Page 32 of The Last Chance
Parker looked panicked. “I swear I never went back. Why would I? There’s not a gently bred lady amongst them. None of them have a hope of finding a husband. Heathens. The lot of them.”
“I didn’t realise you were in the market for a wife,” Aaron snapped. “Perhaps I should warn the good families of thetonthat you live in a hovel and your maid warms your bed.”
Parker shrugged. “I doubt they’ll care.”
“Your future in-laws might. Sullying the hired help is hardly a Christian pastime.” Aaron drew his watch from his pocket and checked the time. “I’m a busy man. You have a minute to tell me where you were or face the consequences.”
Aaron waited.
Parker lowered his head and whispered, “I went to meet a woman. It’s a delicate matter. I cannot give you her name.”
“You will, or I’ll purchase every debt you owe and beat you when you cannot make the payments.”
The lily-livered fool paled. “I only know her as Venus.” Parker glanced at Miss Lovelace. “I’ll not speak of it in front of her. This is for a man’s ears only.”
Miss Lovelace was not deaf. She raised her chin and confronted the gentleman. “Nothing you could say would have me reaching for a vinaigrette. My ladies have brothers. Many arescoundrels. I’m well aware of the disreputable things your kind do.”
Aaron smiled to himself.
Miss Lovelace had courage abound.
In some other life, they would make a formidable couple.
“Who is this woman?” Aaron demanded to know. “Where did you meet her, and why is she using a moniker? Unless you want me to hound you night and day, prove you left The Burnished Jade and did not return.”
Parker rubbed his forehead as if it might help him remember. “Truth be told, I don’t know who she is. I met her at Mrs Flavell’s masquerade.”
“A demimonde gathering?” Aaron said.
“Yes. She came as Venus.” Parker’s eyes glowed at the arousing memory. “She approached me in the garden, said she knew I liked to make silly wagers, kissed me and said if I won the bet, I could—” He stopped speaking, his cheeks reddening as he grimaced.
Miss Lovelace chose to finish the tale. “She invited you to share her bed if you were successful. I imagine it was a pointless wager. To seek you out, she must have wanted you to win.”
The comment stroked the man’s pride. “She seemed desperate to have me, spent forty minutes playing the coquette and then disappeared when I went for refreshments.”
Suspicion formed like a knot in Aaron’s chest. Before Parker could describe the woman or explain what she wanted him to do, he knew it was connected to Lord Howard’s murder.
“Let me guess,” he said, hoping he was wrong and that someone wasn’t plotting his downfall. “Venus was young, pretty and spoke with an accent.”
Parker straightened. “Yes. I thought Italian or French, but she refused to tell me and said it was part of our guessing game.”
“But you did what she asked?” Miss Lovelace said.
The answer was obvious. Few men had Aaron’s fortitude to fight lustful cravings. Miss Lovelace was more tempting than Venus and Aphrodite combined.
“Some women know how to pique a man’s interest,” Aaron said, determined not to look at Miss Lovelace. “I imagine Parker would have panted like a dog and piddled up a tree to spend a night with his Venus.”
Parker’s temper surfaced. “She wasn’t Venus but a manipulative hag. I did what she asked and waited at The Cock Inn until two in the morning. If I need an alibi, the landlord will confirm I sat in the taproom, waiting for a woman who failed to keep our bargain. He’s the one who clicked my nose back into place.”
One did not need Daventry’s acumen to know what bargain they’d struck. “Venus asked you to cause trouble at Miss Lovelace’s club.”
“I was to make a scene and rouse the ladies’ tempers.” Parker touched his bruised nose and winced. “How was I to know Miss Beckett had an excellent right hook?”
There was no question Venus was the woman who’d accompanied Lord Howard to the pawnbroker’s. But why have Parker make trouble so early in the evening? During the commotion, had the murderer stolen the list of attendees? Amid the chaos, had someone entered the building and hidden upstairs?
“Monsieur Xavier taught my ladies to throw a punch.” Miss Lovelace made a perfect fist, correct thumb placement, straight wrist, knuckles aligned. “We’ve had three classes on the art of defending ourselves. You’d do well to remember that in future.”
The creak of the upstairs boards drew Parker’s gaze.
