Coalwater sighed and hung his head in his hands. He’d been missing the longest. Four years before James was captured. He’d been sixteen when he’d gone missing.
James asked Coalwater. “Did he hurt you? Scar you as I have been scarred in any way?”
Coalwater hadn’t known the question had been directed to him until he lifted his haunted eyes.
Fawley ducked his head a little. “Well, he did beat Coalwater a little…”
Coalwater glared at Fawley.
“He beat me daily,” Ganden said, his neck strained with tension. “And I was often without a meal.”
“That was only because you protested your confinement.” Astlen frowned. “Wish I’d had the strength to do it, but…” He looked away. “I’m glad he’s dead. After such an experience, I’ve not been able to go back to the menagerie to see the animals. I can’t even stand to eat chicken or beef anymore.”
Fawley said, “I’m surprised Coalwater hasn’t put on stones since his confinement. He eats anything put before him.”
Coalwater nodded his agreement.
“He has found his own way of converting the food to fuel,” Fawley said. “You were lucky to find me at my home when you did. I’m here more than Coalwater is. He spends most nights at the brothel.”
That explained more of his and Coalwater’s relationship. They’d clearly become friends.
Ganden crossed his arms. “It wasn’t luck. I’ve had you all followed.”
Astlen frowned at him. “I thought I saw someone following me. Why?”
“I’m looking for Harlot,” Ganden said. “Have any of you seen her? Has she approached you?”
They all shook their heads.
Astlen asked, “What do you want with her?”
“That’s between me and the woman when I find her,” Ganden said. “And since none of you knows anything about her, I’m going home.”
“And I’m off to bed,” Fawley announced. Then he turned to Coalwater. “You don’t mind if I stay here, do you?”
Coalwater shrugged and stood.
James frowned. “Wait. We’ve not had a proper discussion.”
“There’s nothing to discuss,” Ganden said.
“Really?” James asked. “What about the state of your home and Fawley’s drunkenness and Coalwater taking residence at a brothel?” He turned to Astlen. “I’ve yet to figure you out.”
“And I suppose you believe you have it all together, do you?” Astlen said.
“No, I know my shortcomings,” James said. “Which is why I thought this meeting would be good for the entire group.” Yet he was beginning to think otherwise.
Astlen narrowed his eyes for a long moment at James, and again it was analytical, before he turned to Ganden. “I said I never saw Harlot after that night, but I didn’t say I knew nothing about her.”
That got everyone’s attention.
Astlen crossed one knee over the other and folded his fingers across his belly. “In fact, aside from my own hunt for a particular woman, I’ve been busy trying to get to the bottom of this entire mess.”
“Who are you looking for?” Ganden asked harshly.
Astlen smirked. “Don’t worry. It’s not your little maid… whose name I happen to know.”
Ganden moved toward him, his green eyes intent. “Tell me.”
Astlen stood and held out his hands. “First, we’ll discuss what took place and then we’ll deal with the maid. Haven’t any of you wondered how we all managed to get taken by Mr. Goody and just who was putting the funds in his pockets in order to keep us fed?”
Fawley frowned. “I thought the money came from his father.”
“It didn’t,” James said as he stared at the men. “I spoke to Lord Cartelle, who is close with Lord Goody. Neither he nor Lady Goody knew where their son had disappeared to. They’d thought Cartelle had killed him, just as London had assumed he’d killed all of us.”
That was what had prompted the hunt for the Lost Lords. Anthony had been trying to prove his innocence in order to prove himself to the Curbain brothers and marry Valiant.
Ganden blinked and then took a seat, slowly, as though falling into it. “You’re saying Mr. Goody wasn’t working alone?”
“That is correct,” Astlen said.
“That’s impossible,” Fawley said with a flicker of fear. “If that were so, wouldn’t someone have come after us? Asked what we knew?”
Astlen said, “Perhaps the men Ganden paid to follow us scared anyone else away.”
Coalwater leaned back in his seat and took a deep breath. “Speak.”
Astlen said, “I’ve been looking but can’t seem the find answers to how Mr. Goody paid for his home or the metal table and chairs he tied us to.”
James thought of that table. He’d never had the chance to sit before it himself. He’d been locked in the dungeon. Having only been there for two weeks, he’d yet to earn a seat upstairs but had seen it when he’d rescued the others.
Fawley said, “A table and chair set such as that had to have been crafted just for him.”
“Exactly,” Astlen said. “And I happened to find the blacksmith who made it.”
“What’s his name?” Ganden growled.
“Not important.” Astlen placed his hands on his hips. “I’m sure he had no idea what Mr. Goody planned to do with the table and chairs and now that he knows, he’s quite tormented by it. There’s no reason to bother the man further.”
“How did he pay for it?” James asked.
Astlen pointed a finger at James. “That is the question. Apparently, Mr. Goody used a bank note, but which bank, the blacksmith cannot recall.”
“I assumed he’d used our coin,” Ganden said.
Astlen nodded. “Oh, he did, in fact, use that coin, but he’d have needed more for the luxury he liked to live in and the clothes he’d adorned himself in. Our funds would have run out too quickly for him.”
Fawley lifted his hands. “Hold on. You’re expecting us to believe that someone was giving Mr. Goody money? For what purpose, if they were not his father?”
Astlen looked at them all and said, “Exactly.”
∫ ∫ ∫
3 6
Kim straightened when James came into the bedchamber. “How did it go?” In the low orange glow in the room, she could tell from his features that he was tired. He didn’t look at her, at first. In fact, his eyes seemed to scan the room before they landed on Kim.
He blinked and then shook his head. “The meeting was… informative.”
She pulled the sheets up closer on her body. “In what way?”
He moved to a chair in the generously sized room that Asher had given them. Sinking into it, he removed his jacket and then began to remove his boots. Kim was so lost in watching the beautiful way his body moved, from the muscle in his arms to the strength in his fingers, that it took her a moment to understand his response to her question.
Then she gasped and stared at his face. “You think someone wanted you kidnapped?”
With his boots off, he leaned back and stared at her. “There’s a possibility that someone wanted us all gone.”
Kim’s heart throttled in her chest and gooseflesh spread down her arms until she shivered. She’d expected many things to be the outcome of James’ meeting. She’d hoped for peace. She’d allowed herself to accept that there would be anger and pain. She’d not expected this.
She’d not expected her husband to return with new worries.
Even she was worried now.
Someone wanted to bring her sweet husband pain? When would the violence ever cease? When would they finally find peace?
“Someone wants to hurt you?” Her voice broke slightly.
James was up and across the room in a heartbeat. He’d begun to remove his shirt. The buttons were loose. His cravat was on the chair. He crawled onto the bed until he was in her face. He cupped the back of her head. “You are not to worry,” he commanded. “Nothing will happen to me. Nothing has ha
ppened for two years.”
She gripped his wrist. “But you’ve not been here in two years. What if whoever came after you thinks to do it again.” Her eyes watered. “We must leave. We’ll leave tomorrow.”
He shook his head. “No, Kim. I can’t leave now. I must stay.”
“What? Why?”
His expression was that of a man set on his intentions. “Because, I must do this. We must find out who wanted us gone.”
“We?” Kim asked.
“Me, Astlen, Ganden, Fawley, and Coalwater.”
Kim’s shoulders fell. “I don’t want to stay. I want to leave.” She wanted him to be safe. She thought to use the tactic she had at the party when she’d gotten her husband to agree not to enter the brothel. “You’re the best husband in the world, and I wish to keep you.”
He smiled gently and then he leaned forward and rested his head against hers. His eyes were closed. “You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
His words struck her in the heart. “James, I want to tell you—”
He kissed her hard on her mouth and then straightened. “We can’t leave now, Kim. We must stay. I must do this, and I need you to understand that.”
He clearly thought she’d been about to protest their leaving when she’d actually been about to confess her feelings. Now, she thought it not the best time to do so. She didn’t want him to think she was trying to manipulate him by teasing him with her love.
She lifted her knees and wrapped her arms around them and stared directly into her husband’s gaze. “Why must you do this?”
His fingers worked fast at undoing the buttons on his shirt. “I can’t return to the country without knowing who my enemies are, not if that also puts you in danger.”
Kim wasn’t truly listening anymore. She nodded slowly as her gaze was fixed on his chest.
The shirt came off, and Kim’s body tightened in reaction. James was beautifully sculpted, and she wanted to do nothing more than sink both her teeth and nails into his skin.
She was such a wanton.
He removed his trousers next and through the thin fabric of his smallclothes, she saw the evidence of his arousal pressed against its confines. A flood of naughty thoughts entered her head as she imagined what his reaction would be if she touched him, if she allowed her hands to slide down his chest with their intention clear to both of them.
She swallowed and then pressed her lips together, waiting for him to remove the last of his clothes.
James returned to the bed, still wearing his smallclothes. Disappointment hit her faster than a racehorse.
She caught his eyes and saw the humor in them. She didn’t care if he laughed at her in his head. It was only when he was under the covers that she remembered what they’d been discussing. “How do you plan to go about finding him?”
“We’re not sure,” James said. “We plan to meet again and…”
“And?” she pressed.
He was no longer smiling when he said, “They wish to meet you and while I have my reservations about it, I think it would be good for some of them. You might give them hope.”
“Hope?” Kim asked.
He nodded and settled down on his pillow. “Hope that they may one day have what I do. Happiness.”
She smiled and then leaned down to settle next to her husband. “You’re happy?”
“Blissfully so. This is marital bliss, I am sure if it,” he said.
She was pretty sure of it herself, yet… she wanted more from him.
Perhaps, solving this mystery would finally get them to where they needed to be in order to finally become a truly married couple.
If not, then James would have much more to worry about than an enemy. He’d have a very frustrated wife who would soon be very tempted to kidnap and chain him down herself.
Then she’d be able to take advantage of her husband. The very thought shocked her. Turning in bed, she closed her eyes and tried to force the thought from her mind as she drifted off to sleep.
* * *
Kim drifted from sleep hours later, led from her dream by a hungry kiss. She moaned in the back of her throat as she realized James’ warm body was covering her own. Quickly, she wrapped her arms around him, fearing this was indeed still a dream.
He was hard muscled and deliciously hot in her grasp. His tongue teased her lips as his hands took hold of her body, pressing her into the mattress when she tried to wiggle forward. Kim’s mind seemed to drift as if drugged by both sleep and the desire beginning to burn within her.
He broke the kiss on a sigh. “I must go.”
“No,” she groaned, her voice still laden with sleep. She didn’t know what time it was, but she didn’t believe the sun had quite risen. She’d yet to open her eyes. She was still a little tired. “Stay. Make love to me.”
He chuckled. “Go back to sleep.”
He pressed a warm kiss to her forehead and stroked down the back of her head. Then she felt herself being released. The warmth that had covered her was suddenly gone. But then a blanket was pulled over her.
Kim reached out into the dark. “Stay.” Her voice was slurred. “Where are you going?”
“To look for our enemy.”
She could hear the whisper of clothes some distance away. She smiled and snuggled back into the sheets. “Look for our enemies? That sounds quite barbaric.”
He didn’t answer.
“No brothels,” she added later. “You’re all mine.”
Kim was almost asleep again when she felt another kiss on her cheek. “Yes, I am yours.” His voice was a deep rumble and poured lust into her veins.
She woke again sometime later and turned over to find that the dream she’d thought to have had was true. James had kissed her before leaving. She smiled and sent up a silent prayer that such tenderness would continue throughout their marriage.
Stretching, she dressed as she gazed out of her window at London. It was not as beautiful as she’d expected it to be, but it was only March. The flowers had yet to bloom and when the weather changed, Kim was sure it would be quite magical.
But she wasn’t sure she wished to stay and see the changing seasons. Recalling James’ comment about enemies made her anxious for home. Her only hope was that they found whoever they were looking for soon, so that they and the other lords could move on with their lives.
After a lovely breakfast with Lord and Lady Asher, Kim was informed that she had a caller. A Mr. Colby Harris.
She went to the drawing room and was surprised when a gentleman she barely recalled meeting the other evening came into the room.
The man with dark hair and striking green eyes bowed and said, “My lady, you likely don’t remember our short conversation, but we spoke of my brother, Lord Ganden.”
She blinked as she recalled their conversation. “Oh, yes. Lord Ganden. Of course.” How had she forgotten Mr. Harris’ worry for his brother?
Could it have been James’ kisses that wiped the memory from her mind?
∫ ∫ ∫
3 7
Kim and Mr. Harris sat and then he spoke solemnly. “How are you? How is Lord Denhallow?”
She smiled. “We are well. I believe my husband is with your brother right now.” She thought of how much to reveal about her conversation with James and decided it would be all right to share what she knew. “I believe the lords are looking for someone who may have been connected to the kidnapping.”
Mr. Harris straightened. “Truly?” He narrowed his eyes. “My brother has been obsessed with looking for a maid he’d happened upon during his captivity. He won’t rest until he finds her.”
Kim frowned. “I do not believe it is a maid they look for now. It sounds like someone far worse and perhaps more powerful than a servant.”
Mr. Harris leaned back. His face was a hard thing, cut in the most becoming way. Kim was sure he had his fair share of women to choose from and thought it likely his youth that kept him a bachelor, though she was certain he was
older than her. Perhaps by a year or so.
Mr. Harris blinked. “What should we do? To help?”
“We?” Kim shook her head. “Nothing. I believe this to be something the men need to work out on their own.”
The man nodded slowly as if working her words around in his head. “You may be right. This might be just the thing my brother needs to break from whatever rage holds him.” Then he sighed and lowered his gaze. “But I have little hope. He’s so angry. He’s always been angry. So much so that the rest of our family has ceased to care. They believe he will always be this way.”
Kim knew she was fortunate Mr. Harris thought her a confidant. His brother’s pain clearly pained him. Unable to stop herself, she placed a hand on his shoulder. “My husband refused to come to London for two years, yet here we are, and he wishes to stay more than I do. There is always hope.”
He stared at her. “Lord Denhallow is fortunate to have you, my lady. You are a gift. Perhaps, you have a sister for my brother?”
Kim laughed. It was a wonderful compliment. “I’m afraid not.”
The disappointment he tried to display on his face was broken by his grin. “Well, perhaps you can help me deal with my brother… though I know a wife has more tools to use than a brother ever would.”
She laughed again. The joke was slightly bawdy, but she understood the truth behind it. “I don’t know. Siblings sometimes know one another very well. Perhaps, there is some fond memory you share that you can remind your brother of? A moment where he had peace?”
As Mr. Harris thought on her words, Kim turned to the door and was surprised to find James standing there. She smiled and stood.
Mr. Harris, seeing what caught her eyes, also stood.
Kim crossed to him. “James, how was your day?”
“Well.” He looked at her and then turned to Mr. Harris. “You must be Ganden’s brother. You look like him.”
Mr. Harris didn’t flinch at James’ face. He bowed. “My lord, I was just discussing with your wife ways to help my brother. She’s informed me that you two are working together. I wish to cure his anger.”
Mark of The Marquess (The Valiant Love Regency Romance) (A Historical Romance Book) Page 18