Libertine's Wife (55 page)

Helms sat heavily in the chair, looking
outraged. “He’s thought of everything, my lord. Now he anticipated
the jewels have come to your attention. How did he
know?”

“
I can think of only one
person who knew of it.”

“
What do you intend to do to
the blackguard, Lord Ravensford?” Helms asked with indignation
burning within his steely gaze. “Forget I’m a law abiding man for a
moment, my lord, just this once.”

Garret chuckled at his solicitor’s
reaction. He expected no less from Helms. The little dog was
gnashing his teeth “Dench thinks he’s covered himself. He got rid
of all who know his identity. He thinks he’s safe.”

Helms cleared his throat. “I think you
need to consider the man we spoke of before, my lord. He has more
influence than Dench. He knows how to deal with this sort of
problem.”

“
You want me to hire a
criminal to take care of a criminal?” Garret asked and rolled his
eyes. “I can no more trust him than Dench!”

“
Roth is the answer to it
all, my lord,” Helms insisted. “Forget the man’s a criminal too.
He’s also one of the best assassins in the business according to my
sources.”

“
Caspian Roth is no better
than Thaddeus Dench,” Garret said with a scowl. “How do you think
he made it to where he is? He can’t be trusted!”

“
We need the man, Lord
Ravensford,” Helms said and leaned forward, his gray eyes narrowed.
“He can make this go away for you very quickly.”

“
Said the spider to the
fly?” Garret shook his head in disbelief. The fact Helms felt
compelled to go this route were due to his concerns his employer
would be felled by one of Dench’s men. Garret loathed handling the
situation in such a way. He’d rather deal with the man who stalked
him face to face.

“
The spider, as you call
him, is exactly what we need,” Helms insisted urgently. “Do you
risk Lady Ravensford or the boys in this, my lord?”

“
Fine, I’ll meet with him,”
Garret snapped, his pride tweaked.

“
I know you wish to handle
this yourself, my lord, but you cannot fight them all,” Helms
reminded him. “Roth might be a hired killer and everything said of
him is unsavory, but he honors his contracts. If you hire him to
kill this man; he will die.”

“
I’ll see the man and see
what he can do for me. I promise you nothing.”

~ ~ ~

Garret and Helms were sitting in a
music room of all things, surrounded by dozens of instruments. Both
wore looks of bemusement upon being brought here by the huge,
imposing guard at the door named Ty.

They’d been brought here by a man, who
knew of a man, who led them here; to a nondescript building in one
of the worst areas outside of the White Chapel district. Within the
building they were to find the interior matched nothing of the
outside. The luxury inside was something that made them both do
double-takes at once.

Roth wasn’t an easy man to find, or get
in to see. Helms finally had to bribe the man to take word to Roth
informing him the Marquis of Ravensford desired an audience. That
seemed to get the crime lord’s attention, no doubt feeling like
royalty to be approached in such a manner.

The assassin enjoyed his hobbies, it
appeared, one of them being composing music. The man hardly looked
up from his sheet music at the pianoforte when they entered his
private domain. Helms pressed the issue, clearing his throat after
a time.

“
Mr. Roth, might we discuss
our—”

“
Not yet, Mr. Helms,” the
gravelly voice rasped quietly. “You’re ruining my second chorus
with your interruptions. I’ll be with you shortly.”

Garret rolled his eyes. He watched the
man writing furiously, thinking he should have brought Bella with
him. His daughter could show the man up at his pianoforte. Roth was
not what he imagined at all. They could have been brothers, having
such similar looks and coloring. That was where the similarities
ended.

Roth’s crystalline green eyes were flat
and devoid of emotion, hardly blinking as they met his. He was
younger by a few years, smaller by a few inches, and twenty or so
pounds lighter. Garret sensed the threat in the man immediately.
Roth seemed unimpressed they sought him out on their own, not using
a common go-between as many nobles did.

“
How did you so offend this
man who is after you, Lord Ravensford?” Caspian Roth asked as he
tossed down his quill, looking up them finally from his music, his
handsome face devoid of expression.

Garret met the man’s direct, unwavering
gaze and shrugged. “A woman most likely, as you can imagine, Mr.
Roth. Suffice to say, it is enough for him to want me
dead.”

“
I would know what you did
to earn the man’s ill will. Call it a professional curiosity of
mine.”

“
I believe I fucked the
woman he’s been fucking! Beyond that, I have no idea!” Garret
snapped in anger. He was impatient having to sit there and endure
the assassin’s endless scratching, feeling the man made them wait
deliberately, just to unnerve them.

“
Lord Ravensford, please!”
Helms said cautiously, his grey eyes filled with unease, smiling
reassuringly to the assassin, whose lips twitched at his heated
words. “Mr. Roth needn’t hear all of that.”

Garret glared at Helms. “No, he wishes
to know the truth, so be it. I have nothing to hide. I also seemed
to have sired a child on the woman while I was at it. She’s got the
morals of an alley cat, so I’d venture to guess I’m not the only
man she was seeing. I refuse to believe this is motivated because
of any feelings the man might have for her. I have no idea what he
seeks and why.”

Caspian Roth chuckled in obvious
delight. “I’m surprised this man hasn’t hired me first, my lord. I
see you can’t blame the man for wanting you dead.”

“
No, I can hardly blame
him,” Garret countered. “Only the way he would go about it. I would
face him directly. He sees fit to send his uncouth band of lowly
ruffians after me, targeting my wife and children as
well.”

“
So you wish me to take this
Thaddeus Dench character down before he does away with
you?”

“
Something like that, yes,”
Garret said with a scowl. “Trust me when I say this was not my
idea? I am very capable of killing the cowardly worm myself if I
but knew who he was! The damnable man keeps his identity
hidden.”

“
You hire me to kill this
man, but what of those who work for him?” the assassin inquired as
he bent to his music once more. “I would think you would hire me to
kill them all, my lord. That would ensure your family is
safe.”

Garret and Helms exchanged concerned
looks. Garret sat forward in his chair. “I want only Dench. He is
the one who threatens my family. The men who work for him
are—”

“
Uncouth? Ruffians, you
said? Without honor, you assume? ” Roth spoke in a rapid-fire
manner and raised an auburn brow. “Don’t presume those born without
your advantages are all of those things, Lord Ravensford. Thaddeus
Dench has men just as loyal to him as I do. Why do you think he’s
managed to get this far in his dealings?”

“
I’d rather not kill any who
need not be—”

“
They mean to kill you, my
lord,” the assassin interjected in amusement. “Why not be done with
it? Why take for granted that some of these men might not hold some
hint of
honor
you
chose to ignore because you think only well-bred gentlemen possess
such qualities?”

Garret felt like the man deliberately
baited him. “Because my issue is not with them at all, but the man
who pays them, that’s why!”

“
Dench doesn’t even do his
own killing, pretender that he is,” Caspian went on and ignored his
words. “He abhors such violence unless it’s acted out by others in
his employ. Mayhap
your
sense of honor doesn’t allow you to see that?”

Garret could see the man had a point.
Dench thought nothing about arranging his own lover’s death. He
thought very quickly and determined the man was right. Dench must
be stopped and all those who were loyal to him. Only then was his
family safe. “I defer to your wisdom in such matters, Mr.
Roth.”

“
Why? Is it because I’m a
lowly, uncouth killer too, my lord?”

“
No, because your right!”
Garret snapped, getting angry at the man’s pointed jabs. “Do you
take the contract or not? I haven’t the bloody patience for
this!”

Caspian grinned at his surly tone. “Let
us just say I have a personal issue with the man of late. He
targets women in his dealings. It’s always poor for business in my
line of work to have one with so few moral hesitations among
us.”

Garret could see the anger simmering in
his eyes then, and wondered how personal Roth’s stake was in seeing
Dench dead. He knew better than to ask. He knew he’d learn nothing
from the man that he didn’t choose for him to learn. “Then you will
take the contract?”

“
I will consider it,” the
man said and went back to his music, hardly paying them any mind
for a few more minutes while he worked. “There, I’ve considered it,
and I accept. How it is to be done is another matter.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
He is obviously not who he
says he is,” Caspian pointed out with an amused expression. “I have
to determine who the man is first. Then there is a matter of how
his identity should affect you, my lord. This man obviously knows
you. Shouldn’t it be handled a little more…subtle… than merely his
exposure?”

Garret eyed the man with absolute faith
he knew what he was doing. He hadn’t considered the man posing as
Dench would raise certain speculations. His admiration for the
assassin grew to see he thought it through. “I’d like to see him
exposed for what he is.”

“
Men in my line of work
don’t inform on one another, Lord Ravensford. It appears the man
killed off all those who could tell on him, and goes unsung for all
his dealings,” the assassin lamented with a shrug. “But then, he
will be dead, so what does it matter if he’s exposed?”

“
I’d not wish his family to
be hurt—”

“
His death would certainly
hurt his family, my lord. Have you thought this
through?”

“
He murdered my wife’s
brother. He meant to kill me, my heirs, God only knows who else,”
Garret fumed. “I certainly don’t have to think it through at
all.”

Caspian smiled and eyed Helms with a
knowing look. “You have your work cut out for you with him, Mr.
Helms.”

“
You have no idea of it, Mr.
Roth,” Helms uttered and earned a scowl from his
employer.

“
Thaddeus Dench is obviously
not the man’s real name,” Caspian said and shrugged. “He came into
this business five years ago and stays behind the scenes. I can
assure you his true identity might very well surprise you, my
lord.” Garret eyed the assassin with a growing respect. Caspian
Roth smiled, but in his eyes there glimmered some emotion Garret
couldn’t fathom. Roth got up from his bench at the pianoforte and
stretched. “Consider your matter handled, Lord Ravensford. I will
see to it the man meets his end in a manner which won’t reflect
upon you, or the man’s family.”

Garret rose from his seat, his eyes
meeting Roth’s in gratitude. Helms appeared relieved. When the huge
guard appeared at the doorway, they knew the interview was
over.

He didn’t quite know how to thank the
assassin before he left the music room. Their eyes met and held.
Garret was again struck by the undeniable similarities between them
in looks. He nodded curtly to Roth. He and Helms followed the huge
guard out of the house.

The guard returned, eyeing his employer
with a raised eyebrow. “Your older brother is much like you, Mr.
Roth. I had to keep from staring when he arrived.”

“
Isn’t he a handsome devil,
Ty?” Caspian asked with a roguish grin. “He even has my devastating
smile, don’t you think? I have to admit to getting most of the good
looks in the family, but he cuts a fine line in a suit, does he
not?”

“
Ravensford is very
impressive. I expected no less from a brother of yours, Mr. Roth.
But aren’t you the younger brother? You would have gotten his smile
then.”

“
Yes, I think you would be
right in that,” the assassin agreed and chuckled. “Did you see the
bloody fire in the man’s eyes? I thought he’d flatten me when I
asked what he did to deserve all of this! My Ma was telling me true
when she said Geoffrey Spencer was my father. I thought the old
bawd lied of it just to give me a hope or two.”

“
It appears she told you the
truth before she died, Mr. Roth.” Ty allowed himself to smile just
that once. “To look at you both is to see the resemblance. Weren’t
you worried he would notice it as well?”

Caspian shrugged dismissively; his
smile fading. “Men like Ravensford don’t notice such things, Ty.
Even if he knew his father was also mine, he’d not see fit to
acknowledge it. Our father had many bastards over the years, by all
accounts. I’m sure I’m not the first one my brother has
encountered, or the last.”