He’d not force himself on Nora. She’d made her choice.
And he’d made his.
∫ ∫ ∫
4 3
* * *
“Where is Lettie?” Nora asked the moment the door closed.
Meri blinked and then blinked again. “Hello, sister. How are you? How is marriage? I would like to say you seem happy, but apparently, that is not the case.” He left the foyer and went to the room their father had used as his study.
Nora followed. No, she wasn’t happy, but she had been before her brother had interfered with her life. “Why have you done this? Why did you take Miriam?”
Meri frowned and closed the door softly behind her. He stood close. “I didn’t take her anywhere. The girl came willingly. Ask her. She’ll tell you as much.”
Nora shook her head. “I don’t believe you. She’d never go anywhere with you. She doesn’t know you.”
Meri smiled. “Oh, but Miriam does know me, Nora. We’ve met before.”
Nora’s heart raced as her world ceased to make any sense. She wanted to sit. There was too much going on in her mind. She was worried about Lettie, Nora, and even Garrick. “When did you meet my daughter?”
“The girl should know her uncle.”
“When!”
Meri walked away. “I don’t like it when you shout, Rah Rah. It isn’t kind.”
Nora closed her eyes and tried to cool her temper. Anger would never get Meri to tell her what she needed to know. Shouting and violence only made Meri retreat into madness. That was why she’d told Garrick not to confront Meri. Her brother was not a normal man, and Nora needed to know where Lettie was, alive or dead.
She prayed she wasn’t dead.
Her brother pulled the bell and a maid came. “Get me my valet. I wish him to hang my jacket.”
Nora thought the request odd. The maid could have hung the jacket.
But then Nora remembered just who the valet was. Joshua. Did her brother know they were working together? Was he about to expose Joshua?
A moment later, a young man walked in.
She stared at the door and waited for Joshua, but Joshua never came and the other man she didn’t know took Meri’s jacket before he left.
Nora stared after the servant and then turned to her brother.
Meri’s grin was that of a madman. “Is there something you’d like to ask me, sister?”
Nora tried to swallow down her fear but couldn’t stop her body from trembling. Where was Joshua? What had Meri done to him? Had he fired him, or had he done something far worse?
Meri went to the window, grabbed both sides of the frame, and looked out. “Your husband seems to have left. It’s terrible the way the ones we love simply walk away from us, is it not?” Meri was no longer smiling when his eyes focused on Nora.
Garrick had left her. She wasn’t sure if that was worse than the fact that Meri was talking to her about Lady Christina as well. The woman must have left him.
Nora pretended she didn’t know. “Did you ever love anyone? I hadn’t been aware—”
A vase crashed into the wall side her, and Nora shrieked before she jumped away. Shards popped from the wall and cut into the back of her arm. She crouched behind the chair before the next object, a lamp, went crashing into the wall where she’d stood.
She had Garrick to thank for her fast reflexes.
“All I wanted to do was be a family!” Meri shouted at her. “All you had to do was come around once in a while. I’ve never done anything to deserve your hatred. All these years, I loved you! I never hurt you. I’ve done nothing to deserve this torment.”
Nora wept, clung to her bleeding arm, and remained out of sight.
“But perhaps,” Meri said. “Perhaps, it is time I did something to deserve it.”
The door was thrown open. “Nora!” Kent cried.
Nora stood up from her place behind the chair.
Kent looked at Nora and down at her arm. His face reddened. “Garrick is going to kill me.” Then his eyes blanked and turned cold.
Fear, far worse than what she’d felt for Meri, licked up her spine and held her hostage as Kent crossed to a shocked Meri.
Her brother had made the mistake of awakening the Earl of Ganden’s anger.
Kent’s hand was around Meri’s throat and he bellowed a furious cry as he flung Meri across the room. Her brother shot across their father’s old desk and landed in a heap on the floor.
Nora screamed, “Kent, don’t!”
Kent stalked Meri. “He doesn’t get to live, Nora. He doesn’t get to hurt you and live.”
This was the reason Nora had become a servant in Kent’s home. Gentlemen knew better than to breathe incorrectly around the Earl of Ganden.
Meri sat up and lifted his hands to ward off the next attack. “It was an accident. I swear. I would never hurt my sister.”
Kent reached out and plucked Meri onto his feet as though he weighed nothing.
That jolted Nora awake. “No! Kent, please. Don’t hurt him.”
Kent stilled.
Meri glanced over at her. “Thank you, N-nora. Sweet Honora. Bl-bless you.”
Nora held back telling Meri that she was only keeping him alive so she could find Lettie and focused on Kent. “Please. Let’s go. Miriam has been through enough. She doesn’t need to deal with this as well.”
Kent’s jaw muscles worked and then he tossed Meri back. Her brother landed back on his bottom, but he was alive.
Nora only got a glimpse of him before Kent was rushing her out of the house and into the carriage.
Miriam was there, waiting for her.
Her daughter gave her a teary frown. “There was a loud noise and then I heard you scream.” Miriam looked down at her arm.
Nora looked at it as well. It wasn’t that terrible. The few cuts were shallow. It was the sight of the blood against her pale skin that made it appear worse than it was. She smiled at Miriam even though she wanted to do nothing more than scream and cry. “Something broke. It’s all right. However, I want you to stay away from Uncle Meri.”
“Why?” Miriam asked. “He’s been nice to me.”
Nora held back the displeasure from her features. “Darling, when did you meet Uncle Meri?”
Miriam shrugged. Nora wanted to reach out, rip Lettie’s tiara from her daughter’s head, and toss it out of the carriage, but she didn’t.
“You can tell me,” Nora said. “You aren’t in any trouble.”
“But Uncle Meri is,” Miriam said with a sigh. “He helped me get George’s letters.”
“Lord Thinbrook has been in my home?” Kent had been brooding silently but seemed to come awake at that. He leaned forward and gave Miriam his full attention.
Miriam stiffened. “No, Roger only spoke to me at the park while I was playing,” she said. “Roger gave me George’s letters and introduced me to Uncle Meri there.”
Nora knew Roger. He was new. Young. Handsome like most footmen. He’d have only had the opportunity to speak to Miriam at the park where Nora was more likely to lose sight of her during a hiding game.
She’d never lose sight of her daughter again.
She thought of the description of the man Garrick had seen outside her window a week ago. It could have been Roger.
“So, I have a spy in my home.” Kent leaned back and seemed calm, but Nora knew the earl was imagining just how he’d break every bone in the servant’s body once he was found.
Nora had thought herself safe in Ganden’s home, but apparently, that was not so. Thinking that her brother had been that close for likely some time frightened her more than ever.
Nora didn’t get out. “I have to go home. I must speak to Garrick.”
“I don’t think Garrick’s home. You’re safe here until then. I’ll deal with Roger and speak to any other servants we’ve hired in the last few years.” Kent got out and then helped her and Miriam down.
Shame and sorrow pressed onto Nora’s heart. “I’m sorry I’v
e brought this into your life.”
“Never fear,” the earl said with a dark grin. “Life was beginning to get rather tedious. I’ve been wanting to break something.”
Nora shivered at what Ganden would do to Roger but felt little pity for the man who’d led her daughter to the one man she’d been fighting to keep her away from. She’d assumed George’s letters had been passed on by the housekeeper. She’d never known Roger to be intercepting them. “Why didn’t you tell me about Uncle Meri?”
Miriam shrugged. “He said you were upset with him, and he needed my help to make it better.”
Nora wrapped an arm around Miriam and wondered if she should have explained things about her brother to her daughter.
“Is Garrick here?” Nora rushed ahead, keeping Miriam with her. “I have to speak to him and explain to him what’s going on.”
“You’ll explain what’s going on to all of us.” It was no longer avoidable, Nora realized, but what could she say that wouldn’t put Lettie in danger? “But I doubt Garrick is here.” Inside, Kent spoke to a servant about getting Nora cleaned and bandaged.
“No, I don’t have time,” Nora said. “If Garrick is not here then—”
“You can’t go where he’s gone,” Kent said.
“Where has he gone?” Clive asked as he came into the foyer.
“Are Lucy and Alvin still at the park?” Kent asked.
“Yes,” Clive said.
“Good, stay here with Nora and Miriam. I need to find Roger.” Kent walked off in the direction of the servants’ quarters.
Clive frowned at his back and then turned to Nora. He looked at her arm, and his eyes widened. “What happened?”
Nora told him everything that had taken place. When she mentioned Roger’s actions, he’d grown livid. “But, I need to speak to Garrick. I may have said something that upset him. Kent believes he’s gone somewhere I can’t go.”
Her heart ached as she thought over Kent’s words. There were only a few places her husband could have gone that she couldn’t, and she didn’t believe the answers to be the jockey or gentlemen’s club.
Clive touched her shoulder. “When this matter is over, I’ll speak to him.” He turned and bent to Miriam. “You, my darling, must stay away from Roger and your Uncle Meri. Promise me that you will.”
Miriam nodded. “I promise.”
Clive nodded and straightened. “Let’s wait in the drawing room. Then I’ll go find your husband.”
Waiting was the last thing Nora wanted to do, but she knew she had little choice at the moment. She’d already caused too much trouble. The best thing to do now would be to work with the men and figure out just how much she was willing to share. The life of a woman depended on it.
∫ ∫ ∫
4 4
* * *
“Good. You’re here. Where’s Luke?” Mercy Leeland asked Garrick the moment he walked into the office.
Garrick looked to where she sat behind the desk and wondered why he’d thought to find peace at the brothel. He knew why he’d come. He’d wanted to hurt Nora. He’d decided any attempt at happiness had been foolish to begin with.
But happiness would not be found here either. He was tired of the place, tired of the girls and Mercy Leeland. “I don’t know.”
She frowned. “I don’t understand that.”
Garrick rolled his eyes and walked over to the desk. He wrote his answer for her and regretted that he’d not brought Andreas with him, but then again, he hadn’t wanted Andreas to see him. The man liked Nora. Between training Nora with knives, she spent time with Andreas to work on her signing. He would not be happy to know that Garrick was here at the moment.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Mercy asked. “I need him.” She looked panicked.
Garrick had come to get away from problems, not deal with someone else’s. He scrolled with more force in necessary on the paper. “Why?”
“Why?” Mercy asked. “He is my husband. That is reason enough.”
Garrick turned away and walked out the door. He’d come to the wrong place. These women, the brothel, it was no longer a place he could simply use for pleasure. He knew the women now, knew many of their issues and stories. He’d have to find a new brothel if he wished to seek revenge against Nora. He could look around. It wouldn’t take much effort.
Mercy caught him in the hall. “Lord Coalwater.”
He stopped when she came to stand before him.
Her hands were up. “All right, he wins.”
He crossed his arms and waited for Mercy to explain.
She straightened and then sighed with defeat and for the second time that day, he made a woman cry. “Please. I miss him. I want Luke to come home. I’m tired of being here. I hate it, but I understand that it is Luke’s business. It is how he provides for me.” She sighed again. “I was silly to think he came for any other reason than for work. Even when I was younger, Luke never touched the girls.” She blushed and said, “It took nearly a year for him to finally bed me.”
Garrick looked away as the image of Nora smiling while in his bed came to mind. There was no greater happiness in his world than her, yet she didn’t trust him. She trusted her brother, a man she didn’t like, more than Garrick.
He couldn’t go home.
He couldn’t stay here.
He had to leave.
“Will you find Luke for me?” Mercy asked. “I need to speak with my husband.” She looked around the brothel and then turned to him. “If I never step into this place again, I will be grateful.”
Garrick agreed. He left and went to his club. He secured himself a room for the evening, having no plans to return home but had barely laid down his head before Clive came in.
“Oh, good. You’re here. I feared you’d made a terrible mistake and had gone to the brothel.”
Garrick was sitting on the edge of a bed. He, like Mercy, was tired. Before Garrick had left Covent Garden, he’d looked around for Luke, but the man had yet to be found. Where was he?
Garrick was certain the man would be made glad by the information Garrick had for him. His wife wanted him home. It held more hope than Garrick’s own situation. “I did go to the brothel.”
“What? Why?” Clive’s eyes widened into pale moons. “You didn’t. Tell you didn’t—”
“I only spoke to Mercy.” But he’d gone with other intentions. He’d simply been unable to act on them. He’d been unable to even strike up the urge for sex and that was new to him. Usually, it only took a thought for Garrick’s body to become willing, yet only thoughts of Nora had any effect on him.
He was a ruined man.
Not even removing his ring had worked. He was no longer the man he’d been before marriage. In fact, he hadn’t been that man for some time. Since he’d caught wind of Nora’s interest in him, his mind had turned to the pursuit of her heart even before his mind knew that was what he’d been doing.
“That’s all? You only spoke to Mercy?”
Garrick nodded. “How is Miriam?” Though he’d taken a hackney from Lord Thinbrook’s home, he’d only had the man drive around the block. He’d returned and waited for the sight of Nora leaving her brother in Kent’s care before he’d truly left.
“You need to come and deal with this matter. Nora is willing and ready to explain to us what is going on.”
He was not surprised that the threat to Miriam had finally made Nora willing to share. Part of Garrick wanted to tell Clive that it was too late and that he no longer cared, but that wasn’t true. Anything that affected Nora or Miriam he cared about deeply. The women were his responsibility even if Nora and he no longer bedded each other.
He knew he should get up and go to her. Her brother had to be dealt with, but Garrick wasn’t ready to see her or talk to her.
“Would you like to know how Nora is doing?” Clive asked indignantly.
“Tell me what has happened.”
“Nora was hurt.”
Garrick shot up. “B-by who
? Her brother?” He took a hard breath and tried to fight back his boiling anger and mortification. He’d known better than to leave Nora alone, yet her words to him on the steps had injured his thinking.
“It’s fine. There are only some shallow cuts on her arm. Apparently, Thinbrook threw something in her direction and it shattered against the wall at her side.”
“Return to Nora,” Garrick signed through his rage. “I’ll handle this matter.”
Clive shook his head. “You can’t go after Thinbrook. Nora said someone’s life depends on it. She said if anyone harmed him, a woman could get hurt.”
“How so?”
Clive held the door open. “I don’t know, but she won’t say any more until you come home.”
It looked like Garrick was going home after all.
∫ ∫ ∫
4 5
* * *
Nora’s heart raced the moment Garrick was announced as having arrived at Ganden’s home. He walked in with Clive and once the servants were dismissed, Nora was alone with five angry men.
Actually, Kent seemed more content than the others. He’d dealt with Roger before he’d sent the man on his way. Nora wasn’t sure what Kent had done, but she had heard some screaming and had been grateful Miriam had been taking a nap and unaware of the situation. Right now, Miriam was with Lucy and George.
The nursemaid had been dismissed for the evening. In fact, every servant who’d started after Nora was being relieved of their position and would be questioned by the men before they could work again. Kent was now suspicious of everyone and that made Nora feel terrible. She prayed there were no other spies amongst Kent’s staff.
Another look at Garrick showed him to lack anger as well. In fact, when he stared at Nora, it was with complete indifference. He took a chair from her and held her eyes.
Her heart beat unsteady as she thought of all she wanted to say to him. Mainly, she wanted to know where he’d gone. Had he gone to the brothel? Had he taken a woman? Nothing about him was out of place except for the emptiness in his gaze as he studied her. Nora’s fingers tightened on the shawl she’d draped around her shoulders.
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