‘No.’
Dominic’s eyes widened. ‘No?’
‘No.’ Caro rallied, still embarrassed by the intimacies she had allowed this man, but determined not to allow that embarrassment to render her helpless. She carefully lifted her cloak and bonnet from the chair she had placed them on earlier. ‘Mr Butler, is Ben available to escort me home now?’
‘Yes, he is.’
‘I would prefer that you wait for me here, Caro,’ Dominic insisted firmly.
She met his gaze unflinchingly. ‘And I would prefer that Ben be the one to accompany me to my lodgings.’
A nerve pulsed beside that savage slash of a scar on Dominic’s left cheek. ‘Why?’
Caro looked away as she found she could not withstand the probing of that narrowed silver gaze. ‘I would simply prefer his company at this time, my lord.’
‘Drew, could you wait outside for a moment, please?’ Dominic did not even wait for the man’s compliance before stepping back into the room and firmly closing the door behind him.
‘I have nothing more to say to you, my lord—’
‘Dominic.’
Caro gasped. ‘I beg your pardon?’
The earl gave a graceful shrug. ‘You did not seem to have any difficulty calling me Dominic a few minutes ago,’ he reminded her wickedly.
Caro’s cheeks burned with mortification as she recalled the most recent circumstances under which she had called this man by his first name. ‘I do not even wish to think about just now—’
‘Do not be so melodramatic,’ Dominic interjected. ‘Or perhaps, on consideration, it is the hideousness of my scars you would rather not dwell upon?’ His voice hardened even as he raised a hand to his scarred cheek.
‘I trust I am not so lily-livered, my lord,’ Caro protested indignantly. ‘No doubt you obtained that scar during the wars against Napoleon?’
‘Yes.’
She nodded. ‘Then it would be most ungrateful of me—of any woman—to see your scar as anything less than the result of the act of bravery it undoubtedly was.’
Dominic was well aware that some women found the scar on his face unsightly, even frightening. He should have known that the feisty Caro was made of sterner stuff. ‘I will endeavour to conclude my business with Butler as quickly as is possible, after which I will be free to escort you home. No, please do not argue with me any further tonight,’ he advised wearily as he saw that familiar light of rebellion enter those sea-green eyes.
‘You are altogether too fond of having your own way, sir.’ She frowned her disapproval at him.
And his efforts to frighten this young woman into leaving London had only succeeded in alarming himself, Dominic recognised frustratedly. ‘And if I once again add the word please?’
‘Well?’ she prompted tartly as he added nothing further.
Dominic found himself openly smiling at her waspishness. ‘Please, Caro, will you wait here for me?’ he said drily.
Her chin remained proudly high. ‘I will consider the idea whilst you are talking to Mr Butler.’
Dominic shot her one last exasperated glance before striding purposefully from the room. He forgot everything else, however—kissing and touching Caro, her response to those kisses and caresses, his own lack of control over that situation—the moment he entered the main salon of the club and saw a bloodstained and obviously badly beaten Nathaniel Thorne lying recumbent upon one of the couches there…
Chapter Five
‘Dominic, why—?’
‘Not now, please, Caro,’ he cut in as he sat broodingly across from her inside the lamp-lit coach.
Not that the lamp was really necessary, dawn having long broken, and the sun starting to appear above the rooftops and chimneys of London, by the time they had delivered Nathaniel safely to his home. The two of them had remained long enough to see him settled in his bedchamber and attended by several of his servants before taking their leave.
Caro had given a horrified gasp earlier when she’d ventured from Drew’s office and entered the main salon of the club to see a group of men standing around Lord Thorne as he lay stretched out upon one of the couches, with blood covering much of his face and hands and dripping unchecked on to his elegant clothing.
Not that Dominic had spared any time on the pallor of her cheeks or her stricken expression as he’d turned and seen her standing there. ‘Someone take her away from here!’ he had ordered as Caro stood there, simply too shocked to move.
‘Dom—’
‘Stay calm, Nate.’ His voice softened as he spoke soothingly to the injured man, some of that softness remaining in his face as he turned back to Caro. ‘It really would be better for all concerned if you left, Caro.’
‘I’ll take her back to my office,’ Drew offered before striding across the room to take a firm hold of her arm and practically drag her from the room.
She barely heard the older man’s comforting words as he escorted her to his office before instructing Ben to remain on guard outside the door. Caro had paced the office for well over an hour whilst the two men obviously dealt with the bloody—and Caro sincerely hoped not too seriously injured—Nathaniel Thorne.
Dominic had grimly avoided answering any of her questions when he’d finally arrived to escort her home. Caro had gasped in surprise as he had thrown his cloak over her head just as she was about to step outside. ‘What are you doing?’
He had easily arrested her struggles to free herself. ‘Continue walking to the coach,’ he had instructed.
Caro had thrown that cloak back impatiently as soon as she’d entered the carriage, any thought of further protest at Dominic’s rough handling of her dying in her throat as she saw Lord Thorne reclining upon the bench seat opposite, the dressings wrapped about both his hands seeming to indicate that he had received the attentions of a doctor since she had seen him last. His face had been cleansed of the blood, revealing his many cuts and bruises, injuries that could surely only have been inflicted by fists and knives.
Caro felt herself quiver now as she remembered the full extent of those numerous gashes and bruises, and the imagined violence behind them. ‘How—?’
‘I am in no mood to discuss this further tonight,’ Dominic rasped, the attack on Nathaniel having been a brutal awakening, a timely reminder that there was no place for a vulnerable woman like Caro in his world.
Sea-green eyes gazed back at him reproachfully. ‘But why would someone do such a thing to Lord Thorne?’
‘I should have realised that asking you for silence, even for a few minutes, was an impossibility.’ Dominic sighed heavily. ‘The simple answer to your question is that I do not know. Yet,’ he added grimly. But he had every intention of discovering who was responsible for the attack on Nathaniel and why.
Caro flinched. ‘He appeared to be badly injured…’
Dominic nodded curtly. ‘He was beaten. Severely. Repeatedly. By four thugs wielding knives as well as their fists.’ He knew more than most how strong a fighter Nathaniel was, but the odds of four against one, especially as they had possessed weapons, had not been in his friend’s favour.
She gasped as her suspicions were confirmed, one of her hands rising to the slenderness of her throat . ‘But why?’ She appeared totally bewildered.
Nathaniel had remained conscious long enough to explain that he had been set upon the moment he’d stepped outside the club earlier, the wounds on his hands caused both from the blows he had managed to land upon his attackers, and defensively as he’d held those hands up in front of him to stop the worst of the knife cuts upon his face. Once he’d fallen to the ground, he had not stood a chance against the odds, as he was kicked repeatedly until one of those blows had caught him on the side of the head. After which he knew no more until he awoke to stagger back inside the club and ask for help.
Considering those odds of four against one, Dominic was sure that if murder had been the intention, then Nathaniel would now be dead. Also, his purse had still been in his pocket when he
’d regained consciousness, the diamond pin also in place at his throat, so robbery was not the motive, either. From that Dominic could only surmise that the thugs had achieved what they had set out to do, and that the attack had been a warning of some kind.
But a warning to whom exactly…?
The words of caution Gabriel had given Dominic before he’d left Venice, in regard to Nicholas Brown, the previous owner of Nick’s, had immediately come to mind. Dominic was well aware of the other man’s violent reputation; while publicly Brown behaved the gentleman, privately he was known to be vicious and vindictive, his associates mostly of the shady underworld of London’s slums. Also, the other man had been most seriously displeased to lose Nick’s in that wager to Dominic.
No, the more thought he gave to the situation—when Caro allowed him the time to think about it, that was—the more convinced he became that Nicholas Brown was somehow involved. That tonight’s attack might not been meant for Nathaniel at all…
Dominic had left for Venice only days after winning the wager that had cost Brown his gambling club, only returning back to London two days ago, a fact that would no doubt have reached the other man’s ears as early as yesterday. As such, it would have been all too easy for the four thugs lying in wait outside the club to have assumed that the gentleman leaving alone, long after the last patron had left, with his face hidden by both the darkness and the hat upon his head, was Dominic himself.
He had discussed the possibilities briefly with Drew, the older man having agreed that his previous employer was more than capable of sending some of his paid thugs to attack Dominic. Except those thugs had not dealt the lethal blow to the man they had attacked. Drew had offered the possibility that it might not have been a case of mistaken identity at all; that Brown could well be deliberately hurting people known to be associated with Dominic, as both a threat and a warning, before later extracting his revenge from Dominic himself.
Dominic gave a grimace as he anticipated Caro’s reaction to what was to be the subject of their next conversation. ‘I have no idea as yet. But in view of the fact that the attack occurred outside Nick’s, it has been decided that, for the next few days at least, all of us associated with the club should take the necessary precautions.’
Caro stared across at him blankly. ‘But surely I am in no danger? No one except you, Lord Thorne, Drew Butler, and Ben Jackson has even seen the face of the masked lady singing at Nick’s. That is the reason you threw your cloak over me when we were leaving the club earlier!’ she realised suddenly, looking shocked.
He nodded grimly. ‘It is not my intention to frighten you, Caro.’ He frowned darkly as she obviously became so. ‘But, until we know more, Drew and I are agreed that the masked lady must disappear completely, whilst at the same time every precaution taken to ensure the safety of Caro Morton.’
‘Perhaps I might go to stay with Mr Butler and his family?’
‘Drew and I dismissed that possibility,’ Dominic explained. ‘Unfortunately, Drew and his family share their modest home with both his wife’s parents and his own so there is simply no room.’
‘Oh.’ Caro frowned. ‘Then perhaps I might move to the obscurity of an inexpensive hotel—’
The earl gave a firm shake of his head. ‘A hotel is too public.’
She sighed her frustration with this situation. ‘Is there any real danger to me, or is this just another way for you to ensure that it is impossible for me to do anything other than return from “whence I came”?’
Dominic looked at her thoughtfully. ‘Would you even consider it if I were to suggest it?’
‘No, I would not,’ she stated firmly.
‘No,’ Dominic conceded flatly. In truth, it was no longer an option; if Brown really were responsible for tonight’s attack, there was also every possibility he was already aware of Caro’s identity as the masked lady. He undoubtedly had informers and spies everywhere. As such, Caro returning to her home unprotected could put her in more danger than if she were to remain in London. ‘Drew and I have come up with another solution.’
Caro eyed him warily. ‘Which is…?’
‘That I now escort you to your lodgings, where you will pack up your belongings and return to Blackstone House with me.’ Not an ideal solution, he allowed honestly, but one that more easily enabled him to ensure her safety. The fact that she would at the same time be all too available to the desire he was finding it more and more difficult to resist was something he had tried—and failed—not to think about.
No wonder Caro stared at him so incredulously!
He raised an eyebrow. ‘If you choose to accompany me to Blackstone House, then I will do all in my power to ensure your stay there is a temporary one. If it appears that it is to be longer than two, or possibly three days, then I will endeavour to find alternative accommodations for you. In any event, my offer of protection is one of expediency only. A desire, if you will, not to find one, or more, of my employees dead in a doorway during the next few days.’
Caro felt her face grow pale. ‘You truly do believe those thugs will attack again?’ She was totally confused as to what she should do. She had managed her escape from Hampshire easily enough, but she knew her older sister well enough to realise that Diana would not allow that situation to continue for long. That, despite Caro’s letter of reassurance, once Diana had ascertained she was nowhere to be found in Hampshire, then her sister would widen her search, in all probability as far as London.
Diana’s wrath, if she should then discover Caro living in the household of a single gentleman of the ton would, she had no doubt, be more than a match for this arrogant man!
She shook her head. ‘Surely Mr Butler did not agree with this plan?’
‘On reflection Drew agreed with me that at the moment your safety is of more importance than your…reputation.’ Dominic’s mouth twisted derisively.
She shook her head. ‘I simply cannot—’
‘Caro, I am grown weary of hearing what you can or cannot do.’ He sat forwards on the seat so that their two faces were now only inches apart, his eyes a pale and glittering silver in the weak, early morning sunlight. ‘I have told you of the choices available to you—’
‘Neither of which is acceptable to me!’
He gave her a hard smile. ‘Then it seems you must choose whichever you consider to be the lesser of those two evils.’
Caro understood that Dominic was overset concerning the injuries inflicted upon his friend this evening, and the damage also caused to his gambling club before the attack, that he was genuinely concerned there might be another attack on those working or associated with the gambling club. But having already suffered twenty years of having her movements curtailed out of love and respect for her father, she had no intention of being told what she could or could not do, either by her guardian, or a man she had only met for the first time yesterday. ‘And if I should refuse to do either of those things—go home or accompany you?’
Dominic had admired this young woman’s courage from the start. Appreciated that feistiness in her, her lack of awe, of either him or his title, as well as her willingness to disagree with him if she so chose. But at this moment he could only wish she was of an obedient and compliant nature! ‘It is late, Caro—or early, depending upon one’s perspective.’ He sighed wearily. ‘In any event, it has been a very long night, and as a consequence perhaps it would be best if we waited until later today to make any firm decision one way or the other?’
She nodded. ‘Then we are in agreement that once you have returned me to my lodgings I will remain there until we are able to talk again?’
Caro had all the allure of a prim old maid in that unbecoming brown bonnet that once again hid most of her hair, Dominic decided dispassionately. In fact, she looked nothing at all like the delicious, half-naked woman he had made love to earlier. Which was perhaps as well, given the circumstances! Dominic had thought to teach her a lesson earlier, and instead he had been taught one—that at the very lea
st, Caro Morton was a serious danger to his self-control.
‘We are not agreed at all,’ Dominic contradicted, making no effort to continue arguing with her, but instead tapping on the roof of the carriage and issuing instructions to his groom to drive directly to Blackstone House. ‘I will send to your lodgings for your things later today,’ he informed her.
‘You—’
‘Caro, I have already assured you that should my enquiries take longer than those two or three days, then I will make other arrangements for you; let that be an end to the matter,’ he said as he relaxed back in his seat, one dark brow raised in challenge.
A challenge she returned. ‘It is seriously your intention to introduce me—even temporarily—into your household?’
‘Seriously,’ Dominic said.
She gave a disgusted snort. ‘As what, may I ask?’
‘Should any ask for an explanation—’ his tone clearly implied that there were few who would dare ask the Earl of Blackstone for an explanation concerning any of his actions! ‘then I will suggest that you are my widowed and impoverished cousin—so many young women were left widowed after Waterloo. That you are newly arrived from the country on the morning coach, with the intention of staying with me at Blackstone House whilst I arrange a modest household for you in London.’
‘Without clothes or a maid?’ Caro scorned.
Dominic shrugged unconcernedly. ‘An impoverished widow cannot afford to employ a maid until I arrange for one, and your trunk will be delivered later today.’
She eyed him impatiently. ‘Does the Earl of Blackstone even have a widowed and impoverished cousin?’
‘No.’
‘Do you have any cousins?’
‘No.’
She eyed him quizzically. ‘Any family at all?’
‘Not a single one.’
Caro could not even imagine a life without her two sisters in it. Admittedly she had put a distance between them now, but it had been done in the knowledge that she could return to them as soon as Gabriel Faulkner had been convinced by Diana that none of the Copeland sisters had any intention of ever marrying him.
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