Taming His Hellion Countess

by Sorcha Mowbray

  Cooper sat in his study, not so patiently waiting to hear word from Flint. He was the one currently tailing Emily, since she wouldn’t recognize him. Restlessness pushed him from his seat and had him pacing the length of the study. The room was long and narrow, giving him plenty of distance to travel before he was required to turn around and head in the other direction. He’d considered, and discarded, the notion of having a drink multiple times over the course of the morning, primarily because he needed his wits about him once he did have information he could act on.

  The concern of the moment was that while he was certain there was some underlying issue driving Emily to rob unsuspecting hostesses, until he knew what it was, he could do nothing. And that was something he’d failed at his entire life. He’d always been action oriented, even as a child. Adulthood had proven no different. He was not a man of leisure as a general rule. He rode daily, attended to estate business, and managed a few discreet philanthropic endeavors.

  A knock on the door interrupted his pacing and produced Flint, much to Cooper’s surprise. “Why the devil are you here?”

  “I had Linc pick up the watch at her home after she ran her morning errands because I knew you would wish to hear where she’d been.”

  Flint strode in and made himself comfortable in a chair.

  “What news?” Cooper’s heart skipped a beat. Could there be another man? He knew it to be a foolish thought, but doubt assailed him for the briefest of moments as he waited for his friend to speak.

  Flint hesitated a moment. “Her first stop this morning was Lucifer’s.”

  Cooper blinked. “The gambling hell?”

  “The very same.” Flint shrugged. “She was there perhaps half an hour.”

  Fury spun through Cooper as all the possibilities whirled through his mind. “And you did not see fit to send for me? She could have been ravished or killed in that den!”

  “Cooper, it’s Lucifer’s. It’s not as if she strolled into Mad Molly’s. Lucifer is mostly a gentleman.” Flint’s tone admonished Cooper as much as his words. “He rarely kills anyone, since he far prefers to be paid the money owed him.”

  “What the blazes was she doing there?”

  Cooper’s mind flitted toward another man but once more dismissed it as quickly. Then he considered that she might have a gambling issue. But his little hellion had far too much self-discipline for such dissipation. Perhaps the man was a buyer of her stolen goods? That made infinitely more sense than any other possibility he had identified.

  “I do not know, though she was sound of body and appeared unmolested when she departed. I had considered knocking on the door to see if I could ascertain why she was inside for so long, but then she tumbled right out of the building and practically into my arms. Once she was steady on her feet, she pulled away from me and set off briskly down the street.”

  “Did you speak?” Worry gnawed at Cooper, making him fidget worse than before.

  Flint nodded. “Briefly. I asked if she was well. She said she was and then took off. I followed her as she did some shopping, picking up a few items here and there, and then she went home. That was when I sent for Linc, so he could take over and I could come here.”

  Cooper pinched the bridge of his nose and considered his options. He could confront Emily and demand she tell him where she had been and why, which would likely cause her to break their arrangement since his inquiry violated one of the terms. Or he could visit Lucifer and see why Emily had been there. He still couldn’t imagine her as a gambler, let alone someone who gambled at a hell. But clearly, she had some business with the man or she wouldn’t have visited such a place.

  “I had my man do a passing check to ensure no scandal was associated with the family, and that all seemed as expected with their finances, but now I wonder if there might be something else there of import. I know Lucifer also provides high-interest loans, so perhaps the family needed some blunt to float things through the season?”

  Flint shrugged. “They wouldn’t be the first of the ton to find themselves in such straits.”

  “I believe it is time I pay Mr. Lucifer a visit and get the truth of the matter,” Cooper said as he rose from his desk.

  Flint nodded in agreement as they went in search of the man with the answers.

  Cooper and Flint finally walked into Lucifer’s just after the gambling hell opened its doors for the night. Their efforts to see the owner of the club earlier that day had proven futile, ending with them retiring to their club for a while. They had then agreed to meet when the establishment opened. At eight o’clock, it was just humming to life with staff bustling about making last-minute preparations. A behemoth of a man greeted them and bid them to wait while he went in search of his boss.

  At first glance in the dimly lit main gambling rooms, the club offered the appearance of extravagant opulence. There was blue velvet draped everywhere, with gold fringe dangling around its edges. The floors were black-and-white tile, which Cooper imagined held up well to the nightly crowds that gathered around the blue-felt-covered gambling tables. He counted a dozen card tables on each side of the hell.

  Upon closer inspection, the truth of Lucifer’s shone through. Many of the floor tiles were cracked. The drapes were a thin velvet material—not the thick lush velvet found in White’s—with burn holes tucked into the folds, and the fringe was tattered and fraying in places. The tables appeared to be in decent shape, as they were a vital part of the hell’s success.

  Having just returned to the foyer from their circuit of the gambling rooms, the oversized brute returned. “Mr. Lucifer will see you now.”

  With a nod, they followed the man up the stairs and along an upper gallery. They entered a large, spacious office through double doors and found Lucifer sitting behind an imposing desk with a stack of papers to his left and a glass of whisky on his right.

  The dark-haired man wore a close-cropped beard that added to his sinister look. But it was his dark eyes that seemed to penetrate a man, seeing deep within to his innermost secrets and weaknesses. Perhaps they were merely fanciful thoughts, but Cooper much preferred to conduct his business and be gone.

  The darker man stood up. “Good evening, Lord Brougham, Lord Flintshire. How may I be of service to you?”

  Cooper stepped closer to the desk and shook hands with the self-made man—by all accounts, Lucifer had grown up in the gutters of Seven Dials and built the empire he now ran. “I’ve come to speak with you about Lady Emmaline Winterburn.”

  “Please, sit.” Lucifer waved them over to the chairs across from his desk. “May I offer you something to drink?”

  Cooper and Flint both declined and waited silently for their host to get down to business.

  Settling back into his chair, Lucifer offered a wry twist of his lips. “I’m afraid I am unable to discuss my clientele. You see, they expect a certain level of confidentiality.”

  Cooper sighed. “Mr. Lucifer, I am aware that Lady Emmaline has been here to visit you. In light of this knowledge, I am concerned that she may be under some financial obligation to you. If that were the case, I would be interested in settling her debt on her behalf.”

  “Intriguing.” Lucifer reached for his glass and took a drink. “However, Lady Emmaline herself is in no debt to me.”

  Confused, Cooper sat forward. “I do not understand. If she has no business with you, then why would she frequent your establishment?”

  Lucifer smiled, a sly, knowing grin. “I said she had no debt. I did not say she did not have business. She has taken an interest in her brother’s activities of late, and the rather unfortunate—for him—outcome.”

  Cooper and Flint looked at each other. Of course. Dunmere was running with a rather wild set these days, and it seemed his pockets were not so deep as his cronies’.

  “And Lady Emmaline’s interest, I assume, is in squaring the debt with you?”

  “Indeed. Though I do believe she is in danger of coming up short, my lord.”

  Bloody
hell.

  “I believe we can see to it that that is not the case.”

  Cooper reached inside his coat to retrieve his cheque-book.

  Lucifer hesitated, despite the opportunity to be paid.

  “While I would gladly settle the debt here and now, I do fear the lady in question might take exception to such intervention on her behalf.”

  “And why would you care about whether Lady Emmaline might take exception or not?”

  Lucifer grinned. “Well, she is a feisty thing. Would you believe me if I suggested I feared for my well-being?”

  “Mr. Lucifer. I believe you are a man who is in business to make money. While I do not engage in trade, I am no fool. Now, I would like to settle the debt and be on about my evening.” Cooper couldn’t tamp down his impatience.

  “And normally, you would be right. But I find myself interested in possibly helping Lady Emmaline when she fails to satisfy the debt.”

  The lascivious gleam in Lucifer’s eyes was more than Cooper was willing to tolerate.

  “Lady Emmaline is mine. In any event, she would never succumb to your unscrupulous offer. I suggest you name the amount owed you and train your sights on another desperate woman,” Cooper snarled, his anger far outstripping his well-ingrained manners.

  Lucifer’s brows rose high above his dark eyes. “I see. I suppose I should have known that if you were here tracking her movements, she had some tie to you.” The man sighed. “Well, that is damned disappointing.”

  Lucifer opened a ledger sitting in the middle of his desk and flipped through a few pages. Finally, he looked up from his notations. “Dunmere owed me five thousand pounds. Lady Emmaline recently made a payment of fifteen hundred pounds, so that leaves…”

  “Thirty-five hundred pounds.” Cooper cut the man off as he wrote out the cheque. “And shall I make this payable directly to you?”

  “That will suffice, my lord.” Lucifer watched carefully as Cooper handed him the cheque. “Though, as you seem to be so generously absolving Lord Dunmere’s debt, you may wish to know I am not his only debt holder.”

  Flint, who had remained silent throughout their exchange, sat up. “Who else might hold his vowels?”

  “Mind you, it is merely rumor. But I have heard that he owes Lord Worthington a small—though not inconsiderable—amount.” Lucifer rose from his desk after tucking the cheque in his ledger. “Now, if you gentlemen wouldn’t mind, I do have a business to run.”

  Cooper and Flint stood to go, but Cooper hesitated. “I would appreciate your discretion with regard to our business here. Particularly where Lady Emmaline is concerned.”

  Lucifer did not miss a step as he strode to the double doors of his office and opened them. “You may rest assured that, if at all possible, I plan to avoid Lady Emmaline, considering the nature of our business.” He hesitated. “Of course, should you tire of her quickly, I could certainly be persuaded to take her off your hands.”

  Cooper glared at the unscrupulous gambling hell owner and growled. “The hell you will. She’s mine.”

  Chapter 12

  Two days later, with all of Lord Dunmere’s vowels in hand, Cooper paid him a visit during a time when he knew Emily would be out. A bleary-eyed, more masculine version of Emily peered at him from across a walnut desk that seemed to be the only quality piece of furniture in the study.

  “To what do I owe the honor of another visit from the esteemed Lord Brougham?”

  Cooper wanted to smack the fool. Instead, he opted for a little shock value. He held up the pile of chits he now possessed. “I should think you would be a bit more cordial to the man who currently holds all seventy-eight hundred pounds of your debt in his hand.”

  Dunmere sat up, his already pale face now ashen. “All of my debt? What do you want?”

  “Besides payment?” Cooper let his annoyance shine through.

  “I assume there is something more at play here than a man looking to turn a profit. I doubt debt collection is the most profitable of investments.”

  Apparently, her brother, when cornered, showed small flashes of the steel found deep within his sister.

  Perhaps the man was salvageable? He decided to get straight to the point. “You are correct, Dunmere. I am here because I want your sister.”

  The once-pale man turned flush—with laughter. He literally bent over himself guffawing.

  Cooper sat and waited for the man’s humor to subside. It took longer than he liked.

  Finally, Dunmere straightened in his chair and leaned back, once more the insouciant lord, with the exception of the occasional chuckle that still burst free. “I’m afraid you may have misspent your money if you think you can buy my influence over my sister. She’d be far more inclined to sell herself in a direct transaction than to bend to my will.”

  Bloody hell! Cooper wanted to throttle the foolish man. “I do not need your influence so much as I need you to cease being a burden on your sister.”

  The last vestiges of the man’s good humor dissipated in the blink of an eye. “Here now, I shall not have a man, one whose reputation for debauchery far outstrips any vice I may have, sit in my home and question my manhood.”

  “Good God, man! You have no idea what your hellion sister has been up to, have you?” Cooper was incredulous. He’d assumed the man simply had turned a blind eye to serve his own purposes. He had not expected him to be so deep in his own world that he was oblivious.

  Dunmere sat forward. “What do you mean by calling Emily a hellion? She is a wonderful woman who does her very best to care for me and manage this household under rather difficult circumstances.” He snorted. “The woman practically blends into the woodwork at balls!”

  Cooper made a tsking sound as he shook his head. “Lord Dunmere, your sister is a master at getting people to see what she wants. Or, more correctly, presenting the appearance of what they wish to see.”

  “Do not be ridiculous.” The man waved his hand in punctuation.

  “Are you aware that your sister knows of your gambling debts?” Cold determination filled Cooper as he started down the path of truth with Emily’s brother.

  The man looked down at his hands. Cooper assumed he was hiding his shame.

  “I am. You may have noticed she has stripped this house bare to try to raise the funds for me.”

  “Are you also aware that she has visited Mr. Lucifer multiple times in relation to your debt?” Cooper waited as he gauged the man’s response.

  Her brother’s face first drained of all color then. After a moment of sheer terror, he turned purple with fury. “You dare suggest such vile things about my sister?”

  “I speak only the truth. A rather unsavory one, though not of the nature you are thinking.” Cooper paused to draw a breath. “Arthur… Do you mind if I call you Arthur? I believe we shall be brothers-in-law soon enough. The point of fact is, she visited the man to assess your debt and try to get it lowered. Failing in that, she has since set out on her own to clear your marker. At least the large one she knows about.”

  Confusion clouded strangely familiar blue eyes. “If you aren’t suggesting something salacious, then how is she paying off my debts? The house is barely standing, she has stripped it so clean, and I know it barely covers our month-to-month expenses, let alone pays back what I now owe you.”

  “Precisely. How do you think your sister has managed to pay off fifteen hundred pounds of your debt?” Cooper let one brow rise.

  “I don’t know, and I am not sure I wish to.” Arthur blanched, a shadow of fear flitting across his haggard features.

  Cooper wasn’t sure how the man was still upright with all the wild swings in temperament on top of the headache and dyspepsia he was clearly suffering. He’d have cast up his own accounts if he hadn’t been sober as a judge at the moment. “No, you don’t, but I shall tell you anyhow. Your sweet wallflower sister is a thief.”

  “The hell, you say!” Arthur snarled as he shot forward across the desk to grab for Cooper.

>   Seated more than far enough back to avoid being touched, he pressed on. “In fact, your sister is the Waltzing Thief the papers have been writing about of late.”

  “You lie.” Arthur slumped over his desk and slithered back into his chair. “Please tell me you are lying.”

  But there was no doubt in Cooper’s mind her brother knew he was not lying, even as he still tried to deny the truth. “I wish I could. As it stands, I cannot. Returning to your earlier question of what I want besides the money you owe me. Through circumstances that I shall not delve into, I have become quite enamored of Lady Emmaline. I daresay I love her.”

  Arthur looked up after yet another shock, though this one appeared to be far less disturbing. “And what of her? Does she love you?”

  “Ah, you see, that is the quandary. Your sister, being of a stubborn bent, would not likely admit she did, even should it be the truth. I am slowly working her toward being comfortable with the notion. However, that will take time. Time I do not have if she continues to steal from hostesses during the balls she attends. What I need is for you to cease your childish behavior. Stop the gambling. Cut ties with those bad seeds you call friends, and take your estate in hand.”

  “You call my friends bad seeds? What of your lot?” Arthur glared, clearly not pleased with Cooper’s demand.

  “My friends are all bricks to a man. They have been and will continue to be reliable sorts who come when called, and sometimes even when I have not asked. They may enjoy the fleshly pleasures, but they do not allow such endeavors to interfere with their obligations to their titles and their families. You would do well to ape them.”

  Arthur sighed. “And if I refuse?”

  “If you refuse, I shall begin proceedings to take what remains of your holdings to satisfy your debts. I shall tell your sister the full scope of the debt you owe, and then I shall give her all your holdings and the monies I seize. You, my lord, will then be beholden to your younger sister for every scrap you eat, every piece of clothing on your back, and every farthing you spend.”