An Improper Proposal (The Distinguished Rogues Book 6) (17 page)

She told Meriwether how it had started, naming victims, most he knew, and when she confessed who the next target would be his brows rose. “Good choice.”

Iris started. “How can you say that? Hazelton was assaulted in his own home. Ettington could fare just as badly.”

Meriwether shrugged. “Ettington is a relatively easy man to deal with. With luck, he can be persuaded to help us catch these criminals.”

“But you will only catch the men who work for him, not Talbot himself, who is behind everything. He is the one who needs to be caught. I am sure Ettington hasn’t invited him to sit down to dinner.”

“Not in his class,” Esme murmured in agreement. “And assuredly not already invited. The guest list is modest, as common for the marquess’s style. To press him to invite Talbot at this late a date would raise considerable suspicion.”

Meriwether’s brows drew together. “Then we must set a better trap.”

The pair lapsed into silence. Esme with her thumb to her lips, Meriwether pursing his.

“What we need is another ball,” he said suddenly.

Esme frowned and glanced at him keenly. “And a good reason for it, to avoid any suspicion of a trap. Perhaps Iris’s wedding breakfast could be a grander affair than I’d first envisaged.”

“I cannot marry Lord Louth now.” Iris shook her head. “Given what I’ve told you, it is only fair to break the engagement and spare him the embarrassment of being associated with a criminal. I fully expect to pay for my actions. I knew it was wrong from the beginning. I only wanted to protect my father.”

Esme’s arm tightened around her protectively. “She never stole from anyone, or took a shilling in payment. She simply opened a window and failed to latch it properly. Surely you agree, Mr. Meriwether, that she should avoid punishment.”

“And what of her disclosure of the locations of the safes?” He scowled. “Searching other people’s homes for the locations of their valuables isn’t something I can overlook, no matter whom the party is.”

“I never had to search for any safe,” Iris admitted quickly. “The victims actually told me themselves, and many others in fact at the same time, several weeks before the robberies occurred. It was then simply a matter of waiting for an invitation to enter their homes and a large enough event to hide what I did. When they hosted a ball, no one ever noticed me admiring the view outside their windows.”

“And that’s why you believed yourself invisible? Oh, my darling. What a nightmare you’ve lived under my very nose.” Esme pulled her head close to hers, as protective as a mother of her young. “You must help her, Meriwether.”

Meriwether remained silent for a good long while as he considered her fate. His eyes narrowed and he rose to his feet. He bent over them and touched the skin of Iris’s neck, a light caress immediately over the spot Talbot had held to shake her. “How did you come to be injured?”

Iris covered the marks. “Talbot wanted the contents of Windermere’s safe very badly. He’d made promises and I had failed to open the window for his men last night. He was very unhappy with me that his buyers were to be let down.”

Meriwether met her gaze. “How badly are you hurt?”

“It’s nothing more serious than a few tender spots.” Iris touched the back of her head and winced. “Perhaps a graze.”

Esme gasped and carefully checked the back of her head. “My God, she’s bled? That beast! I’ll make him pay dearly for this.”

Meriwether shushed Esme. “Did Talbot ever mention who handled the gems after the robbery had taken place?”

“No, not once. I’m sorry I don’t know anything else to help recover what has been stolen.”

Meriwether resumed his seat with a sigh. “Consider yourself held under extreme suspicion, Miss Hedley. You are not to leave Esme’s side for even a moment.”

“I have to see my father tomorrow. I always go. If I don’t, Talbot will become suspicious and he might harm him. He’s in no state to protect himself.”

“And don’t forget, she was to be watched,” Esme cut in quickly. “She must pass along word of our engagements to these shadowy figures who follow her. She cannot simply hide away and give up her usual routine of going out.”

“Very well.” Meriwether bit his lip and then nodded. “This is what we shall do, Miss Hedley. You will go about your usual business and relay any further excursions with Lady Heathcote directly to Talbot, careful not to provoke him to anger again. Leave nothing out and do what he said to do. You will be in danger but it is imperative you do nothing to spook Talbot and give the game away. Your engagement to Lord Louth, when it is announced, will most certainly provoke a flurry of invitations that will be to our advantage.”

“I don’t want to lie to him anymore.” Louth would be in harm’s way the moment their engagement was announced. “He needs to know he isn’t expected to marry a criminal.”

“I will explain as much of the situation to him as needs be.” Meriwether rubbed his jaw. “If it can be arranged at such short notice, there will be a trap laid at Lord Ettington’s home and we will ensure a successful robbery takes place. Think nothing of it and go about your engagement in the normal fashion, shopping and house calls, etcetera. The frivolous activities any young woman would undertake prior to her marriage. The valuables stolen will be paste gems, a fine setting but of lesser value than the real thing. By the time the ball is announced, Talbot will be quite desperate. It is there we will catch him.”

Esme leaned forward. “What if he doesn’t receive an invite to that event?”

“Oh, I can safely predict he will.” Meriwether raised a brow, suggesting Esme should know better. “I’ll be calling in a favor.”

Thirteen

Mr. Richard Barker waited at the open door of the carriage and wasted no time in speaking up once Martin’s feet hit the footpath. “Thank you for coming at short notice, my lord.”

Martin glanced at the façade of Mrs. Ward’s home as his carriage pulled away. “You did say it was urgent. What seems to be the problem?”

The usually unflappable man of business raked his hand through his ginger hair as if he was at his wits end. “She told her butler to turn me away, saying my services are no longer required. Yesterday, when I suggested a modest reduction in her expenditure at the dressmakers, she threw a vase at me and then fell to pieces. I couldn’t stop her tears and she begged me to leave.”

Martin shook his head and surveyed the street. “Sounds like Mrs. Ward has not changed. She once threw an entire dessert at her late husband, if I recall, because he mentioned a woman who had slighted her in glowing terms. Poor fellow hadn’t known what to do either.”

Barker gaped. “And you do?”

“Oh, yes.” He ran up the short flight of stairs and knocked. The butler was unfamiliar to him and clearly suspicious of a strange man at the door, so he handed over his card. “If you’d be so kind as to ask Mrs. Ward if she might have a moment to see me.”

The door closed in his face and Martin turned to his man of business. Damn Helena for being difficult. The reason he’d sent Barker was to lessen the demands on his time. He already juggled three women—Whitney, Iris and the infant. He didn’t need a fourth. He had a dinner to host tonight and handing the responsibility over to Whitney had not been his intent. “Aside from the current difficulties with Mrs. Ward, you’re keeping well, I trust?”

“Yes, my lord.” He winced. “My sister recently had a babe, so it seems I’m an uncle to a little girl now.”

“Well, congratulations.”

Barker frowned. “I’m supposed to be impressed of course but it’s hard to be excited over something small enough to fit into a desk drawer.”

He grinned at the pleasant fantasy of placing his daughter in the drawer of his study desk at Holly Park while he worked. She could sleep while he managed the estate business. “You would feel differently if you were talking of your own child.”

“I don’t know about that.” Barker scowled and drew close. “Given the way my sister has carried on about being indisposed, I’m of a mind to skip marriage, and women, entirely.”

The butler invited them inside and took his hat. Martin faced his companion. “Mr. Barker, would you mind waiting here a moment. I’ll see Mrs. Ward alone first and try to sweeten her temperament.”

“Thank you.” Barker plunked down on a nearby chair and made himself comfortable.

Martin was led to a room he remembered well, a sitting room so cushioned that even the floors could be made very pleasant for an afternoon romp. Helena moved to greet him, her gown swishing about her legs. The diaphanous creation revealed her curves and hinted at the bounty that lay beneath. She had dressed for seduction.

Martin accepted her offered hand and kissed her knuckles perfunctorily. “My dear, you look beautiful.”

“Thank you for calling, my lord.” She fluttered her lashes at the compliment. “Do sit down?”

She indicated a spot next to hers and he took it. “Thank you. Are you happy to be in London again?”

“Oh, yes. The social whirl has me quite in its grip. Isn’t it terrible about these robberies?” She grasped his arm. “Makes a woman long for a man at her side to offer his protection.”

He shrugged off her touch. “I think you are safe. In all cases, the victims hosted large gatherings the same night as the robberies took place.”

Her smiled widened. “Yes, but I do have a safe.”

“As do many homes, I’m sure.” He studied her. Her fears were understandable but entirely for naught more than attention at the moment. “What game are you playing with poor Mr. Barker?”

“That man.” She shuddered. “I tell you, I’ve never encountered such a beastly fellow in my life.”

“You threw a vase at him.”

She grabbed a fan and fluttered it before her face. “What else is a poor widow to do to defend herself?”

Barker was an even-tempered man. The most agitation he’d ever displayed had been outside. He couldn’t believe her description of him. “So you are saying he provoked such an attack?”

She sniffed and turned her face away. “It’s over now and forgotten.”

“Good, because he is waiting in the hall to continue the discussion of your finances.”

She spun about. “You brought your man of business into my home after I expressly told Peters to deny him? He’s as bad as the shopkeepers demanding money. He will want blood next. I will not have him in my house telling me what I must do or not do. I am not a child.”

Martin had not missed Helena very much at all he discovered then, especially her habit of blowing a confrontation out of all reasonable proportion. “But the reason he was sent to you is to make sure you could keep the roof over your head that you love so much. You came to me and asked for my help. He is the extent of my offer.”

“Never mind the past.” She moved toward him. “I’d hoped you’d come to talk as we used to do.”

“Barker is the only reason I am here. He sent for me because you would not let him do his job.” Martin scowled. Helena was not above playing the victim to get her way and they both knew it. “He is not used to suffering a lady’s theatrics so I must ask that you deal fairly with him.”

Helena’s lower lip trembled and she lifted her hands to cover her face. “How can you speak so cruelly to me?”

“The truth isn’t cruel, just as those tears aren’t the least bit real. Stop this nonsense or you will see the last of me.”

Her hands fell. “We were so good together. We could be together again, and I promise I will learn to curb my spending to make you happy.”

She leaned even farther forward, presenting him with a direct view of the crests of her lush bosom.

Martin was unmoved. “What you want is not possible.”

Helena slipped her gown off her shoulders and pressed against him, pinning him to the side of the settee until her bosom was quite squashed against his chest. “I can make you feel so very good. I know you remember how it was between us.”

He did remember, but that was beside the point. “I don’t agree that married men should keep mistresses any more than you do.”

Her gaze grew a touch uncertain. “Well, neither of us is married now.”

He hadn’t planned to tell anyone about Iris until he was assured of her father’s agreement to the marriage, but clearly he had to say something to convince Helena of his disinterest in a way she would understand. “But I am going to be married soon, so an affair is entirely out of the question.”

Helena’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Who is she?”

“Someone I admire very much.” He pushed her away gently. “Our union is not public knowledge as yet, so I would appreciate your discretion in the matter.”

“I see.”

“To tell the truth, I feel uneasy even being here. I told her Barker would handle your financial muddle without my involvement in the matter. My future wife’s behavior suggests she’s not the sharing type.”

Helena dropped her gaze, a smile curving her lips. “Your secret is safe with me, my lord.”

“Thank you.” He rubbed his hands together. “Now, over the years I’ve learned to trust Barker’s advice implicitly. I would not have sent him to you if I didn’t think he could be of service. Might I call him in now to hear for myself his beastly suggestions?”

She smiled but it wasn’t the genuine smile he’d hoped for. “If you insist.”