Corey McFadden (27 page)

If there was any hope at all that he would be alive tomorrow, she must calm him down now. Silently, like the good valet she had learned to be, she took his breeches from the press and held them for him to step into. As he reached for the buttons to close the front, a task he had always performed for himself, their eyes met. His were warm.

“Monkey, please understand. The man could have killed you. You were the one he shot. If you had died of that bullet, I would never have forgiven myself.” He wrapped his arms around her, then turned her around and gave her a small pat on the rear. “Now get back into bed. You are no longer my valet, and anyway, you are not supposed to be out of bed. Doctor’s orders.”

She stood her ground, reaching down to pick up his boots and clutching them firmly to her chest, as if she could keep them from him. “My lord, please listen to me. Please....”

“I’m not ‘your lord’ any longer.”

“Edward, then. Please listen. You cannot go alone to the duke’s house. Don’t you see how treacherous he is? He is desperate. If you go into his den alone, he will not let you out alive. It does not matter a hair that you are the better duelist if he shoots you in the back in his study!”

He laughed and reached out his hands to take the boots from her, but she held them firmly.

“Not even the Duke of Sommesby is in a position to murder me in his own house. There would be messy inquiries. It’s just not done. Let go of the boots, my dear. I will not present a creditable figure to His Grace in my stocking feet.”

“Let me go to his house instead! I know the servants. I can go as Mike and nose around for you. You know I can learn things through the servants’ grapevine that you will never hear....”

“Enough!” he roared. “Give me those boots and get back into that bed this instant if you do not wish to be carried! I do not want to hear one word, and I mean not one word about your ever masquerading as a boy again. Don’t you realize how dangerous it is? If you had been discovered to be female anywhere but in this house, you would have been raped, probably manhandled as well....” He broke off, a look of consternation crossing his face. “...As it is,” he continued, chagrin in his voice, “you didn’t fare any better under my roof than you would have in the street.” He sat down heavily in the chair beside him, remembering her innocence and his lack of care. He drew forward the boots she had dropped at her feet.

“I will not hear of your going to Sommesby’s house, is that understood?” he continued, his voice softened. “His man tried to kill you last night. If you think the duke represents a danger to me in his own drawing room in broad daylight, you must see that this malicious footman would dispatch you in no time and no one would be the wiser. My God, girl, don’t you see?” he exclaimed in exasperation, catching the look of mutiny in her face. “You have the means to get him hanged! He will not allow you to come sniffing around the place. He’ll know there is a chance you recognized him and he’ll not risk it. You are not safe, even now, outside of this house. And as far as the constabulary would be concerned, you would just be another servant who had run off. They would never raise an inquiry embarrassing to His Grace over the likes of Mike.”

“If I am in danger then you are, too, my lord,” she argued tenaciously. “Why can’t we go to the authorities? Why must you handle this yourself?” She stood quietly before him while he lugged at his boots, unwilling to help him now.

“My dear, I cannot expect you to understand. This is a matter between gentlemen. In my circle, we do not rely on the authorities to settle our problems for us. We settle them among ourselves.”

She colored visibly, aware that he had just thrown her servant status in her face, whether he had meant to or not. How she would love to tell him that she was indeed gently bred and how utterly contemptible she thought the whole system to be!

He reached forward and drew her to him, down into his lap, nuzzling her neck. “I’ll be careful, monkey. I’ll not let that old sodomite be the cause of my death. But no more talk, please, of your going to that house. It was unforgivable of me to have involved a fourteen-year-old boy in this dirty business. It is damnable that I actually involved a girl of... oh, my God, how old are you, anyway? You’re not really only fourteen, are you?”

“Almost eighteen,” she answered dully. Nothing she said had any effect on him. He was certainly right that there was a basic difference between men and women. But it was not that women were timid. It was that men were boneheaded.

“I told Mrs. Formby last night that I would keep to my room all day, but I’ll go down now and revise the plan with her. We’ll say that it is you who are ill...Mike, that is...and that because of fear of contagion we will leave you here in your cot in the dressing room and no one must come into the room. And you are not to leave this room for any reason. Is that understood?”

She stared at him. His arms were tight around her and she was painfully aware of his nearness.

“I will have your promise. I have no wish to tie you to the bed.”

“I promise.” There. She’d said it. She had absolutely no intention of keeping her promise, but she was quite sure that it was all right to break a promise in order to save someone’s life. And it was not as if she had a lot of honor left to quibble about anyway.

“I’ll breakfast downstairs before I go. I’ll have Mrs. Formby bring something up to you.”

“No! That is,” she stammered, “I...I’m not feeling well enough to eat. And I really don’t wish to see anyone now. Please don’t send anything up.”

He was going to take the time to talk with Mrs. Formby and eat breakfast! That would leave her plenty of time to get to the duke’s house, find Eddie, and spy out the situation. It would take her no time to dress and sneak out. And she knew that the cleaning staff did not reach this level of the house until midmorning, if they’d be allowed up at all.

Concern immediately showed in his face. “I am sorry. I am forgetting your ordeal. Are you in pain? You should not be up at all, much less upsetting yourself about all of this. Please get back into bed and don’t worry any further about it.” He led her gently back to the bed, his hand caressing the small of her back as he pushed her along.

“It doesn’t hurt so much, really, my...I mean Edward. It’s just that I do not wish to see anyone now, Mrs. Formby least of all.” She allowed him to lead her along. Docile, feminine was what he wanted. Docile, feminine was what he was going to get! At least until he left the room.

Gently, he tucked her under the covers, then bent down to nibble at her neck. “Stay right here, monkey,” he whispered huskily. “I’ll be back in no time and I’d like to find you in precisely this spot when I return.”

Again, she felt the tongue of desire licking through her. Their lips met and held, a long deep kiss kindling the flame further.

With regret, he pulled away, cupping her chin in his large hand. “You are delicious, monkey. I cannot get enough of you. I shall see you very shortly and we will pick up where we’ve just left off.”

With a playful nip at her nose, he was off the bed, then, in two strides, out of the door which he closed gently behind him.

For a moment she sat very still, holding her breath, lest he return for some reason. She heard his footsteps receding down the hall. Carefully, she eased out of bed and tiptoed to the door to lock it. It was, of course, a bit presumptuous of her to do so, but if he did come back, she could explain she feared an inadvertent intrusion. The hallway was silent. Ignoring the twinge of pain in her side, she hurried into the small dressing room off of the main bedchamber, where ‘Mike’ had slept. In a small drawer, tucked in a lower corner of a massive clothing cabinet, she found just what she was looking for—a spare set of workday clothes for ‘Mike’.

She took off her nightgown, noticing now the large bandage which ran across her lower chest. Well, she would heal. It couldn’t be serious or it would hurt more, she reasoned. As she reached to pull on her shirt, she realized her usual bindings had been destroyed last night. Glancing about, she spotted the earl’s torn shirt on the floor in the main room. Perfect!

Quickly, she tore it into strips and bound her small breasts. Now the shirt which she slid over her arms hung straight, and she was Mike once more. It took no time to don the rest of her boy clothes. A check in the mirror showed her that except for an uncharacteristic paleness, she was again every inch the serving boy, complete with that little leap of joy she always felt at the freedom she could claim as a male.

She listened at the small door which led into the hall from the dressing room, and heard nothing. Her plan was to slip down the back stairs and leave by the kitchen door. She did not think she’d meet anyone at this early hour on the stairs, and if she did see a kitchen maid or two on her way out, they would likely not even notice her, so used were they to Mike’s comings and goings.

Carefully, she opened the door and, seeing no one, slipped out, closing the door behind her. A quick sprint down the hall brought her to the door that led to the back corridors, and she was down the stairs and into the kitchen in no time. There were Bessie and Mary at their usual breakfast tasks. Well, no harm done, really, and at least Mrs. Formby was nowhere in sight. With a jaunty wave as he popped his cap on his head, Mike was out the door.

As she had hoped, the stable and back mews were quiet. She was in the alley and off at a run with no one the wiser. A sharp stab of pain in her side slowed her down to a walk, but the pain subsided rapidly. Best not to take too many chances with the wound, though. She could not risk having the gash open up and bleed now.

A few blocks later she turned into the back alley that led to the Duke of Sommesby’s establishment. She headed straight for the stables, hoping against hope to find Eddie or Rob before she had to explain herself or her errand. Well, there was some luck, anyway, she thought to herself as she spotted a small figure. It was not Rob, but one of the boys she had saved from a trouncing in the card game in the stable loft. Surely the boy owed her a favor?

“Pssst! Boy!” Maude hugged the side of the wall and gestured to the boy. Startled, he turned in her direction. His wary look was replaced by a grin as he started forward. Good! He recognized her for a friend.

“’Ere, it’s Mike, ain’t it?” he whispered conspiratorially. “Good to see you again. We ain’t had no trouble from Tom at cards since you showed ’im up so proper. ’E came round to play with us once, but we did all them things you told us to. Cut the cards right and watched carefully, and ’e went away soon enough, no richer for ’is pains, I must say.”

“Good, boy! That’s what I hoped would happen.” Maude spoke in a near-whisper, glancing around to make sure there was no one else about. “Look here, I need to talk to Eddie real bad, right now. Can you find him for me? And I’d just as soon stay out of sight. I don’t fancy meetin’ that Tom again, at least, not in this alley.”

They laughed. Maude was trying to seem casual, as if her errand were more one of servants’ gossip than the life-and-death matter it really was. No point in getting the boy’s interest aroused.

“Eddie’s probably in the stables. ’E’s back from ’is trip to market already. And Tom’s probably inside. There’s sumpin’ up this mornin’ for sure. Lots of runnin’ about, and ’Is Grace awake real early and off for a trip to the continent. And we didn’t know a thing about it till this mornin’. Unusual, that is.”

“He’s left already? Are you sure?” Maude asked, eager to glean information from whatever source presented itself.

“Aye, gone not long after dawn. I don’t know anythin’ else. No one’s told me much yet. But Eddie’d know. ’E was in this morning with the ‘ousekeeper for the marketin’ order and she’s got a mouth on ’er, she does. Come on. There’s no one about out ’ere now. I’ll take you in to Eddie.”

They crossed the narrow alley and entered the stable. Maude felt exhilarated. At this rate she could find out what had happened and be home before his lordship had finished his breakfast. Wouldn’t he be surprised when she told him that the hideous duke had, indeed, turned tail and fled.

* * * *

If the Earl of Radford had startled his staff by appearing so early for breakfast, without having even rung first for his tea, no one let it show. The tea service was brought in with the usual dignity, and the scrambling in the kitchen did not penetrate to the dining room.

Mrs. Formby appeared at his side moments later, thanking her stars that the man was a light breakfast eater and did not require, as did so many of his rank, the large, multiple-course breakfast, to be set out on the sideboard in gleaming, steaming silver dishes, picked at and ignored and eventually sent cold and rock-hard back to the kitchen. She murmured apologies for the slight delay in service. That she was at an utter loss to understand this radical change in plans did not show by so much as a flicker in her expression. Making certain everything was in order, she turned and left the room.

Radford sorted through his correspondence, making mental notes to himself as to what engagements he had today. Perhaps he would cancel everything and spend the day in bed as soon as he returned from his odious errand, he thought to himself, a lascivious smile breaking over his face. The smile was replaced quickly by a slight frown. What was he going to do with this almost eighteen-year-old Molly, this delectable wench, who inflamed his loins and cheered his soul?

Last night, soon after his shocking discovery, he had thought perhaps he might pack her off as a servant to some other household. Now he knew he could never do that. Bad enough she would have to fetch and carry for demanding employers, but she was too pretty to avoid the notice of some randy old goat, or a randy young one for that matter. At the thought of her bedded by one of his contemporaries, his stomach lurched in anger. In fact, she’d be lucky to catch the eye of one of the gentlemen. Most servant girls were tumbled, willingly or not, by the males on the staff.

Besides, he had no intention of letting her go. The very thought left an empty place in his heart. He would have to think of some way to keep her, as his mistress perhaps, a discreet thing, not openly. He did not think she would fit in with his set. Not the way the ravishing Bella did.