by Beth Byers
She had little desire to step into that madness again, so she turned away and watched through the windows of the French doors for her cousin, Algie. Vi had every desire to meet his betrothed but every time she glimpsed him, he was surrounded.
Algernon Allyn was an affable cousin, and she loved him rather like she’d love anyone who was related to her and she’d been raised with. They had little in common beyond being sent to stay with the same great aunt over the holidays. Violet had spent more Christmases with Algie than she had with her younger sister. She’d lit more yule logs, hung more stockings, decorated more trees with Algie than anyone except her twin. Then there were the afternoons fishing, swimming, and adventuring on their childish journeys in the woods. She, Victor, Algie, and—on occasion—a few other cousins. All that being said, when he wasn’t around, she didn’t miss him.
Violet moved across the wide balcony to the rail and took in a deep breath of the cool evening air, letting it out slowly. She had cooled down quickly to nearly cold and decided to go step back into the ballroom until Jack returned with her and would give her his arm or his jacket. She knew Jack would escape to the balcony in a moment with Ham, and they’d have a cigarette and discuss whatever case was bothering the two of them.
She turned for the doors and found Theodophilus Smythe-Hill blocking the way.
“Didn’t I see you get thrown out of the hotel already?” she asked with an arched brow. “Tell me, did you have to bribe your way in or did you terrorize some maid at the servant’s entrance?”
His face flushed but he spoke mockingly. “If it isn’t the frigid Lady Violet. Tell me, have you bought your husband yet or is it still possible for him to escape?”
“If I were looking to buy a husband,” Violet shot back, “I’d have gone with the bargain version—you.”
His gaze narrowed on her and then he glanced over his shoulder. No one had noticed them. He pushed her back onto the balcony, shutting the French door behind him. “All alone, Lady Violet? Where’s your uppity maid?”
He took hold of her arm, fingers digging in, making her gasp in pain, and without even thinking, she twisted away, using the move she’d practiced for months in her jiu jitsu lessons. She hooked one leg behind his, shoved just so, and punched him on the way down. The second he hit the ground, she kicked him in the kidneys, then backed away out of reach.
“I don’t need my maid or my Jack to deal with the likes of you,” she said. She walked to the French doors as though her heart wasn’t racing, and her hands weren’t shaking.
As she reached for the door, Jack opened it. He took in the fingerprints on her arm that she was just starting to really feel, the wild look in her gaze, and the way her chest was heaving. He placed both hands on her waist, lifted her and turned, handing her like a child to Ham. She’d have objected if that familiar gaze of Jack’s weren’t so cold and terrifying. A moment later, Jack shut the balcony door behind him.
“What was all that?” Ham asked with a gaze that was totally unlike Jack’s while also having the same all-seeing, penetrating nature.
“Theo.”
Ham cursed and then looked about. He waved at someone, Vi didn’t see who, but she was handed off once again, this time to Rita Russell and Gerald, and Ham followed Jack through the doors and onto the balcony.
“Hullo there, luv,” Gerald said, entirely missing what was happening.
“Where did Mr. Barnes go?” Rita asked without the same lack of vision. “Is everything all right?”
The sound of a fist smacking flesh carried through the slight opening of French doors.
“Oh I say,” Gerald said. “Who is that? Sounds like a boxing match.”
“It’s Jack,” Rita said, shooting Gerald a baffled look. “Is he really your brother?” she asked Vi. “He’s very different from you.”
“Well now.” Gerald sniffed. “We can’t all be first class in the brainwork.”
There was another sound of a fist hitting flesh and Vi flinched. She glanced around, looking for Victor and found him with Kate and their best friends, Denny and Lila. She shot Victor a look and he lifted his brows. Her expression become only more intense until her twin gathered up their friends and joined them.
As they arrived, the sound of Theo cursing hit all of them at once.
“I say,” Gerald said once again in distress.
“I say,” Denny said with a delighted air that was followed by the sound of another fist and Denny’s giggle.
“I say,” Victor said with a gaze narrowed on the forming bruises on Violet’s arm. “I say,” he said again, letting go of Kate’s arm and opening the French door.
“Get back,” Ham shouted as Jack threw Theo through the doors. Theo hit the ballroom floor and slid across the shining floor, his pomaded hair flopping about like a broken wing.
Jack stepped through the door, entirely unruffled. He picked up Theo by the lapels and walked him across the ballroom floor and through the crowd. Vi’s gaze fixated on her fiancé, and she told the others idly, “I took care of it.”
“Not apparently to a sufficient extent,” Lila said with a bored air and then kissed Rita’s cheek as though they were meeting on a Parisian street rather than after a body had just parted through their group. “Rita darling!”
“I say!” Denny muttered. “There was no need to end things just as I arrived. Jack has little regard for my wants.”
Victor followed after Jack with a growl, Ham alongside him. They rushed at the end as they saw Jack shove Theo through the doors to the stairs.
“Do you think he’d throw him all the way down the stairs?” Lila asked with that same bored air.
“Your brother just shifted from a…a…a…lapdog to a wolf before my eyes.” Rita glanced around them, shocked. “Is it always like this with you?”
“Lion,” Violet and Kate both said and then grinned at each other. Violet finished, “That’s who he really is. The rest is an act.”
“No,” Denny moaned, “decidedly not. The excitement is between all the boredom. Hunting murderers between nonsense like cocktails and Cuba.”
“Cuba?” Rita sounded intrigued as Mr. Roche approached the group.
“Didn’t seem to be your affable dragon dragging out that young blighter, Theo.” Mr. Roche’s bright, happy eyes had faded. “Come with me,” he ordered.
The group of friends glanced at each other and then back at Mr. Roche, making no signs of moving.
“Please,” he said more generously, almost pleading. “Please.”
“Vi, is everything all right?” Vi’s sister, Isolde, stood behind Mr. Roche with Tomas on her arm, and Violet nodded distractedly. She glanced about, noting the sharp gaze of Miss Allen and the onlookers with lifted eyebrows and whispers behind their hands. They had drawn quite a crowd.
“Please, Lady Violet, please. I need your help. You and your affable dragon.”
“Jack?” Rita asked as they followed Mr. Roche from the ballroom and up the stairs to his suite. Isolde and Gerald remained behind with Tomas to try to allay rumors, but Violet didn’t think there would be any avoiding the talk.
Vi shook her head to answer Rita but didn’t speak as they situated themselves in a lushly appointed sitting room. A servant was sent out for cocktails and Mr. Barnes. Mr. Roche had apparently not made the connection that Violet’s man was Jack. Or perhaps, the American wanted Ham’s help and intended to get Violet to manipulate him?
“Where shall I look for him, sir?” the butler asked as Vi narrowed her gaze on the two, trying to figure out Roche’s game.
“Try finding the big one with bloody knuckles,” Denny told the servant. “That’s your man. Bring both of the men with them.” He faced Violet. “Why does he think you’re with Mr. Barnes?”
“She told me so,” Mr. Roche said, scowling at Rita. “Why are you here?”
“You gathered all of us,” Rita told him. “I was standing right there.”
“Where is Algie?” Vi added, ignoring the others. May
be he could translate what was happening here.
“They’re coming.” Mr. Roche settled himself in a chair near the fireplace rather like a man who was settling into a throne. “I need your help. You and your Ham.”
“Your Ham?” Rita asked, echoed by Denny and Lila.
Violet sighed. “Jack is mine. Ham is our friend.”
“You told me that he was your very dear friend.”
“I meant it,” Violet replied. “He’s just not my future husband. Mr. Roche, Jack and I are not going to help you with whatever this is. We’re getting married on Saturday morning and then we’re leaving.”
Mr. Roche blinked. “I thought you were with that investigator. Miss Allen told me that very specifically.”
“Jack is an investigator, but we’re not going to be distracted from our upcoming wedding to help with whatever this is.”
Algie and a little blonde entered the room. She was the size of a pixie and wearing a vibrant magenta dress. Her long strand of pearls was interspersed with diamonds, and she also wore a thick diamond choker. Violet had overloaded on diamonds and jewelry that evening and she didn’t even come close to what the blonde was wearing.
“Vi!” Algie called affably. “Victor! Everyone meet Clara, my beloved.” Oh, dim Algie. He hadn’t even realized that Victor wasn’t in the room.
Violet’s and Kate’s gazes met, and they both considered the assertion that Clara was beloved before unitedly shaking their heads. More proof was needed before Violet or Kate would believe such a thing and win the bet. Especially from Algie, who told a slew of lies in his day.
“I’m so glad you were able to come.” Algie cleared his throat and grinned at everyone before he frowned. “Where is Victor? I just assumed he was here. Where is Jack? I was telling Father Roche all about your clever gent.”
“I thought it was Mr. Barnes.” Mr. Roche sniffed and then muttered, “You led me to believe that it was that Yard man.”
“Barnes?” Algie laughed. “Well by Jove! I never did say his name, did I? The clever Yard man. I can see why you’d jump to…well, no I can’t, I mean, that chubby man? For Vi? Lady Vi? Maybe if she were homely, but Vi’s all right.”
“Oh Algie,” the pixie Clara laughed, “stow it before you make lifelong enemies. I’m Clara, so nice to meet all of you. Papa, did you ask?”
“She says no. We’ll ask her man.”
Algie snorted, and Denny out and out laughed as he took a cocktail from the returning servant.
“What’s this now? She wear the pants?”
“Vi—” Algie whined. “We need you. Please? Please, Vi?”
“No,” Violet said, flatly.
“What if we just tell you about it?”
“You could throw a body into my lap,” Violet told him, “and I wouldn’t help you find the killer let alone whatever you need help with. I’m getting married on Saturday. Whatever you have an issue with is not my problem, not right now.”
“Quite right,” Kate agreed, nodding firmly as the door to the suite opened and Jack, Ham, and Victor entered the rooms smelling of cigar smoke.
“Now which one of these fellows is your man?” Mr. Roche demanded as he stood and stepped forward.
“They all are hers,” Lila told him. “Victor Carlyle, her twin.” Victor bowed. “Ham, her friend and blood-brother type friend of her beloved.” Hamilton nodded. “And Jack Wakefield, her affianced.”
“You all missed an intriguing offer while you were smoking cigars and getting a bit of air,” Violet said with a narrowed gaze on them.
Jack held out his hand and lifted his brows in silent question.
“Robert Roche,” Mr. Roche said, shaking hands. “My daughter is determined to marry your—what did you call Barnes?” Mr. Roche glanced at Violet and then back to the others. “An affable dragon? Algie is the affable buffoon.”
Denny laughed, rubbing his hands together in glee as Mr. Roche continued. “Seems to me that your Jack is the dragon here.”
“But not affable,” Jack told him, crossing to Violet and taking a seat on the arm of her chair. “What’s all this?”
“They want our help.” Violet didn’t expand.
“We’re getting married within the week and leaving the country for an extended period,” Jack said flatly. “No. Perhaps you can manipulate the Yard into forcing Ham to help you.”
“I have a job,” Ham said with a political smile. “I can assure you that my time is taken. If you need an investigator, I would admit to knowing a few private ones who are quite clever. Unless, of course, you wish to make an official complaint?”
“Stanley?” Jack suggested, his hand settling on Vi’s arm just above where Theo had left his mark. “Shall we go? I find my patience for humanity is quite expired.”
“No, no, we need your help,” Mr. Roche said loudly. “Surely you can just listen.”
“Theo was at your party,” Victor told Algie with the same expression that had once threatened to remove Algie from their lives if he continued to associate with the man.
“Not by our invite,” Clara piped in while Rita barely bit back a question. She was too new of a friend to know that Theo had once tried for Violet’s hand rather forcefully.
Violet sighed and stretched her neck. Why had they let themselves get pulled into this?
Algie’s Clara almost growled as she added, “That man is an out-and-out rat! He’s weaseled his way into my brother’s and cousin’s lives.”
“Put a hand to your pockets,” Victor told Roche, already knowing the end of the story and glancing overtly at Algie, who had once been in debt to Theo and escaped only by Violet’s mercy.
“I know,” Algie declared. “I told them! Everything, I swear.”
Violet searched Algie’s face. “Everything?” she demanded.
“Everything,” he solemnly swore.
“It’s love,” Violet shouted, just beating out Victor and Kate.
“Damn it!” Victor muttered. “If it’s not a good prize, love, she’ll never let us hear the end of it.”
“What’s all this?” Mr. Roche demanded. “What prize?”
“You don’t want to know,” Jack told him. “So your boys got involved with Theo. That’s hardly our problem. Even if we sometimes claim Algie.”
“It’s worse than you know,” Mr. Roche told them. “My Bartholomew is all set to marry his love. It is love. She’s a good girl, good family, good fortune. She’s all you could want, and her father won’t put up with a bit of nonsense. Somehow this Theodophilus has some information about Barty before he straightened out his life. Wild oats. Nothing that couldn’t be—”
Violet lifted a brow and then added for him, “Covered up?”
Mr. Roche sniffed. “The details aren’t important if we can’t count on you.”
“You can’t,” Violet told him. “We are getting married and that is it.”
Chapter Four
“Let’s have a party.” Violet shifted in the auto, stretching her back, as they made their way home, and snuggled closer into Jack’s arms. “Something ridiculous.”
The unacknowledged tension in the auto with what had happened with Theo and Jack’s reaction was making it seem as though they were terrible actors for a play that no one had rehearsed for.
“You put him on the ground yourself,” Kate said with a wooden merriness. “Jiu jitsu lessons have been worth it.”
“I did.” Vi sighed and glanced out the window. She wasn’t afraid, but she was disturbed that it had happened at all. Did men treat each other this way? Or was it just how they treated women? Like someone you could simply overpower or manipulate. Whoever was the biggest or the strongest got their way?
“Good job,” Victor cheered quietly and Kate elbowed him.
Vi’s mouth twisted. “It’s not surprising that Algie harped on about us to the future in-laws. He loves a good story, and ours are exciting from the outside. What’s shocking really is that someone like Robert Roche thought he could just tell you hel
p him.”
“He did offer money,” Kate said as though that somehow made it better.
“We can’t be purchased like a…a…race horse!” Victor scowled.
“They didn’t want you,” Violet laughed. She lifted Jack’s hand from his lap and placed it on her own. She rubbed her thumb over his knuckles where they were bruised. The middle one had cracked.
“It’s like I said,” Jack said, low, “we’re notorious. I want one of your cocktails, Victor, and perhaps a cigar. This party was a failure, and I am battling a rage headache. The way that man treated Ham like a servant. As though Ham weren’t better than the both of us.”
“That does sound lovely,” Violet lied. She wanted to curl up in Jack’s arms, but Denny had announced as they left that they were coming over to cleanse their palettes. She wasn’t sure what they were cleansing, but Violet didn’t really care. She hoped that Denny was bright enough to bring sweets. “But we were discussing a party. Something spur of the moment, I think. Roller skates in the ballroom, perhaps. A scavenger hunt through the rooms we haven’t fully explored. Shall we christen our house, Jack?”
He pressed his chin onto the top of her head, lifting up long enough to drop a kiss on her head, then settled her back into his arm.
The auto arrived, and just ahead of them were Isolde and Tomas. “We were hoping you’d come back here,” Isolde called from the behind the gate. “Tomas wants a cocktail.”
“And a cigar,” Jack said as he opened the gate for Violet.
“I would take one of those,” Denny said as he joined them with Lila on his arm. “I’ve got chocolate for Vi. I assumed you already had ginger wine since she’ll be questioning the nature of mankind and will need to relive all the terrible things that have ever happened. Lila says we should leave her be, but I think we should get it out in the open.”
Vi scowled at Denny as Rita approached from a black cab.
“I think we’ve already got our party,” Kate said, holding out a hand to Rita to welcome her in. “Cocktail, darling?”