by Lucy Monroe
“Well. That takes care of that.”
Lucas wished he could agree, but instinct told him their quarry did not lie on the ground at his feet. Drake clamped his hand over her mouth. When she struggled, he bent down to whisper low in her ear. She stopped struggling and Drake let her go.
Though he wanted nothing more than to verify she was unhurt in any way and then yell at her until she promised never to take such a foolish risk again, Lucas stood motionless, listening. He focused on the immediate vicinity, ignoring the sounds of late night horse and carriage traffic on the London streets.
He would have liked to send Drake back to the carriage with Irisa, but could not be certain that was the safest course of action. The blackmailer’s cohorts could be waiting there. This time of night, footpads could be waiting just as easily. Lucas remained motionless for a quarter of an hour, but heard not so much as a blade of grass bending.
Ravenswood’s victim began moving as consciousness came back and Lucas decided there was nothing to gain by remaining on the path. He motioned silently for Ravenswood to bring the blackmailer, and for Drake and Irisa to head back toward the hansom cab.
Ravenswood, having bound the man while Lucas listened for evidence of associates, swung him up over his massive shoulders and carried him down the path. Lucas let Drake lead the way and followed behind Irisa. Her patient silence had impressed him and the way she now attempted to move without sound as her brother and brother-in-law were doing reminded him just what a unique creature she really was. They reached the hansom cab without incident. If the blackmailer had come to full consciousness, he had made no attempt to call for help.
Drake climbed to the driver’s box and Ravenswood joined him, after depositing his burden on the floor of carriage. Lucas helped Irisa inside and then joined her on the narrow seat, pulling the door shut behind him. He rested his feet on the blackmailer, exerting pressure to keep the man in place.
“There is no need for this sort of behavior, I assure you.”
Lucas ignored the slightly slurred speech. He didn’t want to question the villain in the dark interior of the cab. He wanted to see the blackmailer’s face when he answered Lucas’s questions. Irisa seemed to sense his reluctance to speak and remained silent as well, but she slipped her small hand into his for the remainder of the carriage ride.
***
Thea was waiting for them in the library when they arrived at her and Drake’s townhouse. She flew across the room and checked first Drake, then Irisa, then Jared and finally Lucas for signs of injury. Lucas stepped back from Thea’s ministrations with ill-concealed discomfort.
Irisa smiled reassuringly at her sister. “We’re all fine and we’ve caught him,” she said with a flourish of her hand indicating the bound man standing between Jared and Lucas.
He didn’t look like a blackmailer at all. He dressed like a dandy, though the fabric and cut of his clothes was clearly not from Weston’s. Brown hair fell in disordered curls around his face and he held himself with feigned relaxation. Irisa knew it was feigned because his eyes darted from one person to the next in the room.
She shifted her focus to her fiancé. Why did he look so grim? Lucas’s attention was centered on the mischief maker, but there was no sense of satisfaction or victory in him.
He turned to Thea. “Please take your sister to the drawing room. We will join you there when we’ve finished questioning this scoundrel.”
“No.” Irisa could not believe he would try to exclude her from the final outcome. “I want to hear why he has been threatening me and how he learned my secret.”
“I want to stay, too,” Thea said, “we all have a vested interest in hearing what this awful man has to say.”
“My dear lady, to have one so charming refer to me in such terms is indeed a blow. Please, hear me out before rendering your judgment.”
Irisa glared at the blackmailer. “There’s nothing you can say that will justify your odious behavior.”
Suddenly Drake was in front of the bound man. “If you speak to my wife again, much less call her a dear, you’ll be swallowing your teeth with your next breath.”
The man blanched. “I did not mean to offend.”
Lucas looked at the blackmailer consideringly and then at Thea and Irisa, his expression remote. “You may stay as long as he cooperates and you remain silent. If your presence hinders my interrogation in any way, you will leave the room without further argument.”
Irisa could not help shivering at the chill in his voice and let him know she agreed with a nod. Thea did the same.
“Sit over by the fireplace.”
She and her sister moved quickly to obey Lucas’s instructions.
Lucas shoved the villain into a chair and then moved to stand threateningly over him. Jared took a position to Lucas’s left and Drake took one to his right. The blackmailer turned absolutely pasty. Irisa thought she would have too if she was faced with such a show of brute strength. Lucas and the men beside him each exuded an aura of menace.
“Who are you?” Lucas’s words cracked in the air like gunshots.
“Th-thaddeus P. Brandon at your service and I assure you there has been a monumental misunderstanding.”
“Oh? You did not hold a gun to my fiancée’s back and attempt to kidnap her tonight?”
As Lucas asked the question, Irisa realized that particular aspect of the situation had escaped her until now. Why had the odious little man held a gun to her back?
Thaddeus was back to looking sickly. “Well, as to that. I was merely following instructions, sir. You cannot mean to take offense over the fact I take a certain amount of pride in handling my work professionally.”
Lucas’s expression turned deadly. “Oh, but I do. When it involves threatening my fiancée, I take grave offense. You might even say fatal offense.”
Irisa stifled the urge to shout a denial of Lucas’s implication. She would not allow him to kill anyone on her behalf, even a sniveling, blackmailing villain.
Thaddeus groaned. “I assure you, sir, I had no intention of hurting your lady.”
“Tell me about your instructions,” Lucas demanded.
“I was told to meet your lady at the park and remove her from the premises before her lover arrived. My client said he was her guardian and had discovered she planned an elopement with an unsuitable partí this evening.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jared’s voice boomed out, causing the blackmailer to jump in his seat.
Lucas turned to her brother and glared him into silence. Really, Irisa thought, the man acted as if he was the only one with any say in this situation. Jared’s question was perfectly understandable; Thaddeus’s words had confused her too. But by the way Jared went back to hulking menace, he didn’t seem to mind Lucas’s high-handed tactics.
“Who hired you to meet my lady in the park?”
Hired? Lucas didn’t think this man was her blackmailer. She tried desperately to fill her lungs with air as the probability the ordeal was not finished washed over her.
“I don’t know.” Before Lucas could make good on the threat that came over his features, Thaddeus went on. “I never saw his face. Many of my clients prefer anonymity. He came into my place of business, a little tavern near the river, and approached me. He had heard I had a reputation for delivering good service, you see.”
The man was actually preening. Irisa frowned in astonishment.
“What were you supposed to do with my lady when you left the park?”
“I was to deliver her to a waiting carriage at the West Entrance.”
Drake cursed. Jared looked ready to explode.
Lucas met Thaddeus’s look with a narrow eyed gaze for several seconds and then nodded once. “That much at least is true.”
Thaddeus’s eyes widened. “I assure you I have not lied to you, sir.”
Lucas’s smile was feral. “Oh, you’ve lied all right and you’re going to tell me the truth or you’ll end up food for the rats tha
t frequent the area around your office.”
“It’s true, guv. Every word. I didn’t see the bloke’s face whot ‘ired me and that’s the ‘onest truth, it is.” Lucas’s threat had succeeded in making Thaddeus lose his cultured accents, even if the man was still dissembling.
“Why did he hire you to fetch my lady rather than do it himself if she was his ward?”
“I don’t know, guv. I don’t ask me client’s their reasons when they offer me a lot ‘o blunt.”
Again, Lucas grew silent. “Have you ever done work for this particular client before?”
Thaddeus shook his head. “Never saw ‘im before. I’d remember. Got a good ear for voices, I do.”
“I should kill you for what you tried to do tonight.” Lucas’s voice had taken on a conversational tone that, at first, made it difficult for Irisa to appreciate the import of his words.
Thaddeus had no such trouble. He started shaking. “I made a mistake, guv and I’m that sorry. Please, don’t kill me.”
Did Thaddeus really think Lucas was going to murder him in her sister’s library? She had to admit that Lucas had taken on a chilling aspect that was quite frightening, but couldn’t Thaddeus see her fiancé’s innate honor?
“There is one way you might begin to make up for the insult you have done to my lady,” Lucas mused.
“Anything, guv.”
“I want the name of the man who hired you.”
“I’ll take it on as me most ‘igh payin’ job.”
“It is. The payment will be your life.”
***
Lucas stepped into the library. Irisa sat quietly gazing into the fire, her expressive face for once devoid of emotion. Was she going to plead with him to postpone the wedding?
He’d seen the look of horror that came over her as she realized Thaddeus Brandon wasn’t the blackmailer. She still worried about how the revelation of her parents’ secret would affect her family. Lucas would do a great deal to spare her pain, but not cancel their wedding. Irisa needed his protection and he couldn’t give it effectively while living in a separate residence.
“Drake has taken his wife up to bed. You should do likewise, little one. Tomorrow will be an eventful day.” Their wedding day.
She turned toward him and the firelight cast her face in shadows. What was she thinking? Her thought were often incomprehensible to him since logic did not usually appear to play a large part in them.
“I know,” she said, replying to his comment, “but I wanted to talk to you first.”
“We are not postponing the wedding.” He hadn’t meant to sound so harsh, but she might as well understand he could not be moved on this.
Her spine stiffened. “I did not suggest we should, but you needn’t come all over bossy with me like this, Lucas.”
He crossed the room and pulled her from the chair. He had to see her face, to read her eyes. When the shadows fell away and he could do so, what he saw there transfixed him. Warm approval. Love.
“Perhaps you will find this less objectionable,” he said just before pressing his lips to hers.
He was careful to keep the kiss light, not wanting to test his self-control too much. She nearly undermined his good intentions when she melted against him and parted her lips in invitation. He allowed himself the pleasure of touching her tongue in a brief caress before pulling his mouth from hers.
“What did you want to discuss, sweeting?”
She blinked little brown owl eyes at him. “Discuss?”
“You said you did not wish to go to bed before talking some things over with me,” he reminded her with a trace of amusement.
He certainly did not mind that his kisses affected her so strongly.
“Oh. Yes.” She blushed prettily. “I wanted to thank you. I know you were not overly fond of my plan, but you went through with it and I’m grateful.”
“We did not catch the real villain in this piece.”
She sighed, playing with the buttons on his waistcoat. “I know. I suppose I knew somewhere deep inside that would be too easy, but we tried and you helped me even though you didn’t want to and I’m most appreciative.”
“Is that why you aren’t begging me to postpone the wedding, because you’re grateful for my help tonight?”
Her gaze flew to his. “Of course not. We had already agreed not to do so. Tonight had nothing to do with it.”
Something inside of him relaxed at her words. “I’m sorry we were not successful.”
She smiled understandingly. “We caught that Thaddeus person. Do you suppose he will succeed in discovering who hired him?”
Lucas doubted it. Once the blackmailer realized his attempt at kidnapping had failed, he would avoid any connection to the person who might identify him.
“Perhaps,” he hedged, unwilling to crush the hope in her expression entirely.
She wrapped her arms around him in a tight, brief embrace. “Thank you.”
He pulled her to a chair and sat down, tugging her into his lap as he did so. “I’m glad you waited up to talk to me. There are a few things I wish to discuss with you as well.” And he’d rather argue with her about them now than on her wedding day.
She nestled against him and her sweet, womanly scent surrounded him. “All right, Lucas.”
“Someone tried to kidnap you tonight.”
She nodded her head where it rested against the lapel of his jacket. “I know.”
He hadn’t expected hysterics. Not from Irisa, but he had not anticipated this nonchalant reaction to the dangerous situation either.
“Until we catch the blackmailer, you are at grave risk.”
She stilled. “I had not thought of it that way.”
He had and the thought had been enough to turn his hair gray. “We will have to take precautions to keep you safe.”
“What kind of precautions?” she asked, wariness evident in her voice. She appeared far more concerned about the steps necessary to keep her safe than the reality of the threat.
“Nothing too difficult,” he tried to assure her, though he knew she would not like his dictates. “You will have to be with someone at all times and I do not want you to leave the house unless I accompany you.”
She gasped and pulled back until she was glaring into his eyes. “I do not wish to become a prisoner in my own home, Lucas.”
“There is no need for melodramatics. You are not going to be a prisoner.”
“Like I wasn’t a prisoner at Ashton Manor?” she asked, accusingly, her agitated fingers digging into his waistcoat. “If you are intent on ignoring me after our wedding like you did then, I will never be allowed to leave the house. I will not live like that. I cannot bear to have someone with me all the time either. It is too stifling.”
The mulish tilt to her chin let him know she was prepared to stand her ground. Bloody hell. Didn’t she realize how much risk she faced?
“I did not ignore you at Ashton Manor. I merely avoided spending time alone with you.” If he hadn’t, there was every possibility that they would have anticipated their wedding vows. Look at what happened when he’d gone to her room. He’d nearly ravished her. Only her ridiculous concern that his passion was dependent on his anger had saved the situation.
“When you wanted to yell at me for finding some time to myself, you were quick enough to come alone to my room.”
“And came all too close to losing my self-control, if you will remember.”
The anger in her eyes did not diminish. “You are alone with me now.”
It suddenly occurred to him that his behavior at Ashton Manor had hurt her feelings. Did she truly believe he had avoided her company because he had not wanted to be with her, that he would behave similarly after their wedding?
“I’m holding on to my desire to lie naked with you by a strand, little one. And that is exactly how it was for me at Ashton Manor. The only thing saving you tonight is the knowledge that tomorrow I will make you mine completely.”
He shifted her in
his lap until he knew she could feel the evidence of his words against her hip.
Her eyes went round and the blush in her cheeks intensified, but not from her former irritation if he read her expression correctly. “Oh.”
“I will not avoid your company once we are wed and you can be assured, I will be available to escort you on any necessary excursions.”
The dazed expression receded from her eyes as they narrowed. “And what do you consider necessary? A trip to the lending library? A call on Thea, or one of my other friends? A drive in the park? A visit to the museum? Going to see my man of affairs? For I do all of those things and more on a moment’s notice sometimes.”
He smiled. “You will have to arrange the trips beforehand and perhaps for a time ask some of those people to call on you, but it will not be so bad. Trust me.”
“I do trust you, Lucas. I wouldn’t marry you otherwise, but I’m not going to agree to this kind of confinement. Even Papa gave me more freedom.”
Did she think she had a choice? “You will agree because it is the only way of assuring your safety until the blackmailer is caught.”
He squeezed her hip when she opened her mouth to argue. “It is my responsibility to see to your safety and I will do so, even if it means locking you in your room.”
She tried to jump off his lap, but he wouldn’t let her.
She settled for sitting at the very far edge of his knees and glowering at him. “You will not attempt to intimidate me in this fashion, my lord.”
He knew she used the title just to irritate him, but it still worked. “I am not making threats, I am informing you of a certain outcome if you put yourself at risk like you did on the tower roof at Ashton Manor.”
She hissed with outrage. “I did not close that door, Lucas and it’s the perfect example of why your plan will not work. If I hadn’t been forced to subterfuge, I would not have been in any danger.”
“You were not forced to subterfuge. You chose to go off on your own and the results should have at least made you realize your peril. However, your actions indicate you will you continue to blithely ignore the truth of your circumstances and behave in a wholly reckless manner.” He realized the term might cause her pain after what she had told him the day before, but he could not think of a better description for her behavior. “For that reason alone, precautionary measures must be taken.”
