs over her smooth cheeks. “I’m fine, Elizabeth.” A teasing grin pulled at his lips. “Perhaps not so robust as you, but fine nonetheless. And you have my blessing and approval to heal anyone you wish. On one condition.”
“That being?”
He lowered his mouth until it hovered just over hers. “I insist on receiving the bulk of your tender ministrations.”
She wound her arms around his neck. “Of course, your grace.” Leaning into him, she pressed against his very obvious arousal. “Oh, my,” she whispered. “It appears you need some administering to right now. I believe we should begin. At once.”
“An excellent suggestion,” he agreed huskily as his lips claimed hers. She sighed his name and guilt wrapped around him like a noose.
He knew she would not be pleased when he told her he planned to return to the waterfront that evening.
Chapter 15
Robert, Caroline, Miles, and the dowager duchess stood in the foyer of Austin’s London town house, surrendering their shawls, jackets, hats, and bonnets to Carters.
“Where are the duke and duchess?” Caroline asked the butler after he’d finished seeing to their outer garments.
“In the library, Lady Caroline. I shall announce you.”
Robert watched Carters stride down the corridor. Stopping in front of the library door, he knocked discreetly. After nearly a minute passed, he knocked again.
When another full minute passed with no response, a knot of worry pulled Robert’s insides. With Bow Street Runners turning up dead, and now Austin not answering the door… damn it all! Turning to Miles, he asked in an undertone, “Do you think something is wrong?”
A concerned frown knitted Miles’s brow. “I don’t know, but based on recent events, I’d say it’s possible.”
“Well, I’m not going to stand about in the foyer any longer,” Robert whispered. He strode down the corridor,Miles right behind him. Footsteps echoed behind them, indicating the others had followed as well.
“Is something amiss, Carters?” Robert asked.
Carters drew himself up straight as a stick. “Certainly not. I am merely waiting for his grace to bid me to enter.”
“Are you certain he’s in the library?” Miles asked.
“Positive.” Carters knocked once more, again receiving no response.
Robert and Miles exchanged glances. “The hell with this,” Robert muttered. He reached around Carters and opened the door, ignoring the butler’s outraged gasp.
Stepping over the threshold, Robert halted so abruptly, Miles slammed into his back and nearly knocked him over.
He puffed out a relieved breath. Clearly his worries for his brother’s well-being were unfounded, for Austin was obviously in fine form and unquestionably… healthy.
He held Elizabeth in a close embrace, kissing her passionately. Robert suspected Austin’s broad back kept everyone from seeing whatever else they were up to. As it was, they all heard Elizabeth’s unmistakable sigh of pleasure.
“Ahem!” Robert cleared his throat.
Austin and Elizabeth appeared not to notice.
“AHEM!” Robert tried again, louder.
Austin raised his head. “Not now, Carters,” he growled, not bothering to turn around.
“Sorry to disappoint you, old man, but it’s not Carters,” Robert announced.
Austin stilled. The unwelcome sound of his brother’s voice brought a vicious oath to his lips that he barely managed to smother. Emitting a startled gasp, Elizabeth tried to move from his embrace, but he kept her firmly clasped to him, reluctantly withdrawing his hand from inside her bodice. He looked at her and stifled a groan of longing. With her cheeks flushed with color, her lips moist and swollen from his kisses, and her coiffure not nearly so neat as it had been ten minutes earlier, she looked absolutely perfect.
He muttered a savage curse under his breath. He needed to do something about his brother. Throwing him into the Thames crossed his mind. Yes. That was an idea
that definitely had merit. He turned to greet his unexpected guest only to discover that Robert was not alone. Miles, Caroline, his mother, and Carters all crowded in the doorway.
Carters stepped into the room, his normally blank face a picture of distress. “Forgive me, your grace. I knocked several times but—”
Austin cut off his words with a wave of his hand. “It’s all right, Carters.” Damn it, in all fairness, the man could have pounded on the door with a hammer and Austin doubted he would have heard him. “You may return to your duties.”
“Yes, your grace.” Jerking his jacket into place, Carters turned on his heel and quit the room, but not before leveling a sniff of disapproval in Robert’s direction.
Austin’s mother came forward and extended both hands. “Hello, darling, hello, Elizabeth. How are you?”
His mother was clearly so delighted to see them, some of Austin’s annoyance evaporated. While Elizabeth greeted the others, he bent and kissed his mother’s cheek. “I’m very well, Mother.”
An elegant brow quirked in obvious amusement. “Yes, I can see that.” She leaned close and said in an undertone, “Don’t worry, dear. We’re staying at Miles’s town house.”
He hoped his relief didn’t show. After greeting Caroline, he nodded curtly at Miles, then glared at Robert. “What brings you all here?”
“Robert and Miles were traveling to Town,” his mother said, “and invited Caroline and me to join them.”
“It’s a wonderful surprise,” Elizabeth said. “We’re delighted to see you.”
Robert had the distinct impression Elizabeth spoke only for herself when she made that statement, as Austin looked anything but delighted. Now that he knew Austin and Elizabeth were all right, relief washed over him, easing the tension gripping his shoulders.
There were serious matters to discuss, but Robert couldn’t speak of them in front of the women, and if he immediately asked Austin to leave the room, he knew his mother and Caroline, and no doubt Elizabeth as well, would be all a-twitter with curiosity. He had no desire to explain the real reason behind this visit to them.
While Elizabeth offered her guests seats and made arrangements for tea and refreshments, Robert approached his brother, who hadn’t moved from his spot on the other side of the room. Austin greeted him with an arctic glare.
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