Poppy was having him on. Win was sure of it. He told himself this as they were led into Komtesse Krogstad’s parlor. Even so, he kept his wits about him and his back to the wall. Not that he had anything against dwarves. Unclothed was another matter. Poppy, blast her, kept a serene expression but she was clearly reveling in his unease, the chit.
He leaned in, enjoying the way the skin prickled along her neck as he did. “If we do encounter a naked dwarf, I’m leaving him to you.”
She raised a brow, her gaze studiously upon a gilded peacock statue that peered down at them from the green marble mantel. “Who said he enjoyed women?”
“All right, I’ll sacrifice myself, but I detest displays of jealousy. So avert your eyes, will you?”
Win was rewarded with a bubble of laughter escaping her lips. On any other woman, he’d have called the sound a giggle, but he would never dare accuse Poppy of giggling. The sound went straight to his heart and turned it over. He found himself grinning wide as she turned her head.
“Cheeky,” she said before glancing up. Their noses almost touched, they were so close. Poppy’s smile faded on an indrawn breath, and his gaze fell to her mouth. Such a lovely mouth, wide yet feminine, the bottom lip a bit plumper than its bowed top. And so very soft. Heat rippled down his chest.
Her cheeks pinked as he stared. Struggling, he cleared his throat. “You started it.” The heat within him grew, making him feel languid yet hard all at once. Her breath smelled of sugar and spice. Everything nice. He leaned closer, ready to take, when the door opened. Poppy jumped as though pricked with a pin, bumping his shoulder with her chin when she turned around. He took an awkward step back and turned as well.
Win had to give the komtesse credit; she obviously knew she’d walked in on something but she took no outward notice of their indiscretion. Though from Poppy’s description of her, he gathered she’d seen worse, and often.
She paused at the threshold of the parlor to survey them, and Win took the moment to study her back. This was one of Isley’s mistresses? Had she suspected she bedded a demon? Had it thrilled her to do so?
Though she was not what he’d expected, Win could see her appeal and why she’d been a favorite of dukes and the supernatural alike. She was tall, like Poppy, and lean as well. Her bone structure was strong, almost masculine, with high cheekbones, deep-set eyes, and a long, expressive nose. But her lips were full, puffed as if she’d just been kissed. Wheat blond hair rippled in twin waves down over her shoulders. The tresses glinted in the light as she came forward. She was a Botticelli, “La Primavera” gazing at them with quiet knowing. The effect was heightened by the white toga-style dress she wore.
Win took all this in like any other man who appreciated beauty. Yet he wanted to sigh in defeat. For all her grace, the woman did nothing for him. No, only the redheaded warrior woman at his side had ever stirred him. He was well and truly cursed. And wasn’t that just splendid?
“Mrs. Hamon,” said the komtesse, holding out a welcoming hand to Poppy, “it is good to see you once again.” Her voice was dark honey. A fine trap for a man. And then Win realized what she’d called his wife, and his insides jumped. His gaze cut to Poppy, who sent him a warning with a mere flicker of her lashes.
Poppy took the komtesse’s hand. “Komtesse. Thank you for seeing us.”
The komtesse’s laugh was light and airy. “Please call me Brit, as we are old friends, are we not?” She smiled at Poppy, but she made her awareness of Win known by the incline of her head and the way her gaze drifted over him.
Poppy straightened. “Brit. This is my associate, Mr. Belenus.”
He caught himself just before he laughed out loud. The imp was using his middle names. Had she always done so? Associate, was he? Very well. He took the komtesse’s outstretched hand and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. “Enchanted,” he said, settling into his role.
“We came to talk to you about Lord Isley,” Poppy said, her usual forthright manner a shade more brisk.
The komtesse’s brows winged up, but her expression remained serene. “Let us use the studio.” With a fluid swirl of her skirts, she turned from the room.
No one spoke as she led them down a wide hall whose walls had been papered in gold damask. The sound of laughter and the notes of a fiddle playing a mad tune as some fellow sang along, off key and rather badly, drifted through the house. Paintings covered the walls, although their subjects were not the usual staid compositions or classical portraits, but of life—little vignettes so real that Win felt he could reach into the frames and touch them. He was no true student of art, but he liked to keep educated and thus recognized the works of Whistler, Degas, and Renoir.
“You follow the Impressionists, Komtesse,” he said.
“I prefer to say I follow what art pleases me, Mr. Belenus,” the komtesse answered. “But you may make that assumption if you prefer to place art into neat categorizations.”
He could almost feel Poppy struggle to hide her smile. He kept his eyes on the paintings, appreciating them for the pleasure alone this time. His step slowed as a portrait of a lone young man sitting in languid repose by a glass of absinthe caught his eye.
The komtesse glanced over her shoulder. “ ‘The Absinthe Drinker’ by Manet. One of my favorites.” She stopped and came shoulder to shoulder with Winston and Poppy as they looked up at the painting. “The public hated it when Manet first presented it. They thought it vulgar, as if life should only be portrayed as tidy and perfect. It is the richness of color and the man’s expression that draws me into this piece.” Her voice turned soft. “What do you suppose he’s thinking? Does he wonder if his life is slipping away?”
Win swallowed past the thickness in his throat. It was like looking at his younger self, that sad, hopeless wretch who’d bargained with the devil. A bead of sweat rolled down the valley of his back, so slow and steady that he could track its progress. “Perhaps he was thinking of what he could not have.”
Poppy’s voice, quiet with contemplation, touched his ear. “He looks a bit like you. When you were younger.”
He could not breathe. His collar hugged him too tightly. Two sets of feminine eyes bore into him and another trickle of sweat rolled down his back. The moment pulled, vibrating like a plucked bow, then the komtesse stirred.
“There is another portrait I want to show you. Come.” She opened a door, and they stepped into a room done up in vibrant shades of peacock blue. Four large, low slung couches of saffron and gold silk, covered with purple and red pillows, made up a sitting square in the center of the room. It hurt his eyes just looking at them so he glanced about at the paintings on the wall instead, lest he be overcome with indigestion.
“Have a seat,” offered the komtesse.
Not bloody likely. Those horrid couches were meant to be lain upon, drink in one hand, a smoke in the other. Winston was damned if he’d put himself in a prone position in an unknown house. Poppy didn’t seem to mind, though, and reclined with surprising finesse. The sight of her long, lean body uncoiled upon that harem couch, her booted feet tucked beneath her skirts and one hand at her nape to support her head, did strange things to his equilibrium. Winston shifted his stance with a surge of irritation. He supposed that was rather the point of the couches. The twinkle in the komtesse’s eyes confirmed it, and that she knew all too well the effect Poppy had on him. But her voice was even and gentle as she pointed toward the far wall. “That is what I wanted to show you.”
When he looked, his blood stilled. It was a large portrait, dominating the wall and encased in a heavy, gold frame. Done in tones of black and grey, the pale countenance of Lord Isley smiled down at them. It was a smug smile, full of knowing and trickery, as if even then, he was planning mischief. Isley wore the very same suit and scarlet cravat that he’d donned when meeting Winston, and Winston wondered for a moment if Isley ever changed, if the suit was even real but yet another illusion.
“Lord Isley as I knew him in eighteen sixty-five,” said the komt
esse.
By the pale tinge of Poppy’s skin, Win realized that she recognized this man as well. Her eyes narrowed upon the painting with such hatred and determination that his skin prickled. The komtesse’s gaze, however, was serene, perhaps a touch wistful.
Win walked closer. Nestled in the elaborate folds of Isley’s cravat was a golden cartouche. Win did not know hieroglyphics but he made note of the symbols. “If I may, Komtesse,” he asked, turning back to her, “how well did you know Lord Isley?”
Her lips curled a touch. “Given that I have his portrait hanging upon my wall, you mean? We were lovers as I gather you already suspected.” She sighed, letting her chin fall into her cupped palm as she smiled up at the portrait. “He was lovely though. Always made me feel a queen even when I was close to rags.” Deep-lidded eyes returned to study him and Poppy with equal measure. “I was on the verge of ruin before he came into my life. My protector had left me alone in Paris, and I’d not found another.” She fiddled with the tasseled end of a vermilion pillow. “In truth, I was quite desperate, wishing for a quick death or a miracle, which at that point might have been one and the same. And, as if called, Isley found me. He brought me here to London.” She grinned then, the act lighting up her face as if the sun suddenly shone upon her. “I’ve never had want of money again.”
Ice swam through Win’s gut. A miracle indeed. And just what had the komtesse given up to see her fortunes reversed? All the cold within him turned to burning bile, and he swallowed down the taste of acrid bitterness, for he knew she was as ignorant as the rest of Isley’s victims.
Poppy glared up at the painted Isley before turning back to the komtesse with a neutral expression. “Forgive me for being blunt, Brit—”
“But you always are, Mrs. Hamon. It is one of your best traits,” the komtesse answered with apparent fondness.
Poppy’s severe brows lifted a touch but she forged on. “Well then. We are interested in one of Isley’s possible paramours at that time. Moira Darling. Have you heard of her?”
The komtesse gave a little shocked laugh. “You certainly did not hold back that time, did you?” She sat up on the couch as if she could no longer bear to relax. “There was talk of other women. He was rather… voracious in his appetites, and there is no telling whether he visited certain houses on occasion. Though I would not be surprised if he did.” Her shoulders lifted in a delicate shrug. “However, I’ve never heard of Moira Darling, I’m sorry to tell you.”
“Have you the names of any women he might have visited?” Win asked.
“Often times, he consulted with a Mrs. Noble.” Clear, direct eyes held his. “She is known to have an excellent eye for art. Isley was quite fond of her.”
“Mrs. Amy Noble?” Winston asked. “The widow of Mr. Tobias Noble, the coal magnate?”
“The very one. She hosts a revolving house party at Farleigh, her estate in Richmond that runs from July to November. It is quite lively. One might meet the Prime Minister or some boy she brought in from the streets because she liked the sound of his singing.”
Poppy glanced at Win. “Then it is to Farleigh we go.” She turned to the komtesse. “Brit. Be careful, will you? No new visitors for a few weeks.”
The komtesse’s golden brows knitted. “Am I in danger, Mrs. Hamon?”
Poppy’s skirts rustled as she stood. “At the moment, anyone who had been in contact with Isley is. I shall send word when it is safe. But for now, trust in me and do as I say.”
“I always do.”
Win stared at the clean, strong lines of his wife’s face and form. Here was the leader, the woman who commanded an entire organization. People did as she asked. As always, it made him itch to get her alone and coax out that soft, sensual Poppy that only he had the privilege to see.
Her hand settled on the crook of his arm, and he tucked her close as he nodded to their hostess. “Komtesse.”
She gave him a secretive smile. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Belenus. Do come back. At any time.”
The devil in him couldn’t help but feel a small sense of satisfaction when Poppy’s hand tightened on his arm. If she only knew how little any other woman affected him.
He opened the door and ran directly into another man. Or rather, his crotch collided with a man’s face. Win swallowed a silent curse as he took in the abundance of bare skin and a pair of pink-feathered wings shivering tremulously. They stared at each other, Win gaping down and the man blinking up in surprise. Then Win cleared his throat. “Henri, I presume?”
The man unfurled a slow, pleased smile while Win’s face grew uncomfortably hot. “Why yes. Have we met?”
Chapter Seventeen
They made it out of the house and onto the embankment before Poppy burst out laughing. She did not laugh often, but when she did, she did so with her whole soul. Win watched, half bemused, half transfixed, as her laughter poured out in wave after wave, a gorgeous, husky sound that invited one to join in. Her shoulders shook with it, and tears streamed out of the corners of eyes that sparkled like topaz in the sunlight. Around them, a few strollers passed, and despite Poppy’s unladylike manners, they could not help but be affected. Several smiled, and a chimney sweep just off the job laughed as well, sending bits of blacks and ash tumbling off his shoulders before he strolled away.
When she’d gotten herself reasonably under control, Win took her elbow lightly. “Yes, yes,” he said, guiding them farther away from the komtesse’s residence, for Poppy was still useless with her snorts and chuckles. “It was all very amusing. Have your laugh. I don’t mind.”
With a shaking hand, she wiped her eyes. “Your face, Win.” She snorted again. “For a moment, I thought you would turn and jump into my arms for safety.”
His lips twitched. “It was a very near thing.” And then he laughed too. Which meant they stood like two jack-puddings, making a racket while the sensible people of London scurried past, lest they be infected too.
Their gazes clashed, and his breath hitched, his laughter dying in a half-cough as he realized how close they stood, hunched over each other, her hand clutching his arm for support. Hers ended on a hiccup, and they stared at each other from across their small divide. No one saw him like this. Sheridan would likely faint on the spot should he hear Winston laughing. Only she truly saw him. Only with Poppy did he feel true joy. Just then, he missed her so much that he hurt, a physical pain that urged him to reach out and pull her near so that he could hold her.
She straightened, bringing herself closer, her expression suddenly as lost and as pained as his surely was. “Win…”
Win didn’t know what had changed, perhaps the sound of a footstep that was too determined or the snick of a knife snapping open, but his attention shifted from Poppy’s delectable mouth to their surroundings. She too seemed to have noticed the danger as well, for her eyes narrowed and her frame grew stiff.
“We’ve picked up an interested party,” she said, as if conversing on the weather.
“Indeed we have.” Taking her arm, he guided her down the path. They maintained a casual stroll, but his hand tightened on his walking stick. Win did not turn to see, but instinct told him there were at least three persons following. The foot traffic had thinned out, leaving them vulnerable to attack. Then again, it left him free to fight back without worry of hurting an innocent observer. His back tightened when, from the periphery, he saw four thugs fan out.
He leaned closer to Poppy and smiled as though he were paying her a compliment. “When we get to the overpass just ahead, move to the wall behind me and stay there.”
Her brown eyes flashed in surprise. “And do what? Wait meekly until you have bested them?”
“That is the general idea, yes.”
Her lips thinned in a parody of a smile. “How about this? You take two, and I take two.” Her arm moved slightly, and she clutched her fan at the ready. A bloody fan? He almost laughed, only he wanted to strangle her more.
“Might I remind you,” he said through
his clenched teeth, “that you are with child.”
“Which makes it imperative that we end this scuffle quickly.”
Her logic appalled him. He was on the verge of pulling her to the side when she spun round to face their stalkers.
“Gentlemen,” she said as the men halted. Four big brutes who looked spoiling for a fight. “I believe you have lost your way. I advise you to turn around before you regret it.”
Win had to give her credit. She was as fearsome as the worst schoolmarm. Only these weren’t boys. And he was certainly going to kill her when they got out of this. He stepped shoulder to shoulder with her, before easing her back. Or tried to; she wouldn’t budge. Grunting in annoyance, he pulled his coat open enough to show the gun he wore beneath it. “You heard my lady. Go on and find easier sport.”
Even as he spoke, the oddness of the men poked at his awareness. They hadn’t said a word, but simply stood, weaving slightly on their feet as though foxed, their eyes unblinking. Beside him, Poppy appeared to notice the same, for she went pale.
“Shit,” she said.
He risked a glance at her as he moved to pull his gun free. Her hand on his arm halted him. “No,” she said. “Won’t do any good. They’re undead.”
“What?” A breeze swept over them, and he caught the scent of rotting flesh.
Poppy backed them up, her hand like a vise on his forearm. “Undead. As in corpses called up from the grave to do their master’s bidding.”
Hell. One day, he’d wake up and it would all be a dream.
“Win, tell me that walking stick has a sword.”
“Of course.” He tensed, his hand going to the head of the swordstick. Now that they were closer, he could see the grey cast to their skin and the bluish rips where flesh had begun to cleave from bone.
“Saber or rapier?”
“Saber. Archer gave it to me.”
Poppy gave a tight smile. “I think I love that man.”
He’d have to address that remark later, for the thugs chose that moment to attack. He pulled his sword free with a ring of steel as Poppy shouted, “Aim for the throat. Decapitation is the only way to stop them.” And then she was stepping in front of him to engage.
Winterblaze Page 15