Just a Little Wickedness

by Merry Farmer

  “And children?” Joe asked through a clenched jaw. When Burbage gaped at him, he said, “Toby and Emma came from your household. So did Lily. How many others have gone missing from this house over the years?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Burbage said desperately.

  Joe was beginning to wonder if Burbage really didn’t know what he’d gotten involved in. The possibility only aggravated him.

  “After what we have seen today,” Alistair began in a low voice filled with fury, “for you to deny involvement is not just abhorrent, it is evil.”

  “And you think you are one to lecture me on evil?” Burbage asked him. “You, who parade around with your valet lover?”

  “You don’t know half as much as you think you do,” Alistair said, shaking his head in disgust. “And what you do know is wrong. Joe and I have worked tirelessly for these last few weeks to bring an end to your sordid business. And we have. That is all you need to know.”

  “You’ve brought an end to nothing,” Burbage told him. “Do you think this whole enterprise begins and ends with me or my father?”

  An uneasy knot formed in Joe’s gut.

  “I may not understand anything, as you accuse me of, but I am not lying when I say this is not my business.” Burbage turned to David, then glanced on to Wrexham. “You would be a fool to arrest me, or anyone in this house, or to make any attempt to pin this crime on us. Your career would be ruined.” He glanced back to David. “Your license to practice law would be revoked.”

  David lowered his head slightly, a wry smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He took a step closer to Burbage. “My lord, you do not know whom you are dealing with. Your title may protect you from full prosecution, but I can assure you that there are far worse things for your sort than to be brought before a court or before the House of Lords.”

  Burbage scoffed. “I doubt it.”

  David stepped quickly up to him, leaning in close enough to whisper something in Burbage’s ear that Joe couldn’t hear. He exchanged a glance with Alistair, who evidently couldn’t hear what was said either. All Joe knew was that when David stepped back, Burbage was as pale as a ghost and his mouth hung open.

  “This is how things will proceed,” David went on, glancing to Wrexham, then to Alistair and Joe, then fixing Burbage with a sharp stare. “You will hand over any and all documents pertaining to this investigation within your possession. You will go with Officer Wrexham to wherever he feels he can best interrogate you on the matter to glean what information you do have. When that is finished, you and your father will leave England for an extended holiday in whatever remote corner of the world you choose to explore, the farther the better.”

  Joe’s brow shot up at the unexpected condition. Alistair seemed just as surprised.

  “You must give me time to make arrangements,” Burbage said in a hoarse voice.

  “You will go with Wrexham immediately,” David said. “You have until the end of the week to make your arrangements.”

  “But I—”

  “We’re finished here.” David turned away from Burbage as Wrexham stepped forward to grasp his arm. As Wrexham led Burbage out of the room—and Joe was shocked at how quietly the man went—David turned a reassuring look to Joe. “We’ll find out what happened to your sister, Joe. I truly believe Burbage doesn’t know, but someone does. Something in this web of villainy he’s a part of must know something.”

  “Thank you,” Joe said, not knowing what else he could say.

  As soon as Wrexham marched Burbage out into the hall, it felt as though most of the energy drained from the room. Joe let out a long breath and rubbed a hand over his face. “I wish I felt as though things were settled,” he said.

  Alistair raised a hand to rub his back. “They will be settled. Soon. I’ll make sure of it.”

  Joe sent him a grateful smile. He didn’t have Lily. He still didn’t know where she was. But he had Alistair, and everything within him was certain that wasn’t going to change.

  “Were…were there really children on a ship about to be taken away?” Lady Matilda asked, her voice weak and wavering.

  “There were,” Alistair’s brother answered her, as somber as a priest. “I saw them with my own eyes.” He glanced up at his brother. “They were in every bit as wretched a state as Alistair said they were. If he and…and Mr. Logan hadn’t worked so hard to rescue them, I shudder to think what would have become of them.”

  “They’re safe now, my lady,” Alistair told Lady Matilda, taking a step toward her, trying to smile. “Rest assured of that.”

  Lady Matilda nodded, slowly breaking down into tears. Her shoulders shook as the three of them who were left in the study with her looked on. Alistair finally stepped forward, slipping his arm around Lady Matilda and letting her cry against his shoulder.

  “It’s so frightening,” she sobbed. “And to think, my sister is married to that man. If I hadn’t said something….” Her words trailed off into a moan.

  Joe arched one eyebrow. True, Lady Matilda’s well-timed revelation had meant the difference between rescuing the children or losing them, but if she had any thought of taking credit for the whole thing….

  “I’m so sorry,” she said, suddenly lifting her head from Alistair’s shoulder and taking a step back. She glanced from Alistair to Joe. “I don’t understand what the two of you….” She swallowed, her face blushing deep pink. “I don’t think it’s right, but…but I cannot continue believing it is entirely wrong. Not when it has become clear to me that you have put your all into saving these children.”

  “Thank you, Lady Matilda,” Alistair said softly. “My heartfelt advice to you is not to think of it at all. Put it out of your mind for good.”

  Lady Matilda nodded. Her face pinched into grief again as fresh tears wet her face. “It simply isn’t fair. You are the nicest man I have met, Lord Farnham. Why can you not be normal?”

  Joe wasn’t sure whether to laugh or shake his head in disgust.

  “I honestly don’t know, my lady,” Alistair said, raising Lady Matilda’s hand to his lips for a friendly kiss.

  “We should go home,” Alistair’s brother said in a subdued voice. He glanced to Joe with an exhausted frown. “There are things we must discuss in private.”

  Joe stood straighter, crossing his arms and arching an eyebrow. So he was to be included in the discussion now? “Agreed,” he said.

  “Then let’s go,” Alistair said, taking Lady Matilda’s arm and leading her out of the room.

  Chapter 21

  The ride home from Eccles House was nearly silent. Alistair was only marginally satisfied with leaving David and Wrexham to finish what they needed to in terms of the investigation. Chisolm truly wasn’t at home, which was unsettling, but Burbage was taken into police custody in spite of his protests. Alistair would have stayed behind to make certain every possible measure had been taken to ensure whatever part the Eccles family had played in the trafficking ring had ended. He would have given anything to uncover information about Lily Logan. But his own family matters were far more pressing.

  Darren studied Joe with an unreadable expression through the short ride home. Every time they passed a streetlamp, an eerie blend of shadow and light would illuminate both men’s faces. Joe met Darren’s scrutiny with implacable strength, giving Alistair the feeling that some sort of battle would break out once they were safely tucked away at home. The two men he cared the most about in the world, aside from his father, seemed to be heading toward an explosion.

  It was something of a relief when they discovered Father was still awake and tucked in his chair in the parlor once they got home.

  “Is something wrong?” Alistair asked, striding forward to see to his father, and possibly to avoid the inevitable confrontation. “Shouldn’t you be in bed, Father?”

  “I had a feeling in my old bones that I needed to wait up for the two of you to return,” his father said, taking Alistair’s hand with his fra
il one and squeezing it. His father’s face lit with delight at the sight of Joe. “There you are, young man,” he said. “I was wondering what became of you. No one would tell me. But I suppose it must be time consuming to acclimate yourself to a position in a new house.”

  His smile was so innocent that all Alistair could do was send a knowing smile to Joe, then a sterner look to Darren. “Mr. Logan isn’t going anywhere, Father,” he said. “He will be on hand to care for you, if you’d like him to, as well as serving my needs.”

  He hadn’t meant the phrase to have a double meaning, but Darren coughed and scowled all the same.

  “Are you ready to go up to bed?” Joe asked their father, stepping forward without waiting for someone to issue a command. “I can help, if you’d like.”

  “Thank you, my boy.” Their father took Joe’s hand in both of his and patted it. “I am feeling a bit done in. But you can call for Jeffrey. He knows the routine.”

  Joe took a step back, but before he could launch into action, Darren stepped out of the room to find the footman.

  Everything that had happened throughout the day suddenly felt like a heavy burden on Alistair’s shoulders that he was ready to remove. “You were right, Father,” he said, crouching by his father’s chair so that he could look up into his eyes. He took his father’s hand. “You were right about everything all along. I’m so sorry we doubted you.”

  “I’m always right,” his father laughed, a vague and cheery smile making him look like a youth trapped in an old and decaying body. He leaned closer to Alistair. “What was I right about this time?”

  “The Eccles family has been involved with a slave trade of sorts,” Alistair explained. He was careful not to include too many upsetting details as he went on with, “Not just in the eighteenth century, but now. Joe—that is, Mr. Logan—and I have been working hard to investigate their business dealings, and this evening, we finally proved that they have been up to every sort of evil.”

  “Isn’t that what I’ve told you all along?” his father said, cheeks pink with pleasure. “You’ve always been such a smart boy. I knew you would crack their nefarious code eventually.”

  “Burbage has been arrested,” Alistair went on. “Though, as a peer, I’m not sure how much the law can truly do to bring him to justice. It looks as though the best we can hope for is that he and his father will leave the country permanently.”

  “It’s damnably unfair that a title can serve as a broom to sweep all manner of sins under the carpet,” his father scoffed. “If I were you, I’d make sure and certain that the Eccles family assets were frozen as quickly as possible and that any outstanding debts were called in. That should provide the justice that the law won’t.”

  Alistair stood, his brow rising as he did. “I hope David has thought of that,” he said to Joe.

  “I’m sure he has,” Joe answered. “I’m beginning to see that nothing gets past the law offices of Dandie & Wirth.”

  “I’ll contact a few of the people I know to whom Burbage and Chisolm owe money,” Darren said. Alistair hadn’t noticed him return to the room, but he wasn’t surprised.

  Jeffrey was with him. “Are you ready, my lord?” the young man asked.

  “As I’ll ever be,” their father sighed as the footman came over to help him out of the chair. “And perhaps, if I’m lucky, the good Lord will take me home tonight. I feel as though my work here is done.”

  The simple statement, delivered with such peace and resignation, chilled Alistair to the bone. “Not yet, Father,” he said, throat tight with sadness. He rested a hand on his father’s arm as Jeffrey led him past. “Please, not yet. I’m not ready for you to go.” Surprise tears stung at his eyes.

  His father looked at him with so much affection and pride that it was almost impossible for Alistair to hold himself together. “If you’re not ready, I’m not ready either, my boy.” He reached for Alistair’s hand. “And truly, I receive far too much joy from watching you conquer the world as the man you’ve become to want to rush off to the hereafter yet. You are the apple of my eye and the spring in my heart.” He turned to Darren. “You as well. And that rapscallion sister of yours, whenever she deigns to stay at home for more than a fortnight on end.”

  Alistair let out his emotion with a laugh and wiped away the rogue tear that escaped from him. “Thank you, Father,” he said, watching as Jeffrey led his father on. “You have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that.”

  “In that case,” his father said over his shoulder as he reached the doorway, “I should say it more often.”

  Alistair drew in a long, settling breath as his father disappeared around the corner. He felt too much emotion to speak or move. How long had he waited for his father to say something like what he’d just said? To tell him that he was loved and that his father approved of him? His father had said enough for Alistair to know that he was proud of him, that he truly had done his duty to his family, whether he followed the standard path to that duty or not. As Joe stepped up behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder, Alistair felt as though he had, indeed, conquered the world, as his father had said. He’d brought evil men to justice, he’d helped the innocent and helpless, and he’d found love.

  “Are you going to be all right?” Joe asked him in a low, voice, leaning into him.

  Alistair nodded and reached back to take Joe’s hand.

  The only thing preventing him from being completely happy was the way Darren stared at the two of them. The heightened emotion in the room bristled into uncertainty.

  “I only wonder how long Father knew before we caught on to things,” Darren said at last. It wasn’t what Alistair expected him to say.

  “He’s been telling us to keep an eye out for years,” Alistair said.

  “He must have known all along, then.” Darren nodded, taking a step toward them. “But why didn’t he tell us when his mind was still clear?”

  “Perhaps he thought you weren’t ready,” Joe said.

  Darren paused a few feet in front of Alistair and Joe, a puzzled look coming over him. “I don’t understand you,” he admitted. “I find you utterly incomprehensible.”

  “Because I’m nothing but a country valet, standing in front of you like an equal?” Joe asked, a hint of mischief in his eyes.

  “You know what I mean,” Darren said in a quiet voice. He paused, then said, “But yes, that too.” He paused again before saying, “You aren’t going to show me the least bit of deference in my own house going forward, are you?”

  “None at all,” Joe said with a smile. His hand tightened on Alistair’s shoulder.

  “And you’re not going to give this up and return to normal,” Darren went on, glancing to Alistair.

  “This is my normal,” Alistair said, taking Joe’s hand.

  Darren nodded, then let out an exhausted breath and rubbed a hand over his face. “What sort of arrangements do you suggest we make? Do you intend to live under this roof…as you are?”

  Alistair shrugged. “Anything else would be seen as suspicious. And I believe the best course of action in situations like this is to raise as little suspicion as humanly possible.”

  “You must find a way to keep this hidden from Beth,” Darren insisted.

  “Beth already knows,” Alistair said, smiling at the acceptance she’d given him during their conversation about it. “And, I might add, she approves.”

  Darren’s brow shot up. “She really is a rapscallion.”

  Alistair was tired of dithering and talking around things. “No one on the outside will so much as raise an eyebrow at my having a valet,” he said. “I have some concerns about our servants, but they can be easily navigated as well. And, in all honesty, if it is easier for everyone, I wouldn’t mind traveling a bit, seeing the world.” He glanced to Joe. “If that’s something you’d like.”

  “I wouldn’t mind.” Joe smiled, but that smile faded. “As soon as we find Lily.”

  Alistair’s heart ached for Joe. H
e was more than ready to retire to his room with Joe so he could wrap him in the care and affection Joe clearly needed. “We’ll find her,” he said.

  For the first time in a long time, it felt as though things were settling. Darren continued to look uncomfortable, but at least the disgust and anger was gone from him.

  “You realize this means you will be my heir,” Alistair told him with a brotherly smile. “So it will be up to you to marry and produce more heirs. I believe Lady Matilda is in the market for a husband.”

  “Good Lord.” Darren’s eyes went wide. “In that respect, you were a braver man than me. I think I’ll search out a wife in greener pastures than that.”

  “It’s up to you.” Alistair let go of Joe and moved to embrace his brother. It was a quick, somewhat awkward embrace, but at least it was a start. “And now, I’m off to bed.” He glanced over his shoulder to Joe, who fell into step with him. Whatever Darren thought of that or assumed would happen next was none of Alistair’s concern.

  By the time he and Joe made it upstairs and behind the closed and locked doors of his bedroom, Alistair was finally starting to feel as though everything that could be resolved had been.

  “You won’t mind?” he asked Joe as he shrugged out of his jacket and loosened his tie.

  “Mind what?” Joe asked as he, too, began undressing.

  “Living a life as my valet? Having all the world assume we are simply employer and employee?”

  Joe laughed. “You’re right when you say it’s the safest arrangement we could come to. But you know that rumors will spread over the years when you never marry. Especially if anyone notices your complete devotion to your handsome and charming valet.” He tossed his jacket aside, then moved to stand toe-to-toe with Alistair, embracing him.

  Alistair laughed, then circled his arms around Joe, leaning in for a kiss. It felt like the most natural thing in the world. It felt like home.

  “We won’t be able to hide anything,” he admitted with a sigh, brushing one hand through Joe’s hair, then stroking the side of his face. “Anyone who looks at us will know we’re in love.”