by C. J. Archer
"So why did you go searching for it with Hardacre?"
I plucked at the thread, loosening it. "I'm twenty-seven and never had a paramour. I've been told I can be prickly and am too clever for most men. That didn't seem to bother Eddie. I was…grateful for his attention."
"Matthew Glass isn't like most men."
"Don't." The thread needed to come out. It looked terrible, all loose and dangly. I plucked faster.
"He sees your unique character as attractive, not as a fault." He lifted a hand and touched my hair near my ear. "I've been searching for similarities between you and me, and you and your grandmother, but it's not easy to see them. You are your own person, and that's a good thing, India. A very good thing."
I stood and turned away. When I was sure my tears wouldn't spill, I faced him again. "You'll be safe here. Matt won't allow Abercrombie or Ritter inside."
He sank further into the pillows, sighing deeply. "What about the police? He can't stop them arresting me. I wouldn't put it past Abercrombie or Ritter to tell them I'm here if they work it out."
"Matt has some influence with the police commissioner. He might be able to convince them that Mr. Wilson's death was the result of his pre-existing condition."
His eyes slowly lowered, as if they were too heavy to open. "Goodnight, India."
"Goodnight—" I almost said 'Chronos', but it somehow didn't seem right tonight. Calling him Grandfather didn't either. "Sleep well."
I closed the door and saw Willie heading into her room across the hallway. "Willie, wait."
She stopped, half way into her room. "I ain't telling you why I was there, India, so don't ask."
"We need to talk." I ushered her into her room and shut the door, somewhat surprised she'd acquiesced. "I know you don't want to talk about it, but you should."
She screwed up her face. "Why?"
"You're a woman and I'm a woman, and we're friends. I thought you might need a female friend to talk to, that's all."
"Have you gone do-lally?"
I steeled myself. How did one approach this delicately? I was hardly the most experienced woman in matters of an intimate nature. "Are you with child?"
Her eyes bulged. Then she threw her head back and laughed. "Did Duke put that into your head?"
"Are you?"
"No!"
Well. That was one difficult item off my list. Now for an even more difficult question. "Have you caught something of a…of an itchy nature? Down there?"
"No! Christ, India, can't a woman go to a hospital without people thinking she's there because of a man?"
"I just thought…well, you've been spending some time in gambling dens surrounded by men, I thought you might have…" I shrugged, not quite sure how to end it without making her seem like a whore.
"You thought I wagered my body and lost." She crossed her arms over her chest and forked her brow.
I laughed nervously. "You did once. Almost."
She swore under her breath. "I ain't been gambling much lately. I ain't got nothing to wager. Money, that is."
"Oh? But you've been absent quite often. Where are you going?"
She reached past me for the door.
I clicked my fingers. "To the hospital? Yes? But why?"
"Seems we're back where we started, don't it?" She opened the door but it hit my bustle. She gave me a little shove out of the way.
"Were you at the hospital for medical reasons at all?" I pressed. "Or something else?"
"Goodnight, India." She made a shooing motion.
"This is going to torture me until I find out. You know that, don't you?"
She grinned. "Tell Duke everything I just told you so he don't bother me with the same questions." She gave me another little shove, pushing me into the corridor, and shut the door in my face.
The chuckle from along the hallway had me spinning on my heel toward Matt. "Why don't you ask her?" I said. "She'll probably tell you everything."
He approached, his smile not wavering. "I doubt it. Besides, I like a little mystery."
"Well I don't." I crossed my arms.
"She'll tell us when she's ready."
"I suppose you're right."
"How is he?"
I lowered my arms and glanced at Chronos's door. "He didn't want to eat and his head aches terribly. He's not quite back to his usual annoying self yet. I suppose we should be grateful for that."
He rested his hands on my shoulders and dipped his head to see my face properly. It was gloomy in the corridor, despite the lit lamps on the two hall tables, but he could probably still see the shine in my eyes. "Are you all right?" he asked gently.
I closed my fists at my sides. "Of course."
His thumbs rubbed, easing some of my tension. "He's a survivor."
I swallowed. It wasn't easy with the ball of tears in my throat. "He's old."
"I'm not sure he'd agree with you."
"And anyway, I thought he was dead all my life so I'm hardly going to miss him when he…when he leaves."
His hands moved to cup my jaw and his thumbs continued their caress. "I don't know if your act is fooling him, India." He pressed his lips to my forehead in a warm, lingering kiss. "But it's not fooling me."
I buried my face in his shoulder and let my silent tears flow into his shirt. The rhythmic beat of his heart felt so strong, vital, and alive. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, drawing in the scent of him.
Then I pulled away and accepted the handkerchief he offered. I wiped my cheeks and patted his damp chest. "You need to change your shirt."
One corner of his mouth twitched in a smile. "Will you join us for a drink in the library?"
"I think I'll retire." I handed back his handkerchief and he took it, along with my hand.
"I'll see that he doesn't leave again."
Did he mean the house or London? It didn't really matter, because he couldn't stop Chronos going anywhere.
The following morning, Matt, Cyclops, Duke, Willie and I sat in the library, pondering how to proceed with the investigation, when a message arrived for Matt from Hope Glass. He read it in silence, his face impassive, then passed it to me.
"What do you make of this?" he asked.
I read it and passed it on to Willie. "I wonder what she needs to tell you." According to the brief note, Hope wanted to meet Matt by the south eastern end of the Serpentine in Hyde Park to tell him something important. She'd given a precise time of eleven o'clock.
"She's going to tell you what Payne is up to," Cyclops said, reading the note with Duke looking over his shoulder. "I reckon she's been duping him all along just to learn his plan so she could confide it in you."
"And thereby win your gratitude," Duke finished.
Cyclops passed the note back to Matt. "And your friendship. Or more."
"Then I have to go," Matt said.
"There's no question of whether you go or not." I checked the clock on the mantel. "You have forty-seven minutes."
"I ain't so sure it's a good idea," Willie said.
"You getting all cautious on us, Willie?" Duke regarded her levelly. "That ain't like you. The doc give you some medicine in that hospital to change your character?"
Willie rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying, Matt needs to be careful. I don't trust Hope. She might try to trap him into a liaison he can't get out of."
"We'll be in a public place." Matt sounded amused. Amused! Clearly he wasn't taking Hope and her desperation seriously.
"That's the whole idea," Willie said before I could. "For someone who reads a lot of books, you can be mighty dim witted sometimes, Matt. Do I need to spell it out to you or do you know how girls like that operate?"
Matt stood and tugged on his cuffs. "I know Hope isn't as nice as she makes out to be, but she's clever. She must realize what a hopeless case I am by now, and that trickery won't work."
"That kind of fool talk gets gentlemen of means into trouble all the time."
"I won't be put into any compromising positions
. India will come along and make sure of it."
"Me?" I shook my head. "She expressly asked you to go alone or she wouldn't say a word."
"That doesn't include you. You're my assistant. "
"I think she was referring quite specifically to me."
His lips flattened. "Very well. Hide behind a tree and watch."
I laughed.
"Wear a big hat," he said, heading out, "and a plain dress. Something that won't get noticed."
He was gone before I could protest. "He's mad," I said to the others.
"He needs a witness on his side," Willie said. "Just in case that little snake gets her claws into him."
"Snakes don't have claws," Duke told her.
"That one does."
The blustery breeze drew intricate patterns on the surface of the Serpentine and tossed the newly sprouted spring leaves into each other. Few people were out, and those that had come to the park preferred to walk on the paths. No one hired the boats or paddled in the water.
Matt leaned against the broad trunk of an oak, looking casually handsome as he waited for Hope. I sat on a bench seat, book in hand, my hat brim pulled low. We did not acknowledge one another.
At precisely eleven o'clock, he shifted his stance as she approached, wrapped in a black cloak. What he didn't notice as he greeted her were two more figures approaching from the opposite direction. The ladies walked arm in arm, their pace slow, their heads bent in discussion. I recognized neither of them yet I couldn't help thinking they were out of place.
Matt greeted Hope with a bow. Without a word, she took his arm and led him to a nearby weeping tree. Its long, elegant branches swept the ground, providing a good hiding spot for lovers' trysts. I wasn't surprised when Hope directed Matt through the veil into the naturally formed room beyond.
On cue, the women quickened their pace and headed for the same tree. Determined steps and triumphant gleams in their eyes told me what they expected, perhaps hoped, to discover—a young woman of their acquaintance in a compromising position with a gentleman. It was beautifully orchestrated and timed.
I tucked the book under my arm, clamped a hand to my hat, and ran.
I was too late. The women were ahead of me, their strides long and determined. Shedding all pretense of being idle passersby, they thrust aside the weeping branches and barged through.
And Matt, in his willful disbelief of her deviousness, was caught in Hope Glass's web.
Chapter 13
I reached the tree moments behind the women. The leaves and twigs whipped at my face and brushed my hat and skirts. I didn't care, just kept pushing through.
I bumped into the back of one of the women standing at the edge of the clearing. She lurched forward with a yelp but regained her balance without falling. The other lady went to her friend's aid.
The clearing was empty.
"Excuse me," I muttered. "I didn't realize anyone was in here. It looked like an interesting tree…" It sounded ridiculous, but I had to say something. Both women frowned at me, their lips pinched. They knew why I was really there.
"Come along, Sarah," one of the women snipped. "We might as well leave."
They exited through the tree's branches on the other side of the clearing. I followed them and spotted Matt and Hope walking side by side toward a footpath. They were in the open and several other pedestrians passed them. No one could accuse them of anything untoward.
Hope glanced over her shoulder at the two women. She saw me and her lips parted in a gasp.
Matt said something that drew her attention. I smiled at the two ladies and tugged on the brim of my hat. Let them report my sudden appearance to Lady Rycroft. I didn't care. I was only too pleased that Matt had not been duped by Hope.
She hooked Matt's arm with both hands and sidled very close to him. So close, that when she rolled her ankle in a slight dip, he easily caught her before she fell. She blinked up at him, smiling gratefully.
And all the while, her fingers undid his jacket buttons. Her brazenness was shocking. She would be seen here! Within the seclusion of the weeping tree, and with her mother's friends as witnesses, she could blame a seduction entirely on Matt. But out here, with Matt behaving like the perfect gentleman, she would be blamed.
A lady did not recover from that sort of scandal easily. Was that her intention? Limit her prospects so that Matt felt sorry for her and married her out of a sense of responsibility? I didn't know whether it was a stupid plan or diabolically clever.
It might have worked on another man, but not Matt. Although her fingers were swift and agile, he caught her hand as it plunged inside his jacket.
Fury turned his features rock hard. He let her go and said something under his breath that leached the color from her cheeks.
I picked up my skirts and strode toward them. The game had come to a crashing end and there was no point pretending anymore.
"Why, Hope?" I heard Matt growl at her.
"I don't know what you mean." Her voice quavered and she shrank away from him. He had never directed such anger at her before. From her reaction, she probably thought he never would.
"You were trying to steal my watch."
My step faltered. Of course. Of course she was. Unbuttoning his jacket, reaching inside… Matt wasn't the fool; I was.
"I just wanted to feel—
"No. No more lies." He turned his head a little toward me and acknowledged me with a nod. "Good timing, India. Hope is just about to tell me every detail of her conversations with Sheriff Payne."
In that moment, Hope had never looked more like her oldest sister. Where Patience was afraid of everything and everyone, Hope had always been bold. But now she was the fearful one as she cowered before Matt.
"I…I don't know who you're talking about," she whispered.
Matt slapped his hands together behind him. The thwack of glove against glove made her jump. "No more lies, Hope. Do you understand? I know far more than you think. For example, I know your mother set this up." He jerked his head at the weeping tree. "But I know your father would not approve. He would be furious if he learned of your behavior."
If it was a guess, it was a good one. Hope swallowed heavily. Her lips trembled. "Don't tell him. He'll send me away."
"Perhaps away is the best place for you."
"Sheriff Payne came to me," she blurted out. "I didn't seek him."
"I know that too."
"How do you know?"
"What did Payne talk to you about?"
She pulled the edges of her cloak together at her throat. "Your watch. It's magical, isn't it?"
Matt didn't answer and I hoped my face gave nothing away. I tried to keep my features as passive as possible. She wasn't looking at me anyway. She only had eyes for Matt.
"The sheriff told me the watch is special to you and he asked me to get it so he could see why. Naturally, I refused. At first," she added when Matt raised an eyebrow. "But after reading the article in The Weekly Gazette, I started wondering if it could be powered by magic. I saw your watch glow once, and he's seen it glow too. And Miss Steele has—" She gave me a sideways glance.
"Miss Steele has what?" Matt prompted.
"She is important to you and yet you haven't known her long. You invited her to live with you after such short acquaintance. I knew there had to be a reason."
"There is a reason," he said.
"She's a watch magician, isn't she?"
"No."
She scoffed. "I'm not stupid, Matt. Your watch has magical properties thanks to Miss Steele. Why else would she be living with you?"
"You have a brain and eyes. Use them to work it out."
She bristled. "Sheriff Payne thinks the watch's magic somehow makes you strong and healthy. Based on my own observations, I have to agree, but I admit that I don't understand it. Before the article in the paper, I dismissed the sheriff's theory. But afterward…it all began to make sense. Particularly the presence of Miss Steele.
"I already told you, she'
s in my home because I want her there."
Matt was rising to her bait. He needed to be careful before he said something he regretted in the heat of the moment.
"So the sheriff told you to steal Matt's watch and you decided to set up this elaborate scheme to do so," I said. "Or did you only decide after Matt foiled your attempt to trap him into marriage?"
That took the wind out of her sails. "The rendezvous in the tree, the witnesses…it was all my mother's idea."
"Which you decided to go along with," Matt said, regaining his composure.
Hope's face crumpled and her lips twitched and twisted as she struggled not to cry. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. The sheriff forced me, Matt. I had no choice."
He drew in a breath and another. I couldn't work out if he believed her or not.
"Sheriff Payne accosted me outside my house when I came home from a walk alone one day," she said.
Well, that was a lie. She hadn't been alone, her sisters had been with her.
"He told me what he guessed your watch did, and he ordered me to steal it from you. After I refused, he said he'd tell the police everything he knew about you." She blinked damp lashes up at him. Somehow she looked small and childlike. How did she manage to do that? "Did you do the things he's accusing you of?"
"Most likely," Matt said, "but without hearing his list, it's impossible to compare it to mine. Don't fret. The authorities on both continents know the truth. Sheriff Payne can try to make me the villain all he likes. No one will believe him." He handed her his handkerchief. "So you were trying to protect me?"
Did he really believe that? Surely he wasn't that gullible in the face of big, sad eyes and a pouting mouth.
"It's not only that," she said, dabbing at her eyes. "He has information about Patience that could ruin her if it gets out. Lord Cox won't have anything to do with her if he knew."
This I wanted to hear. "Knew what?"
"She had an indiscretion with a gentleman last year."
I barked out a harsh laugh.
"It's true, Miss Steele," she said in a small voice. "Patience was seduced by a fortune hunter. My father discovered the plot before it was too late, and paid the gentleman to stay away from her and keep quiet. If Lord Cox heard, he'd call off the wedding. He's an extremely upstanding man and values his reputation above all else. Above his affection for Patience. Indeed, I'm sure he only has affection for her because he believes she has an equally good reputation. Somehow Sheriff Payne found out about her indiscretion. I wouldn't put it past him to follow through on his threat and send an anonymous letter to Lord Cox. It would not only ruin my sister, it would devastate her. She would never recover if he rejected her."