Pack of Trouble (The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Book 5)

by Liza O'Connor

  “Gregory stop when you are ahead,” Vic said. “My feelings for you are exactly the same. One of child to parent—who also happens to be my butler. And I did see the difference between our relationship and yours with Claire. I simply saw it from my perspective.” Vic smiled. “Thank you for allowing me to see it from yours. Now I feel like the special one.”

  “You are and always will be,” Gregory said.

  Vic thought of Claire. The reason she got her way on everything was not because Gregory had thought her right, but because it wasn’t his place to correct her.

  Which meant after Aunt Maddy died, poor Claire had to raise herself, while Vic had Gregory and then Xavier to help her become a good man and a great detective.

  “Still, if you want any peace, you should return the books. Otherwise, she might threaten to fire you. If she does, remember she can’t. Only I can do that, which I never will.”

  Gregory frowned at Xavier and then refocused on Vic. “Are you not aware Claire fired me six months ago?”

  “What? No! She can’t. I am the master of our house.” Vic paused. “But you knew that, so hopefully you ignored her.”

  “I mentioned to her only you had the authority to fire me.”

  She leaned back in her heaven chair. “Thank God!”

  “And she assured me, I could leave without a recommendation or I would be charged with theft and spend the rest of my life in prison.”

  “What?” Vic tried to rise from her chair, but Tubs’ thick paw landed on her shoulder. “Bloody hell!”

  “So I asked Jacko to contact Xavier to let him know.”

  Vic glared at Xavier. “Which he didn’t mention to me,” she growled.

  Xavier held up his hand. “I feared if you knew what was going on, you’d leave Spain and return to England.”

  “Damned right I would have!” Vic slammed her right hand on the arm of her chair and grimaced from the pain.

  “Don’t do that,” Tubs warned and placed his other giant paw on her arm to keep it still.

  Xavier met her angry gaze. “Returning to England would have ended your life as a young man. Instead, I offered Gregory and any of the staff, particularly Mrs. Yarrows, to come to this house if they wished. They could help Alice with her efforts to make it a nice home for all.”

  Gregory knelt beside her. “There is no reason to be angry with Mr. Thorn. I did not want you to return, which is why I wrote to him rather than you. I’ve spent a great deal of time making you an excellent young man. I would not have that taken from you. I would have rather starved on the streets. Fortunately, I came here and have been watching over the vast improvements made to this home during the last six months.”

  Vic squinted at Xavier. “Sorry for yelling at you. You were right not to tell me. I would have returned and ruined my life, while your plan resulted in a happy ending.”

  There was still one thing she didn’t understand. “Was it taking the books that made Claire fire you?”

  “No. It was my refusal to lie and claim to a judge I saw Jacko sexually touching his son while they bathed together. Instead, I told the judge I had never seen such a thing, nor did I believe it ever happened.”

  Vic closed her eyes and sighed. “Claire has truly gone mad.”

  “I do not believe so. Claire is dissatisfied with her life, highly jealous of you, and in great need of a child to give her a purpose. While she does not know for certain, she suspected you might have been pregnant before you left. Honestly, I am very concerned what she will do when she finds out you have a child.”

  Xavier worried about this as well. “What do you think she will do?”

  “I fear she will give Vic an ultimatum: relinquish the child to her or she will reveal Vic’s true gender.”

  “I will not allow that to happen,” Xavier said. “She will find herself on a boat to Australia first.”

  Vic was rather relieved Xavier’s plan left Claire alive, but still, Claire would be miserable in Australia. Why couldn’t her sister be happy with her life?

  Gregory’s hand covered her forehead. “Are you hungry, Vic? May I bring you something to eat? Perhaps a leg of chicken? Your favorite chocolate pudding?”

  She smiled at his pampering. “Chocolate pudding sounds good. Tubs, take me to the kitchen please.” She tilted her head back and looked up at Tubs holding her firmly to the chair. “I bet you’d like some too.”

  ***

  Vic and Tubs sampled a great deal of the food Cook had in her new electric refrigerator.

  However, the moment Vic yawned, the food disappeared and Tubs carried her up the stairs while a footman followed along with the wheelchair. Once they arrived on the second floor, and Vic reinstated in her chair, Xavier took over the task of pushing her inside a bedroom suite that included a small parlor, if parlors came in dark blue, a room entirely for clothes, and a large bedroom boasting an overly large bed with carved wooden pillars at each corner.

  “What happened to your bed?” she asked. Somewhere in Xavier’s past, he had acquired a gold bed with naked women and men carved into the headboard performing every sexual act imaginable. Also there were sections that could snare wrists, leaving the person at the mercy of their lover. Cannon had been conceived in his naughty bed.

  Xavier lifted her from the chair and placed her on the soft sheets, then sat beside her. “It remains exactly where we left it. Once you are healed, it will be our secret hideaway to make love. However, as Alice pointed out, we do not want to be explaining to our child what all those people carved in the woodwork are doing. She warned me that children want to share everything they know with complete strangers.”

  Vic laughed at the thought of an old proper lady showing up to hire them to find a lost cat, only to have Cannon share all he knew about various sex positions.

  “Yes, let’s keep your bed as our secret.”

  Chapter 17

  Somewhere in Vic’s restless sleep and nightmares of anacondas swallowing her arms and legs, she came up with a solution to tracking the First Minister’s package to its true recipient.

  In the morning, Tubs carried her downstairs so she could visit the nursemaid. She carried a jar and a suction tube in her lap which Tubs handed to Gina. “I need you to fill this up,” Vic said, trying to hide her dislike of the woman.

  “Why?” the woman asked.

  If Gina thought Vic wished to possess a jar of her milk, she’d refuse in a second. “Xavier asked for it, and before you ask, I have no idea why he wants it. Perhaps he thinks you have special milk.”

  Gina told her to wait and closed the door. Vic smiled with satisfaction and waited. Fifteen minutes later Tubs rolled Vic to the library where Tubs handed Xavier the jar of milk. “Heavily soak the cloth that’s used to bind the money with this.”

  Xavier opened the jar and sniffed. “Milk?”

  “Not just milk, but Cannon’s favorite milk. And when you know the drop off point, let Jacko know. He, Pete, and Cannon can follow the package.”

  “Won’t those three be a little too obvious?” Xavier challenged.

  “Obvious? Absolutely. A threat to a black mailer? Not at all. The blackmailer will be looking for someone standing in a dark corner, or watching him over a paper. Who brings babies to work?”

  He chuckled. “Good point. And if this is truly done by a spy, then they’ll never suspect they are being tracked by a six month old feral child.”

  “I believe they’ve already received six payments, so they may think they’ve created the perfect crime by now. Also, be careful at the First Minister’s office. I’m almost positive one of the criminals works in or near his office.”

  Leaning over her wheelchair, he kissed her forehead. “I agree on both points. This is a crime of several and one of them works at the parliament.” He then sighed. “However, the milk won’t work. First, Ogleton will not go for it, and second the package will reek to high heaven by the time it arrives.”

  “Perhaps not. I believe the package will be deli
vered to its final destination much sooner than that, probably within hours.”

  Lovingly, he ran his fingers through Vic’s hair, or so she thought until she realized he wished to comb out her tangles. “Leave it be, I can groom myself.”

  “All evidence to the contrary,” he said and stood up, his brow furrowed. “Promise me you’ll stay out of trouble.”

  “How much trouble can I possibly find, unable to walk and stuck in this chair? Tubs and I will be fine.”

  “Ah…Tubs. I’m going to have to borrow him today.”

  “What? Why?”

  Xavier smiled at the big fellow. “Because he’ll make a very fine exclamation point when I lecture Seth and Blackhand Harry.”

  “Oh…yes. You should definitely take Tubs to that. Be careful. Stupid children do stupid things.”

  Leaning down, he kissed her. “We’ll be fine. This is not the first time I’ve had to intervene in street squabbles.”

  “I wish I could go with you.”

  “No!” he stated firmly like she was a dog about to water the furniture.

  His response annoyed her. “I clearly cannot go, so the matter is moot.”

  After eyeing her with intense scrutiny for several seconds, he said, “I just want to be clear in the matter.”

  “You have made it very clear you do not want me there. However, more to the point, in my current state, I would weaken your ability to intimidate them into playing nice. Whereas Tubs will strengthen it. So he is the logical person to go with you.”

  Xavier’s shoulders relaxed and he turned to leave.

  “However…” Vic stated with sufficient irritation to cause him to stop in his tracks. “I do not appreciate being scolded like a dog and if this is due to you thinking something we did earlier this year gave you ownership of me, think again.”

  Turning, outrage flared from his dark orbs. “Since I haven’t time to wring your bloody neck at the moment, let me just state the obvious. You are prone to getting into trouble, and since this is serious trouble, your attraction to it must be nearly insatiable. However, your presence would not just weaken my power, but likely get us both killed.”

  He stepped closer, and if she’d had working hands, she would have rolled her chair backwards, because he was frighteningly intense. “And in the future, I will request that you do not taint a moment I wish to cherish for all times, just because as the more experienced partner, I have to warn you off situations beyond your capabilities.”

  With an angry turn, he stormed to the door. “Tubs with me!”

  Tubs remained with her.

  “Tubs go. He needs you,” Vic whispered.

  The giant nodded and ran to catch up.

  Vic felt like unwanted horse poop on the bottom of a shoe. Xavier was right. Accusing him of becoming a domineering husband who treated her as property was unfair. If he saw her as useless right now, it was solely because she was.

  She noticed the jar of milk remained on the desktop.

  Utterly useless.

  Xavier was correct there as well. It was a stupid idea.

  Wanting to sit in her maroon chair, she attempted to roll the wheelchair closer. Her splint caught on the wheel and pain ripped through her left hand. “Bloody Hell!” she screamed as tears rimmed her eyes.

  A firm hand soon rested on her shoulder. “Gentlemen do not cry,” Gregory reminded her.

  She sucked up her pain and misery, not wishing to let Gregory down as well.

  “This day has begun badly,” Vic admitted.

  “I heard. Is there anything I can do—What is this?” he asked as he picked up the jar.

  “It’s…never mind. Throw it out.”

  He opened the jar and sniffed. “It smells like milk.”

  Vic didn’t want to admit her stupid plan, so she fudged the truth. “It’s from Gina. I wanted to see if Cannon would drink out of a bowl, so if we were out, he wouldn’t have to go hungry.”

  Gregory sighed, handed it her to cradle as he rolled her to the kitchen where he placed the jar in the refrigerator and then left the room shaking his head.

  Felling abandoned in the wheelchair, longing to return to the library, Vic called out, “Can someone take me to the library?”

  “Anyone?”

  A moment later, Sara scampered into the room still in her sleeping gown. “I’ll do it.” She groaned as she threw her body against the chair. “It won’t move. Tubs!” she called out.

  “The chair has a brake,” Gregory said as he moved her aside, leaned down, and unlatched something on the back of the wheel. “I’ll manage Vic. You should return to your room and dress.” The last bit being said in a faint tone of disapproval.

  As Gregory wheeled her to the library, Vic spoke. “I’d rather you not teach the staff to ignore my cries for assistance just because they haven’t dressed yet.”

  He pushed her wheelchair between the two maroon chairs. Her eyes went to Xavier’s, wishing they had not fought this morning. What if he were to die today? What if his angry scold were the last words he ever spoke to her?

  “You are absolutely correct,” Gregory replied. “Shall we move you into the chair you are staring at with such longing?”

  “Yes, please.” She then frowned. “What was I right about?” Had she spoken aloud her fear? She sure as hell didn’t want to be right about that!

  “I should not discourage servants from coming to your call at once. You are not one to call for trifling matters.”

  “Oh…” She sniffled. Before she could apologize for having done exactly what he claimed she never did, he secured her beneath her arms and assisted her into a standing position, then pulled her to his chest, lifting her slightly off the ground and easing her into Xavier’s chair.

  “Did I hurt you?” he asked, brushing the hair from her eyes. “You need a haircut,” he added.

  “No, you did amazingly well. Did I hurt you?”

  A faint smile peeked out from his stern thin lips. “Not at all. Shall I bring you a book to read?”

  “Yes, please. A Sherlock Holmes novel if Xavier hasn’t found and destroyed them.”

  Gregory huffed. “I was concerned he might, so I keep them in my quarters. Which one do you wish to read?”

  “The Sign of Four…no, The Scarlet Letter.”

  “I will bring them both.”

  At least someone liked her…

  “Also, I’ll ask a servant to purchase a baby bottle once the chemist has opened his shop.”

  “What time is it?”

  “A quarter to four.”

  “In the morning?” she asked.

  “Unquestionably.”

  “Why is everyone up so early?” She was no doubt the cause of that…except for Xavier and Tubs. They had already been up.

  Clearly, Xavier had no intention of inviting Sojourn and Blackhand Harry over to his office for a chat. He planned to abduct them. Given criminal businesses tended to operate late into the night, they would have just gotten to sleep and would thus be less guarded and easier to acquire.

  “And why did you get up?” she asked.

  “I heard you two talking. I was worried Xavier planned to take you on a mission, and you are in no condition for such.”

  “Have no worries. Xavier wanted Tubs for this particular mission, not me.”

  “And you agreed with his decision, so why are you sulking?”

  “Because I am bloody useless, all because of a stupid street urchin turned madman. I never liked the boy.”

  When Gregory left to retrieve the forbidden books, Vic pondered another mystery. When her father-butler returned with her entertainment for the day, she asked,” Why a chemist?”

  Gregory tilted his head in confusion and then smiled. “Why is the baby bottle sold at a chemist’s shop? I suspect because he already has vendors who can supply blown glass, rubber tubing and vulcanized rubber for the nipple.”

  Mystery solved.

  Vic smiled up at him. “You would have made an excellent detectiv
e.”

  Her compliment caused Gregory to grow an inch taller. “I daresay I would have. A butler requires many of the same skills: keen observation and understanding of people, deductive reasoning, and the ability to successfully interrogate his employees…and sometimes his employers.”

  “And you do it well,” Vic assured him, having been all too often on the receiving end of those interrogations.

  He sighed and sat down in Vic’s chair. “I fear I did interrogate you a great deal when you first became involved with Xavier. To be honest, I was not at all aligned with your career choice.”

  “And now?” she asked, fearing her near death had brought him full circle.

  “Madeline would be so proud of you. I know I am. You have made a true difference in the world with all the lives you’ve saved. And while I do worry a great deal about you, I no longer wish you would go into banking. This is your calling and gift. This is what you were meant to do.”

  Vic’s heart swelled with happiness. Gregory’s approval was more than she could bear. She’d wanted it for so long…

  Naturally, she ruined the grand moment by bursting into tears.

  Gregory was up from his chair in a moment, scolding as he provided her handkerchief.

  “Enough,” he chided.

  Vic blew her nose holding her handkerchief with her left thumb and forefinger, being careful not to stab herself in the eye with the splinted middle finger. When she started to wipe her eyes with the same cloth, Gregory pulled it from her hands and handed her another, making her wonder how many handkerchiefs he carried on him.

  “Might we go to the chemist instead of sending a servant? I would like to talk to the fellow about these baby bottles.”

  He patted her head, as if she were twelve asking to visit the museum. “I believe that can be arranged.”

  Chapter 18

  Xavier thumped on the roof of the carriage to alert Davy to stop. Quietly, he and Tubs exited the carriage and entered the house behind Dragon’s Cloud. Tubs took care of the guards while Xavier snuck in and chloroformed Seth. By the time Tubs arrived, the man was wrapped in a blanket and tightly secured with neck ties from his closet.