Juliet blinked, staring at the mouth that had formed the wrong word.
“What?” she breathed.
“Father has agreed to buy us a house in town so that we can—” His proposal was cut off when Juliet slapped him.
“How dare you, Robert Barksdale.” She was shaking, cut to the core.
“Juliet, be reasonable.” Lord Barksdale stared at her. “No one will marry you, and you are far too passionate a woman to live your life alone.” Robert swallowed truly distressed. “The thought of you with another man . . . What choice do I have, Juliet?” He rose to his feet. “Marry you and become a pauper or take you as my mistress so that I can take care of you the way that I have always wanted?”
She could see in his eyes that he was still hoping she would change her mind.
“The choice you have, Robert.” Juliet was lifted to her feet by her fury. “Is when to become a man.” She wanted to hurt him as much as he had wounded her. “I never want to see you again, Lord Barksdale. Please, leave this house immediately.”
Robert stared at her in disbelief, the reality of her words taking a moment to sink in. Then he walked toward the door. However, he stopped when they were shoulder to shoulder, facing opposite directions.
His left hand grasped hers and he whispered to the walls, “I do love you, Juliet,” before letting her hand go and walking through the drawing room doors and out of her shattered life.
Chapter Six
~
“Tell me everything you know about Lady Juliet Pervill.”
“Good God, not you, too, McCurren.” Christian St. John, Seamus’s lifelong friend and second son to the Duke of St. John, slurped his brandy angrily as they sat in an isolated corner of White’s gentlemen’s club. “Just because I am of close acquaintance with the cousins does not mean that I will spread gossip about—”
“I know all the gossip.” Seamus rolled his eyes. “What I want is the truth.”
“Oh.” Christian’s stormy Nordic blue eyes cleared. “No way on earth Juliet Pervill would have an assignation, particularly in Felicity Appleton’s own home. She is far too sensible.”
Sensible? He did not think the lady’s laboring for the Foreign Office a very sensible course to take.
“I want to know about the lady’s character.”
“Why?” His companion’s fair brow rose with speculation. “Interested? Might need to wait until the gossip dies down a bit before—”
“Christian.” Seamus sighed, keeping the man on point.
“Very well.” Christian rolled his eyes as if supremely disappointed that he was not playing along. “Lady Juliet Pervill is the only child of Lord and Lady Pervill. Lady Jane was a wealthy debutante swept off her feet by the handsome, if somewhat narcissistic, Lord Neville Pervill. The moment the ink was dry on their marriage license, Lord Pervill began gaming and whoring until he discovered that Lady Jane’s father had placed his daughter’s inheritance in trust so that her philandering husband would be unable to touch the majority.”
Seamus thought back to the Spencer ball and the man who would have been so transparent to anyone but a very young and uncommonly innocent girl.
“By then it was too late,” Christian continued. “Lord Pervill had lost the affections of his young bride. Lady Jane gave him a monthly allowance on the condition that he leave their country estate so that she might raise their infant daughter alone. He moved to their house in town, which is why Juliet Pervill stays with her cousin Lady Felicity Appleton whenever she visits London.”
“While that is all very fascinating”—Seamus nodded— “my question was of Lady Juliet Pervill’s nature.”
“Oh, Juliet is great fun. Although she is very blunt at times,” Christian said. Seamus thought that a considerable underestimation. “But I would say her overriding characteristic is her wit.
“Juliet Pervill is by far the cleverest woman that I have ever met. Felicity once told me that she studied something . . .” Christian stared at the paneled wooden walls as if they held the key to his memory. “Somewhere? Oxford, I think. Or perhaps it was Cambridge?”
“It’s of no significance.” Seamus waved away the inquiry, thinking it truly did not matter. Lady Juliet Pervill was going to be ensconced in his office tomorrow morning whether he liked it or not.
“The whole scandal has been very distressing for both the cousins.” St. John sipped his brandy. “I even considered asking Juliet for her hand in marriage.”
“Really?” Seamus sat up, shocked.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Christian shrugged, looking down at the carpet in an infrequent moment of contemplation, which was quickly replaced by an infectious grin. “Juliet wouldn’t have me.”
“How do you know if you haven’t asked?”
“As I’ve said . . .” Christian held up his near empty snifter. “Juliet is a very clever girl.”
“A lady does not have to be particularly clever to refuse you, St. John. She need only look at your string of women to see that fidelity is not your strongest suit.”
“Mean-spirited of you, Seamus, but unfortunately true.” Christian nodded, not at all remorseful. “Although I must tell you that my current mistress is absolutely spectacular. Have I told you about the baroness?”
“No.” Seamus shook his head, always entertained by Christian’s outlandish exploits.
“It must be the snow, because every Russian lover I have ever had truly understands how to warm a man’s bed.” Christian St. John grinned.
“You realize that one of these days you are going to get yourself shot?” Seamus warned.
“That is what my brother and father repeatedly tell me and I don’t need to hear it from you, Mister McCurren. And . . .” Christian lifted his brown Hessians to the leather ottoman between them, adding, “I don’t see you rushing to the chapel anytime soon. In fact, Daniel told me that you had just broken it off with your paramour. How long were you with the lady?”
“None of your bloody business,” Seamus said, annoyed with his indiscreet older brother.
“That’s right, nine long months.” He was going to kill Daniel. “Nine months with the same woman and in the end we arrive at the same damn place. However, I had a far more entertaining journey.”
“That is debatable, St. John,” Seamus smiled mischievously. “You forget, I’ve meet your paramours.” Christian made an obscene gesture in his direction, and Seamus could not stop himself from adding, “Did you learn that from one of your so called ‘ladies’?”
“Sod off, McCurren.”
Seamus chuckled, thoroughly enjoying himself for the first time all day.
≈
Juliet had no idea how long she had been sitting in the drawing room when Felicity suddenly appeared at her side. “Dearest, it is time to dress for dinner.”
Juliet wiped her eyes of any lingering tears and then stood up to face her concerned cousin. “Would you mind having my dinner sent to my room, Felicity. It has been a trying day.”
Felicity nodded with understanding, and Juliet left the drawing room with the intention of going to her bedchamber. Yet, Juliet knew if she were alone in her room, she would cry, so she walked instead to the quiet of the conservatory.
The room was dark, lit only by the moon, and she preferred it that way. Juliet made sure to sit on a bench not visible from the conservatory doors. This room had always soothed her and she regretted not having learned more about the plants flourishing in the lovely openness of the glass-lined room.
Juliet raised both brows, thinking she would have plenty of time to study botany now that she was ruined.
She did not mind the rebuff of polite society, never really having cared for the constant balls and events. She enjoyed the music and dancing well enough, but much preferred smaller gatherings with close friends.
No, there was only one thing about being a ruined woman that Juliet suspected she would never truly get over.
She wanted children.
/> Not as many as Felicity wanted, mind you. Juliet did not think her temperament was particularly suited to a large brood, but she desperately wanted some children. A boy and a girl would have been ideal.
But Juliet knew she would never have children.
She herself had been the legitimate child of a scandalous father and that was difficult enough to overcome. She would never subject a child to the burden of being the illegitimate offspring of a scandalous mother.
Unfortunately, this also meant that she would have to swear off men. And Juliet rather liked men. She was mad about them, in fact, their lovely arms and muscled chests, even their masculine smell.
And she liked the way they thought, direct and to the point.
Juliet had always felt much more comfortable speaking to men. The inane chitchat that women seemed to have mastered drove her completely mad.
Juliet had to admit she was looking forward to working in the Foreign Office. Although she would have to be careful with the men with whom she worked. While Felicity attracted men and offers in mass quantity, Juliet was not without charm to certain gentlemen. Usually, lecherous older gentlemen, but as the years of her miserable ruined life droned on, they might at some point come to look quite appealing to a thirty-year-old virgin.
However, the war with France would be decided before then, one way or the other. Juliet’s services would no longer be needed and she would no longer be thrown together with attractive gentlemen like Seamus McCurren.
Juliet’s brows furrowed, surprised by her own carnal thoughts.
To be fair, the man was stunningly handsome. She had always been attracted to tall men, perhaps because she herself was just this side of short. When they had entered his office today and those long legs were outstretched with buckskins hugging his muscular thighs, Juliet had taken a moment to enjoy the sight.
But the thing she found most attractive about Seamus McCurren had been his eyes. His eyes were a complex blend of colors that in some way reflected the complexity of the man. She had looked into his golden eyes both at the Spencer ball and today but was unable to divine what the man was thinking and that rarely ever happened to her.
Juliet did not particularly like the sensation.
Nor did she like the fact that the man seemed able to see straight into her mind. Oh, God! She wondered if the arrogant Mister McCurren knew that she found him attractive?
That would be the final blow to her pride.
Thank the lord the Scot was such an ass.
Come to think of it, the more time she spent in his office, the less attractive Seamus McCurren had become. No, Juliet would go to the Foreign Office, analyze documents, and go home, making sure to avoid any gentlemen she did find appealing.
She was looking forward to the work. It sounded extremely interesting, particularly this new code that had been found by one of Falcon’s men, but not yet deciphered. Her mind would then be occupied with this puzzle and not the painful encounter with Robert Barksdale.
Robert.
His picture formed in her mind and tightened her chest painfully. Robert was the first man to truly take an interest in her, and she did not know if that would ever happen again. Robert enjoyed her humor and her company, and had even begged kisses from Juliet on more than one occasion, making his attraction to her clear.
But his asking her to become his mistress had betrayed every moment of their friendship, making Juliet wonder if he had ever truly understood her as she thought he had, as she hoped that he had. Robert Barksdale had said that he wanted to marry her and she had wanted to marry him.
Until today.
“Juliet?” Felicity called from the conservatory door. “Are you in here, dearest?”
“Yes.” Juliet sighed, rising.
“Your dinner is being taken to your sitting room,” Felicity informed her, knowing the location of her favorite spot in the conservatory. “You are going to eat?”
“Of course I am, Felicity.” Juliet smiled halfheartedly. “I have to be well nourished if I am to be of any use to the Foreign Office tomorrow morning.”
Felicity nodded. “They are fortunate to have you.”
And she, Juliet lamented, was very fortunate to have them.
Chapter Seven
~
The proprietor of Dante’s Inferno walked into room number four and stared down at the side of the nude man tied to the corners of the four-poster bed. The man turned his rust colored head, grinning with anticipation until he saw that it was not the whore he had paid to ride him.
“Who the hell are you then?” the man growled. “I bloody well did not pay to be watched.”
“I’ve no intension of watching you rut, Major Campbell.” Enigma walked to a wooden chair next to the well-used bed. “And to answer your question, I am the owner of this establishment.”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve paid my fee, and if you’re wanting to rob—”
Enigma chuckled. “I don’t want your money, you simpleton.”
“What do you want then?” the man asked, lifting his head off the bed.
“Information.” The man stilled and Enigma smiled at the understanding in the major’s bloodshot eyes before proceeding with the interrogation. “You told my whore that you are enjoying your last night of freedom prior to being transported to the Peninsula. What is your regiment’s destination?”
“Our destination?” Rage contorted the major’s lean face and he yanked against the ropes securing his wrists. “You’re a bloody collaborator!”
“More of an opportunist,” Enigma said, reaching for a lamp and carefully allowing three drops of oil to drip on the man’s chest before setting a candle to the shiny liquid.
Major Campbell screamed, the distinct stench of burning hair filling the small room. Enigma waited a moment longer then snuffed out the small fire consuming the man’s flesh, looking him in the eye.
“You will tell me what I wish to know, one way or the other, and then I will kill you. However, I will give you this choice, Major Campbell.” Enigma lifted the full lamp, the thick oil sloshing beneath the glass. “We can spend hours in one another’s company before I ultimately set you alight. Or you can tell me the information I wish to know now.”
The major was trembling with pain as he glanced at the melted flesh on his chest and hesitated for only a moment before saying, “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
Enigma left the room some ten minutes later and turned toward a large guard waiting in the brothel corridor.
“Send Chloe into room four, and when they have finished fornicating, kill Major Campbell. Use opium and then dump the major’s body near one of the dens.”
“Why not just kill him now?”
“Really, Mister Collin, we’re not a pack of thieves.” Enigma laughed, dumfounded. “The major did pay for a ride.”
“My apologies.” The guard lowered his dark head in submission, the scar on his cheek a gleaming contrast to the rest of his face.
“I shall send for Chloe straight away.”
“Excellent, and then come to my office,” Enigma ordered, already calculating the next move. “I have another article to submit to the Herald.”
Seamus McCurren arrived in his office at precisely half past eight the following morning.
He had come at such an ungodly hour to ensure that the location of the desk provided the inconvenient Lady Juliet was placed where he wished it to be.
Well, that was not entirely accurate, for he wished it to be located in the corridor. But if he was to be shackled with the harpy, then he would damn well position her desk as far away from him as was possible.
“Good morning, James.” His secretary glanced up from his desk, stunned to see Seamus arriving so early. He staunchly ignored the man’s surprise, opening the inner office door and asking, “A cup of coffee, if you ple—”
The words dispersed in his mouth at the sight of Juliet Pervill sitting behind a small desk that had been placed in f
ront of the office window. Her chestnut hair was twisted in a severe chignon at the back of her neck and she wore a gray gown that made her skin appear as drab as the dress.
The lass glanced up and nodded politely toward Seamus while speaking to James Habernathy. “Have you located the documents I requested?”
“Uh.” Mister Habernathy looked toward Seamus for assistance. “No, ma’am, I was just on my way to prepare Mister McCurren’s morning coffee.”
Seamus raised a triumphant brow and acknowledged the woman’s unwanted presence. “Good morning, Lady Juliet.” Then making clear that James was his secretary, he said, “Black would be fine.”
The lady’s light blue eyes flashed and she set her gaze on Seamus. “Surely, this late in the day Mister McCurren is in no need of refreshing?” Then her eyes pierced his discomfited secretary. “And do you not think it more urgent, Mister Habernathy, that our office deals with the security of this country before the comforts of its occupants?”
James paled and Seamus took pity on the poor man. “You may retrieve my coffee when you have finished gathering the documents so”—he turned his head and met the woman’s unflinching gaze—“urgently needed by Lady Juliet.”
“Yes, sir,” James said, leaving before the lady had an opportunity to take a second bite.
Annoyed, Seamus sat down and turned to face the bothersome creature.
“Would you be so kind as to tell me, Mister McCurren,” she began, having caught his slight, “the details of the discovery of the E code?”
Hackles raised, Seamus lifted his head and spoke over his right shoulder. “As his lordship has no doubt told you, the anomaly appeared four times in three publications, which—”
“Means the mathematical probability of a consistent printing error is highly unlikely,” she finished, as if reading his mind. “Yes, I agree.”
“I am so pleased our conclusions meet with your approval,” he said, picking up a new report in need of analysis.
Seamus had not even read half the page when he saw the tiny woman standing beside his tidy desk. “And you have found no pattern in these articles?”
The King's Code (The Lady Spies Series #3): A Regency Historical Romance Page 4
