Spies and Secrets 02 - Daring the Duke

by Anne Mallory

  Oh, how good this plan was starting to feel. Maddox looked at him as if he had lost his mind. Travers decided against sharing the latest bit of information. Having Maddox work on Audrey would be an amusing interlude while he waited for the finale to explode in Chalmers’s face.

  Chalmers was the interloper who had taken everything of his. Just like his own brother had, the two of them thick as thieves, always the ones who had everything and everyone’s attention. His mother and father had had no room left for anyone else. How he despised them all. How he would show them all.

  Chapter 12

  It was late when Audrey returned to her town house. She had avoided it for most of the day. Walking around town, visiting Flanagan, and talking to some of the street informants had neither settled her nerves nor helped her solve any of her problems. Flanagan had people searching for Faye, which made her feel marginally better. lf she couldn’t find her, he probably would.

  That Flanagan was assisting her was not as surprising as she would have found it a week ago. Some crazy happenstance was causing her to have more faith in people, and she couldn’t quell the urge to trust. That in itself was dangerous.

  Ever since she had learned about the relationship between Travers and Chalmers, something had felt out of place. The piece of information she had unearthed earlier had been both interesting and daunting. If her suspicions were confirmed, then life would be getting more complicated soon.

  Meanwhile, Maddox was out for the evening. Was probably gaming again and getting them in deeper trouble. Audrey was relieved he was gone. She pulled out a case to pack for the journey. Her riding habit and a few dresses should be sufficient for a few days. She and Stephen wouldn’t be gone long, and traveling gear was the most important.

  Light feet padded down the hall, and her maid opened the door. She took one look at the case and narrowed her eyes. “Are we going somewhere?”

  “No, we’re not,” she stressed. “But I’m leaving for a few days.”

  “Master Travers won’t be taking well to your leaving.”

  “No? Well, I’m sure he will recover.”

  The girl gave her a sour look and left, no doubt to pen a note to her master.

  Audrey finished packing and realized how hungry she was. One dry scone was all she had eaten today. She foraged through the kitchen, finding cooked meat, bread, and cheese. As she ate, she thought about the plans for the next few days. She was juggling many loose ends. If any of them came crashing down, she was going to be in greater trouble.

  The front door slammed, and a voice bellowed her name as she finished her last bite. She wanted to avoid Maddox if at all possible so she cleaned up and gingerly opened the door.

  Maddox stood belligerently in the foyer, blocking her path. “The maid said you’re going to the country tomorrow. What for? Everything you need is here in London.”

  Audrey tapped her toe in irritation. “No, I have some things to take care of in the country.”

  “Travers is not going to like it. He’s already in a fit about you and that duke fellow.”

  “Travers is perpetually piqued. He’ll recover.”

  “Not this time, he won’t. Never seen the man so angry before. Got something against that duke. You’d better mind yourself, gal. And if you can’t mind yourself, well, then, I’m to do it for you.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I heard you are in trouble again. Been gambling with other people’s money? You should watch who you mark, you never were any good at staying away from the big boys’ tables. And when you play with the big boys, you’re bound to lose.”

  Maddox looked angry, but his eyes were wild. They focused on her with a wheedling smile. “You’ll give me the notes to pay them back. I’m in charge of this operation after all. I need some blunt to keep it running.”

  “I’m not giving you a pence, you weasel.”

  “Why are you such a grouchy wench? One would think you’d have gotten over yourself by now. That thief fellow didn’t cuff you enough.”

  Her nails dug into her palms. She had avoided this conversation since setting eyes on her stepfather again. Anger shoved past her carefully constructed dispassion.

  “Our ‘schoolmaster’ cuffed us plenty. Isn’t that what you told all our family friends? That Faye and I were at school? And how was that trip to Italy that you took while we were at school? Did you manage to pay off the men who were after you then?”

  “Audrey, I was just trying to keep the two of you safe. I came back for you, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, three years later you returned. Interested in the money we could make you again. I never did ask whether you intended to use us as your personal thieves, or if you’d planned to sell us once again to the highest bidder.” She was breathing hard. “Which was it?” She bit out.

  “It’s not like life was rough for you. Damn, girl, you’d think I was some two-bit pimp. I didn’t sell you to the madam, did I? I sold you to a fellow that would keep both of you in line.”

  “You’re not supposed to sell people!” She shrieked. She had held it all in for so long. “You left us in hell.”

  He shrugged. “I was sold as a child. I turned out just fine. That’s the way of things. And you’re free now, so quit complaining.”

  “It shouldn’t be the way of things, you ass. What the hell is wrong with you? Did you like being sold?”

  “That’s what happens to children on the street.”

  “We weren’t on the street.” She ground each word. “And we had money and friends. Two things you know nothing about.”

  He shrugged, and she felt like throttling him. He had wagered all their money, and when he had sold them it had effectively cut them off from any friends. Buyers didn’t just let their acquisitions run off to find a new family.

  “What did you intend, Maddox, when you came back three years later?

  We were no longer children. What were you going to do with us?”

  All traces of pleasantness disappeared from his eyes. They were dark and a bit wild again. “I hadn’t quite decided that. Would have had to see how much you were worth.”

  Cold rage settled in her gut. Audrey drew a long finger down her right forearm. “Too bad you never had the chance.”

  Maddox unwittingly grabbed his scarred arm. “You bitch! It’s time I taught you a lesson.” He lunged toward her. She stepped aside and put her foot in his path. He tripped headfirst into the bookcase, fell to the floor, and was still.

  Her hands were shaking as she walked over to make sure he was breathing. He was. She couldn’t stay in the house and wait for Maddox to recover—she might do him more harm, and she had promised her mother on her deathbed to protect their family. And even though Audrey didn’t consider Maddox part of the family her mother had, and for that reason alone Audrey wouldn’t harm him. She looked at his crumpled form. Well, she wouldn’t harm him any more than necessary.

  Audrey walked to her room. Protect him? No, that part of the promise had been completely negated the day he had sold them to the streets. So what if he had been sold as a child. As if that somehow made it acceptable. He had made a choice and had chosen greed over right. She knew that no matter what position she found herself in, she would never make the choice he had. Once she found Faye, Maddox would be permanently out of their lives.

  Her hands shook as she placed the last of her items in her case. She was ready to juggle the biggest and most dangerous of the men in her life.

  Chapter 13

  Stephen gently stroked her long supple limbs and caressed her burgeoning buds. “Gorgeous.”

  He sank his hands deeper into her mass of curls. Slow and steady.

  He arched her back and pushed in deeper.

  “Almost there,” he whispered.

  He was so close. Sweat was beading on his forehead. She was a handful—young, beautiful, willful, if a bit clingy.

  The fit was tight, and he made cooing noises as he thrust in a few inches, maki
ng small circles to allow more.

  So close now. Just a bit more …

  “Your Grace?” Grimmond called from the other side of the door.

  “Please, not now, Grimmond,” he snapped. He had told his butler he did not wish to be disturbed.

  “You said to let you know if Miss Kendrick arrived. She is waiting in the library.”

  Desire to see Audrey warred with his need to finish. He looked down. He had been wooing this one for the last few days. She had just started showing signs of acceptance, and he almost had her.

  He sighed. He needed to see Audrey. This could wait.

  He patted the soil around her roots and sprinkled water on top. Hopefully she would stay strong for a few hours. Who knew, maybe Audrey was waiting to shoot him, and the meeting would take but minutes. In any event his blood was already heating in anticipation.

  Roth was concerned Stephen would get a knife in the back. Even St. John, who was the most carefree individual in the service, had said something before Liddendock’s party when they had been setting up the papers Audrey had stolen. His friends weren’t mad to think so. In fact, Stephen acknowledged he was the mad one to go along with this scheme. He simply couldn’t resist. He wanted the truth. He needed to know what Audrey and Travers were up to.

  And he wanted to unlock Audrey’s secrets. He needed to figure her out.

  There was a vital link missing in the shipping plot. A key piece of information was unaccounted for, and it tickled the edge of his brain but wouldn’t coalesce.

  He washed his hands and strode to the library. Lingering in the doorway, he watched her stroke the spines of several books. He felt the caress down to his toes.

  “Chalmers, your butler said you were busy. If you wish, I can return tomorrow.”

  She never turned around. He had made no sound when walking toward the library, yet she had known. He found himself smiling. “First, to what do I owe the honor 0f this late-night visit?”

  She turned, but didn’t smile. It was as if she were trying to determine if he were joking or not. Her solemn expression tugged at his heart. Someone had hurt her deeply. She looked more weary than she had this morning. It was as if she had more problems than just the hundred that had already been dropped on her head.

  She visibly scanned him. “Been working in the backyard, Chalmers?”

  He leaned against the doorframe. “Conservatory”

  She nodded. She was clutching her reticule rather tightly.

  He kept his tone light. “Would you like some tea?”

  She cleared her throat. “I would love some.”

  Stephen nodded and rang for Grimmond.

  “Yes, Your Grace?” Grimmond appeared in the door

  “Tea, please.”

  “Of course, Your Grace. And I put Miss Kendrick’s bag in her room.”

  Her bag? Her room? “Thank you, Grimmond.”

  Audrey fidgeted. “I brought my case. I thought it easier to stay here tonight so that we could leave early in the morning.”

  Stephen was tortured by curiosity. She was obviously in trouble. But then again, since meeting him she was always in trouble. “Will you tell me what happened?”

  She hesitated, then sat in one of the armchairs. “It is really nothing. Just old wounds I thought had healed.”

  “Can I help?”

  She touched her brow. “No, but thank you for asking.”

  “Did you bring your maid?”

  “No, I don’t want her. She reports to Travers, and since we won’t be making social calls, I can attend myself.” Her voice grew frigid, and her eyes narrowed. “Afraid you’ll have to marry me if we are seen together without a chaperone, Chalmers? Don’t make me laugh. I won’t get in the way of your heiress hunting.”

  Grimmond brought in the tea tray, placing it before her, thus interrupting Stephen’s growing irritation caused by her words.

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  She sighed and leaned back in the chair. “I know. I’m testy, and I apologize.”

  His irritation vanished, and he was left speechless by her apology.

  She seemed to interpret his thoughts and laughed deprecatingly. “I’m not totally devoid of manners, you know. I just don’t usually choose to employ them. May I serve you?”

  He nodded and watched in fascination as Audrey poured tea into the fragile china cups and passed his to him as if to the manner born.

  They drank the tea in silence. Stephen hoped she would relax.

  “I have no problem with your staying here.”

  A bit of the tension left her shoulders. “Thank you.”

  “Come, let’s go to bed.”

  Let’s go to bed. Audrey’s heart leaped into motion. “What?”

  “We need to rise early tomorrow. ”

  “Yes, but …” But what?

  He waited patiently for her to continue. She floundered for a response.

  He took pity on her. “You go up. I need to finish some things in the conservatory. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Audrey exhaled loudly, not realizing she had been holding her breath.

  Grimmond was waiting outside and escorted her to the room she had occupied the previous night.

  Her case was inside, and she removed her nightclothes. Now was perhaps her only time to search Stephen’s chambers. He was downstairs, and his servants wouldn’t be in this wing of the house.

  She walked down the hall to his room and opened the door. She wondered momentarily why he had left it unlocked with a thief like her around, but perhaps he assumed she’d just pick it open anyway.

  She poked through his dressers and wardrobe, found several secret compartments that contained nothing unusual. She was on a mission to satisfy her curiosity, and since she didn’t know what he would say if he walked in, she finished her search quickly and returned everything to its place.

  She felt momentarily guilty about rifling through her host’s room, but changed into her nightclothes and slipped under the covers. She couldn’t bring herself to turn off the light. Now that she was finally alone, she couldn’t stop reflecting on their trip to Newgate. She had kept herself busy all day to avoid remembering. She had survived entering the prison again and felt stronger for the experience. But right now she didn’t feel like being alone in the dark.

  The clock struck half past, and she continued to stare at the ceiling. She assumed the servants had retired since no footsteps had passed her door.

  So why hadn’t Stephen returned to his bedchamber. What was he doing in the conservatory? Some type of mad work on something green, no doubt.

  She whipped off her covers, slipped on a wrap, and grabbed the oil lamp.

  Padding silently down the hall, stairs and foyer, she tried to jump from rug to rug to avoid the cold floors. Finally arriving at her destination, the same place where he had nearly seduced her last night, she pushed open the heavy door.

  “Stephen?”

  The interior was dark, and she held her lamp aloft, trying to see farther back. She wound around the plant stands and toward the back of the sweet-smelling room. A form was lying under the covers on the strange-looking sofa. She approached as silently as possible and held the lamp over him. He looked relaxed, his golden features perfect. The top of his bare chest was visible, and his arms were resting on top of the covers. The light from her lamp danced on his hair like sunshine. The world was never dark around him. She fidgeted, then turned to leave. His hand closed around her wrist before she even realized he had moved.

  “What is it, Audrey?”

  She turned and saw him regarding her. Had he known she was there the whole time? It occurred to her that he might have thought she was trying to murder him. She held out the hand not holding the lamp to show him it was empty.

  “l was restless and couldn’t sleep. I was just wondering why you were still awake.”

  It sounded lame even to her ears, but she hadn’t really
thought through why she was seeking him out. She had just been staring up at the ceiling and decided to come.

  She rushed into speech before he could respond. “Why are you sleeping down here?” She shivered.

  “l sometimes stay here if one of the plants is being fussy.”

  She looked at the darkened workbench. There were a few leafy silhouettes, but nothing she could identify. “Oh.”

  “Do you need something? I can ring the staff.”

  “No, no.” She shook her head and shivered. The sold floor seeped into her toes. “I was just having trouble sleeping.” Her brain supplied the rest of the sentence, sleeping alone in that dark room, although she refrained from saying it aloud.

  She met his eyes for a long second, and he shifted onto his side and lifted the cover. It took but a second more for her to put the lamp on the floor and scoot under the covers he had already warmed. She blew out the lamp and promptly fell asleep with her feet tucked next to his.

  Chapter 14

  Audrey woke slowly, feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day. She had spent a dreamless night, the first one in a long time. Light filtered in through the windows, and she snuggled back into the warm body holding her.

  It took a moment for reality to sink in fully. There was a warm, pulsing body cocooned next to hers. She rolled to her right. Dark green smoldering eyes met hers.

  “Good morning.” His voice was husky, but his eyes were unreadable.

  “Did you sleep well?”

  She glanced away unaccountably embarrassed. She had, after all, been the one to seek him out in the night.

  “Uh, good morning.” Her mind registered the sunlit conservatory a pair of trousers tossed across a chair, and the sounds of the servants moving through the house. She wanted to pull the covers over her head and expire on the spot. She was in her nightclothes and was going to have to get out of bed and walk across the entire house to reach her traveling case.