Page 27 of A Secret Consequence for the Viscount
‘But others might?’
‘I have never heard even a whisper of it, but I suppose with enough gold offered it could be possible.’
Nick believed what was said and the hope of a quick resolution wilted. His uncle might have ordered his demise in the first place at the river, but when that did not eventuate another had tried to finish him off.
He put a small bag of gold on the table, the clink of it satisfying. ‘If you hear anything at all about this matter I would be well pleased to learn of it. Leave word at the address inside and mark it“Stepney”.’
As a duke, Jacob was often receiving missives. No one would take notice of a further messenger.
A quick nod of his head and the man stood, using the small door to disappear. There was mud on his boots from the river and his cloak was torn at the hem.
As Nick rose himself the tavern owner came forward and slugged him hard on the side of his good cheek.
‘In warning not to say nothing of this to anyone.’ He could feel the eyes of all the others upon him as he left.
* * *
She had worn the sprigged muslin to Gunter’s six years ago, Eleanor thought as she rifled through the clothes she’d brought down to London from Millbrook House. But there was nothing here remotely similar to that which her eighteen-year-old flighty self would have once favoured. Certainly apart from the one very formal gown she had worn to Frederick’s, there was nothing in gold.
Hauling out a deep blue velvet, she held it up against her. The colour made her eyes bluer and she had always liked the cut.
Sighing, she stroked her fingers across the pile. Was she doing the right thing? She missed Lucy and every day she promised to help Nicholas was one less she did not have with her daughter. She wondered if she should put more of a guard up, for her protection and for Lucy’s. But she wished his memories back as desperately as he himself did because only then she would know whether she could trust him to be the sort of father her daughter needed.
The demons still sat upon his shoulders and the menace that had become such a part of him now was worrying. Still, yesterday at Bromworth Manor he had discovered his uncle’s part in his mysterious disappearance so that was one less concern. The debts he owed should right themselves with his newly come inheritance and things would return to normal.
Normal?
He would never be the rakish pleasure-seeking smiling Viscount she had once fallen in love with, but her older self found this dangerous, larger and quieter version even more attractive.
He was steel now, honed in fire, the pieces that had been light and reckless burned away to the bone. She could not even imagine how this Nicholas might enjoy ice cream with her at Gunter’s.
Despite everything she looked forward to their next meeting. It had been the middle of August last time they were there—now hot chocolate might be more the order of the day on a cold December afternoon. All she could feel was excitement.
* * *
His carriage arrived on the dot of two and Jacob called to her as she came downstairs hoping to leave before anyone saw exactly who she had gone with.
‘Tell Nick to stop in for a drink here with me afterwards.’
Eleanor smiled because there was very little her brother ever missed when it concerned his family. ‘I will.’
‘And make sure he takes take good care of my baby sister.’
‘Hardly that. I am almost twenty-five. A matron.’
He shook his head and stood. ‘Experience does not always come with the years one lives, Ellie. I don’t want you hurt.’
‘You think I might be?’
‘After all that Rose and I endured, I am now of the opinion that no one knows better what is right for your life than you do. But a word of warning. If you are hurt, let it be your making and not that of others. He is a good person, Nick, but in a difficult situation.’
‘I know.’
‘And you are a bit the same, I think.’
She made no answer to this as she turned to go, but sometimes she got the distinct impression that her brother could read her more easily than she gave him credit for.
Nicholas was just walking towards the town house after speaking with his driver and he looked up when he saw her.
