He shrugged. “She wasn’t dressed like a lady.”
“Regardless, you shouldn’t talk to any woman that way. You want some activity in that area and you know where you can find it. Be discreet, not an ass.” Alex rubbed the back of his neck. “Christ, Drew, you make it hard for me to run this family sometimes. You don’t give a damn about anyone but yourself and whatever you need to feel in that moment. It is long past time for you to grow up.”
Drew shoved off the wall, the arrogant smile gone and in its place a hardened scowl that gave Alex pause. “Go to the devil, Alex.” And with that, he walked away.
Alex listened to his brother’s heavy footsteps down the stairs. No doubt Drew was heading to the club or a gaming hell. He’d get himself killed living like that.
Briefly, Alex wondered what it was that drove Drew to live so recklessly. Was he simply that careless with his own life? There had been many times when Alex had been tempted to have one more glass of brandy after a particularly tedious day, but he was always well too aware of the tasks and duties he’d have to face the following day and he knew he’d need a clear head to do so. Even before he was Duke, his time in the military kept him vigilant about his frame of mind. Perhaps being a third son afforded one too much liberty and not enough responsibility.
The reasons for his reckless behavior mattered not. The point was Drew was single-handedly trying to destroy the Carrington name and Alex couldn’t stand for it. Drew would have to clean up his behavior if he was to continue receiving his allowance. The next time Alex saw him, he’d have to lay down that ultimatum. It was time for him to behave as an adult or risk a considerable portion of his annual income.
***
It was the afternoon of the following day that Alex found himself yet again at Mia’s cottage. It had occurred to him that since assuming the title, he’d been quite careful with all of the other Carrington properties, yet he had not inspected the cottage to ensure it was being properly maintained.
Rachel opened the door and gave him a polite smile. “Your Grace,” she said. A book dangled from her right hand. “We were just reading.”
“Miss Webster, you are not in my employ, there is no need to explain yourself,” he said. “May I come in?”
“Yes, of course, my apologies.” Rachel held the door further open and stepped out of his way.
Mia came to her feet from the worn sofa in the adjacent sitting room. “Alex, what are you doing here?” Her hand went from her throat to pat her hair, smoothing it behind her ear. He couldn’t help but notice that despite her drab clothing, she looked lovely.
“It occurred to me that I have not yet taken stock of the condition of the cottage,” he said. The words sounded false to his own ears. “Since inheriting the title, I’ve been making my way around to inspect the Carrington properties. I had not yet made it here.”
Mia tilted her head. “Neither your father, nor brother before you came to call,” she said.
“How very thorough of you,” Rachel added with a knowing smile. He realized two things in that moment. The first was he’d come here to see Mia, there was no other reason, no matter what he claimed. And two, though Mia might not be able to see him, Rachel had no problem seeing the truth of the matter and she found it amusing. But he’d given his reason for being here and he wouldn’t go back on it. It was his property and he should see that the two women who lived here were in a well-cared-for home.
“Yes, well, it seemed past time,” he said.
“The cottage is comfortable,” Mia said. A line of confusion marred her otherwise perfect forehead. “Do you wish Rachel to show you around?”
He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could utter a sound Rachel had answered.
“I believe it is time for my daily walk,” Rachel announced. She grabbed her cloak and was out the door before anyone could argue with her.
“Dreadful chaperone,” Mia said with a grin. “Well, I suppose I could show you around, though I doubt very much you’d get lost. It’s not an overly large place. And you certainly don’t need my permission to peruse your own property.”
“There is no need for you to show me anything, I can see for myself,” Alex said. Hell, he’d already noticed several problems in this front part of the house. Several of the cupboard doors in the kitchen had loose or broken hinges. There was clearly a draft coming from beneath the front door as there was a rolled-up blanket pushed into the corner that they, no doubt, shoved under the door when they retired in the evenings.
She returned to her seat on the sofa and reached over to the pile of rags beside her. Neatly, she folded one of the rags in her lap, then placed it in the folded pile.
“This cottage is in complete disrepair,” he said. As he took a seat on the sofa next to her, the springs groaned beneath his weight. The thing had lost a good bit of its padding and the hard coil of springs pressed against the upholstery, making it a rather uncomfortable piece of seating furniture. “I shall hire a contractor immediately to come and fix everything that warrants repair. It would make things go much faster, though, if you and Rachel could prepare a list.”
Surprise crossed her features briefly before she schooled her expression. “That won’t be necessary,” she said. She retrieved another rag.
The cottage was clean and obviously well cared for, but the need for reparations was so obvious. Alex felt a pang of guilt at the fact that she’d lived here for nearly nine years and he was the first person to come and check on the state of affairs. And that wasn’t even the true reason he’d come today, though now that he was here he could not ignore the neglect. She wasn’t technically a responsibility of the Carrington family, but still she was a person, one whom her own family had walked away from. Someone should see to her welfare.
“It’s not about necessity, it’s about taking care of my own property,” he said.
“I do not require your charity,” she said tartly. Then she took several deep breaths. “My apologies. I did not mean the disrespect. I, of course, am very grateful to live here; I only meant that it is not your responsibility to pay for repairs. The cupboard doors work well enough.”
He didn’t bother to ask how she’d known he’d been glancing at them. He’d learned in the last couple of days that Mia Danvers was exceptionally observant. “What of the draft beneath the front door?” he asked. “Or the way the floor creaks. There are also signs that the roof needs patching. Am I not allowed to restore my own property?”
“Of course.” She dropped the rag into her lap. “Alex, I have lived in this cottage for nine years and no one has ever visited to see of the state of affairs. What is the true reason for your visit?” She tossed him a rag. “Here, you want to be helpful, help me fold.”
A duke folding rags? The square fabric lay across his lap in a haphazard manner. She really had no notion of propriety, or if she did she simply didn’t seem to care. But then what had Society ever done for her? Turned its back on her, banished her here to live without family or a husband or any manner of protection?
She passed him three additional rags, though he had yet to fold the first one. She then proceeded to fold the one on her lap. Her long fingers moved gracefully and methodically as she folded one side and then the other so that she ended up with a neat little square. He tried, in vain, to mimic her movements, but his efforts resulted in an uneven mess. He watched her for several moments before he spoke again.
“I wanted to apologize again,” he said to her.
“For what?” Mia asked. She placed the folded rag onto the stack of others, then reached for the remaining one.
“Taking liberties with you,” he said.
“The kiss?” Her hands stopped moving, but she worried the fabric between her thumb and forefinger. “Why should you apologize for that?”
He tried again to fold as she had done, but he seemed all thumbs. He reached over and placed the remaining rags in her lap. “There is a reason men don’t do this.”
She smiled briefly.
“I need to apologize because you are unmarried, I had no right to touch you.”
“My virtue is still intact.” She shrugged, but Alex couldn’t help but think she looked somewhat sad. “There was no harm done.”
“Still, there could have been significant damage had someone seen us,” he said.
She rounded her shoulders and sat straighter. “Well, I found the entire experience particularly enjoyable,” Mia said. “I am rather offended you feel the need to apologize.”
“That makes no sense,” Alex said.
“So you came all the way over here under the pretense of inspecting my cottage, then you proceed to degrade my humble abode, and now you’re apologizing because you and I shared one tiny kiss.” Her voice overflowed with indignation.
“It was not a pretense, your cottage is my responsibility,” he said. While the statement was perfectly true, he still lied when he said it. Hell, he’d come here partially to apologize for kissing her, but also to see if he was tempted to kiss her again. And he was. More than he’d been tempted earlier. But he couldn’t kiss her now. Not when he’d seen the truth of her situation.
She’d lived at the edge of Danbridge Hall for nearly a decade in acceptable accommodations, though they were clearly beneath her station. And he’d allowed it. He and his father and his brother before him. They’d sat over at Danbridge on their plush upholstered chairs, eating their fine dinners while Mia had resorted to stuffing a blanket beneath her door simply to keep warm.
“Tell me the truth.” She turned her body to face him, the rag half-folded in her lap. Her eyes met his and he would have sworn that she saw him, saw into him, she looked so deeply. “The real reason you’re apologizing is because you’re afraid I will cry foul and try and force you to marry me.”
He took a sobering breath. She wanted him to be honest. “I won’t lie, the thought did cross my mind,” Alex said.
“Might I remind you that I never asked you to marry me, nor do I have any desire to marry,” she said. “You or anyone else.”
“Well, that’s ridiculous, every woman wants to get married,” Alex said.
She was quiet for a moment, then she spoke, “You honestly believe that, don’t you? That women simply sit around waiting for some man to come along and save them from their lives of boredom and ignorance? Well, as you can see, I’m doing quite well here on my own,” she said, doing nothing to hide her anger. “Despite my broken cupboard doors.”
“Might I remind you that were it not for my family’s generosity, I don’t believe you’d have a cottage to live so well in,” he pointed out. He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth, but damn if she wasn’t infuriating. How could she be so bloody pompous wearing that ugly wool dress?
She came to her feet, her eyes flashed with anger. She tossed the remaining rags onto the sofa. “I will need some time, but I do believe I could find other arrangements. I should like to find somewhere that I don’t have to endure not only male advances but then suffer through their humiliating apologies afterward.”
He took a deep breath. “I don’t think that will be necessary. Mia, there is no need to be hasty. I was merely making a point. Women need men to care for them. There is nothing wrong with that, it is simply the way our society is structured.”
She made a little growly sound and he could have sworn she appeared about to strike him. “You want to know something?” She tossed a neatly folded rag onto the floor. “I didn’t want to tell you earlier until I was certain for fear that it would make you angry, but now I can say that I honestly don’t care. I think your brother might be the killer,” she said.
“What the devil are you talking about?” Alex asked. She was angry, he could see that, but she was talking nonsense as though she were as mad as his mother claimed.
She hugged her arms around her body. “Earlier today when he came up to me and said those vile things, he got close enough for me to smell him and there was something horribly familiar about his scent. Something that I can’t ignore.” She swallowed and Alex saw fear etched in her features. “He smelled like the killer,” she said softly. “As soon as I made the connection, I tried to think of a way to tell you.” She released an awkward chuckle. “That’s not precisely how I imagined doing it.”
She was not merely trying to retaliate, she was being completely honest.
“Drew can be an ass, I will give you that. He’s spoiled and arrogant, but he’s not violent.” But was that really the truth? Damnation, Alex didn’t really know. He didn’t know his brother anymore. And he did remember the time when Drew had gotten into a fight with some bloke at a pub. For all he knew, it happened all the time. He had come home, on more than one occasion, with a blackened eye and broken knuckles. But then Drew had moved out of Danbridge a few months before and Alex was not as privy to his brother’s comings and goings.
And he couldn’t ignore Drew’s demeanor from their earlier conversation. When Alex had confronted him in the hall, he’d seemed cold, his eyes dark with rage.
Still, violence toward a woman was a totally different matter than drunken brawls and sibling rivalry. Alex felt certain his brother wasn’t capable of hurting a woman, let alone brutally killing her.
“Are you so certain?” she asked.
“I am,” he said. He was surprised at the level of confidence in his tone. “But if it will make you feel better, I will ask him.”
“You’ll ask him? Oh, I’m certain that if he is guilty then he’ll simply come right out and tell you all about how he cut those women to death,” Mia said.
“Enough.” Alex took another deep breath. “Contrary to how it might appear, I did not come here to argue with you, nor have you hurl insults about my family.” Nor had he intended to insult her by apologizing for the kiss. Though that was most certainly how she’d taken his atonement. Most women would have taken that apology to heart and whether or not they forgave him, they would have appreciated the effort. But not Mia—she was offended that he’d regretted the kiss. What she didn’t know was that he didn’t regret it for a moment. Hell, he wanted to kiss her again, right now. But convention demanded he seek forgiveness for taking liberties with her and he complied. Society did not, however, have rules for what one should do if a lady takes offense at said apology.
“I will look into matters with Drew, but I can assure you that the scent must be nothing more than a coincidence. There are only so many hair tonics and the like that men use.” Though Alex knew Drew had none of those. He’d seen the man and he’d been filthy. Perhaps she’d smelled nothing more than the alcohol. Regardless, he would speak to his brother and find out precisely what he’d been up to.
Chapter Nine
Alex had taken the route back to his house through the alleyway. He wanted, one more time, to walk through the area, see where Mia had hidden and where the killer had escaped. Drew hadn’t been by Danbridge that night and Alex wanted to see where his brother could have been going by traveling that alleyway. Of course he thought Mia’s accusation to be groundless. Drew wasn’t a killer. Even though Alex had not spent much time with his brother in recent years, he felt certain about that fact.
By the time he made it back to the yards leading to his house, the sun had set and darkness had settled over London. Gaslights lit the street on the front side of the house, illuminating the way to Hyde Park. Carriages and horses rumbled through the street.
He was supposed to have attended the Wakefield ball tonight. He hadn’t wanted to go and though he didn’t exactly have a legitimate excuse, he’d begged off earlier that day. His mother had not been happy, but insisted on attending in his stead and making his apologies for him. He hoped she’d already left, but as he rounded the corner to the front drive he saw her waiting carriage. She was still home. No doubt looking for him to offer one more biting bit of advice.
Hodges stood in the entryway as Alex entered. “She hasn’t left yet?” Alex asked softly.
Hodges’s lips quirked. “No,
Your Grace, your mother has already left for the ball. The carriage is Master Drew’s.”
“Before he leaves again, send him into my study.” He wasn’t quite certain what precisely he intended to tell Drew, but he knew he needed to speak with him.
Hodges nodded and Alex disappeared into his study.
Alex considered Mia’s words. Something about Drew had smelled like the killer. Well, hell, Drew, no doubt, smelled like any number of wastrels in London who favored too much smoke and too much bourbon. Though Drew always began his nights drinking the more expensive brands, by the time the evening wore on and early morning approached, Alex knew the pubs would serve the cheaper varieties. And the patrons were probably none the wiser.
But surely Mia knew the smell of bourbon. He might not make such an assumption, but she had a keener sense of smell than most people. She had recognized on him the fact that he’d danced with a handful of different women. And he could not even detect one of their perfumes on his own person.
There had to be a better way of pinpointing precisely what she smelled on Drew that had reminded her of the killer.
Drew took that moment to step into the study. “I don’t take kindly to you ordering me about,” he said, his dark scowl from before still firmly in place.
“I only wish to have a word with you,” Alex said to him and beckoned with his hand. They had ended that last conversation poorly and Alex knew one thing about Drew, as long as he felt bullied he would close himself off. And Alex had already offended someone today unintentionally. So he decided to try and remain calm and merely have a discussion with his brother.
Drew fell onto the settee, boots and all, making no mind to the uncouth behavior.
Alex exhaled slowly, but did not say anything. He had more important things to discuss than Drew’s poor manners. He could critique his habits with furniture later.
“Where have you been going these last few nights?” Alex asked.
Drew eyed him warily, then shrugged. “Here and there. The club, a ball or two. The usual.” His tone was casual as was his demeanor. So far nothing had put him on edge. Alex knew he would need to probe further to get any real answers.
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