Page 2 of Taming of the Rake
“That’s her,” he confirmed, guiding Celeste along the path toward them. “This is your last chance to back out. Go home, Celeste. Let me face this alone.”
“I think not. I am as much a part of this as you and your courtesans. You cannot be rid of me so easily.”
Benedict patted her hand and said nothing. In the absence of the other courtesans, there were few people he could rely on. He grudgingly allowed himself to feel comforted by Celeste’s presence as they drew nearer to the figure in gray.
The Gossip turned to face them, and the four men edged forward to box them in—though they were careful to keep their gazes fixed elsewhere. Their presence was a tangible threat radiating at Benedict with the promise of violence if he made one false move. He could have taken one of them in his sleep with a hand tied behind his back. Two of them wouldn’t be a problem even on his worst day. But, four? Too risky, even in such a public place.
“You aren’t very good at following directions,” one of the men barked. “That’s close enough!”
Celeste flinched, but Benedict held his ground, glaring at the man standing just before him and to the left. He was the only one looking at them, his beady eyes narrowed under a heavy, prominent brow. He had a jaw like an anvil and huge, meaty hands.
Come alone,the note had said.Don’t look for me, I will come to you.
Benedict looked to the Gossip, searching for her eyes behind the sheer gauze of her veil. “In case it has escaped your notice, I do as I please. You wanted me, and here I am. Either we talk now, or I walk away.”
The Gossip inclined her head but said nothing. Aside from that small motion, she did not move, appearing as if she weren’t even breathing.
“M’lady was very clear—”
The Gossip raised a gloved hand, and it was enough for the brute to snap his mouth shut.
Lowering her hand, she then proffered something to Benedict with the other. Celeste advanced before Ben could make a move. The Gossip remained where she stood, allowing Celeste to take the offering. Paper rustled as she returned to Benedict, face blanching while she read what looked like a copy ofThe London Gossip. If it was today’s issue, Benedict did not understand her reaction. They had read it together over tea—an account of a mysterious woman who’d had an affair with one of his courtesans. The details were too exact to be a fabrication, and after finishing it Benedict had been certain the man described was Dominick Burke—who had just eloped and escaped to Paris with his bride following a magnificent scandal. Nick hadn’t been named outright, and that was enough to bring Benedict comfort. For now.
When Celeste reached him, her head tipped back and wide eyes peered up at him, filled with trepidation. He glanced down at the paper with a frown. It was, in fact, a copy of today’s issue ofThe London Gossip.However, sitting atop it was a slip of paper, upon which was written a list. Benedict turned it over to read the words. His entire body went numb, his hands shaking as he realized what he was looking at.
There were names written on the scrap of paper, at least a dozen of them. He found his own name at the very top, but that wasn’t what made bile rise up in the back of his throat. It was the four others written beneath his that made Benedict feel as if he might be sick.
The Hon. Dominick Burke
The Hon. Hugh Radcliffe
Mr. David Graham
Mr. Aubrey Drake
He recognized the other names as well, but it was those four that struck dread in him.
Benedict wanted to tear the page to shreds and hurl them at her feet, but understood the futility of such an act. Destroying it wouldn’t change that his nemesis had unearthed the names of nearly all the men in his employ, including those who were his closest friends.
Swallowing past the acidic taste of defeat on his tongue, Benedict squared his shoulders. He was not beaten yet. If she played this hand so openly, it had to be because she couldn’t prove what she knew. Perhaps she had enough to implicate him and Dominick, but not the others.
“Why?”
It was the one question that had haunted him from the moment he realized the woman was on to him.
The Gossip’s tinkling laughter emitted from behind the veil, grating and familiar. Benedict flinched, something within him reacting adversely to the sound. His suspicion grew as she pressed a slender hand to her middle, laughing as if Ben had told the most humorous joke.
He knew her. There was something about her that nagged at his memories, making him dizzy from trying to puzzle it out. Whenever he prodded at the persistent thought that she felt familiar, he brushed up against other recollections better left alone. Things he had endured that he never wanted to think of again.
“Because I can, of course,” the Gossip replied. “Being the cause of your destruction gratifies me more than you will ever know, Mr. Sterling.”
Benedict wrinkled his brow as the sound of her voice jabbed through his eardrum like a needle. It went deep, piercing his mind like a lightning strike. A flash of light illuminated the mystery for half a second before he was once more cast into the dark.
Celeste frowned, concern written all over her face. “Ben?”
“I know you,” he rasped. “How do I know you?”
“That isn’t important now, and if you cannot puzzle it out for yourself, that is of no consequence to me,” the Gossip replied, an acerbic bite in her tone. “All you need to know is that I have everything I need to take you down. Unless you give me exactly what I want.”
