Daring the Duke (9 page)

nearly untouchable. And his calculated charm and lazy air hid the formidable man beneath.

People passed her on the street, men and women leaving for various pursuits. As she neared the more commercial area, the houses diminished in size and grandeur.

She made her way to the Green Man Tavern, a perfect place to meet. Not in the fashionable district, but not far enough away to be in the dregs.

There were enough unsavory types to give the place flavor, but the aura of danger was designed more for the young bucks deciding to spend a night on the "wild side" of town.

There was considerable coin to be made taking the naive men of the town around the city on faux adventures. She had trafficked in it herself for a short time before quickly becoming bored. Fleecing innocents offered no sport, and she had always felt slightly dirty the short time she had engaged in

it. The richer and tougher meat of the ton tasted infinitely better and paid more handsomely. ,

And besting Chalmers would taste the best.

She pushed the tavern door open and through the smoke located Travers in the back corner. She walked to him, skirting two men on the verge of a brawl and around tavern gals carrying trays and plying their wares.

She sat next to Travers, choosing the lesser of two evils--sitting next to him rather than exposing her back.

"So, what am I doing here?"

"I’m wounded, Audrey dear. Isn’t my pleasant company reward enough?"

"No." She wasn’t going to play Travers’s games. A voice in her head said she was playing Chahners’s, but that was different. He was different. He was worth every move of the chessboard.

She pushed the thought aside and focused on Travers. "Now what do you want? "

"You, of course. But for tonight I will settle for some shipping documents. And a copy of the seal used."

"Where?"

"The documents are somewhere in the house of the merchant I've had you watching. He and his wife are out for the evening, the servants as well.

You should have no trouble."

Audrey nearly said, "No trouble, just like the last time," but she kept her mouth shut. She hadn’t told Travers that Chalmers had captured her.

Something told her to keep that fact to herself.

"Well?" he said.

"Why do you want them?"

"To create my empire, of course."

His empire. Right. "The assistant to the Exchequer conquers all. Going to make Daddy proud, are you?"

Travers grabbed her arm tightly. "For as much leeway as I give you, you are incredibly stupid in how you choose to use it."

Audrey pressed one of her knives into his side. "And you are incredibly stupid to touch me. Release me. Now. "

Travers did so. He laughed unpleasantly. "I will have to break you of that nasty habit, my sweet. I choose to let you carry those tiny blades around, but someday I’m going to find all your secret hiding places and enjoy removing each and every one of them."

She rubbed her arm, mentally washing his filth away. She always felt the need to bathe after being in his presence. The way he looked at her. His ambitions, each scheme bigger than the previous. Not caring whom he hurt.

It was her cardinal rule never to hurt innocent bystanders. Darkness lay at the end of that path. It also, more often than not, led to capture. Marks were well researched because they were the targets. You knew whom you were up against at all times, and who in their families might avenge the monetary loss. Bystanders were unknowns and most often innocent besides. Audrey always made sure to target only those who deserved it.

Those who reminded her of Maddox.

And Travers was no innocent. With him, no one was safe. She knew someone else was pulling his strings, but that didn’t lessen her dislike of Travers's actions. The danger was so incredibly high. The risks multiplied with each new assignment.

She wanted to cry with the frustration of it. lnstead she said, "You still plan to go through with your shipping scheme?"

"Maddox talks too much."

"Then you shouldn’t have drawn him into this."

Travers narrowed his eyes but answered her question. "Yes, we mean to go through with it. And you’d better support me. It is only a matter of time before things fall into place."

"We? Who else are you working with?"

She saw fear pass over his face before masking it. "That, my dear, is none of your concern."

"What will the Exchequer say if he finds out that you’ve been tampering with the shipping schedules and the cargo manifests and profiting from the illegal merchandise you’ve been unloading? He would be highly embarrassed and angered, and you would be going to the scaffold faster than I."

" And why would he find out? My plan is perfect. And if he finds out, well, accidents are so common nowadays, something you should remember."

"One thing makes sense. If you want to get to the top, the only way you are going to accomplish it is by accident."

Travers gripped his tankard. "I told you to hold your tongue."

"This is a dumb plan, Travers. I know you have debts, and, due to your unfailingly stupid desire to unseat everyone that has wronged you, you have

formed alliances with some vicious people, but you are in way over your head. All it takes is one mistake, one person to plant the seed of doubt, and everything will fall to pieces around you."

"ln that case, perhaps I'll be forced to eliminate everyone who knows the plan."

Audrey forced her muscles to relax, but her knife was in hand if Travers moved an inch.

Travers snarled. "Why so tense, Audrey? Worried that your sharp tongue has finally gotten you in over your head?"

"Go to hell."

"Ah, I believe we are already there. Let’s enjoy it, shall we?" Travers toasted her and took a drink. "My partnerships with the ‘vicious people,'

as you called them, are ingenious. I will be rich, powerful, and untouchable. Mark my words, in five years will be Prime Minister. And then, my dearest Audrey,
you
will be begging for my favor."

A young serving girl splashed a tankard down before Travers, her bountiful breasts nearly popping from her dress as she pressed against him. Travers threw her a coin and shifted his gaze back to Audrey. The serving girl brushed seductively against him, but pouted upon receiving no encouragement. She grabbed the coin and flounced from the table.

Travers took a drink and smiled. "I only tell you these things because you are now mine, Audrey Kendrick. I own you and your sister."

Audrey chose to ignore his words, as they only made her think violent thoughts. She noticed the serving girls whispering among themselves and eyeing Travers. He only needed to crook a finger. She didn’t know why they couldn’t see beneath his handsome, aristocratic features. She could barely stomach looking at him; it was like seeing a petulant monster hiding behind an ill-fitting mask.

Travers was a second son of a viscount, with an ego not quite large enough to overcome his feelings of inadequacy. He believed with every ounce of his being that his birthright had been stolen. And he made everyone pay for the theft.

Attracting his attention was one more sin she could lay at Maddox’s feet.

Maddox, who always needed money and had arrived in London furious that he could no longer claim guardianship over Faye and Audrey and touch their amassed monies. So instead Maddox had figured out another way to make money off them by selling their identities to Travers. Dear Lord how she hated Maddox and Travers both.

She tamped down the feeling and forced a smile. Let him believe her cowed by his bizarre designs for power. "I understand the shipping interests and the Exchequer plot, but what about the watch?"

"The watch is a personal item. It is mine."

"Somehow I doubt that."

His eyes narrowed. "It’s mine, and you will get it back for me."

"So, does your partner know about this side project of yours?"

Fear passed over his face. He waved his hand, trying to act nonchalant.

"This is no concern of . . .of my partner ‘s."

For a second she had thought he might divulge the man’s name. Although she wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to know. Sometimes knowledge was dangerous. "You still want me to steal it then?"

He gave her a look that said, "Of course."

"Then release my sister from Newgate, or no deal."

"There is no 'deal,' don’t you understand? I repeat, you are mine to do with as I will. All will happen in good time." His voice trailed off as his dark eyes devoured her.

She again felt the need to bathe. "No. There is no way you will convince me. And if you touch me, I will cut off whatever body parts make contact."

"Even dressed as a boy, you are breathtaking when angry, my sweet. But do remember in which part of Newgate you were housed. A word from me, and your sister will be hanging from a beam by the Old Bailey."

Every muscle in her body clenched. "You wouldn’t do it. You have to know you would soon follow. "

"Perhaps. But I am willing to take the risk. Are you?"

Audrey stood and said nothing. She didn’t trust herself to speak.

"Dr. Smith will be by in the morning. You’d better have the papers in hand. Faye’s release in a few days depends upon it."

She took a couple of even breaths. "You will release her then?"

"As long as you do as promised. I’m not a monster, Audrey." He opened his eyes wide, but couldn’t quite wipe the smirk from his face. "If you would only agree to my plans, everything else would go so much more smoothly."

She turned to leave, but his parting words caused her to pause. "Oh, and Chalmers is being taken care of. He shouldn’t bother you for a good while."

She whipped around. "What are you planning?"

Travers lost his smile and narrowed his eyes at the edge in her voice. She realized her mistake immediately and tried to sound offhand. "I just want to make sure his friends don’t rush in and retaliate against me."

Travers looked slightly mollified, although the corners of his eyes were still crinkled in suspicion. "Just an unfortunate accident. Nothing that he won’t survive. He will be ripe pickings when we need to use him. See you in the morning, my sweet."

Audrey turned and maintained a normal pace through the tavern. She pushed through the door and walked a block before bending down behind a tree to catch her breath. She felt as if she had raced across the English countryside. Stupid, stupid. She couldn’t care about Chalmers. And what was more, she couldn’t let Travers know she did. Stephen would become another Faye, to be used against her. Except in his case she had a feeling Stephen wouldn’t survive Travers’s wrath.

Faye. She had to get her out of Newgate. Bile rose in Audrey’s throat at the thought of entering the prison, but somehow she had to manage it.

Travers was deceitful and unpredictable. She couldn’t wait for his next promise to release her sister and next threat to hang her.

Audrey pushed herself to her feet and began walking. The merchant’s house was just down the street. She would steal and deliver the papers.

She had to allow time to find and release Faye. Time to figure out how to get out of this mess and away from Travers’s madness.

Audrey increased her pace. She rapidly passed houses and celebratory groups; none of the drunken revellers took notice of an undistinguished boy on the street. A hack whistled as she approached an unremarkable West End house. The hack disappeared down the street, and all was quiet.

Slipping around the side of the house, Audrey removed her picklock and opened the back door. Somewhere inside were the shipping documents Travers needed in order to reroute the cargo.

Audrey walked into the main hall. Good thing the merchant and his wife were gone for the evening, because she had no idea where to find the papers. She rifled through the drawing room quickly. She tried the merchant’s office next. Not in the desk. Not on the shelves. The only item in the hidden desk compartment was a lightly braided, feather-soft whip.

And the portly man had looked so stodgy. Some humor returned, and Audrey smiled as she replaced the implement.

She made quick work of the rest of the first floor and headed for the stairs. The master bedroom was the next most likely place. She checked the hallway

clock. Plenty of time. Still, she quickened her step.

Audrey opened the door to the master bedroom and stopped. A cold rush of panic started in the center of her chest and spread outward, freezing her lungs and throat. Stephen Chalmers was lounging in a chair facing her and reading from a sheaf of papers.

"Good evening, Audrey. I expected you sooner. "

How had she not seen the light?

"The heavy hallway rug blocks the light so well, don't you think? I had to experiment several times to make sure."

She automatically looked at the Aubusson rug. It was indeed thick.

"But you went home." Her throat was dry and scratchy, her brain a second slower than usual.

"And so did you."

"What are you doing here?"

"Reading. What are you doing here?"

Some spark returned. No one had jumped from the closet to arrest her.

"Looking for something to read, actually. What have you there?"

She couldn’t sense anyone else in the room. She casually walked to the window and peered through it. No one waiting for him on the street.

"A few boring shipping documents."

If it was just the two of them, she had a chance for escape. A slim one, but it was a chance nevertheless. She would still be a fugitive, but she’d be free. She would have another opportunity to figure out a way to save Faye and flee the country.