Tempting Danger: Sinclair and Raven series

by Vella, Wendy

“Of course. I had thought he’d returned to Briarwood.”

  “He is due to leave today. I shall get Milton to show him in.”

  Alice paced about the room, wondering what she should say to her old friend. He was in the doorway before she’d thought of anything.

  “Can you ever forgive me?” Barty walked toward her, hands out. Alice took them willingly. “My dear friend, say you will.”

  “Of course!” Alice hugged him close, and as she did so she knew that was all he’d ever be, a friend. “Come and sit with me, Barty.”

  “I have spent the last two weeks righting some of the wrongs I have done since arriving in London and avoiding you.”

  “Oh no, Barty. You should never avoid me. We will always be friends.”

  “I showed a grave weakness in abandoning my family, Alice. I am ashamed of what I became, but it will not happen again. Thanks to your intervention, I am able to return home with hope.”

  “Not I. It was Lord Braithwaite and the others in my family who helped you.”

  “But it was you who told them about me. For that I will be forever grateful, Alice.”

  “I am glad it is over, Barty. Verity will be pleased to have you home.”

  “Lord Braithwaite came to see me yesterday. It was he who told me you were there outside Bastil’s. A risk you should never have taken, Alice.”

  “I know, but Verity was desperate.”

  His collar was creased and his necktie coming loose. The little imperfections made her smile.

  “She had no right to ask those things of you, but I am glad she did, for I’m not sure where I would have ended up otherwise.”

  “What did Lord Braithwaite say to you, Barty?”

  “He spoke of what his life had once been like, how he’d lost the trust and respect of everyone he cared for due to his excessive drinking and gambling.”

  Alice hadn’t expected that of Nicholas. She knew he was a good man, but to go and speak with Barty about such a painful time in his life could not have been easy.

  “We talked for some time, and I realized that what he said was true.”

  “What did he say?”

  “That throwing my life away would only lead to heartbreak for me and those closest. That nothing good would come from my self-destruction, and to walk away now showed courage, and he offered me his support should I ever need it in the future. Should I weaken.”

  Barty gripped her hand tight.

  “I want to be a better man, Alice, but I’m not sure as yet how to do that. Lord Braithwaite has given me some ideas for increasing our depleted coffers, and I owe him for clearing my debts. I could not refuse him but will repay every penny.”

  “He cleared your debts?”

  “Insisted on it, even when Wolf said he’d do it.”

  Why had Nicholas insisted on doing this when Wolf offered?

  “He wanted to help me like the Duke of Raven helped him,” Barty said, as if reading her thoughts. “He’s a good man, Alice, and thinks highly of you.”

  “No, he doesn’t, it is just that we are connected by family.”

  “If you say so.” Barty looked doubtful.

  “I know so.”

  “Are we still friends, Alice? Or has my disreputable character turned you from me forever?”

  “You do not have a disreputable character. You would have come about.”

  His smile was sad.

  “No. You were always stronger than me, Alice. But I am determined to get there. Determined to show Verity and Mother that I can be the man they believed I could be.”

  “I know you will.”

  He looked at her for long seconds.

  “We are friends, Alice. The very best of friends.”

  “And will always be so.”

  He nodded.

  “But I think marriage will not suit us.”

  She felt sadness, then, for the gentle love she’d always carried for this man. For the dream of the comfortable, happy life they’d one day share.

  “Yes. I think there is every possibility that if we did, you would dispose of me at some stage.”

  That made him laugh.

  “You are a managing woman, after all.”

  “I am not!”

  The look he threw her was pitying.

  “Very well, but I am trying to change.”

  “Why? I love the way you are. In fact, I’ve often wished for more of your gumption. Don’t change.”

  “My actions have caused others pain. My impetuous nature and determination to do exactly what I believe should be done has hurt people. Lord Braithwaite is one of those, Barty. I can’t allow that to happen again.”

  “Lord Braithwaite holds no grudge against you. Don’t change, Alice. Always be true to yourself.” He rose to his feet and kissed her forehead. “Goodbye, my dearest friend, and thank you for saving me.”

  She cried after he had gone. Cried for the dreams of marriage and a life of comfort, and for the man who was her friend.

  “Alice?”

  She scrubbed her eyes before facing her brother. Not that she could hide anything from him. His eyes saw a great deal more than most.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I just spoke with Barty.”

  He came into the room, stopping before her.

  “H-he is going home, Wolf. We will not marry.”

  Big arms reached out to pull her close, and she gladly accepted the hug. Neither of them spoke for a while, it was enough to just be comforted by this brother of hers, whom she loved very much.

  “Nicholas is calling by shortly. He wishes to discuss something with me, but I shall put him off if you wish to go for a walk or—”

  “No! Please see him. I am to go shopping with Kate.”

  “That doesn’t sound to me like it excites you overly.” Wolf gripped her shoulders as she began to move away. “You have been the model sister for two weeks, Alice. You’re scaring me.”

  “Why? I thought this is what you wanted?”

  “I want you to be happy and safe. I don’t want you to be someone you are not. Yes, I want you to show caution and not place yourself in situations that could harm you and your reputation. But I don’t want your personality to change. It upsets me to see you this way, so perfect it is nauseating.”

  “And yet you were angry with me for what I did... have done, so I am trying to change, and now you tell me you do not like that change. And they say women are fickle.”

  Wolf sighed.

  “I don’t want you to be unhappy, Alice. Can you understand that?”

  “I want to go home to Briarwood, Wolf. I understand the rules there, and I fit. London is not for me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m different—”

  “As are we all. Surely it is better to be with people who understand you than in Briarwood without us?”

  “I want to go home.”

  She’d thought about this. Thought about her growing awareness of Nicholas and the mistakes she’d made in London. Going home would mean she could avoid him, and people knew her there. She could once again be plain, boring Alice Sinclair.

  “No. You will stay for the remainder of the season.”

  Alice took a step back, away from Wolf.

  “But I am unhappy here.”

  “Unhappy surrounded by love?”

  “My lord, Lord Braithwaite has arrived.”

  “Thank you, Milton. Please take him to my office, I shall be there shortly. We will continue this discussion later, Alice.”

  “I don’t believe there is anything to say. Now I must go, as Kate will be waiting for me.”

  Ignoring Wolf, she walked from the room, looked left and right, then ran to her bedroom to collect her bonnet. Pulling it on quickly, she tied the ribbons, grabbed her gloves and the basket of knitting she wanted to deliver to Lilly’s house in Temple Street for the children, and stepped back out the door.

  She then walked quietly along the hall to the stairs.

 
; “Hello, Alice.”

  She squeaked in surprise at the deep words from behind but didn’t turn. Instead, raising a hand, she hurried down the next set of stairs.

  “Good day to you, Lord Braithwaite. I must go, as my family is awaiting me.”

  “Alice, if you’ll—”

  “Can’t stop!” Alice cut him off, then leapt the last three steps. She stumbled forward, gripping the basket tight, and managed to stay upright.

  “That was elegant,” Kate said as she arrived at her side.

  “Let’s go.” Alice urged Kate forward. He was coming downstairs; she could hear his footsteps.

  “Alice, I just—”

  She grabbed her sister’s arm and stepped outside with the maid following. She then hurried them to the carriage.

  “What’s the hurry?” Kate asked.

  “No time to wait, there is shopping to be done.”

  “You loathe shopping, and Nicholas—”

  “No, I don’t loathe shopping,” Alice cut her sister off. She then exhaled as the door shut and the carriage rolled away.

  “You do. You said last time that you would rather spend the entire day with Mr. Brussel, and as he smells fusty and spits when he talks. And of course there is his love of eels—”

  “Yes, yes, I take your point.” It was infuriating when your sister had the memory of an elephant.

  “Do you know what I think?”

  “No, and I don’t want to.” Alice looked out the window instead of at her smirking sister, who looked pretty in cream and apple blossom.

  “I think,” Kate never took instruction well, “you are avoiding Nicholas. He and I talked about that very thing.”

  “Please tell me that’s a lie.” Alice felt ill at the thought.

  “Very well, that’s a lie. Of course, you running out the house today to avoid him merely confirms my belief.”

  “I did not run.”

  “You did, with Nicholas on your heels.”

  “I seriously dislike you sometimes,” Alice sighed as she had no other words.

  “No, you love me.”

  Alice found herself laughing.

  “Are you all right, Alice?”

  She took the hand her sister held out to her.

  “I am, Kate. I promise, but I would rather speak on another matter.”

  “Very well.”

  She needed new gloves, and Alice a bonnet. They would also be going to the bookstore.

  Stepping from the carriage, they discussed a time for its return, then walked along the street. The next hour was spent thinking about something other than what she’d done to Nicholas.

  “Good day to you, Miss Sinclair.”

  They were wandering along the street when Miss Krimpton, Miss Haye, and Miss Morton greeted them.

  “Good day.” Alice and Kate curtseyed. “This is my sister, Miss Kate Sinclair.”

  “Are you to visit Mrs. Bonshire’s?” Miss Krimpton asked.

  “Yes, that is our next destination,” Alice said. “I require a new bonnet.”

  “Ours also. Come, we shall go together.”

  Alice had conversed with these women once, and they were harmless enough, if a little silly.

  “I was just telling Amelia and Jane that my mother wishes me to marry in my first season, Miss Sinclair. My sister and she did, so it is expected.”

  Beside her, Kate made a choking sound. Alice pinched her arm.

  “But surely if you do not meet a man you wish to marry then you cannot do so, Miss Krimpton?”

  Alice had thought it a sensible question, but the three women tittered in that way that suggested they knew something Alice did not. It annoyed her immensely.

  “What do wishes have to do with anything, Miss Sinclair? It is expected.”

  She looked around the faces of each; they all nodded. Dressed in the latest fashions, they looked pretty and innocent, untouched by the reality of life that many people were forced to live. Yet they believed marriage was the only bright light in their future. Alice sent up a silent thank-you that Wolf did not feel the same way.

  “But you cannot wish to spend your life with a man you do not like?” Alice did not use the word love for fear of suffering another bout of tittering.

  “Love will come later, Miss Sinclair. It is the way of things,” Miss Krimpton said with a worldly air that suggested she knew more than she actually did.

  “Right” was all Alice could manage, as the entire conversation was most unsettling. “Thank you for enlightening me.”

  “If these are an example of the people I shall meet in society, I’m not sure I want to enter it.” The words were whispered by Kate. Alice ignored them, even though her sister had a point.

  They entered the milliner’s, and more tittering ensued, which had more choking sounds coming from Kate.

  “I danced with Lord Braithwaite last night.” Miss Krimpton sighed. She seemed to be the leader of the three and did most of the talking. “He is on Mother’s list.”

  “List?” Alice absolutely did not feel a jolt of panic at the mention of Nicholas.

  “Of prospective husbands,” Miss Krimpton said, drawing her shoulders back in preparation of the pearl of wisdom she was about to share with Alice and Kate.

  “You have a list?” It took a great deal to shock Alice. When you lived with a family like hers, there was not much that could, plus the things she’d heard had stripped much of her innocence away.

  “Of course, we all do!”

  The other ladies nodded. All now wore silly smiles. Alice pretended to scratch her ear and instead forced the earplug in her right ear deeper into the canal. These women tended to speak in extremely loud voices.

  “Oh, can you believe it?” cried Miss Krimpton. “It is as if we have conjured him up!”

  “What?” Kate asked, looking around her.

  “Lord Braithwaite just walked by the window. In fact, he has stopped outside.”

  Alice moved slightly, putting herself behind a cabinet and therefore out of sight from whoever looked in the window.

  “He has the most wonderful shoulders, don’t you think, Amelia?” Miss Krimpton looked even more excited, if that was possible.

  “Oh indeed,” Miss Morton sighed.

  “Perhaps, as there is a connection with your families, Miss Sinclair, you could engage him in conversation and we could join you?”

  “That would be acceptable,” they all agreed.

  These women may appear all that was correct and sweet, but in fact they were extremely calculated and focused on their goal: marriage to a wealthy and titled man.

  The women started tittering about the possibilities.

  “We really are not that well acquainted,” Alice said, which made their faces fall.

  “Oh, he is leaving.”

  Alice felt a flood of relief. She would not need to stay in the milliner’s for the remainder of the day now. The women went back to studying bonnets.

  “Benjamin Hetherington is handsome,” Miss Cantrell sighed. “’Tis quite a shame he is wed now to that woman.”

  “Such a shame. His brother is also handsome and quite the man of fashion.”

  “That woman?” Alice asked remembering Primrose Hetherington from the picnic, and quite liking her.

  “She really was a nobody, and yet she snared one of the most eligible bachelors. It was distressing for us, as you can imagine.”

  No, I can’t.

  “Well, we must be off, Alice. We are to meet our family at the tea shop, if you will remember?” Kate had moved to her side.

  “Oh yes, of course, I had quite forgotten the time in my enjoyment of seeing you all,” Alice said. Kate moaned softly. The women smiled, more than happy with the compliment.

  “Dear lord, are they all like that?” Kate asked when they had left the shop.

  Alice looked left and right, then straight ahead, and saw no sign of Nicholas. If she did, she’d duck into a shop.

  “I don’t know them all, but some are,
yes.”

  “You must be bored silly.”

  “No. There are actually some nice and interesting members of society. Granted, most of them are our family, but there are a few others. You met the Langley sisters and their husbands at the picnic.”

  “Yes, they were nice.”

  “I know my baby was alive!”

  “Did you hear that?”

  Kate frowned, shaking her head. Looking around, Alice saw no one nearby.

  “But there is nothing that can be done, Meggie. The baby is dead, and you must start back with your sewing. Your family needs you.”

  “The voice is coming from over there,” Alice said taking Kate’s hand as they crossed the road.

  “What is being said?”

  “They are discussing a baby.”

  “Alice—”

  “I feel the need to investigate, Kate.”

  “Very well.”

  Kate was used to Alice’s urges, as she had them herself.

  “My baby was alive, I tell you, Peg.”

  Up ahead was a half wall. The Sinclair sisters walked around it and found two women seated on a bench on the other side. One held a small babe in her arms, the other watched a young girl playing in the dirt close by.

  “Good day.”

  The women looked up, and the one with the baby struggled to rise.

  “No, please, stay seated, as you both look comfortable,” Alice said.

  They nodded, but it was the one looking at the young girl who drew Alice’s eyes. Misery radiated off her in waves.

  “Is that your daughter?”

  She nodded.

  “She is very sweet.”

  “I should have a babe in my arms too!”

  “Meggie!” The other woman looked shocked at the outburst. “You must not speak to the lady that way.”

  “No, please,” Alice came forward and dropped to a crouch before the woman. Kate stood at her back. “Tell me what has happened?”

  “It’s nonsense, miss.”

  “It’s not nonsense, Peg,” the one called Meggie said. “My baby cried, I heard it.”

  “Tell me your story... please,” Alice said. She remembered Nicholas speaking about the woman who had birthed a baby boy, and she too had believed it was born alive, but the midwife had stated it was dead.

  Unease trickled down her spine as she looked at the grieving woman.

  “I had my baby, and i-it was a b-boy.” Meggie sniffed as tears began to fall down her cheeks.