His Wicked Kiss (49 page)

Unsettled by the savagery beneath their attempt to conceal the reality of that day, Amelia turned to her cousin. “Edie, when do you expect Uncle Victor to arrive?”

She and Jack exchanged a subtle glance, for
Eden
had not told Amelia or her aunt Cecily that in fact she had run away from Papa. She shrugged. “It’s difficult to say.”

“Miss Northrop, you see, we’re not entirely certain he’ll be able to come, but if does, he should be here any day now,” Jack murmured, reaching across the table to touch
Eden
’s hand in an offering of quiet reassurance.

Eden
summoned a smile and gave him a small nod of t
hank
s. “I’m sure Jack’s right. Papa will be here soon.”

“And Lord Arthur, too,” Jack added. “I expect we’ll see my uncle any day now.” He hoped so. He needed the
Valiant
to carry materiel for his recruits alongside
The Winds of Fortune
on the return trip to
South America
.

Arthur had needed to stop at a shipyard to have a few repairs made on his vessel in preparation for the rigorous crossing back to
South America
.

By late afternoon, they all were back at the Pulteney Hotel.

Their sprawling six-room suite was a welcome haven, though Jack rather wished he would have insisted on one with fewer bedchambers. That way,
Eden
would have been forced to share a bed with him. Instead, it was much too convenient for her to keep a respectable distance, taking her own boudoir like a proper Society wife.

At any rate, Jack meant to drop the girls off, change clothes, and then go and visit the lads in the
East End
. He needed to verify how many of the smugglers’ gang intended to join the ranks of his recruits. He had no doubt that word of the enterprise would have spread throughout the secretive rookeries by now. There was no telling how many of the city’s tough street boys in need of an occupation might be interested in the adventuring life and the chance to earn the Venezuelans’ silver.

Anything had to be better than those crowded, gin-soaked, tenement blocks full of squalor and treachery. Aye, he wouldn’t be surprised if he scrounged up two hundred men in London alone—though, God knew, O’Shaunnessy, Graves, and his other Irish officer chums would have their hands full drilling such heathens and turning them into soldiers.

As it turned out, however, once he reached the hotel, developments occurred that altered his plans for the night’s work.

Eden, Amelia, and Trahern collapsed into the elegant couches in the main sitting room, worn out from the long drive. They ordered refreshments from the hotel kitchens, but when the knock came at the door, it was one of the house under-butlers, who came hurrying to bring Jack a note—apparently urgent.

Jack lifted the small, folded note off the silver tray, tipped the servant a shilling for his pains, and opened the letter.

Meet me outside.

Manuel de Ruiz

He raised an eyebrow at the imperious command, but when dealing with a trained assassin, he supposed he preferred the direct approach rather than a length of garrotte wire around his throat in a dark alley.

He turned in the doorway and glanced back at
Eden
. “Stay inside. Lock the door,” he ordered. He sent Trahern a sharp look, warning him to be alert; his firm nod ordered the lad to stay with the girls.

Jack went down to meet Ruiz alone.

A confrontation with the assassin-turned-diplomat had been inevitable, he supposed, but the fact that Ruiz had known where to find him meant that he’d been watching the hotel. By now, Ruiz had surely gotten a good look at
Eden
.

No mercy
, he vowed as he walked out into the street to meet the killer in broad daylight, face to face.

Jack spotted the black-haired Spaniard leaning by the corner. He was tall and fit, well dressed. Ebony hair and aquiline features. It was no wonder he had become a killer for the king, Jack thought. The gallant pride of the Ancien Régime poured out of his every movement.

Jack marched toward him, undeterred by the traffic whizzing past. Piccadilly was as busy as usual, filled with the clatter of carriage wheels and prancing horses, people milling in and out of the fashionable shops.

Ruiz and he greeted each other with all the cordiality to be expected between two breeds of men with nearly three hundred years of sworn enmity between them: Spanish grandees and English privateers.

“Black-Jack Knight.”

“Well, if it isn’t my old friend,” he replied, resting his hands on his waist as he joined the Spaniard across the street from the hotel.

“You’re a long way from Jamaica, Lord Jack. What brings you to London?”

At least he got straight to the point. Jack smiled coolly. “What makes you think I’m going to answer anything you ask?”

“Ah, so you
do
have something to hide?”

“No,” Jack said as Ruiz feigned idleness, watching a pair of women walk by. “My presence in London right now has got no remote bearing on you whatsoever.”

“Are you sure about that?” The Spaniard slanted him a keen glance, trying to read Jack’s closed expression.

Jack folded his arms across his chest and fixed him with a steely stare. “Well, if you are so very interested, I’m here on business and to see my kin.”

“Ah, of course. Congratulations on your nuptials, my lord.” Ruiz raised his glance to the window where their suite was situated.

Jack’s stare turned razor sharp. “If I recall correctly, señor, your one redeeming trait was at least a shred of honor.”

Ruiz flashed a wolfish smile. “T
hank
fully, no larger than your own.”

“Women and children are off limits,” Jack said softly in warning.

“Of course they are.”

“Remember that. You have a family, too, I understand.”

“Do I?” Ruiz looked surprised.

“After our last meeting, I thought you might become a problem one day, so I took the liberty of doing a bit of research on you, Ruiz.”

“Como?”

“My spies informed me you have an old, widowed mother who lives in Sevilla.”

His eyes narrowed.

“My ships are very fast, Ruiz. Seville is only a few days’ sail from here.” Jack stared at him ruthlessly. “We don’t want any problems, do we? You stay away from my wife.”

Ruiz finally succumbed with a haughty nod and then cast his casual pretense aside. “I have been sent to London to discover Bolivar’s agent. Someone has been sent here to recruit soldiers to fight for the insurgents. We discovered the plot after our victory at La Puerta. I am warning you now that I am going to find out who this man is, and deal with him.”

“I see,” he replied. “And what’s that got to do with me?”

“You tell me, Lord Jack.”

“I don’t know anything about it. I told you, I’m here on business and to see my kin.”

Ruiz’s stare could have bored a hole in him. “You protected the traitors once before.”

“Aye, it was your arrogance that inspired me,” Jack retorted.

“What?”

“You listen to me, Ruiz,” he commanded, pointing a finger in the Spaniard’s face. “Jamaica is my home turf. Half the island’s in my pocket. How dare you come onto
my
island for the purpose of killing
anyone
without my permission? If you had shown respect and come to me,” he said, pointing to himself, in turn, “I might have just as well handed them over to you for the asking.”

Ruiz stared at him in incredulity.

Holding his shocked gaze, Jack lowered his hand to his side again, where his weapons lurked if he had need of them.

“Are you telling me you protected Bolivar and his men, and incurred the hatred of the Spanish Crown, simply out of your own… obstinate pride?”

“You’re damned right,” he said with a snort. “Call it obstinate if you want, but hell, you’re Spanish—you people know about pride. If a man has no pride, he has nothing.”

Ruiz arched a brow.

“Myself, I don’t give a damn about politics.” Jack eyed him with a cynical scowl. “Liberators, patriots—the lot of you can go hang for all I care. Profit is my creed. Ask anyone.”

Ruiz appeared genuinely taken aback.

Jack stared at him, hoping he looked every inch the cutthroat privateer he had been all those years ago, raising up his empire from one ship.

Ruiz, t
hank
God, was being slowly reeled in, probably because what Jack had just told him was a half-truth rather than a lie. He wouldn’t have turned Bolivar over to the Spanish, but he had felt slighted and angry as hell that Ruiz and his men had dared come ashore without consulting him.

Pride alone had gotten him where he was in life.

The assassin studied Jack uncertainly, weighing his answer. “Do you know who the agent might be?” he asked at length. “I know you have always been well connected in this town.”

He shrugged. “Haven’t the foggiest, but if I did know, I can assure you, I’d make your king pay dear for the information.”

“Perhaps that could be arranged. If you hear anything, let me know.”

“Without delay,” Jack drawled, resting his hands on his waist once more.

Ruiz’s glance flicked to the window of their suite above just as Eden glided past. “She is beautiful,” he said in veiled menace. “You have good taste.”

“And good aim,” he added softly, tapping his fingers on the butt of the pistol by his side.

“So do I,” Ruiz responded.

They parted in bristling hostility, and Jack went back inside.

“Is everything all right?” Eden asked at once, straightening up over the tray of refreshments that had arrived.

He nodded. “Trahern.”

His assistant sketched a bow to the ladies and withdrew, joining Jack in the other room.

“Look. Ruiz is onto me,” he told him in a rather worried tone. “He’s going to be watching me like a hawk. I could go after him, but it’d be too obvious. He’ll have told the ambassador his suspicions about me by now. If Ruiz disappeared, I’d be the first man they’d come looking for.”

“Agreed.” Trahern shrugged. “I don’t think it’s necessary for you to get rid of him, anyway. He knows you, but I doubt he’s ever noticed me. You just tell me what you want done, and I’ll see to it.”

“Good man.” Jack clapped him on the shoulder. “Knew I could count on you.”

Trahern grinned. “Always.”

Jack went to pour himself a drink. “I’ll need you to take a larger role in bringing everything together while I distract Ruiz and whoever else may be watching.”

“Done. I have only one question.”

“Aye?”

“What’s in it for me?”

Jack turned to him, lifting his eyebrows. “Why, Christopher! What’s this? Greed? Ambition? Self-interest? I am so pleased to see my wicked ways are rubbing off on you at last. It’s about bloody time.”

The lad shrugged, though his eyes danced roguishly. “I figure if I stick around long enough, you’ll give me a chance to make
my
fortune, so that
I
can take a wife.”

“Are you sure you want one? It’s harder than it looks.”

“That Amelia,” he whispered, nodding fervently toward the other room. “She is an angel.”

“She is very sweet,” he agreed, but couldn’t help chuckling. “You’ve known this girl all of five hours and you’re already thinking of marriage?”

Trahern snorted. “I’m sure as hell not going to wait to get married ‘til I’m as old as you.”

“I am not
old
, ye cheeky little bastard. Ah, get going. You’ve got work to do.”

“I’ve got to say good-bye to Miss Northrop first,” he informed him, sauntering toward the connecting door.

Jack shook his head at him. Trahern went back into the sitting room and bid the ladies a more elaborate adieu.

A short while later, Jack took Eden aside and told her what had transpired, warning her about Ruiz and telling her that if she saw any black-haired Spaniard approaching her, she should not let him anywhere near her, but should immediately retreat to safety.

Jack believed he had stalemated any sort of threat to Eden from Ruiz, but an overabundance of caution was in order where his wife’s safety was concerned. Fortunately, as wives went, his was singularly able to ward off danger far better than most ladies, t
hank
s to her sojourn in the jungle. It comforted his mind to know the chit could throw a knife as well as Ruiz could himself.

“Well,” Eden said, drawing him closer by the lapels of his waistcoat and giving him an arch smile. “If you are not going to go sneaking away tonight on your dark work, then you can have the privilege of escorting me and my cousin to a party.”

“Hm,” Jack said, his tone noncommittal. “What party?”

“This one.” She produced an invitation from behind her back. “It’s a supper and card party. Jacinda says it’s bound to be quite lively.”