Cast in Ice (5 page)

Her silence was her answer.

“The answer is because of what happens on the third level.”

“There is a third level to
The Dove
?”

“Yes, there is a third level. And it is on that level that they give their patrons the opportunity to pay their debts without having to go to their husbands, or their fathers, or brothers, or…wives to beg for the money to cover their debts.”

She stared at him for several long seconds. He knew she didn’t want to ask what happened on the third level. Knew she realized that it wasn’t something she wanted to know. Or hear. But her curiosity wouldn’t allow her to remain ignorant. And because Nick couldn’t allow her to remain unaware of what could happen to her if she lost at the gaming tables, he intended to tell her every disgusting detail.

He waited. He didn’t want to force the information on her. But wanted her to ask. Wanted to wait until she was ready to hear what he had to tell her.

“What happens on the third level?” she finally asked.

“For the females, there are auctions.”

Nick gave her time for his single word to register with her.

“What kind of…auctions?” she asked.

Her voice was soft, her words tentative, as if she already knew what kind of auctions he was talking about, but didn’t want her assumption confirmed. Nick couldn’t blunt the dangers she took every time she walked through the door of
The Dove
. He couldn’t allow her to think there were no consequences to her actions.

“Auctions in which they can sell their bodies to cover their debts.”

Winnie swallowed hard as the repulsiveness of Nick Stillman’s answer settled. Surely he didn’t mean that women of the
ton
allowed themselves to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Surely he didn’t mean
The Dove
was little more than a high class—the
highest
class—bordello?

No, she couldn’t allow herself to believe him. Surely he was only trying to frighten her. But what if he wasn’t?

“How do you know this?” she asked. “Maybe these are just rumors—”

“They’re not,” he said, his voice tinged with anger. “The women who lose at the tables are given twenty-four hours to cover their bets. Or, they can go to the third level and agree to be auctioned off for the night.”

“Surely when one faces…” Winnie struggled to say the word. “…
prostituting
themselves, they find the courage to admit what they’ve done in order to get the money?”

“Would you? Would you go to your father for the money, knowing he would demand to know why you needed it?”

She lowered her gaze. She couldn’t answer his question. Of course she wouldn’t. But her situation was different. She would never be forced to go to her father because she had no intention of ever losing enough to be in that situation.

“I see you would not,” he said in response to her reaction. “Most of the women who come here feel the same. They will accept any punishment rather than face their spouses with the amount they’ve gambled and lost.”

Winnie tried not to think that some of the women losing large amounts at the tables would then be forced to let a stranger buy them for the night. It was beyond her comprehension to believe anyone would willingly give themselves to a stranger, just to cover a gambling debt.

Nick Stillman laughed. “And then there are those who come with the goal of intentionally losing vast amounts. More than a few of the women do just that. Their goal is to have a physical experience with someone other than their husbands. And
The Dove
provides the perfect venue for them to do exactly that without anyone knowing who they are.”

“I don’t believe you,” Winnie said. She couldn’t believe it. Sexual relationships outside of marriage was something she knew happened, but not at this level.

“Believe it, my lady. Society is filled with men and women whose spouses are either unable to satisfy their mates, or refuse to do so.
The Dove
provides a service for anyone who wants a physical experience sans any emotional attachments.”

“But surely not everyone who goes to
The Dove
has that in mind.”

“No, not everyone. There are those like yourself who have no intention of losing more than they can pay. But when they do, they’re left with a very difficult choice. A choice that some of them cannot live with.”

“What about the men who lose? Surely they’re not subjected to the same penalty.”

“No, they get to meet Ellsworth in the box.”

“The box?”

“Yes. Have you noticed the whip Ellsworth carries with him?”

Winnie didn’t answer. Everyone commented on the whip Ellsworth had hanging at his waist. She’d even seen him use it on occasion on an unruly gambler. But she didn’t know it was used for anything else.

“A gambler who cannot pay his debts is given ten lashes in the box. Wagers are placed on anything from how many of those lashes actually make contact, to whether or not Ellsworth is able to draw blood.”

“That’s horrible,” Winnie said.

“Horrible or not, it’s the price the players pay for an evening’s entertainment. A price that is sometimes impossible for a female to live with.”

Winnie heard Nick Stillman release a painful sigh and wondered if that sigh had any significance. If there was someone attached to the regret she heard when he released such a heavy breath.

“This is why you cannot afford to lose at the tables. Unless you’re willing to go to your father and ask him to cover your debts. Or submit to a stranger’s touch.”

Winnie couldn’t hold his gaze. She turned her head and looked out the darkened window. She could never go to her father to ask for money to cover gambling debts. Her father would never believe that she was so addicted to gambling that she’d risk going to an establishment such as
The Soiled Dove
.

It wouldn’t take him long at all to figure out she went because she needed the money she earned from gambling. And he would demand to know why she needed the money.

That was one question Winnie could never allow her father to ponder. Just as she could never—
never
—give herself to a stranger. The thought was unbearable. It turned her stomach. She would rather die than submit her body to someone she didn’t know, and didn’t love.

Winnie finally shifted her gaze back inside the carriage to where Nick Stillman watched her as if he was waiting for her to answer. When she didn’t speak, the corners of his mouth lifted ever so slightly.

“I didn’t think you’d want to make that choice,” he said.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because the men who run
The Soiled Dove
are evil and corrupt. And because I’m going to destroy
The Soiled Dove
along with the men who run it, and I don’t want you there when I do it.”

“If you know who runs
The Dove
and what they’re doing, why don’t you close them down now?”

“Because there’s a third partner and I don’t know his identity.”

“This is personal to you, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Who was she?” Winnie asked.

Nick Stillman leaned back against the squabs. “Someone young and innocent who couldn’t live with what the monsters who run
The Dove
forced her to do.”

Winnie couldn’t find the words that would change Nick’s determination, because there weren’t any. There was no excuse for the innocent young lives
The Dove
had stolen. And if Winnie had discovered one trait concerning Nick Stillman, it was that he didn’t give up until he’d done what he’d set out to do.

That was a face she should remember when it came to his determination to find her mother.

Neither of them spoke for several long moments. The carriage continued to drive through the streets of London. From the sounds and the smell, Hodgekens had taken them away from
The Soiled Dove
and was circulating the more fashionable West End. He would no doubt continue to drive until either she or Nick Stillman issued the order to take her home.

With an uncomfortable realization, Winnie knew the only orders Hodgekens would likely listen to tonight were orders that came from Nick Stillman. Because he was one of Mack Wallace’s brigadesmen, Hodgekens trusted him implicitly. Because Nick Stillman had been so angry when he’d followed her from
The Dove
, Hodgekens no doubt knew Winnie had done something the brigadesman didn’t approve of. And Hodgekens was willing to let Nick Stillman berate her so Hodgekens didn’t have to.

Winnie waited. She wasn’t going to be the first to speak. The only words she wanted to utter were to tell him she wanted to go home. Except at this stage of their discussion, that would seem like capitulation. And she wasn’t quite ready to admit wrongdoing, even though Hodgekens would say she’d been wrong. Finally, he spoke.

“I want your word that you will never go back to
The Dove
, Lady Winnifred.”

She shook her head. She couldn’t promise him that. She could promise that she’d be a smarter player. That she would make sure she was well rested before she went back so she didn’t play like a novice. And she would promise that she would never wager more than she could cover. But she couldn’t promise not to go back.

She needed the money she won at
The Dove
to pay for her mother’s keep at Saint Christina’s Hospital. She needed winnings from the tables to pay the blackmailer’s demands. And now she needed even more money to pay additional guards to make sure her mother didn’t escape from Saint Christina’s.

She looked at him, and opened her mouth to tell him she couldn’t agree. But before she could say her first word, he spoke.

“If you don’t agree to stay away from
The Dove
, I swear I’ll go to your father. I’ll tell him what you’re doing and you can worry about how you’re going to explain the reason you need to go there.”

“You can’t,” she said in a weak voice.

“Oh, I can. And I will. You can bet every pound you have on that, my lady.

Winnie felt the blood drain from her head. What was she going to do? How was she going to pay for her mother to remain at Saint Christina’s? How was she going to pay her blackmailer? Or additional guards? She’d be left with no choice but to tell her father that her mother wasn’t dead like everyone thought.

What was the possibility that any of them could survive the scandal? Her father would be ruined, his advice and influence no longer valued.

Ben and Rachael would never be allowed to show their faces in London Society again.

Gideon’s twin sons, one of them the future Duke of Townsend, would hold the title, but it wouldn’t be a title he wanted, or was proud to possess.

And then there was Anne. What kind of future would Anne have if Society discovered that their mother was a murderer? How much happiness would Anne be left with if she lost the Earl of Montroy’s love?

No, her father could never know that his wife was still alive. Somehow, Winnie would have to find another way to get the money she needed.

“Very well,” she said, unable to hide her anger. The choice he was forcing her to make was unbearable.

“Very well, what?” he said.

“Very well, you do not have to worry about me returning to
The Dove
.”

“Your word?”

“Yes, you have my word.” Winnie sat back against the velvet squab, and crossed her arms over her chest. “Now, if you’re finished berating me, I’d like to go home.”

Nick Stillman tapped on the roof of the carriage, then leaned toward the open window. “You can take the lady home now, Hodgekens,” he said, then sat back to face her. “One more question, my lady,” he said, keeping his eyes focused on her as if he could see through her. “Where is she? Where have you taken her?”

Winnie feigned ignorance. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mr. Stillman.”

“Oh, you know. Just as I know that your obsession with gambling has nothing to do with the game, but with amassing all the money you can from winning. Money you need to keep your mother where you’ve put her.” He paused. “Or is there another reason you need your winnings?”

Winnie dropped her hands to her lap and turned her head. She couldn’t allow him to see the fear she knew was evident in her eyes.

“You can’t handle this alone,” he said, reaching for her hands and holding them. “This is too dangerous.”

Charges of emotion tingled through her, traveling from the spot where his hand covered hers, up her arms, then raging a war inside her breast. From there the stirrings plummeted deep in her stomach, then even lower to a place to which Winnie couldn’t put a name. A place she’d never known could harbor such sensations.

“I’m in no danger, Mr. Stillman,” she finally managed to say. Except her voice didn’t sound as forceful as she’d intended, and the words came out raspy with a breath she couldn’t control. “Except from you.”

A slow, lazy smile changed his features, and Winnie realized how true her words were. This wasn’t the first time she’d realized he was a danger to her. Not a physical danger. But a danger to her emotions.

The carriage slowed, then turned into the alley behind her father’s town house. When it stopped, Nick Stillman jumped to the ground and turned to help her down.

His hand reached out to her and she hesitated before she took it. Even though both hands were gloved, she knew this time the response would be more intense.

The smile on his face broadened.

Winnie forced herself to take his hand as if the contact wouldn’t send rivers of molten lava racing through her.