by Vella, Wendy
Opening the carriage door, he stepped inside and closed it behind him.
“Hello, Alice. I thought the last time we saw each other you promised to become responsible?”
She sat on the seat, not cowering as he’d thought she may be—after all, she had to have heard him talking to Bids—looking far too pretty for his peace of mind.
“Why are you here, Lord Braithwaite?”
He’d missed her, just one look told him that.
Her coat was pale rose, and her bonnet chipped with a matching rose satin ribbon that she’d tied under her chin in a large, floppy bow. Her scent was instantly recognizable and took him back to that day he’d held her.
“I think more to the point is, why are you here when I know for a fact your brother would be horrified should he learn of it, as, coincidentally, am I.”
“I’m hoping you won’t tell him, my lord?”
“My name is Nicholas, Alice. And did I tell him last time I found you in a place you should not be?”
She shook her head, Sinclair green eyes wide in her face.
“Kitty should not be outside Bastil’s.”
“She is at present arguing with Bids, and it would take a brave man indeed to interrupt either of them, I assure you.”
“She’s wonderful.”
“I’m sure she is, but I doubt accompanying you here would endear her to your brother and sister-in-law.”
Alice sighed, and it shook her entire body.
“What’s going on, Alice?”
“I promised not to tell.”
“Then you leave me no choice but to tell Wolf where you have been, because I would be remiss as his friend and Lilly’s brother were I to ignore this as I did the last time.”
“Oh please—”
“Tell me what’s going on, Alice.”
“Botheration.”
“Indeed.”
She huffed out another breath.
“I have a friend.”
“Congratulations, we all need those.” Nicholas let some of his anger slip into the tone.
“A very good friend.”
Nicholas nodded.
“The thing is, Nicholas, after what happened in the field and how I hurt my family with my actions, I have tried very hard not to do so again.”
“You’ve been the model sister, have you?”
“I wouldn’t go that far. But I have done little to annoy my brother, and then the letter arrived.”
“What letter?”
“Here, just read this.” He watched as she pulled a note from her reticule and thrust it at him. “I am endeavoring to find out if Barty has fallen prey to scurrilous scoundrels in a gambling hell. It is my duty as his friend to do so, and I will not be dissuaded.”
“The same Barty I encountered in that men’s fashion store, for whom you have professed your love?”
“I was a child when we did so, but yes, he is that Barty, and a friend.’
Nicholas moved his eyes from her to the note in his hands. He read it twice before handing it back to her.
“Scurrilous scoundrels?”
“I like alliteration.” She shrugged.
“Who doesn’t, but the point here is that you should not be in such a place, in fact—”
“That note states he has now used up his family’s money completely and they are no longer being allowed credit. Their situation is dire indeed, as next they will be forced from their home, Nicholas.”
“I have read the note, Alice; there is no need for you to reiterate each word.”
“Bastil’s is the place he is frequenting. Barty’s friend said that when he visited a few weeks ago. Verity implores me to do something but doubly implores me not to tell anyone. My hands were tied, surely you can see that?”
“Which does not speak well of your friend, I’m afraid. What did she expect you to do? A young woman in London. It is reckless and irresponsible of her to put this on you.”
“She wants me to save her brother and yet keep his reputation intact. She asked me as a friend to do this!”
“I had not realized how dramatic you were, Alice.” Nicholas ran his eyes over the note once more.
“My friend is bereft!”
“Would you have asked this of her were your situations reversed?”
Her teeth snapped together.
“Your brother could have helped you, and it is reckless of you to have come here today. This is not a place for a woman of noble birth... in fact, any woman.”
“There is no need to speak to me that way. I know what you say is correct, and yet something must be done. I merely came here to listen and hope that I can hear Barty. If I did, then I was going to speak with Wolf. My brother works on facts, if I had sent him into that place and there was no sign of Barty”—she pointed over Nicholas’s shoulder—“he would have thought me a fool and Verity a hysterical woman.”
“There is every reason to speak to you in this way! God’s blood, woman, you are at present outside one of the most notorious gaming hells in the United Kingdom. Reputations, lives, and fortunes have been won and lost inside Bastil’s regularly. Were anyone to see you here, your reputation would be beyond saving. For the love of God, Alice, stop this naive belief you can simply carry on with these foolish risks and to hell with anyone and anything.”
Color drained from her cheeks at his words, and Nicholas knew she was close to tears. But someone had to shock some sense into her.
“I will not stand by when a friend is in need of my assistance.”
“Your brother will forgive you eventually, Alice. Just tell Wolf.” Nicholas sighed. “If Barty is inside Bastil’s, you alone cannot save him.”
“I thought I heard him inside there,” she whispered. “And I know you know what I mean.”
Alice, Warwick, and Eden have the heightened sense of hearing.
“Are you wearing your earplugs?”
“Yes, I put them back as soon as I heard Barty,” she said, and all the fire had gone from her voice. She was subdued, as he’d wanted her to be. Why then did he feel bad? “I have no wish to continue hearing those noises.”
“Those noises?”
“Nasty sounds of other forms of enjoyment.”
She wasn’t even blushing, which was quite something for a woman who had been kissed by only him... at least, he thought that was the case. Had Barty kissed her? Nicholas did not like that thought.
“I was raised in the country, my lord. I know what those noises mean.”
“Right.” It was Nicholas’s turn to feel uncomfortable. “You need to leave here at once.”
“I know. I had just hoped....” Her words fell away, and Nicholas wondered if finally, she’d come to the realization that she could not save her friend. “But you are right in what you said. I was naive to believe I could help Verity by making Barty see sense.”
No matter how much he fought against it, Nicholas had to admit she fascinated him. She was a woman of conviction, clearly, and a loyal friend.
He’d come to loyalty and conviction late in life, but he liked to think he was better at both now. He’d always been determined, however not in a good way.
There was also the fact that she had the softest lips and tasted like sin. Even though he was angry with her, he wanted to kiss her.
“Alice, please go home. You may just make it before Wolf realizes and locks you in your room for the next ten years.”
“I am not a fool, Lord Braithwaite, no matter what you believe, I know how Wolf will react. I also know you are a man of noble intentions and will never tell anyone what you have learned.”
He ignored her blatant flattery. “I never said you were a fool.”
“Yes, you did, quite clearly in your decimation of my character.”
“I did not decimate your character.”
“This is getting us nowhere.” She cut a hand through the air. “If you could just go inside and see if Barty is there, then I could leave and get Wolf.”
“Pardon?
” Nicholas could feel the sweat forming on his body at the thought of entering that pit of hell called a gambling establishment. His palms itched at what awaited him.
Gambling was an addiction for him. The rush of winning had kept him returning to the tables over and over again with the belief that his next foray would see him showered in wealth. That, and the alcohol he’d poured down his throat. He had not returned for many years and had no wish to. He even avoided the tamer gambling tables people set up at society events.
No, he could not go into Bastil’s, of all places.
“I cannot enter that place.”
“Why?”
Chapter Twenty
Every word Nicholas had spoken to her since entering the carriage was as accurate as the tip of an arrow. Shame had washed over her when he’d called her naive. Fear for Verity had been the catalyst for her actions. Actions she’d taken again without careful consideration. Her dear friend was suffering, and she wanted to help. Silly fool that she was.
Once she’d shown caution, but since arriving in London this side of her nature seemed to have dissipated.
“I will not go in to Bastil’s, Alice.”
His face was suddenly closed; the anger that had been there was gone. Cold and emotionless was the facade he now presented her.
“I only wish to know if Barty is—”
“The answer is no.”
“Of course, if that is your wish. Forgive me for asking.”
“It is.” His words came out covered in ice.
“Can you tell me why?”
“I have told you why, because I have no wish to.”
“Because you have no wish to is not an answer. I’m asking you because we are friends—”
“Will you stop, Alice. Stop asking questions, stop pushing me and others. Just be a young lady enjoying her first bloody season!”
The words had exploded from Nicholas with such force, Alice’s mouth fell open.
“I’m sorry if I have hurt you, Nicholas. That was not my intention.” This reaction was something more than just anger at her, she was sure of that.
“We barely know each other and yet you feel you can ask this of me!” His eyes were wide, and he was breathing rapidly. Something was very wrong.
“Forgive me, I should not have—”
“Damn you, I cannot go inside that place!” He fell back on the seats, but Alice stayed on the edge of hers.
“Why?”
“Alice.” The word was anguished, and in that moment she knew whatever waited for him inside Bastil’s was something that had hurt him deeply. A stain on his soul that he’d never been able to wash away. The part of his past no one would share with her.
“Please forgive me. I will of course go home and speak with Wolf. My tenacity, I’m afraid, often is my failing. That plus my naive belief.” She tried to make him smile; he didn’t.
He sat there for what seemed like minutes, just staring at her, his eyes running over her face and settling on her lips. They started to tingle as she remembered their kisses.
“No.” The word came out softly, and suddenly Nicholas was back. Sanity had returned to his eyes and he was calm once more. “I will do it before you court more trouble.”
“No!” Suddenly it seemed like a very bad idea for him to enter Bastil’s. “I cannot allow it, as I can see just the thought of entering that place distresses you.”
His smile was small and held no humor. “I can do this... must do this. It is time.”
Alice reached for his hand as he started to leave the carriage. “No. I forbid it!”
“You forbid it, when minutes ago you wished it.”
“You fear that place, Nicholas. Tell me why, please?”
His eyes held hers steady, then went to the gloved had she had curled around his wrist.
“I fear myself most.”
“I should not have asked this of you.” Alice felt a desperate need to keep him with her. She sensed the vulnerability in this man. She wanted to protect him, if only from himself. “No. We shall leave,” Alice said, still holding his wrist. “You are right, it was foolish of me to come here with Kitty and Bids.”
“Your friend’s name is Bartholomew Stillwater?”
“How do you know that?”
“The signature was Stillwater on the letter, and his name is Barty. It was not hard to conclude.” He smiled again, this one a little stronger. “Now I shall be back shortly.”
“I don’t want you to go!” The words exploded from her this time.
“And yet you did, and as I have explained, if I do not then you will find another way to reach your friend.”
“But that was before I realized you fear this place. I will go home now. Please do not go in there.”
He eased his hand from her grip.
“This is a demon I must one day face, Alice. I have realized in the last few minutes that today is as good as the next to do that. I shall return shortly. Do not under any circumstances leave this carriage or open these curtains. Do you understand me?”
“How could I not, with my hearing. Of course I heard you clearly.”
His lips twitched.
“But the question is, will you obey me?”
“Are you sure, Nicholas?” Alice had a deep sense of foreboding inside her.
“I am. Do not move from that seat.”
“Barty has brown curls that stand off his head and is... is a rather scruffy-looking fellow, for all Verity is always trying to tidy him up. He does not wear clothes as you do.”
“As I do?”
“Elegantly. Barty tends to come untucked easily.”
“I had never thought of myself as elegant, but I shall thank you for that compliment, Miss Sinclair. And if you will remember, I have seen your beloved Barty before.”
“Of course, and he is not my beloved.” Nerves gripped her. “Nicholas, I don’t think you should go in there.”
“But I will.”
“Be careful.” She grabbed his arm again.
“I will be all right, Alice, I promise.”
She didn’t want to let him go. Their eyes caught and held, and then he leaned closer and took her lips in a soft kiss.
It seemed to last so long, and yet was too brief.
“I should not have done that.”
“Again.”
“Again. Now be a good girl, and I shall return soon.” And then he was gone, and she drew in a large, shaky breath.
“In you get.” The door opened seconds later, and in came Kitty. “Do not leave again if you please, Mrs. Trent.”
“Very well, Lord Braithwaite, as long as that fool driver doesn’t antagonize me further, I shall do as you say.”
Kitty settled herself on the seat across from Alice.
“I shall tell him to behave,” he said solemnly, and then with a final look at Alice he turned to leave, but stopped, his eyes finding hers once more.
“I will be extremely angry if you leave this carriage, Alice, please remember that.” He left, closing the door softly behind him.
“Well!” Kitty said.
“Well what?”
“That man.” Kitty waved a gloved hand in front of her face. “He’s so handsome and aloof. Exactly what one expects a lord to be.”
“You saw him in The Trumpeter.”
“I know, but today he seems even more lordly.”
“I don’t think that’s a word.”
“It should be.”
“Surely he is no different from the peers you’ve already met in my family?”
Kitty twitched the curtain and pressed her eye to the opening. Alice made herself stay where she was instead of doing the same. Because if she did, she’d call Nicholas back to the carriage.
“Well yes, he is like them, but then as I stated when Rose first introduced me to them, they are not what I would term the average standard of noblemen.”
“There is a standard?”
“Perhaps the duke, but not the others. There’s a certain
something dangerous about them. Rebellion is in their blood, I think.”
“But not Lord Braithwaite’s?” Alice said to the back of Kitty’s head.
“Well, I think he has it in him, but he’s more contained than the others, and so much more....” She turned briefly and waved a gloved hand about again. “He has an aloofness bred into his bones that is often so appealing. A woman just itches to ruffle him up slightly, don’t you think, Alice?”
“You’re married, should you be speaking like that?” Alice felt uncomfortable with Kitty’s words and loathed that it was jealousy making her feel that way. The man disturbed her deeply, there was no way around that fact.
“Oh, no one could surpass Mr. Trent in my affections, but it does not stop me from looking.”
Alice gave up and moved to Kitty’s side to look through a tiny crack in the curtains. They could not see much, only the back of Nicholas as he stood looking up at the establishment called Bastil’s.
“He has superb shoulders.”
He did. He could also kiss every thought from Alice’s head.
“His tailor has done a splendid job with his clothing; it fits him to perfection.”
It did.
“What do you think he is doing standing there like that?”
“I don’t know,” Alice said, but she did know. He was gaining the courage to walk inside. Whatever had happened to Nicolas Braithwaite inside the walls of Bastil’s had tainted him irrevocably, and she, Alice Sinclair, had asked him to go back in that hell and find Barty.
“I feel ill.”
“Why?”
“I asked him to go in there, Kitty, and I don’t believe he wishes to.”
Rather than make soothing noises, Kitty snorted. “Do you really believe a man such as he could be made to do anything he wished not to?”
“That is true.” Alice felt marginally better.
“He’s moving,” Kitty whispered.
“Sssh now, we must not make another sound. It would not do for anyone to come upon us.”
Kitty nodded but stayed where she was. Alice, however, could not watch and sat once again.
What she needed to do was listen very carefully and follow Nicholas’s voice as he moved through the establishment.
