“It’s a skill,” he muttered, his gaze darting back and forth. “Hare. Roar. Garden,” he said out loud, and she saw the same words.
“A skill?” she repeated.
“Honoria,” he whispered.
She shook her head but saw the same name in the jumble before her.
“Harder when it is such a complicated set of letters,” he continued. “Fountain. It’s meant to confuse. And if the message was meant for one person, even the decoded version might mean little to a person who didn’t know the signs.”
“But you do?” Juliana asked. He didn’t respond. “Do you, Ellis?” she repeated, resting a hand on his shoulder.
He glanced up at her, and there was a strange peace on his face. It should have made her happy to see it, but instead it terrified her. It was…acceptance. Surrender. And she didn’t want to see either of those things on the face of the man she loved.
The only reason a fighter like Ellis would surrender was if he thought he had a fair trade for it.
“Ellis,” she whispered.
He pocketed the note and pushed to his feet. He cupped her cheeks and examined her face closely, as if he were trying to paint her image in his mind.
“Please.” She felt the sting of tears in her eyes.
He smoothed his thumbs along her jaw, across her lips. Then he leaned in and kissed her gently. Without possession, without aggression, without desperation. He kissed her like it was the first time. He kissed her like it might be the last.
Then he stepped away. “Don’t be afraid anymore,” he said softly. “There’s nothing to be afraid of anymore.”
Her breath caught as he backed away a step, an eerie calm in the room around them. Until, that was, the door to the study flew open and Rook Maitland stepped into the room.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he burst out, his brown eyes darker than she’d ever seen. And he was glaring at Ellis like he was ready to throw hands.
Chapter 22
Ellis should have been preparing for an attack if the expression on his cousin’s face was any indication. But he didn’t. Instead he simply stared at the man who had been his friend, his blood, his partner for almost his entire life. He stared at him and felt the swell of love and regret.
“Answer me,” Rook growled, and stepped toward him.
Juliana gasped as she threw herself between them, her arms up as if she could protect Ellis. His Valkyrie from mythology, except she was real and in the flesh.
“Stop,” she burst out. “Stop it now. You won’t hurt him.”
Rook flinched. “Hurt him? I would never hurt him. But I won’t let him hurt you, either. Anne would never forgive me for that. I’d never forgive myself.”
“He isn’t hurting me,” Juliana said, and reached back to take Ellis’s hand. Her fingers were warm against his. Heavy in his palm. A weight that reminded him of his love for her even as he watched her love in return being demonstrated.
Rook’s expression crumpled. “Juliana,” he said softly. “What have you been doing?”
“You all cut me out of your plans,” she explained softly. “So I’ve been helping Ellis with his.”
“You allowed her to do this?” Rook asked him this time, talking over Juliana’s head. “Are you so far fallen that you would involve yet another innocent in your schemes, even after all the consequences the others have suffered?”
Ellis flinched. “I was selfish, as usual. But it’s over now.”
Juliana gasped and pivoted back toward him. “Ellis!”
He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. “It was always going to end, angel. And I’ll never regret it. But now I must go.” He let her hand go, his own fingers shaking as he backed away. “Don’t follow me. Just let me do this. Let me do this one right and good thing in my life.”
He was moving toward the study window, and Rook caught his breath. “No, no!” he cried out.
But it was too late. Ellis flicked his wrist behind him, unlatching the window with a burglar’s skill. He flipped backward over the sill and toppled into the bushes below. Thankfully it wasn’t too far a drop—he landed flush and bounded back to his feet.
Rook leaned over the window. “Don’t go!” he called out, but Ellis ignored him.
Even though it broke his heart, he ignored his cousin’s voice and Juliana’s as he took off across the garden, toward the waiting horse that would take him to the end. Of the game. Of the danger. And of his life.
Juliana leaned out over the windowsill. If she could follow him, she might be able to catch him, stop him. But before she could make the same leap Ellis had just made, Rook caught her arm. He dragged her back as she struggled, away from the window and the vanishing figure of the man she loved.
“No!” she cried out as she spun around and glared up at Rook. “How could you do that? He isn’t doing something wrong! Not this time. He’s trying to protect you and Gabriel and—and me. He’s trying to be better and all you’re doing is—”
“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?” Rook said softly.
She broke off in her rambling and stared up at him. There was no judgment on his face, no pity. Only a gentle knowledge that couldn’t be denied. She didn’t want to deny it.
“I do,” she said. “I love him with all my heart.”
He pursed his lips. “It seems you two have been very busy behind all our backs.”
She shrugged. “We are both…lost. We found each other, and I won’t apologize or explain myself when it comes to that. I’m sure you think me a fool and will tell me how he’s only using me and isn’t capable of doing anything else.”
Rook shook his head. “I would never tell you that. I certainly don’t believe it. My cousin has not always made the best choices. But he isn’t a bad man at his core. I think him infinitely capable of love and even fidelity if he found someone who could melt the icy parts of him.” He let out a sigh. “If you want to be together, you’ll have to fight your family on him. They all have reasons to doubt he’s true.” His gaze flitted over her face. “But looking at you, his fierce protector, I believe you’ll win. Because we both know Ellis is far more than merely Handsome.”
She smiled at him. At that acceptance he offered not just to her, but to Ellis. He’d thought he’d lost Rook. She knew he mourned that. It seemed he hadn’t.
She blinked as the moment passed. “Oh, but Rook, none of this will matter, not if we don’t keep him alive. He’s solved the anagrams on the coded message, but he wouldn’t explain to me what they meant. And you saw his face when he moved out the window.”
Rook nodded. “I did. His calm was…frightening.”
“I think he’s going to do something…something dangerous,” she whispered.
“I agree. What were the words?”
“He only said a few that made any sense. Garden. Honoria. Fountain.”
Rook shrugged. “Gibberish as far as I’m concerned, but if Ellis understood, then it must be the answer. His mind always worked better on these types of puzzles than mine did. The person who might know the connection is Harcourt. Solomon Kincaid wrote the anagrams, after all. Harcourt is his brother.”
“Then let’s get him,” Juliana said, grabbing Rook’s hand and tugging him toward the door. “We can’t waste a moment. Not with Ellis’s life at stake.”
Rook followed her without argument, though she felt his stare on her back. But she didn’t care. What she cared about in this moment was Ellis and getting to him before his desire to save everyone else pushed him to do something reckless.
Ellis paced the private room at the Donville Masquerade, flexing his hands in and out of fists at his sides. Where the hell was she? He had no time for this. He wanted to get to Winston Leonard, do what he had to do and accept the consequences. He was ready to do that, and the more time he had to consider it, the harder the decision was.
He would never see Juliana again. At best, if he did, it would be at an inquiry where he was sentenced to death or transpo
rtation. He would certainly never touch her again, never hold her or kiss her. He’d never get a chance to whisper he loved her as she slept in his arms.
He stopped pacing and braced an arm on the mantelpiece as regret washed over him.
“Don’t you look sick.”
He pivoted to find Lady Lydia had entered the room as he pondered his lack of future. She was wearing a different mask from the one she’d had on the night before. Red silk and satin this time, trimmed with black leather. She sashayed forward and looked around.
“A private room, Mr. Maitland,” she all but purred. “One would think you’re trying to seduce me.”
He backed away from her. Once upon a time, she would have been the perfect mark for seduction. Jaded, experienced despite her unmarried status, moneyed. They would have had fun and he would have collected a few baubles she wouldn’t miss and perhaps some gifts she gave freely, as well.
But the very idea now, even in jest, of touching her was an anathema to him. “I chose a private room so we could have a private conversation. Nothing more.”
“Pity,” she sighed. “Then what is it you want to say privately?”
“I have the answer to the riddle. I know where the gem is.”
Her eyes went wide and all the teasing and malaise fled her face. “So soon?”
“I’m motivated,” he growled. “And so is your brother. I have written down a direction. You get it to him. I don’t care how you do it. He will meet me there at dawn.”
He held out the paper, and she took it and put it in the reticule that dangled from her wrist. “You think I can get him there in such a short time? It’s only a few hours.”
“I think you’re motivated, too.” He moved toward the door. “And I don’t want him to have too much time to plan for traps. Get him there, my lady. I’ll take care of the rest. Good night.”
He left without waiting for a response and stalked down the hallway. He was going to simply leave. He had arrangements to make, after all. Final preparations for the night and for his life. But as he passed by the bar, he paused.
“Just one drink,” he muttered, and strolled toward the barkeep, who was chatting with a few patrons.
The man smiled at him. “What’ll ya have, mate?”
Ellis paused. What did a man choose for his last drink? “Your best whisky.”
“My best is awfully expensive.”
Ellis glanced over his shoulder with a slight smile and found Marcus standing there. His friend slid into on to the stools pushed up to the bar and called out. “Two of those, Brooks.”
The bartender gave a wave of recognition. As they waited for their drinks, Marcus watched Ellis closely. Too closely.
“Damn it, Rivers,” Ellis muttered as the whisky was set down before them. “Don’t sit there reading me.”
Marcus shrugged. “It’s hard not to when I’m worried about you.”
Ellis sipped his drink. “Christ, spare me your playing nursemaid. I’m fine.”
“Saw you go into the back, but I don’t think it was with the lady you kept encountering here before. The one you insisted I ban. The spitfire.”
Ellis stared at his drink. The remnants suddenly tasted sour. “You know me,” he said at last. “A lady for every occasion.”
“Hmmm.” Rivers leaned back and took a sip of his own drink. “If you say so. If you don’t want to tell me the truth.”
“You already know too many truths, old friend,” Ellis said with a sigh and another sip of his drink. “If I lie, it’s just out of habit.”
“Self-preservation, I think,” Rivers corrected with a frown. “Handsome, let me help you.”
Ellis considered it. He could tell Rivers what he was off to do and where. He could ask for his help and he knew, without a doubt, that his friend would. Only when everything fell apart, Rivers would be implicated. He’d lose everything he’d fought so hard to build. So few people got out of the gutter. Ellis wasn’t about to drag his friend back in.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said with a pat of Rivers’ arm. He downed the last sip of his whisky and stood to reach into his pocket for blunt to pay.
Marcus shook his head. “That one was on the house.”
Ellis stared at him and Rivers stared right back. His friend’s gaze widened a fraction, and Ellis nodded slightly. “Goodbye, Marcus.”
He extended a hand for Rivers to shake, and his friend rose before he did so. “Goodbye, Ellis,” Rivers said softly.
Ellis pivoted and walked away, eyes stinging. Now he had to shrug off all he was about to lose. He had to focus on what moves he’d have to make to ensure no one else would lose instead.
Juliana paced Harcourt’s parlor, glaring at the gathering of her two sisters and their husbands. They were all arguing around her now, talking about what should have happened in the past. What they could have noticed to stop all this.
Rook had rung for the household to be woken, much to the dismay of Harcourt’s butler. But they’d come, bleary eyed and wrapped in dressing gowns. Rook’s quick explanation of what had transpired that night, him coming upon her and Ellis in Harcourt’s study, had been what inspired this cacophony of discussion.
She lifted a hand at last. “Great God, will you all stop? This is pointless and it won’t help Ellis.” The noise in the room stopped and everyone stared at her in surprise. She folded her arms, a shield of protection. “I’ve already confessed it to Rook, so I won’t deny it now. I am in love with Ellis.”
Harcourt drew back, an expression of horror on his face. Her sisters just stared. Rook remained unreadable, just as he had when she first admitted that his guess about her heart was correct.
“Juliana,” Thomasina breathed at last, breaking the silence of the room.
Juliana threw up her hands in frustration. “You can argue with me about it later. Right now Ellis has deciphered the code that tells him where the gem was hidden. He didn’t tell me where he was going, but I’m terrified at what will happen once he uncovers it.”
“He’ll run, you mean?” Harcourt snapped, his dark eyes narrowing. “He’ll take the gem and leave Winston Leonard to potentially destroy us all.”
“No!” Juliana took a long step toward him. This was the fight against her family that Rook had meant earlier. A war that she realized now would have many battles. And if this was the first, she would win it. “I realize you don’t like Ellis. All of you have reason to be angry with him. But I know him. He would not abandon us for money. He wouldn’t abandon Rook or his brother to potential death. He—he wouldn’t do that to me.”
Rook cleared his throat. “She’s right. My cousin has a great many faults. But I saw his face. It wasn’t triumph I saw when he bolted out that window. It was determination. Surrender. I fear for what he’ll do in order to protect us all.”
“As well you should.”
The group of them turned, and Juliana caught her breath. Marcus Rivers had entered the parlor. Harcourt’s butler Willard was on his heels. “My apologies, my lord. He wouldn’t—”
“Mr. Rivers,” Juliana breathed as she stepped up to him and looked into dark green eyes that were lined with the same concerns as her own. “He went to Donville, didn’t he?” she whispered.
“You may go, Willard,” Harcourt said. “Mr. Rivers, I presume.”
Rivers looked past her at the crowd. “Lord and Lady Harcourt, Rook, Mrs. Maitland. I apologize for barging in at so late an hour. Though I’m happy to find you all gathered. I assume to discuss the same thing I came here for.”
“Ellis went to you,” Juliana repeated.
Rivers dropped his gaze back to her. “He did. He met with someone, a woman. Now, normally I protect the identities of the members of my club religiously, but I’ll make an exception provided this remains between us.”
“Who?” Rook pressed.
Rivers met his gaze. “Winston Leonard’s sister.”
“Lady Lydia?” Juliana gasped, and saw her sisters looked just as shocked as she di
d. “She is a patron of your club?”
“A great many ladies are, Miss Shelley,” Rivers said with a slightly arched brow in her direction. “They met very briefly and then departed separately. I waylaid Ellis temporarily and I saw…” He turned toward Rook. “I want you to understand, Rook. Handsome is…he’s on a suicide mission.”
Juliana buckled at those words and Rivers reached out, catching her elbow so she didn’t collapse onto the floor under the weight of that suggestion. He guided her to a chair and helped her into it. She stared up at him, blinking at tears, fighting around the lump in her throat. “A suicide mission. How?”
“He talked to me about it weeks ago,” Rivers said, his mouth a thin, hard line. “About failing everyone he cared about. About how his only option was to sacrifice himself in order to end Leonard.”
“End him?” Rook repeated, the color exiting his cheeks. Anne slid to his side and wrapped her arm around his waist as if to shore him up. “He’s going to kill Leonard?”
Rivers nodded. “That was his intention recently. After tonight, I believe to still be.”
“Why the hell didn’t you send for me?” Rook cried out, marching up on Rivers, his hands in fists at his sides.
“Because Handsome wants you out of the life,” Rivers said, never flinching even at the implied threat. “And to be honest, I hoped he would talk himself out of it.” He glanced at Juliana. “Because of you. You were giving him something to live for.”
“Not enough,” she whispered, and now one of those tears she’d been fighting slid down her cheek. “Not enough to fight his urge to protect us all.”
Harcourt had been strangely silent during it all but now he stepped forward. “Enough people have died because of the mistakes Ellis Maitland and my brother made. Juliana, you said Ellis solved the anagram. What did he say exactly?”
“Three words that stood out, that he reacted strongly to, and I hope they’re enough. Garden. Fountain. Honoria.”
She expected Harcourt to be as confused as she had been by the answer, but instead the color fled his cheeks. “Honoria,” he repeated, and his cheek twitched.
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