Page 81 of A Secret Consequence for the Viscount
Chapter Sixteen
He needed to be seen. He needed to be available. He needed to wait until they pounced and then... He would deal with them as easily as he had the others in the Americas who had threatened him.
He was no longer the man that they thought him and he would use this to his advantage.
Every light was on in his town house and he had given most of the servants the night off. To set the scene and make certain that whoever watched the house was also made aware of the chance to strike.
Yesterday he had squired a dozen ladies along the pathways of Hyde Park, making sure to appear animated and entertained. Last night he had done the same at the Fielders’ party, chatting to this woman and then that one, giving an impression of being most available and distinctly single. The effort of it all had exhausted him. Even this morning in town he had stopped to speak with the small groups of acquaintances he met, garnering invite after invite to all the celebrations of theton.
He had not caught any sight at all of Eleanor Huntingdon and for that he was glad. Priming his duelling pistol, he slipped his knife down into the leather holder of his boot and took in a breath.
The soft London Lord was long gone. He had killed before and would do again to protect his own. It was both simple and sad because to admit to being such a menace without missing a heartbeat put him in a place that was neither honourable nor decent.
After this he could not go back and live as he had once imagined he might. If he ended a man’s life here tonight, he would be outcast for ever. But Eleanor and Lucy would be safe. That thought overrode every other one.
A movement on the street caught his attention and then Frederick Challenger was there at his door, dressed in black from head to foot. He looked nothing like the second son of an earl and all of the soldier.
‘I have come to help you, Nick.’ His eyes took in the gun on the table primed and ready. ‘It will be here?’
‘From what I suspect, yes.’
Another noise out at the front garnered their attention to the doorway, the knock surprising them. This time it was Oliver, dressed in the same sort of fashion as Frederick.
‘You shouldn’t be here. You have just been married.’
‘Let’s sort this out first, Nick. It would be hard to enjoy being away on a bridal tour knowing you were battling for your life in London and Cecilia agrees with me. Jake is out the front, too, watching for any movement.’
Nicholas could only stare at Oliver and Frederick in wonder. He was no longer alone. It wasn’t just he who had to deal with this peril now. There was a chance for him to still survive and live.
* * *
An hour later Jacob came inside, too, though he barely looked at Nick, the tension between them palpable.
‘Eleanor is in danger because of me, Jake, it’s why I sent the note. I need to see her safe. If she is hurt in any way at all...’ He didn’t continue.
‘You could not tell her of your plan?’
‘Would you have told Rose?’
‘So you thought to take this on alone without telling any of us a word about it? Would you be there if we were in trouble, Nick?’
‘Of course.’
‘Then I rest my case. But I warn you, at the end of all this, if you don’t damned well marry my sister I will kill you myself.’
‘Agreed.’
‘No more lies, Nick, for it’s killing us all. This time we face it together and end it.’
* * *
By the morning they doubted anyone at all was coming. Perhaps they had been warned off by the appearance of the others or perhaps the heavy rain had persuaded them to wait for another night, a better chance.
Whatever the reason they locked the front door and drew the curtains, stoking the fire into a life it had not enjoyed before and sitting down near it to feel the warmth.
‘This reminds me of the time the Night Watch came to the club to question us about that girl they had found by the river who had been killed. We had a roaring fire when they knocked and it was a filthy night which was odd for the start of September.’
Oliver said this as he picked at the bread, cheese and pickles Nicholas had had brought up from the kitchens. It was the first Nicholas had heard of the murder and he wondered out aloud just why the Watch would come to Vitium et Virtus to question its owners.
