“Yes, my lady,” a low rasp vibrated behind her.
She turned.
The carpenter mopped a sleeve over his forehead and slid a stub of pencil behind an ear. The movement drew attention to the flexed muscles outlined by his tight work smock. “It is over here, my lady.” In three long, languid steps he arrived at a worktable in the opposite corner.
Sarah followed, growing testier by the second.
Leaning forward, his broad shoulders crowded her against the table. His scent of soap and charred wood suffused the air. He pointed to what looked like a half-burned cord.
She clutched her high collar and sought to calm her clambering pulse. “What is this… thing?” The nearness of such an overtly virile male made her insides jumpy.
“A spent blasting fuse, my lady.” His voice lowered to a breathy scratch. “Fuses like this one are used in mines to blast out rock. Not the sort of thing generally found lying about stately mansions.”
“My husband was an inventor. He collected many unusual items for his contraptions.”
“Did his inventions include explosions?”
Not in the usual sense. She pulled at her collar. “I wouldn’t know.”
“This fuse was not totally destroyed in the blast.” He motioned to the charred walls.
The ominous sound in his voice made Sarah’s mouth go dry. “What are you saying?”
“It appears, my lady, your husband’s laboratory may have been purposely destroyed.”
“Is this what the foreman wanted me to see?”
“Yes, my lady. He has gone for the police.”
CHAPTER 2
Not far away, Damen Aloysius Ravenhill, eldest son and heir to Viscount Falgate, trudged down the dim, rock-lined corridor of Falgate Hall. The cold fortress remained as forbidding as ever. With each step, dread clawed deeper, forcing him to hesitate in the bedchamber’s doorway at the prospect of what he would soon find.
He took a step into the dark-paneled room. A mammoth four-poster bed dressed in a green canopy and intricately carved ebony bedposts stood in its center. At the head of the bed, Damen could barely make out a large, bowl-shaped wrap of bandages.
Viscount Falgate, his father, sat in a wheelchair at the side of the bed, hunched forward, gently holding a lifeless hand. Cornelius’s distinctive amber ring glinted on the hand’s little finger.
Deep bags spilled over the viscount’s prominent cheekbones. His once robust physique now appeared shrunken, desiccated to a bird-like fragility. Damen hadn’t seen his father since he’d visited Liverpool six months before. His decline verged on frightening.
Falgate glanced at him through puffy red eyes and croaked angrily, “I told you not to come.”
Damen had caught the first train to Falgate Hall anyway. Worry rode with him every twist and turn of the journey.
Heart heavy with foreboding, he took another step. Now he could see his battered, almost unrecognizable younger brother propped up against the headboard. From his eyebrows upward, layers of bandages circled his skull like a turban.
“Cory.” Damen barely recognized the tight rasp of his own voice.
His father swallowed audibly. “The villains tried to make it appear a mugging.”
“Who did this?”
With the briefest of shrugs, his father muttered, “Before dying, his footman said they’d been following a bawd when five ruffians attacked. He said Cory knew one of the villains. Our coachman found your brother and his footman the next morning in an alley behind the Mission of Mercy in St Gi—” A wracking cough stole his breath.
St Giles? Why was Cory in St Giles?
The last time he’d seen his brother had been in Liverpool five years before when he’d shipped out on a vessel bound for the Orient.
His father’s face contorted. “He’d barely been back in London two weeks.” After a moment, he regained control and turned to Damen, scrutinizing him. “Are there no barbers in Liverpool?”
Resisting the urge to rake his fingers through his long beard, he took halting steps toward the bed. He grasped the bedpost and finally let his eyes drift over his brother. If not for his occasional shallow gasps, Cory appeared a corpse.
Sentiment wrapped its talons around his heart and squeezed painfully. Had they used his brother’s head as a battering ram against a brick wall? His fists ached to pound the bastards into a bloody pulp. “Do the police have any leads?”
“I prefer they not be involved.” Anger vibrated in his father’s hoarse voice. His gaze drifted back to Damen’s beard, almost making it itch.
The police in St Giles had been an unscrupulous, overbearing lot when Damen was a boy. Clearly, his father still considered them corrupt. “Is there anything I can do?”
Anguish lined the viscount’s face as he shook his head.
“Why was Cory in St Giles?”
“Suspicious fires destroyed parts of our warehouses and properties. He’d been investigating them. I’ve lost the stamina to fight this.” His shoulders slumped. “If they’re not stopped, there’ll not be a pot left to pi—” He coughed deeply, dug into a pocket for a handkerchief and wiped his mouth.
Damen paced to the window. He should have been here. Sorrow and barely repressed fury boiled inside. Only a year apart, as boys he and Cory looked enough alike to be twins. They’d often used their resemblance to fool marks and shopkeepers – running them in circles.
Cory was the charmer. He’d seen him talk his way out of trouble too many times to count. When that didn’t work, Damen had always been there with the heavy fists and dirty tricks to chase whomever needed chasing off.
“You should have sent word.” He cut a sharp glance toward his father. “You know I’m better at dealing with rabble than he is.”
“You had your hands full in Liverpool. Cory offered to help.”
Mementos from the pranks he and his younger brother had enjoyed as youths lay scattered about a heavily carved table. Lifelike decoy ducks used on their hunting trips lined the table’s back. Damen twiddled the movable feet of a small metallic duck as he studied the new, exotic items brought home from his brother’s recent travels.
The assault on Cory couldn’t have come at a worse time. Crews were in the midst of constructing two warehouses – a risky, weighty task. Fists, brawn and cunning ruled the Liverpool docks. He should be there right now to safeguard his family’s interests.
Still, he and Cory were as close as any two brothers could be. Not since his mother passed had his powerlessness so frightened him. He had to do something. He couldn’t bring Cory out of his coma, but he could catch the brutal villains who’d done this and put them behind bars. An idea took form as Damen gazed at the decoy ducks again. “I’ll find Cory’s attackers.”
“NO!” his father barked with surprising force. “This is precisely why I told you not to come!”
“I spent my boyhood in St Giles. I know the ways of that world. No one is more prepared than I.” As a boy, against his parents’ orders, he’d explored the rookery’s labyrinthine underworld. There, villains could melt into the murk, their identities amorphous, ever shifting. If anyone could find them, he could.
“Cory and I were often mistaken for one another. No one would—”
“I forbid it!” His father’s voice came out as thin and sharp as a dagger nailing him to the wall. “You were nine when you left, still a boy. Your full attention is needed for our growing business in Liverpool. I wanted you there for a reason… to keep you as far from St Giles as possible.”
“Farnsworth, my superintendent, can take over in my absence.”
The muscles worked in his father’s emaciated jaw as he gazed up at the ornate cast plaster on the high ceiling. “You underestimate the danger.”
“I know the police can’t be trusted, and the villains’ trail grows colder by the minute.”
His father’s face turned crimson. A new vigor seemed to revive him. “Stubborn fool!” He pounded his cane on the floor. “How can you be so bril
liant yet so dense? If they were bold enough to do this to him, they will not hesitate to do the same to you!”
“Why?”
“You are my sons. Over the years I’ve had to do… things.”
“But who are they?”
His father rubbed his forehead with trembling fingers. “An ever-changing sewer of villains that thrive in the shadows with gangs and networks of underlings.”
Damen fisted his hands in his pockets. “You know I can do this. I’m familiar with their underhanded tricks and deceits. I lived there long enough to know how to fight dirty.” He made sure his next words were delivered with unmistakable conviction. “And I intend to root out his assailants whether or not you agree.”
Moments passed while his father sat in silence. His voice came out a low croak. “What are you suggesting?”
“You said Cory had been looking for an arsonist. Perhaps he stumbled onto something more.”
“That something more was five ruffians, not one sole arsonist.” His father glared at him.
“In any event, it appears he found the problem, or, rather, the problem found him.”
“Wandering through St Giles after dark was the biggest problem.”
“This was not some random attack, Father. The footman said Cory knew one of the villains. What I find odd is that neither of us has been in London for years. Cory may have an enemy that followed him here?”
“What do you plan to do?” His father sounded like he was tiring.
“Given our resemblance, it shouldn’t be difficult to proceed as if I were him. I intend to goad his assailants out into the open. With any luck I should have them in irons within a few days.”
His father’s lips curved sourly. “Before you dive into the mire, you should know a marriage has been arranged between Cornelius and a woman of means – a Miss Eugenia Lambert.”
Damen’s gaze shot to his comatose younger brother. “Cory is taking a wife?”
“In four weeks.”
Damen let out a snort of disbelief. “He’s not even been back in London two weeks and he’s already engaged?”
“Cory returned with a desire to find and marry a wealthy woman. A perfectly reasonable ambition for a second son. He interviewed and made a choice between three eligible women. Miss Lambert agreed to his proposal two days ago.”
“Who were the other two?”
“The heiress Miss Calista Collins and Lady Strathford.”
“Lady Strathford? As in the widow of Lord Strathford, the famous inventor? Why didn’t he choose her?”
“He said something about too many ghosts in the wedding bed. She’s twice widowed. Are you acquainted?”
“I’ve never met her, but was quite impressed with Lord Strathford. I heard him lecture at Cambridge – rather an odd duck, but a brilliant, brilliant man. She must be a lot younger than him.”
“At least half his age.” His father pressed bony fingers to his brow. “Hopefully, you’ll not have to deal with Miss Lambert. I’ll talk to her father about postponing the wedding. If you’re set on doing this, we’d best keep Cory’s real condition mum.”
***
Damen, his father and Gormley, his father’s valet, withdrew to the room adjoining Cory’s to discuss plans. Yet no matter how much they coaxed and cajoled, Gormley remained deeply distressed and uncooperative.
“I am not at all comfortable with this,” the valet pleaded. “Passing yourself off as your younger brother is sure to send the men who assaulted him after you.”
“That’s the plan, Gorm.” Damen took another gulp of his father’s fine whiskey.
The lanky valet hunched his shoulders, letting his long arms dangle limply at his sides. “This is not at all wise. Think of the repercussions.”
Damen set down the bottle and braced his hands on the table, forcing his head forward. “Hit me, you miserable lily pad!”
Lord Falgate leaned forward in his wheelchair and jammed his cane shakily toward the valet. “He’s stubborn as always and bent on doing this whether or not we agree. So get to it, man – bonnet him! Now’s our chance to thrash him for all the times he’s irritated me.”
Gormley’s gaze drifted around Damen face, his expression growing more and more dejected. “I’d forgotten how closely you favor your brother.” The valet turned to Falgate. “You had me shave off his beard. Now I must pulverize his handsome face? I’m sorry, my lord, it simply isn’t done.”
Falgate glared at the valet and jammed his finger toward Damen.
Gorm sighed and slapped Damen openhanded across the face, leaving little more than a sting.
His father pounded his cane against the floor in frustration. “Be a man and put some muscle into it! If I were in better fettle, I’d do it myself.”
“Come on Gorm. Give me a shot, right here.” He pointed to his cheekbone. “I can’t very well go down and pick a fight in a wharf bar, now can I? I’m supposed to be mugged and left for dead.” He took another gulp of whiskey and shoved the bottle toward the valet. “Here, have another swallow. Now wind up those big mitts of yours and show me some knuckles!”
An hour later, Damen sat alone with Gormley, as the valet finished applying salve to the cuts and bruises around his face.
“Please accept my apologies. I am a very poor pugilist. The last time I struck someone I was ten years old.”
Damen carefully worked his jaw. “You’ve missed a world of fun, Gorm. Not many have your natural talent. When you finally got into the spirit of things, you threw some impressive toppers.”
“I regret to say, it was mostly the drink. Acquaintances tell me whiskey makes me quarrelsome. I’ve learned to stay clear of the stuff. Shall we have a look at your brother’s wardrobe? I believe you and he are very nearly the same size.”
A few minutes later the valet returned with a set of clothes and held them out. “These seem to be the tamest, Mr Ravenhill.”
Damen’s brows went up. Egads! He’d forgotten how his brother liked to be noticed. “There’ll be no relaxing in the corner in those.” Damen preferred conservative gear. Not only did darker colors tend to be more imposing, they held up better and didn’t show dirt. Of course, Cory always enjoyed attention, especially from the ladies.
“Did my brother say where he intended to go the night he was attacked?”
“No,” Gormley mumbled, and proceeded to help him into Cory’s shirt and brightly colored red vest. “He did not account for his comings and goings. The coachman mentioned he took him to the Painted Lady pub in St Giles.”
“Did he also visit the boxing club next door?” If his brother had been trolling for scoundrels, he couldn’t find a better place than the Painted Lady.
“I couldn’t say,” the valet grumbled. “Never was there a darker den of depraved villains and cutthroats.”
“Have a care, Gorm. Our grandfather started those establishments. Mum took over when he fell ill.”
“My apologies.” Gormley’s face wrinkled in distaste. “Clearly your brother stumbled into the path of vicious criminals.”
Damen hadn’t felt this grinding helplessness since their mother died of cholera when he was nine. He’d watched her perish, powerless against a terrifying illness that killed her in less than two days. After she passed, all he managed to keep in remembrance was her shawl.
While Cory cried for weeks, Damen seethed in anger at an enemy he could not fight.
He would never forget the way she had gazed at him, the love in her eyes. She’d been pretty, clever, hard-working and adamant he and Cory keep up with their studies so they could ‘make something of themselves.’ Would she ever have imagined the fell disease that killed her and so many others would alter the path of descent to make her husband, Ebenezer Ravenhill, Viscount Falgate?
Only scraps and pieces of the next few years remained in Damen’s memory. There was prep school with Cory and then Rugby School and an endless number of fights with a breed of boys who felt it their duty to teach the low-class upstarts their place.
Fortunately, he’d enough pent-up rage and dirty street skills to correct the schoolboys’ faulty thinking by applying his own brand of teaching.
Gormley held out the loud tartan-plaid trousers and then helped Damen into a fawn-colored jacket. When he’d finished dressing him, the valet stepped back in appraisal. “With your face a mass of cuts and bruises, I would easily mistake you for your brother.”
Damen turned to the tall standing mirror. An involuntary chill skittered over him as he took in the clothes and his bruised countenance. Even he could see the eerie resemblance. Working his shoulders, he realigned his stance to the way he’d seen Cory position himself: feet firmly planted, shoulders back, chest out, chin tucked, a steely look in his eye. “I’ll need your help to make this charade convincing, Gorm.”
“You can count on me, Mr Ravenhill. Might I suggest putting a bit more swagger in your mannerisms? Don’t forget your fondness for revelry and irresponsibility, and that you quite fancy yourself a ladies’ man.”
An apt description of his younger brother. He’d the luxury of being unreliable. As boys, he and Cory tore around St Giles, getting into mischief like two little hellions. In many ways, Cory was still that happy-go-lucky boy… with their mother’s infectious laugh.
Gormley made a careful adjustment to Damen’s gold-specked cravat. “As to your speech, you favor lengthening ‘ah’ sounds and over-softening ‘R’s’.”
“Right. Picked up a bit of Liverpudlian, have I?”
The valet nodded. “And how do I put this politely… you must remember to include in your speech a little more irony and self-deprecating humor. And on occasion, when things don’t go your way, you resort to…” – he cleared his throat – “…clever wit and charm.”
Damen frowned and growled. “I’m capable of clever wit and charm. When they’re warranted.”
“Of course,” Gormley sniffed.
The Trouble With Seduction Page 2
