He wanted her. And he knew he could take her to his chamber here and make love to her again. But that would only make the letting go even harder.
And he had work to do now. Because he was going to make Madman O’Malley pay for threatening this woman. He was going to make him pay for breaking her heart.
He released her. “I’ll walk you out,” he said. “And I’ll have a man put on your house to make sure you aren’t harmed.”
Her lips parted, as if she wanted to say something, but then she bent her head. “And will I see you again, Jack?”
He placed a finger beneath her chin and tilted her face up gently. “I’ll call on you the moment I can,” he vowed.
She smiled. “Will you promise me one more thing?”
He nodded. “Anything.”
“Please don’t hurt him,” she whispered, and her voice cracked.
He knew the him she meant. Her brother. Even though Griffin had betrayed her, she still wanted to protect him. And Jack shouldn’t have expected anything different. It was Letitia, after all. Fixer of broken wings.
“I’ll try,” he said. “I vow to you to try.”
He took her arm and they walked out together back into his lair. Back into the life he led that would ultimately keep them apart. In that moment, he hated that life more than he had ever hated anything.
“Lady Seagate, Mr. Condit has arrived.”
Letty turned to find her butler standing in her parlor door. He looked exhausted, and how could she blame him? It was after three in the morning, after all. The poor man should be in bed. As should she, in truth, but that was not going to happen tonight.
“Thank you, Crosby. Send him in. And then please feel free to go to bed. I shall not need you again tonight.”
Her servant looked torn between doing his duty and finding his bed, but at last he gave a mumbled, “Yes, my lady,” and left the room.
Aaron entered just after his departure. Her friend was disheveled. Likely she had roused him from his bed too, with her desperate message. Now he rushed across the room to take both her hands.
“Letty, what is it?”
She hesitated. During the entire ride back to her home an hour before, she had been pondering what to do. Jack said to leave it be, to not talk to Griffin, but that direction went against every impulse in her heart. She knew her brother, she knew he wasn’t cruel or violent, just confused and immature. She needed to speak to him herself.
But the guard Jack had sent trailing after her was a problem. If he saw her carriage leave, he would follow. If he saw a servant bring one of her horses from the stable, he would follow. He might even try to stop her.
She needed help. And her best chance at it was the man before her. If only she could get him to agree to her request.
“I’m sorry if I frightened you with my cryptic message,” she said first, guiding Aaron to the settee. “But I am desperate.”
“So it seems,” Aaron replied. “What is it?”
She bit her lip. After the first deception by her husband and this man, their relationship had changed. She had begun to expect utter honesty from Aaron. Now she thought her best course was the same.
“You may be disappointed in me,” she said. “But I’m going to tell you something that may shock you.”
Aaron leaned back. “Very well. Continue.”
“Aaron, I took a lover,” she admitted, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks, heating her face and making her sweat. She watched him closely for his response, and it was a measured one.
“A man of your rank?” he asked.
His tone was mild, but she knew her statement must have inspired fear in him. After all, the secret of her virginity was one that could cause scandal and ruin for them all. They had spoken of it before her affair with Jack and she could see it troubled him still.
“No,” she reassured him. “No one who would cause difficulty for you in Society or ask questions about Noah. He is entirely uninterested in those kinds of matters.”
Aaron seemed to relax a fraction, and a small smile tilted his lips. “I must say, I am happy to hear this news, Letty. You said you met a man a few weeks ago. Is it that man?”
“Yes.”
She shifted with discomfort. It wasn’t her nature to share the most intimate details of her life with anyone, not even a friend as close as Aaron. But what choice did she have?
“But now to the point of my desperation,” she said, pulling her hands from his. Somehow it seemed wrong to say the next words while he held them. “Do you know who Captain Jack is?”
Aaron blinked. “Isn’t he the criminal all London is agog over? They write about him in the papers fairly regularly and wax poetic about his dashing demeanor and the like.”
She nodded. “That is the one.”
“What about him?”
She cleared her throat. “As I said, that is the one.”
His eyes went wide as her meaning became clear. “Letitia, are you telling me you have become the lover of Captain Jack?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
He stared at her for what seemed like an eternity and she waited, not quite patiently, for his censure, his judgment, his scolding. Finally, he leaned back with a burst of laughter. “I never thought you had it in you! But I don’t understand. How does that happen? What kind of man is he? How in the world did you get so daring?”
She shrugged. “The entire story would take far longer to tell than I have time for at the moment. Let me just say for now that I met him through mutual acquaintances, I don’t know how I managed to be so daring except that he tends to inspire such valor, and as far as what kind of man he is…”
She trailed off, a strong picture of Jack overpowering her mind. She shivered at the thought of him, at the thought of what perils he now faced.
Aaron leaned forward. “Letty?”
She met his gaze. “He is a good man,” she promised. “A good man despite where his life has taken him. I am in love with him.”
Aaron’s mouth dropped open and his expression was as if he’d never seen her before. He kept making funny little noises from his throat, but no words came out. Finally, she slipped a finger beneath his chin and forced his mouth shut.
“Don’t gape at me like a fish, it makes me nervous,” she admonished him.
“I’m sorry, I’m just…you aren’t teasing me, are you?”
“No, most definitely not. I would not think to drag you out of your bed in the middle of the night just to play a joke on you.”
He nodded. “No, that is not in your character, is it? You would only call me here if you were in trouble. Which means despite what you say about this man’s moral fiber being worthy of yours, his lifestyle is still causing issues. Have I guessed correctly?”
“Yes,” she said in relief, for now it seemed Aaron could focus on the matters a hand. “There is a man who is trying to take over what Jack controls. He is dangerous, very dangerous. And worst of all, he has…he’s commandeered my brother in this effort.”
“Griffin?” Aaron burst out in shock.
“Yes.” She barely kept her voice from becoming a sob.
“Oh, darling,” Aaron said with a shake of his head. “We had talked a few times about Griffin’s waywardness, his confusion about his future, but I did not know that situation had gone so far.”
“I didn’t either until tonight—last night, I suppose, since we are now rapidly approaching dawn.” She rubbed her eyes. “I want to talk to my brother. To try to convince him to remove himself from this dangerous game Jack and this man…he goes by Madman…are playing.”
“Madman,” Aaron repeated blankly. “Great God, Letty, I fear for you.”
She shook her head. “I realize that. I fear for myself, but I must do this. I must fight for my brother and for Jack. It is who I am.”
Aaron’s face softened. “Yes. It is who you are. To want to forgive and save. You did the first with Noah and m
e. I have never forgotten that. I will never underestimate the value of it. Not ever. So if you need my help, I’ll provide it. What do you need?”
“I have a strong belief that Griffin will return home soon. Something happened last night that I’m certain has rocked him and he’ll likely return to the familiarity of home to process it. But right now there is a guard outside my door, placed there by Jack, who will follow me and may even intervene if I try to approach Griffin.”
“Why?”
“Jack thinks there might be danger if I do.”
Aaron’s lips pressed together. “Do you agree with that assessment?”
She knew what he was asking. He was struggling with the idea of doing anything to put her in danger. And she loved him for it. But she was determined. So she lied.
“Of course not. Jack is overly protective. But I fear if I don’t talk to Griffin, there will be more danger for everyone.”
Aaron didn’t look certain, but he said, “What would you have me do?”
“Will you ride away so that the guard sees you, then circle back to the alley behind the servants’ entrance? I would borrow your horse from there, but only for a short time. You may stay here while I am out.”
“Letty,” Aaron said, searching her face. “Are you certain you won’t be riding into danger?”
Once again she paused, for she didn’t truly know that answer. It was a terrible thought, for just days ago she wouldn’t have believed Griffin would ever bring her harm. Now? Well, it was an unknown. But she lied anyway.
“I’ll be perfectly safe. I promise you.”
Aaron nodded slowly. “Very well, then. I will do as you ask, though I am worried.”
“Thank you,” she breathed, relief filling her. “Thank you, Aaron.”
He got to his feet. “I’ll go now and meet you at the servants’ entrance with my mount in a moment.”
As she stood, she smoothed the skirt of the gown she had changed into immediately upon her return home. She was glad Aaron hadn’t seen her in the torn and bloody one or he never would have agreed to this course of action.
“I’ll see you in a moment,” she said, walking with him to the foyer. She made a show of waving to him as he departed, then closed and locked her door before she hurried to the back of her home where she would meet him.
She refused to acknowledge the fissure of fear that worked its way through her. She was going to meet with her brother, that was all. She would set this to rights. She had to. For Griffin’s sake. And for the sake of any future she might hope for with Jack.
Chapter Twenty-One
Letty pulled her shawl tighter around her arms and looked to the east, where the sun was just beginning to make itself known. She had been standing just inside her mother and father’s stable for nearly an hour and yet her brother had not made his approach.
Was she wrong that he would come home to deal with what he’d done? Had she lost him already?
She shivered at the thought, and was about to begin pacing again when a lone rider came through the gate. His leg was kicked out in that way that had damned him earlier, and she sighed in both frustration and relief.
Griffin.
She moved into the shadows, letting him get off his horse and lead the animal to the stall before she approached. At the very least, he couldn’t get on the mount so easily and ride away again before he faced her and answered her questions.
“You fool,” she said as he unfastened the saddle.
He spun to face her voice, and she jolted. Her brother was training a small pistol on her chest.
“Letty,” he breathed, sliding the gun back into his waistband and returning to his work removing the saddle from his horse. “What the hell are you doing? You could have been shot.”
She placed her hands on her hips as she explored his face in the dim light. He looked guilty, indeed. She intended to press him on that.
“Is that what you were thinking about when you did shoot at me a few hours ago?”
He tensed, freezing in his movements. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Liar,” she hissed as she came at him in a few long steps. “I saw you, Griffin. I saw you sitting on your horse and riding away with that odd turn of your foot. Don’t pretend like I don’t know it or know your gait when you ride. You were there tonight and I want you to talk to me about it now.”
Griffin slammed the saddle down on a table and stared at her. “I didn’t know it was you, Letty. I promise. O’Malley said that Jack had some woman he was seeing at that house and he sent me along with another man to…to…”
“Try to kill him,” she finished, her heart throbbing. Griffin was admitting this. He had truly been part of a murder plot against the man she loved. Against any man. “My God, Griffin, did you think at all?”
“I didn’t know he was going to shoot at him,” Griffin insisted.
“What did you think he would do? Have flowers delivered?” she snapped. “A man named Madman—how could you believe he had an innocent intention?”
“We rode up and I saw your carriage, I recognized the crest,” Griffin admitted, and in the pale light of the early morning, he looked like a boy rather than a man. “I tried to dissuade the other man about continuing, without revealing your identity. But he didn’t give a damn. He shot at you and Jack. I couldn’t do anything.”
The last was said on the hint of a whine, and she flinched. “You could have shouted a warning. You could have grabbed his gun.”
“And been shot myself?” her brother burst out.
Letty turned her face. She couldn’t look at him when he was being so selfish. Jack would have risked himself, had risked himself, to save her.
“You weren’t hurt, were you?” Griffin asked.
She looked at him again. “Do you care? Because I notice you didn’t come to my home to check. You slunk here where you intend to do, what? Explain your absence to Papa how?”
Griffin set his jaw. “He doesn’t listen to anything I say anyway, Letty. He’ll bluster and I’ll ignore him as is our pattern. Eventually he’ll puff himself out.”
She drew back at his dismissive, harsh words. “Are you so spoiled that you cannot see Papa is trying to protect you? That he loves you?”
“He loves what he can control. I’m not like you, I cannot just march into step when he says to do it. I refuse to do so.” His words were accompanied by a sneer, and Letty barely resisted the urge to slap the snide, prideful expression from his face.
“Committing to your duty is not something to scorn,” she said softly. “You could learn a great deal from men who do as they must rather than what they personally desire.”
Griffin’s face hardened. “I’m not going to surrender to the life of a landed gentleman who does nothing else. I’m going to be more.”
“Currently you are acting like less.” Letty held up her hands as if to beg. “Don’t you understand that this is not some child’s game? People have been injured, they’ve died in this war you’ve involved yourself in. Jack has vowed to do his best not to harm you, but only because I have asked him to do so, not because you deserve it. Even so, he can’t guarantee your safety if you continue on this course.”
“I wanted to work with Jack,” Griffin burst out. “All this is really his own fault.”
Letty ground her teeth together. “I came here to talk some sense into you. To prove to myself that you aren’t as selfish and empty as these events would imply. But you are breaking my heart, Griffin. You are making it difficult to defend or protect you.”
Her brother’s eyes narrowed. “Perhaps you should worry less about me and more about yourself. After all, I am not bedding a criminal.”
Now Letty let her hand fly as she hadn’t before. She slapped her brother as tears leapt into her eyes. He turned his face at the action, but swiftly his gaze returned to her. They were cold. Almost unrecognizable, and Letty’s heart hurt.
“
You know nothing about me,” she whispered. “Or what pain I have been through. Nor do you know anything about my relationship with Jack. And if you were half the man you claim you wanted to emulate, you would turn from this course of action before you lose everything you hold dear.”
“Sorry, m’lady,” came a heavily accented voice behind her. “But your kin ain’t turnin’ from nuttin’ a’tall.”
Griffin straightened as his stare shifted to a spot over her shoulder. Letty took a long breath and turned slowly to find herself face-to-face with a huge man. He had clearly been a brawler at one point, for his nose was caved in until it was almost flat. He had a wicked scar that stretched from the corner of his lip all the way to his right ear. And he was massive, with a shock of red hair and a heavily furrowed brow.
He was also pointing a long-barreled pistol at her, much like Griffin had been a few moments before. Only this man held his steady and looked well and ready to use it.
She could hardly breathe, but managed to swallow down a little fear. “Madman O’Malley, I presume.”
He laughed, a husky, low sound that seemed to come from deep in his chest. “Aye, lass. The very one. And I believe you are Lady Seagate. A great pleasure to meet you, at last. I think we’re goin’ to get along fine.”
Jack had no idea how many hours he’d been up. Underground there was no sun, but his clock said it was after eleven and he doubted that meant in the evening. He had been working nonstop since Letty’s departure, looking over maps and intelligence to try to pinpoint where Madman O’Malley and his gang might be holed up.
He felt no closer to that answer, and he was beginning to get frustrated.
The door to his office opened, and without looking up he said, “Hoffman, have you heard back from Duff and Giles? It shouldn’t take them so long to follow up on the leads in the Rookery.”
“The Rookery?”
Jack squeezed his eyes shut and counted to a slow five before he looked up. The voice at his door wasn’t Hoffman. It was his brother. And when he finally looked at War, he found his brother’s arms crossed across his broad chest and his mouth in a thin, hard line.
Seduced Page 19
