Nicholas had told himself before meeting Elisa had he was doing it in an effort to make Avery regret his decision. Whatever Cassius asked for, it would be painful. It usually was. Why else force someone to owe you a debt if you didn’t plan to ask them for something that could cripple them?
But since he’d met Elisa, for the second time, he knew in his heart he was doing it for her.
He would protect her even if Avery told him he could walk away from her this very moment.
She was far too soft to be treated any other way.
But her softness didn’t mean she was weak. She reminded him of a wool blanket. Beautiful with an array of colorful stitches that held everything together. Those that rested under her glow were wrapped in a protection of peace. Yet, if two strong men stood on either side of that blanket and pulled with all their might, it would not break.
Five years in Bedlam, cut off from the world and nearly alone, and she’d not broken.
If her strength were the result of madness, then more people should misplace their minds.
“I’m not doing this for your brother,” Nicholas said. “I’m doing it for someone else.” He wasn’t ready to introduce Van Dero just yet. He knew that not even Astger or Sparrow had mentioned the duke.
Cass was feared for reasons that were unfair. Stories surrounding him ranged from half-truths to complete lies.
Was he dangerous?
Yes.
Did he hire dangerous men?
Yes.
Was he evil?
Not at all. He simply hated politics. Changing laws to protect the people of England could take years. In the meantime, someone had to save the lives here today.
That was the duke.
“Why don’t you like Avery?” Elisa asked.
“He irritates me.” He changed the direction of their walking, starting back to the main gate.
“How does he irritate you?” Elisa asked.
“I don’t know.” He narrowed his eyes. “It’s just something about his face.” He stopped, as the answer came to him. “It’s his audacity, to make requests of men he doesn’t know and then expect nothing in his world will change. He believes his title to be gold. It is not. A title can only save you where the title is respected. What titles can’t do is stop bullets or blades.”
Her mouth parted.
Nicholas groaned. “Forgive me. I’ve painted a very horrible picture in your mind.”
∫ ∫ ∫
1 7
* * *
Nicholas was about to take back everything he’d said about her brother when she spoke first.
“No, you are exactly right. That is Avery. He thinks everything must always go his way. My father wishes me to marry Lord Alguire. Avery wishes to marry…” She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. The point being, he oversteps, but where would I be now without his audacity? I do adore him.”
Nicholas supposed Avery’s efforts to save his sister should be commended. “Have you ever met anyone you didn’t adore?”
She said nothing, but she lifted one of her naturally sculpted brows.
The look made him warm with embarrassment.
He chuckled. “I suppose I should have thought about the question before I asked it. Of course, I have done much to cause you anger.”
“And much to cause the opposite,” she said.
He wanted to cause so many other things. He wanted to hear her scream his name and feel her body shake in ecstasy.
He positioned his lower body out of sight once more and said the first thing that came to mind. Anything to get his mind off the thought of what Elisa looked like naked. “Our brothers should meet. It might be fun.”
“Which one? Would this be your brother who’s a marquess?”
“Someone has told you about him?”
“Astger,” she said.
Nick leaned against one of the post on the high wall and held his hands in front of him. “What else did Astger tell you about my family?” Already the subject was cooling him.
She placed a hand on the low hordling and rubbed her gloves against the cold stone. She watched her fingers work. “He told me your middle brother only exists when he wishes. Astger also said that you’re a very busy man and that is the reason I haven’t seen you since our arrival.”
“Work is not the reason.”
“Why did you avoid me then?”
“Why have you been avoiding me?” he asked.
“Because I knew it was what you wanted.” Her gaze returned to him. Elisa’s eyes often seemed unreal with the way they glowed. “Was I right?”
“I do apologize for what I said to you last week. It was unkind, especially to have said in front of Wade. Forgive me.”
“Why did you do it?” she asked.
Nick’s heart raced. He didn’t want to tell her the truth of it. That she messed with his mind and heart and... other parts. He wasn’t ready to speak aloud about the string holding them together.
If he told her any of that, he’d likely have to tell her about how he’d stayed up last night and how he was beginning to feel hollow when not in her presence.
No, he’d never tell her that. “I don’t know why I did it. I just wanted you to… not like me. Women have been known to fall for me rather quickly. It’s important that you understand you are my charge. It is my duty to protect you and when your brother’s choice of a husband comes for you, I will give you away.”
She blinked and then let out a heavy breath. “All right.” She blinked again and then turned away, her feet rushing.
Nicholas caught her before she could get far. Against the battlement and in the shadow, he turned her around. “Elisa, tell me I haven’t upset you more.”
“I can’t tell you that.” She shook her head. Her chin remained down, though he didn’t feel she was hiding from him. “I just thought…”
“What did you think?” What was she thinking now? What did she want from him?
Sad eyes lifted to him, and she smiled. “You have a very beautiful home, Nickie.” The pet name rolled from her tongue with far too much endearment for him to stand.
He tightened his hands on her arms. “My home is not what we are speaking about.”
Her smile grew sadder. “Well, there’s no reason to speak of the other thing either, is there? Nothing will change. As you said, you don’t change your mind.”
He had told her that, hadn’t he?
The other thing.
They both knew what she spoke of.
Their instant connection.
It resided between them even now.
Yet she was right. Nothing they said would change anything, though it was clear she wanted it to.
He touched her cheek and their eyes closed at the same time. “You don’t even know me,” he whispered.
“But my heart knows you.” Her reply was quiet. “It’s just the rest of me that needs time.”
He pulled her into the battlement. The staircase was shadowed. Only a few windows brought in light. They could not be seen.
Their bodies understood their mutual desire.
When he kissed her, her mouth greeted him with warmth and sweetness. The rest of her did the same. Her arms went around his waist and held him. He cupped the back of her head and took pleasure in exploring her mouth.
Her soft sighs were the greatest welcome he’d ever heard. He’d never felt a softer mouth than hers. He found himself simply touching lips with her after a while, rubbing his over hers gently.
She let him. She clung to him. Her breaths were short, like she was on the cusp of reaching her pleasure. “I could stay like this forever.”
The words, said in the cold, brought nothing but fire to his loins.
Was he mad? They could not have forever.
They could not have now, but he was taking it.
He backed her against the wall and set his hands on her body. “I need to touch you.”
“Yes. Anything.”
He nearly fell to his knees in
worship of the God who’d created them. He was dizzy with desire. He groaned against her mouth. “Oh, Elisa, you cannot say such things to me. I am a weak man.” She was making him weak. She was tearing at all his mental defenses and challenging everything he’d ever known about himself.
He didn’t know himself at all.
He was falling. He wanted to fall. He knew it was safe to do so. He trusted the place he would land, knew it would be a paradise that he’d never have to leave again. A shelter from the world. A shield from his past.
Nothing had ever felt this way.
“You’re not weak,” she whispered. “You’re so very strong.”
He pulled away, because he needed to see her eyes. Her eyes were so important to him.
And what he saw was that brilliant strength again.
She placed her hands on his shoulders. “Shall I leave you now?”
He said nothing.
“Should I go?” she asked.
Again, his mouth could not form the words he knew they should.
She smiled. “I wish to give you something.”
“My letter?” he asked with hope.
She laughed. “Oh, there’s your voice. For a moment, I thought I’d stolen it.”
“You have. I should take it back.” He kissed her over her laugh. Her breath pumped joy into his lungs. “When shall I have my letter?”
“That is not the gift I offer,” she said quietly. Quite deviously.
Nick stiffened. If she said what he thought she would…
Don’t ask.
Don’t ask.
“What is it?”
“Me.”
The clapping of horse hooves approaching the gate downstairs managed to beat louder than his heart. He took Elisa’s hand and went to stand look through the embrasure in the crenellation. The cut in the wall was wide enough for her and Nick to lean into together.
He frowned. He wasn’t even thankful for the distraction.
“Who is that?” Elisa asked.
“My brother.”
The carriage was forced to stop at the gate. One of Nicholas’ watchmen approached to ask if they should open it.
Nicholas waved him on. “Let him in.”
∫ ∫ ∫
1 8
* * *
“He’s on his way. I’ve sent a messenger to tell him where to find her once I was sure you were here.”
“And you didn’t think to consult me first?” Nicholas asked his brother as he paced in his office. He’d known it would only be a matter of time before Lord Alguire found out that he was the Marquess of Venmont’s brother.
“He came to me and said you were holding what is rightfully his. He had documents to prove it. Pardon me for not being willing to watch my brother be arrested over a woman.”
Except for their pale eyes, the brothers were nothing alike.
While Nick was trying hard to be the proper gentleman their father had never allowed them to be, Oliver chose to go the other way. Nick was impressed his brother had decided to comb and cut his hair. Oliver wore a suit and it didn’t smell like animal, which was another surprise.
But then again, Oliver played the part of a marquess very well when he wasn’t on his own property.
Oliver put his heavy boots on the edge of Nick’s desk and scooted down in his chair. “As we both know, life in a cell is no paradise.”
The word paradise brought Elisa to mind.
His desire for her was still present, but his current situation had lowered the fires. “I won’t get arrested.” They’d have to catch him first.
The thought of leaving the country was appealing, but when he thought of having Elisa at his side…
Would she come with him?
He could convince her.
He froze.
What was wrong with him? The woman was controlling his every thought and slipping in at the most inappropriate times.
His brother leaned forward. “I didn’t even believe you had her until I saw her in the courtyard. I didn’t believe a word of what Lord Alguire said at first. I mean, you? Stealing a man’s intended? It made no sense.”
“Did you think I’d fallen in love and run off with her?”
Oliver grunted.
Nick wondered at that reply. Did his own brother think it impossible for him to find love again? Perhaps, that was his fault. He’d said himself he’d never love again.
He did not love Elisa, he reminded himself. He only liked her.
He liked her a great deal… perhaps more than most he knew.
“Either way,” Oliver went on. “When he told me how you threatened him, I knew this was some sort of work for Van Dero. It is, isn’t it?”
“You suspected Van Dero to have a hand in this and still told the man where to find me?”
“Oops.” Oliver grinned. His brother was looking for a fight and clearly bored.
Nick pushed his brother’s feet down with a grimace. “Lady Elisa is not property that Alguire can simply claim and do with as he pleases. She’s a lady and yes, I am doing this for Van Dero.”
Or, he had been until an hour ago.
Oliver leaned forward farther and began to rub his hands together. “So, what are we going to do about Lord Alguire?” Oliver assisted the duke in his operations as well. The money was lovely, but more so than that, Oliver liked the excuse to kill. Animal. Man. It mattered very little.
Everything Nick had learned about how to cripple a man, he’d learned from Oliver. As the eldest, he’d been fighting far longer than Nick had.
The only difference was Oliver usually killed his opponents. He’d been larger than most men by the age of sixteen and had started fighting men far older than himself instead of boys his own age.
He’d once told Nick there were over a hundred ways to kill a man. Nick had rarely had to use the perverse talent.
Oliver embraced his darker side. Even now, his eyes had emptied of emotion. People were often troubled by how serious Astger could be. Nick preferred it, for there was nothing crueler than a jovial murderer.
Nick’s other friend, Lord Sirius Hayes, was much the same. He enjoyed control and delivering pain. He made it clear that his wife Pia was his better— and less dangerous— half in every way.
Nick thought about the day he’d met Lord Alguire. He thought about the bruises he’d seen on Elisa. He thought about the way she’d cried for him as they shoved her carelessly into the carriage.
“You don’t like Lord Alguire, do you?” Oliver asked. “Why?”
Nick scratched his chin. “I know what you’re doing. I tell you why I don’t like Alguire and you push me to murder the man for reasons you believe to be just. I won’t do it.”
“Why not? Is it the woman? Do you fear her reaction to his murder?”
Nick’s stomach tightened. “What if it is me who doesn’t wish to murder? Can’t a man have a conscience anymore?
His brother narrowed his gaze. “Not when he works for Lord Van Dero. That’s how men become corpses.”
Nick shook his head. “Don’t hide who you are behind the duke. You may be his top assassin, but we both know what Father made you.”
“He made me a survivor. Just like you. Just like Leo.”
“Speaking of Leo,” Nick said. “Have you heard from him?”
Oliver nodded. “A note. Some random symbols I didn’t bother trying to decipher, but he’s alive.”
There was a knock at the door and Elisa came in, followed by Astger and Dr. Sparrow.
His heart raced. He’d told her not to cover it. He wished she hadn’t listened.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said. “But I had this feeling that the meeting could possibly be about me?” She looked between Nick and Oliver. “It is, isn’t it?”
“Your fiancé is on his way,” Oliver told her. “I have told him where you are.”
Elisa paled. Her hand went to her stomach. “How long do I have?”
They’d been formally introduced in the courtyar
d. It was likely the way Oliver had looked her over that gave away the reason for his visit.
Oliver was looking at her now… as was Nick.
Her hair was uncovered, and Nicholas rounded his desk and sat. It was either that or everyone would see just how arousing he found her.
“It doesn’t matter what time he gets here,” Nick said. “You’ll go nowhere with the man. You’ve no reason to worry.”
“Yes.” Astger stepped forward. “He’d have to go through every man here to get to you.”
Elisa looked around and then at Nick. “But what if he brings the authorities? Technically, it is my father’s wish for me to wed his childhood friend’s son.”
“Do you wish to marry him?” Nick asked her.
“No.”
“Then you won’t. The local authorities will not be an issue,” Nick said. He’d made sure of that himself. It was always wise to bribe a man long before you needed him.
Her smile was like a visible show of her burdens falling away and peace engulfing her. “Well, if you’re sure, then I suppose I’ve no reason to worry.”
It surprised him again just how easily she was trusting him, was willing to hand over her safety. She trusted him to keep her guarded against the enemy.
Their silent gazes held for longer than was proper. Elisa was the first to look away and a quick look around told him no one had noticed.
She turned to Dr. Sparrow. Her voice weakened slightly. “We should like to find the men and continue their lessons.”
“I was wondering how you felt about a lesson on the human body.” Dr. Sparrow extended his arm and she took it.
“Oh, what a wonderful idea!” Elisa said as she passed over the threshold.
“That hair,” Oliver said, still staring at where Elisa had gone. “It should be a crime to hide it.
What lessons is she giving?”
“She’s teaching some of the men how to read,” Astger said.
“Beauty and a charitable heart. Can she do no wrong?” Oliver changed the subject before Nick could advise him to do so. “The local authorities might not give you much trouble, but if Alguire can find a circuit judge who doesn’t owe Van Dero a debt…”
“It’s possible but unlikely.”
A Knight of Vengeance: (The Valiant Love Regency Romance) (A Historical Romance Book) Page 9
