Heirs and Graces (Victorian Vigilantes Book 2)

by Wendy Soliman

  ‘Ah, but Derby would be seen to have wanted rid of him.’

  ‘Quite, which is why dying on the job, to be vulgar, is the best resolution.’ Thorndike shrugged. ‘Desperate times and all that. Unfortunately, I cannot afford the luxury of sparing his mistress’s feelings. Smallbrooke’s body has to be discovered as far away from Whitehall as possible.’

  ‘Won’t it be…well, somewhat ripe? Any doctor will know his demise was not recent.’

  Thorndike sent Jake a wounded look. ‘Please!’

  ‘Right, of course.’ Jake nodded. ‘The doctor will say whatever you tell him to. But what of his wife and family? It will be a terrible embarrassment for them to have the details of his dying in his mistress’s bed splashed across the newspapers.’

  Thorndike seemed unmoved. ‘His family do not yet know that he is dead. They think he has gone to his constituency and are not expecting him back until tomorrow. Naturally, someone will break the news to them privately so that they can prepare themselves, or leave the capital if they would prefer to and avoid the whole scandal.’

  ‘How very considerate of you.’

  ‘I aim to please, dear boy.’

  ‘Could you not have had him found in his constituency? It would be less embarrassing for his family, who have done absolutely nothing to deserve having their names dragged through the mire.’

  ‘It’s in the north and there was no time to transport the body that far. As you say, it is starting to whiff.’ Thorndike’s expression hardened. ‘Don’t look at me with such disapproval, Torbay. I did not kill the man. It merely falls to me to manage the consequences of someone else’s actions.’

  Jake nodded, aware that was true. Even so, he sometimes disliked his own involvement in political machinations. ‘I assume you will find a subtle way to let Falconer know you have his measure?’

  A ghost of a Machiavellian smile flirted with Thorndike’s lips and appeared perfectly at home there. ‘You can depend upon it.’ He stood to indicate the meeting had come to an end. ‘I hope I can rely upon you to keep in contact with your man at Armitage’s. He might hear or see something to help us. Specifically, when the Radicals mean to meet again, which they are bound to do once the Smallbrooke scandal breaks.’

  ‘As always, I am at your disposal.’

  But as he made his way back to Grosvenor Square, Jake thought about all the sacrifices he had made in his personal life in order for that to be so. He also dwelt upon the increasing difficulty he was having in resisting his attraction towards Olivia, and wondered if it might be time to put his own desires ahead of his duty.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Olivia followed one of Jake’s maids into a sumptuous chamber, a room that was familiar to her since it had been hers on previous visits. It was situated tantalisingly close to the master suite and she wondered if the knowledge of her close proximity would keep Jake awake at night. She shook her head as she searched for the self-control she had taught herself to employ; the façade of playful indifference behind which she disguised the true nature of her feelings for the handsome, highly intelligent, annoyingly focused and always challenging earl.

  She wandered about as her maid unpacked her possessions, restlessly picking objects up and putting them down again, staring blindly out of the window at the view across the rear garden.

  ‘Oh, this is ridiculous,’ she muttered, surprising her maid by swirling from the room without explanation.

  She took the stairs up to the nursery floor, pausing on the landing to listen to someone singing a nursery rhyme in a beautiful, crystal clear voice. As she got closer, she saw that it was Mabel. Tom and Gracie sat on the floor in front of her, spellbound. The girl could earn a living with such a sweet and true voice, Olivia thought, noticing tears that poured down Mabel’s face as she sang.

  ‘Sorry, ma’am,’ Mabel said when she saw Olivia, and abruptly stopped singing. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘The children were a little boisterous so I tried to calm them down while Mary unpacks their things.’

  ‘There is no need to apologise, Mabel. You voice is lovely and seems to have a magical effect on the little ones.’ She smiled. ‘When Tom gets the devil in him, we none of us know quite how to control him, and yet you have hit upon a way.’

  Tom scrambled to his feet and launched himself at Olivia’s legs; no easy feat given the hoops that held her skirts well away from her body. But being a small boy, he managed it with clumsy disregard for the welfare of her clothing.

  ‘Mama, we were singing!’ he declared unnecessarily.

  ‘So you were,’ she said, concerned about Mabel’s emotional state. ‘Go with Mary. If you are very good she might find a sugared almond for you.’

  Mabel smiled through her tears as they watched Tom and Gracie scamper off, Tom loudly demanding the promised treat even though he had not done anything to warrant it.

  ‘What is it, Mabel?’ Olivia asked. ‘Are you not comfortable here? Has someone been unkind to you?’

  ‘Oh, ma’am, it’s not that. Everyone has been lovely. This house is like nothing I ever imagined I’d set foot in and I’m that grateful you brought me with you.’

  ‘We wouldn’t have left you behind. How can you think that we would?’

  ‘I’m not used to so much kindness and I don’t mean to make more trouble.’ She sniffed. ‘It’s just that I—’

  ‘How stupid of me. Of course you are upset because there is no news of your father.’

  ‘Yes, I’m that worried. I can’t sleep for wondering what’s become of him.’ Huge eyes dulled by tears stared up at Olivia. ‘I don’t even know if he’s still alive…’

  ‘Lord Torbay is doing everything he can to find him.’

  ‘I feel that guilty about me pa. It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t…’ She waved her hands at her wide middle. ‘I’m grateful to Lord Torbay, I really am, but I know it’s hopeless. There’s nothing he can do to find him. If Mr Armitage has him then he could be anywhere in the bowels of the glassworks. There are that many disused rooms. He’d never find his way around them all. But I know the place well. I could show him.’

  ‘Lord Torbay wouldn’t allow you to put yourself at risk.’

  ‘Better that than doing nothing.’

  Olivia patted the distressed girl’s hand. ‘Have courage, my dear. If Armitage is holding him, it means they intend to let him go eventually.’

  ‘I wouldn’t be so sure about that. If he is being held in that hellhole, then Brody will be responsible for restraining him.’ Fresh tears clouded Mabel’s eyes. ‘He will enjoy being cruel to me Pa.’

  ‘Armitage’s henchman?’

  ‘Yes, he and Pa have never seen eye to eye. Brody hated it when Pa was promoted to manager and did everything he could to make trouble for him. Pa said Brody felt threatened because Pa was being rewarded for his loyalty.’

  ‘Brody felt that his position might be in danger if Armitage had another favourite?’

  Mabel shrugged. ‘Perhaps, but Pa said that was daft. Pa only wanted to work in the factory, whereas Brody does all of Armitage’s dirty work for him, no questions asked. He’s a right bully. Everyone at the factory is scared of him and no one likes him.’

  ‘Even so, you must not give up hope, Mabel, or blame yourself.’

  ‘I will always blame myself. I should never have…’ She clutched her bulging stomach, lost the battle to hold back her tears and sobbed fit to break her heart. Olivia held her until the torrent subsided.

  ‘Do you feel a little better now?’ she asked, handing Mabel her handkerchief.

  ‘Thank you, ma’am.’ She snuffled into the lace-edged cambric. ‘I shouldn’t be troubling you like this.’

  ‘It’s no trouble. Of course you are worried about your father. I should think considerably less of you if you were not.’

  ‘It’s a wicked thing to say, ma’am, especially at such a time but I can’t help it. I must be a terrible person because I miss Mr Henry something awful. Some say that he
led me astray and then abandoned me but I know he wouldn’t have left me if he could have helped it.’

  Oh, Mabel, such innocence! ‘Go and rest, Mabel,’ she said. You will feel better if you do. Moving from Chelsea in your condition has tired you out.’

  ‘Not a bit of it, ma’am. I like being with the children. They take my mind off things.’

  ‘As you wish. Lord Torbay is out at present but the moment he returns I shall ask him what is being done to find your father. I promise you I shall.’ Olivia stood and pulled the girl to her feet. ‘Now, off you go. No arguments.’

  Olivia watched Mabel return to the children and start a new game with them. She had a natural way to her, and would be a wonderful mother to her own poor mite, Olivia thought, as she made her way back downstairs. She wandered into the drawing room, where Eva and Amelia sat talking quietly together. They looked up and smiled when Olivia joined them.

  ‘Mabel is singing to the children,’ she said. ‘She has a lovely voice and actually managed to keep them quiet for a minute or two.’

  ‘Goodness,’ Eva replied. ‘I should have liked to see that.’

  The luncheon gong sounded just as Jake returned from his meeting at Whitehall.

  ‘I am glad to see you all here,’ he said as he joined them at the dining table. ‘I trust the move went without mishap.’

  ‘We were not followed, if that is what you are asking,’ Olivia replied. ‘Although I dare say you have already spoken to Fergus and satisfied yourself on that score. Heaven forbid that you should take a mere woman’s word for it.’

  ‘A mere woman, Olivia?’ Jake raised a brow in sardonic amusement.

  She looked away from him without bothering to formulate the lively response his goading would normally warrant.

  ‘Miss Armitage, I did not have the opportunity to tell you before I went to my meeting,’ Jake said into the uneasy silence created by Olivia’s unsettled mood. ‘Parker has managed to discover what Mason’s plans are.’

  Everyone at the table listened without interruption as Jake explained about his ambitious building project.

  ‘Naturally,’ he said, ‘it would make Mason very popular with aspiring middle-class businessmen who want a greater say in the way the country is run. Relatively cheap yet respectable housing close to the centre of London does not exist at present. Well, not in sufficient quantity.’

  ‘I would think better of him if he intended to build better housing for the working classes,’ Amelia replied with asperity. ‘They certain have more urgent need of it.’

  ‘The rental income would not be sufficient to attract Mason, nor would it put him in a position to further his career,’ Jake replied.

  Amelia wrinkled her nose and made no response.

  ‘How is Falconer involved?’ Fergus asked.

  ‘That we don’t know. But given Mason’s connection to Armitage we must assume Falconer has encouraged the project. He would see the benefits for his supporters and may have agreed to partly fund it. There will be considerable initial capital outlay and we know Mason has no money of his own.’

  ‘It would explain why he needs Amelia’s trust,’ Olivia said. ‘The trustees would very likely release a large part of it for a project that promised high returns. How very astute of Armitage to ally himself with a scheme that can improve his own standing within the Radical organisation. If Mason is Falconer’s pet project, having his daughter married to the cove would make Armitage impossible to ignore.’

  ‘Well, it would have done so if Amelia had been more accommodating,’ Eva pointed out, smiling.

  ‘We should also prepare ourselves for a shock,’ Jake warned them. ‘Smallbrooke’s body will be discovered today.’

  Olivia gasped when she learned the particulars of that discovery.

  ‘His poor family,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Surely they could have found a way that would not embarrass them quite so publicly?’

  ‘That is what I said but I might as well have saved my breath for all the good it did me.’ Jake curled his lip. ‘Thorndike pretends distaste but no one will convince me that he is not enjoying himself at the expense of his political opponents.’

  ‘It takes a certain type of man to do his job,’ Fergus pointed out.

  ‘Then I am very glad that neither you nor Jake possess the necessary qualifications,’ Eva said briskly.

  When luncheon came to an end, Olivia followed Jake into his library.

  ‘What is it?’ he asked, closing the door after her. ‘You are preoccupied. Have I done something to earn your displeasure?’

  ‘Other than not telling me everything you know, absolutely nothing,’ she replied with a sarcastic smile.

  ‘Oh, Olivia!’ He sighed, indicating the seats in front of the fire. He waited for her to select one and took its twin for himself. ‘Always so impulsive. Perhaps that is what I find so…what do you want to know?’

  ‘What are we doing to find Lloyd?’ she asked, going on to explain about Mabel’s distress. ‘If we have to choose, I would much prefer to help her rather than Thorndike. I know he has the welfare of the nation to consider, which cannot always be easy, but that does not mean that I must like or trust the man. It seems to me that he sometimes enjoys his work a little too much.’

  ‘I wish there was more I could do myself,’ Jake replied, spreading his hands. ‘I have not forgotten about Lloyd, and Parker’s people are continuing to ask discreet questions. So far we have heard nothing. We cannot even discover the name of the solicitor he used to draw up the agreement with the Armitages. Not that there seems much point in pursuing that particular line of enquiry. Even if we do find them, they will not know what happened to Armitage on the day that he disappeared.’

  ‘He must be somewhere in the glassworks. If Amelia and I were to—’

  Jake growled something incomprehensible and most likely unflattering. ‘Use your sense, Olivia! If there was the least possibility of gaining access, don’t you imagine we would have done so by now? But the place is a confusing maze of tunnels and storage areas, a lot of them underground. We could get lost in there for a month without a guide. Besides, Armitage’s henchman, Brody, lives on the premises and has eyes and ears everywhere. We would show our hand for no good purpose.’

  Olivia wanted to argue but knew he was right. ‘John Travis might be persuaded to help us look, or even to look himself.’

  ‘It is my opinion that the discovery of Smallbrooke’s body in the last place it was supposed to be found will prod the Radicals into an unscheduled meeting,’ Jake said pensively.

  ‘That would be pointless,’ Olivia countered. ‘They will know Thorndike is aware of their culpability but cannot prove it. Why risk being seen together?’

  ‘Because they will want to reassure one another that no evidence points their way, and plan their next move after this discouraging setback.’ He lifted his shoulders. ‘Such is human nature.’

  Olivia conceded the point with a nod. ‘Why are you always right, Jake?’ she demanded to know. ‘Doesn’t it become trying?’

  ‘You have no idea.’ He sent her a sensual smile that caused her insides to melt and her irrational anger to dissipate. ‘They will have to risk meeting at Armitage’s factory because they know they are being watched in their homes by Thorndike’s people and don’t have time to arrange anywhere else that’s safe and accessible. They are not aware that we know of their usage of Armitage’s factory, which is about the only advantage we have. If we risk going in blind, hoping that one man is being held there against his will when we have no evidence to suggest that is the case, we could spoil everything for Thorndike.’

  ‘Hang Thorndike!’ Olivia stood up, crossed to the window and stared out of it, her back to Jake. ‘I am sick of the man’s name.’

  She heard Jake stand too and sensed his looming presence close—too close—behind her. ‘The work I choose to do does not always sit well with my conscience, Olivia.’ His voice sounded weary as he grasped her shoulders and gave them a
gentle squeeze, sending shivers of awareness down her spine.

  ‘Then why do you do it?’ She turned, shaking his hands from her shoulders and meeting his gaze. ‘I know there must be a compelling reason why you make so many sacrifices, take so many risks; almost as though you want to get yourself killed.’

  ‘Oh no,’ he said, sending her a rakish smile that inflicted considerable damage to her equilibrium. ‘I can assure you that is not the case. It has occurred to me recently that I have a very good reason for wanting to live.’

  She swallowed, absorbing the full force of the smouldering luminescence glowing from his dark eyes, daring to hope the passion she observed there was generated by her close proximity. ‘Then I don’t understand,’ she said.

  ‘Every man has a duty to his country.’

  ‘Nonsense! What you do goes way beyond most people’s idea of duty.’

  ‘Yes.’ He sighed and this time it was he who turned away. ‘I suppose it does.’

  ‘Because you are a slave to duty and enjoy the challenge?’

  ‘Perhaps I am becoming tired of being anyone’s slave.’

  Olivia narrowed her eyes at him, wishing she knew what was going on inside that quick brain of his. ‘I know that look, Lord Torbay. You are planning something and you don’t want me to know about it because you think I need your protection.’ She sent him a look of condemnation. ‘Have you any idea just how infuriating your dictatorial behaviour can be?’

  ‘What me, Mrs Grantley? Undisclosed plans?’ He flashed a teasing smile. ‘I cannot imagine what you mean.’

  ‘You think you know where Lloyd might be and are planning to rescue him. You might as well tell me. I will not let up on you until you do. Besides, I promised poor Mabel that I would speak with you about it. She is still convinced, by the way, that Henry Armitage loves her and would not have abandoned her if it could have been avoided.’

  Jake sighed. ‘I am sure she does.’

  ‘Otherwise she would have to accept the fact that he really did exploit her?’

  ‘Precisely.’