Virtue and Vice (34 page)

“You don’t have to be strong all of the time, you know. I’m here, and I can be strong for you.”

His kind words almost brought her to tears. Two days of worry and fear for Izzy’s health were taking their toll. She was emotionally and physically fatigued.

She sank back against the settee, let her eyelids flutter closed. She would rest for but a few minutes.

Slowly, Lucien wrapped an arm about her shoulder. Belinda remained sitting stiffly upright, so aware of how inappropriate it was to let him touch her this way, to be with him like this. But any voice of reason that might convince her otherwise was drowned out by a wave of exhaustion and slowly she relaxed into him, until her head lay against his chest. The warmth of his embrace soon lulled her to sleep and she gave into it, knowing she was safe in Lucien’s strong arms.

Chapter 30

What the hell was Izzy thinking?
The question repeated in Ram’s mind like a mantra, tormenting him, over and over again, along with,
does it mean anything that she was risking her health for his sake?
She was misguided, it was true, for he could fight his own battles and Huntley wasn’t a threat he took seriously, but Izzy couldn’t know that. In his fury, he’d never bothered to tell her he had information of his own with which to neutralize Huntley. Perversely, Ram had wanted to see how far she would go with her threats, and so he’d kept his silence.

For very much the same reason, he’d never told her Huntley had sold out to Cromwell. During the years he’d been gone Huntley had gathered information on various Royalists, beginning with Izzy’s own family, and sold it to Cromwell’s spy network, over and over again. If he’d told her the truth, that Huntley endangered her brothers’ lives time and again for profit, that her feelings for the man would die. But Ram hadn’t wanted that to be the reason she turned away from Huntley.

Now she might pay the ultimate price for his stubborn pride.

He clung to the hope Izzy had lied. She was a master manipulator. How many times had she said she would do one thing, so everyone would look the other way while she did something else?

And then there was the chance Belinda was mistaken. Perhaps Izzy only wanted to be sure her precious Paul safely escaped the stricken court.

Either way, whatever the reason, if Izzy truly meant to go to court, he would stop her if it wasn’t too late.

His heart constricted at the thought of her ill with smallpox. It was a horrid disease. Nearly a third of all people who contracted it died, and most who survived were hideously scarred for life. He knew, for he’d seen the disease in action when he was barely more than a toddler. Both he and his cousin had been stricken. Only Ram survived. The thought of his beautiful, vivacious Izzy taken out of his world in that way was a thought too horrendous to bear.

What was she thinking?

Once he found her, and knew she would be all right, he would kiss her soundly and then wring her lovely neck.

His carriage careened through the Holbein gate and Ram flew from the interior before hid driver, Guy, had even brought the coach to a complete stop. As it was, too much time had already been wasted on the journey. Ram should have dispensed with the coach and taken Mercury instead. The crush of carriages on the streets of London moving away from court had cost precious time.

Ram strode through the entrance, disregarding the warning cry of a steward who appeared on his left. His feet unerringly trod through the maze of hallways until he stood outside the door to Huntley’s rooms. When Ram was last here with Izzy he’d made it a point of knowing exactly where his competition was lodged and now that foresight proved useful.

He needed to assure himself that Paul was long gone, and that Izzy had no reason to be here.

His heart dropped in dread when he heard voices coming from the partially open door. One was male and one most definitely belonged to a female.

“Izzy!” he cried, shouldering the door open without giving any warning to the inhabitants.

Huntley sat on a bed, his face flushed. He was very obviously furious, but his anger was directed at the other occupant in the room. Ram’s gaze quickly swept the room and focused in on the lone female, standing across the room near the hearth, twisting her hands together in dismay. About to dismiss her out of hand when he saw that her hair was not the chestnut brown of Izzy’s tresses, but rather a buttery gold, his gaze slammed back to her face.

“Louisa?”

Her eyes widened, her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. “Ram? What are you doing here?”

He narrowed his eyes. How long had she been warming Huntley’s bed? It would be too ironic if she’d done so while still his mistress.

Ram turned his attention away from Louisa. He didn’t care in whose bed she spent her nights. He was interested in one woman only.

“Yes, Royston. What
are
you doing here?” Huntley stood from the bed, looking weary and furious at the same time. His eyes were bloodshot, his face was pale, his lips pinched tight in an expression of anger. Fingernail gouges ran down his cheek. Against the pallor of his skin they stood out in stark relief, blood red and quite deep. Ram couldn’t help looking past him to the rumpled bed just vacated. He noticed the cords tied to the headboard and shook his head in disgust, glancing at Louisa again. He hadn’t the slightest doubt that she enjoyed being tied to Huntley’s bed, playing his perverse games. When Ram first met her, he’d been jaded and bored with everything in life, and her antics in bed amused him well enough. Since that fateful day in the woods when he met a beautiful maiden who stole his heart, he’d discovered that despite Izzy’s innocence—or perhaps because of it—that with love came the greatest excitement he’d ever experienced during lovemaking. In a way, he’d been as innocent as she, for he’d never truly made love to a woman before, until Izzy came into his life. No amount of bed toys or role-playing could ever bring the kind of pleasure that making love to the woman he loved did.

Was he willing to give her up without a fight, to never know that pleasure again, to return to romps in bed with a faceless parade of women like Louisa?

He didn’t even have to think it over. Nay, he wasn’t willing to lose what he’d found with Izzy if there was even the smallest chance to keep it. He’d been a fool to give up so quickly.

Having reached that decision in his own mind, he became even more anxious and determined to find Izzy and bring her home.

“I’m looking for my wife. Was she here today?”

“Aye, she was here earlier.”

“How long did she stay?” Ram gritted out, determined not to jump to conclusions.

“Do you mean at court, or in my bed?”

Ram couldn’t stomach the smugness on the man’s face. He lunged forward, jamming his arm across Huntley’s windpipe with such force it lifted him from his feet and against the wall, where Ram kept him pinned. “I’m in no mood for games, Huntley. Why was she here, when did she leave, and where did she go?”

Huntley grimaced. “For a man seeking an annulment from his estranged wife, you seem strangely concerned for her well-being.”

Ram gritted his teeth, pressing harder against his nemesis’ throat. “Answers, Huntley. I shall have them now. Or you’ll not leave here.”

Huntley snorted. “You wouldn’t put yourself at such risk.”

“Wouldn’t I?” Ram challenged. “I’ve been exposed to smallpox. There’s nothing for me to fear here.”

Paul’s eyes widened as he recognized this was no idle threat and nodded curtly, signaling his acquiescence. He pushed away from the wall and Ram released his hold.

Holding a hand to his throat, Huntley coughed and choked for a few moments. “She was here, but hours ago. I’ve no idea where her destination lay from here.”

“
Why
did she come here?”

Huntley laughed. “She came to buy me off.”

Ram drew his brows together. “Explain yourself.”

“She wanted me to swear I’d never betray your secret. She was willing to pay
any
price to secure my silence.”

Ram reeled. She
had
come here for his sake alone.
Oh, Izzy. You wonderful, endearing, little fool.
Then he focused on Huntley’s full intimation.

“What price? What did you demand of her?”

“Coin of course.” Huntley shrugged negligently as if extortion was a regular event in his daily life. “Five thousand quid.”

Ram started. “Where would she get those kinds of funds?”

Huntley shrugged again, but his eyes flicked to the table near the bed. Ram followed his gaze. Izzy’s sapphire and diamond earring lay sparkling upon the wood. Ram’s stomach twisted at the proof that she had indeed been there. Huntley lunged for the earring, but Ram was quicker, and scooped it into his hand.

“I’ll be taking this back.”

Huntley’s fist clenched at his side, but it relaxed as a malicious glint appeared in his ice blue eyes. “She paid an advance on my other demand as well.”

Ram stiffened. “Which was?”

“That she come willingly to my bed.”

A furious mist clouded Ram’s vision and it took every ounce of willpower he possessed not to pummel the man in front of him to death. “What kind of advance?” he demanded tersely.

“Ah.” Paul’s mouth twisted into a savagely satisfied smile. “That’s between your wife and I. I’m a gentleman, Royston. I never kiss and tell. If Izzy wants you to know she’ll have to tell you.”

Ram was about to break the man’s neck when Louisa stepped forward.

“Paul!” she finally cried, her voice filled with shock, betrayal, and outrage.

“Shut up, you cow. If it weren’t for you, we’d be long gone from this hellhole. I never should have waited on you in the first place. I should have left you here to rot by yourself.”

“Is that the way you speak to a woman, Huntley?” Ram’s heart bled a little, for he had a feeling Izzy had been treated to a similar display by the desperate man, and if so she’d have been devastated. “You better have shown my wife more respect than you’ve just shown your mistress.”

“I would never treat Izzy in any manner other than the way she deserves.” He shrugged. “As for
my mistress
, she is but a whore, Maitland. One of your many cast-offs. Just as Izzy will soon be.”

“You’ll be dead before you have an opportunity to lay another hand on my
wife
!”

Huntley smirked. “Are you challenging me to pistols at dawn?”

Ram let his gaze slide insolently over Paul’s features, down to his shoes and back to his face and then delivered his coup de grace. “It’s pointless for you to leave White Hall, Huntley. You’re burning with fever, I can feel the heat emanating from you. You know as well as I do you’ve been infected with smallpox. I doubt very much you’ll be alive to meet me at any dawn.”

Ram started for the door, feeling no remorse at the choking sound of despair he heard coming from the man Izzy once loved. It was the sound of a man who’d had his worst fear confirmed.

Before he stepped through the threshold, Ram glanced at his former mistress. “Louisa, there is a pock upon your cheek,” he said quietly. Then he strode through the door, hearing her pitiful scream in his mind long after he’d departed White Hall.

***

Four hours later, Ram returned to the house, exhausted and crazed with worry. He’d gone to Eric’s home north of London, but Izzy hadn’t made an appearance there. All he’d managed to do was alarm her parents. Sick with dread after seeing that Huntley was infected with smallpox, Ram didn’t know what to do next.

Noting Lucien’s carriage still stood in the street, Ram let himself into the house, where he wearily made his way to the study to brood and plan.
Where is she?

As he crossed the threshold, his friend stood abruptly from the sofa, and for a moment Ram feared he’d interrupted his friend and cousin-by-marriage in a compromising situation. But Lucien put his fingers over his lips and Ram saw Belinda was asleep upon the settee. Lucien raised a questioning eyebrow and Ram shook his head in reply, then slumped into his desk chair, laying his head in his hands.

His fear for Izzy was like nothing he’d ever experienced in his life. No one knew where she was, and she could be sick and alone, afraid. What if she needed him? He couldn’t bear the thought.

Nay. He’d not allow himself to think of her ill with smallpox. She couldn’t die now, not when couldn’t bear to live without her. He would never annul their marriage. He loved her too much. He needed her too much. His life would have no meaning without her in it. In their short time together she’d become the most important thing in his world.

And the risk she’d taken today proved she loved him, too. Mayhap not the same way he loved her, but it was enough for a new beginning.

He was too worn out to do more than sit there, holding his head in his hands, casting his thoughts about for any idea, no matter how far-fetched, that would yield a clue as to where Izzy had gone.

“Did you find her?” Belinda’s voice, groggy from sleep, rang with hope.

Ram swallowed, wishing he had better news to impart. “Nay. She did go to court and she saw Huntley, but she was gone by the time I got there and if Huntley knows her destination, he wouldn’t say.”

Ram knew he couldn’t keep what he’d learned to himself. “Huntley is ill. As is Louisa. I fear for Izzy’s health.”

The room fell into silence.

“Cornwall.”

Lucien and Ram looked at Belinda. “Why would she go to Cornwall?” Lucien asked, but even before the question was out of his mouth, Ram launched himself from the chair.

“Of course. She told me to send word of our annulment to Cornwall. Why didn’t I think of that before?”

“Because she told me she’d go straight to Eric.”

Ram grimaced. “I fell for that trick once. Falling for it a second time makes me an utter fool. How would she have chosen to journey home?”