Powder of Sin (16 page)

“Do you know the experiments should not just be
about the makeup of the material?” His voice was a low croon. “We
should also test if the special powder changes perceptions for not
only the affected persons, but for anyone with whom they have
contact. Shall we see if the electricity could pass from my body to
yours? You have an inquiring mind, Miss Ambermere.”

“Yes, but not at the moment.”

“And a most suitable body.”

“Do excuse me, Doctor. I must be going.” She
skittered through the door and walked rapidly to the sitting room,
where she collected her hat and the hatbox. Too late to take other
steps. She’d escape and then look for help.

As she turned to leave, she gasped. The man moved
quickly.

He filled the doorway. “Miss Ambermere, I think in
the interests of science you should kiss me. Or allow me to kiss
you. I see you don’t like that idea. How about just a touch of my
hand to your body? Exposed skin would be best, I believe.”

“I think perhaps you should consider going to your
bedroom and locking yourself in for a while.”

He gave a broad, bright grin. “Wonderful. Yes,
wonderful. Come along.”

“Alone!” she said.

The smile faltered. “Oh, I see. You don’t
understand, do you? It’s what we’re made for, Miss… What is your
first name? It’s our only purpose.”

“Dr. Leonard—”

“Phillip. Call me Phillip.”

“Dr. Leonard, the effects will take a couple of
hours to pass. You should probably spend that time alone.” She
backed away. “Wait. Since you’re already affected, maybe you should
put the toad gland powder back in the box. Sir! Listen to me.” For
the first time, she shrieked. “Put it all away. Now.”

He pursed his lips and seemed to sway, as if he was
concentrating. “Yes, you’re right. I shouldn’t leave it lying
around. Come with me, and I’ll put the boxes back together.” He
tilted his head toward the laboratory. “Well? Are you coming with
me?”

She probably should make sure he put the one box
into the other without inhaling any more powder. “I’ll follow,” she
said. “I promise.”

He walked slowly, looking over his shoulder at her
and beaming. He looked at her too often, because a second later,
she heard a small cry and a crash. He’d run headlong into the
maid.

He laughed and put his hands on the maid’s
shoulders. “Steady now, dear?”

“Yessir. I apologize, sir. I didn’t see
y—
mphm
.”

He’d bent and kissed the maid, and was now pulling
her roughly against him. The maid didn’t move, just stood, arms at
her sides, tight in his grip, eyes open. She didn’t pull away.

“Stop,” Rosalie shouted. “Dr. Leonard, you shouldn’t
be doing that. You’re not in your right mind.” But shouting didn’t
seem to work this time, and now the maid’s hands were creeping
around his waist. He groaned and tightened his grip.

“Dr. Leonard. You must stop.” Rosalie yanked at his
arm. The maid wiggled and twisted at last.

“Excuse me. You’re right.” Breathless and wiping the
back of his hand across his mouth, he stepped away. “I need to ask,
dear, for research purposes. Was that better than usual?”

Usual? Oh Lord.

The maid turned a bright scarlet and fled.

He turned his unfocused, dreamy smile on Rosalie
again. “Why don’t you try? Just for a minute?”

“No. You’re putting the boxes away. Remember? The
boxes.”

“Of course. Yes. Wouldn’t want poor Mary to find
those.”

“Who?”

“The maid. She didn’t answer my question. But I am
certain that was better than my usual kiss. Of course, there is a
routine, and that kiss broke the pattern, so it isn’t a fair
comparison,” he said as he walked to the table and deftly pushed
the smaller box into the larger, then slapped the lid on. His
fingers stroked the outside box.

“I’m sorry?”

“Routine doesn’t equal passion, Miss Ambermere. And
I don’t do anything with Mary during the day or standing up. So
that would add spice, of course. But really, it was better—more
passionate—than I recall. Even that first time, of course, when she
came to my room because she’d heard a frightening noise.”

Add loose, careless talk to the list of symptoms.
Emily certainly had indulged in that. Only, come to think of it,
Mr. Reed had barely spoken. He’d fought the symptoms. Dr. Leonard
clearly did not.

“Now I have taken care of your boxes, I must see if
the passion extends to other females. Science,” he said cheerily
as, with surprising strength, he yanked her hands up and over her
head.

“No,” she said as he marched her backward and wedged
her against a wall.

He pressed his still kiss-dampened mouth to
hers.

She turned her face to the side. “Stop it.” He
licked along her neck, slurping and sucking wetly.

Rosalie bent sideways to get away. “No, I don’t
think the passion extends. I’ve answered your question. Stop.” With
a huge tug, she pulled one hand from his and shoved him. He barely
moved.

He held her in place with his body and scowled at
her. “This is important,” he said. “This is research. I need to
know. I need to feel you properly.” The playfulness was gone, and
now he pushed his body against hers in a marked, rhythmic manner.
She wiggled and squirmed, and as he grabbed at her hands, one of
Johnny’s lessons came to mind.

She lifted her knee up sharply between his legs.

“Jesus.” He let go of her and bent over,
gasping.

She swept up the box and turned to run out of the
room. Someone grabbed her. “You’re stealing! You hurt him!”

“Ow! Stop! No, I didn’t,” she said. “
He
hurt
me
.” Rosalie pointed to her neck, where she was certain a
red patch showed.

“Put that down,” the maid shouted, and rather than
argue, Rosalie put the box on one of the workbenches lining the
room.

“Sir, sir, she’s trying to steal from you.”

The doctor had recovered, though he remained
slightly bent. “It’s fine, Mary. I overstepped my bounds. Shall we
return to the sitting room?” He gazed happily at Rosalie,
apparently a forgiving sort of a man—or perhaps the powder muted
pain.

She had to remind herself that it was the powder
speaking, not him. And he was her one chance to get rid of the
substance. She had to work with him. “Yes, all right. But I will
walk behind you and at a distance. I’m sure you understand,
Doctor.”

He spoke over his shoulder again. “I will be more
careful, Miss Ambermere, and make sure you enjoy the
experience.”

They’d been walking through the narrow hall, but she
stopped at these last words and started to back away. He moved
quickly and was close to her again. How did he manage that, she
wondered, and then he rested his hand on the back of her neck. His
thin fingers squeezed just a little. Threatening or just a touch,
she wasn’t sure, but she squirmed and tried to duck away.

The maid put her hands on her hips. “Sir. You’ll do
her? She don’t want to. You got me.”

He allowed Rosalie to escape and turned to face the
maid, the too-broad smile on his face. “Two at once might not be a
bad idea. One could be the control, and the other might have the
same exposure I had to the glandular powder. You’d be the control,
my dear Mary. Miss Ambermere, since she is more reluctant, will be
the subject of the test.”

He grabbed Rosalie’s wrist. He certainly seemed less
interested in controlling himself than Mr. Reed had been. Under her
growing panic was a twinge of annoyance at both men.

The maid shouted, “Hey, no.” The small woman came
forward and tried to pry his fingers off Rosalie’s arm—as did
Rosalie.

“Enough.” Rosalie tugged uselessly. The doctor was
stronger than he appeared. “You must use your mind as well as your
brain.” No, that made no sense. She tried again. “You must think
about what you are doing. Stop. This isn’t right. Sir!”

The door crashed open.

Mr. Reed didn’t say a word as he shoved the maid and
Rosalie behind him with a sweep of his arm. Reed then twisted and
punched the doctor in the jaw. The doctor collapsed in the doorway
of the sitting room and lay still.

“You killed him,” Mary squeaked. She knelt down next
to the doctor and stroked his hair.

Mr. Reed rubbed his knuckles. “I doubt it,” he said
with a touch of regret, then sounded more cheerful as he added,
“unless he hit his head going down.” He turned to Rosalie and
hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right?”

“Fine,” she said briskly and fought a sudden,
ridiculous urge to laugh. “He opened both boxes. And gloves and
glasses weren’t enough protection.”

“Where is the stuff?”

“He closed the boxes up again, and it’s in his
laboratory.”

In the sitting room office, the parrot whistled and
shouted, “Bad girl,” over and over.

Mr. Reed pulled a watch from his pocket and looked
at it. Why on earth would he do that? Did he have a schedule?
Eleven o’clock, knock out a man? The sight made the laughter inside
her threaten to bubble up again. Mr. Reed tucked away the watch and
said, “We’ll fetch the box, and then let’s get going.”

Rosalie stepped over the doctor and sank onto a
chair. “Give me a moment. I need to think.” And calm down, she
didn’t add. “Perhaps you’re right, and we should take it away, but
I’m not certain. This would happen to anyone when first opening the
container. At least now he’ll know how serious the problem is. And
he did seem to consider the scientific aspects of it. During the
rest of…of his response.” She felt her face redden. What if Mr.
Reed had plastered himself against her in that manner? She knew
from the ache that held her now—an ache that spread to her very
toes—that she might have protested, but not for long. She wondered
if the doctor’s actions had aroused her, and decided no; it was Mr.
Reed’s presence.

“He’s waking up,” Mary said and clambered to her
feet. “Thank the good Lord. I’m going to go get a cold compress for
him, poor Dr. Leonard. Don’t you touch him, or I’ll yell for the
police, and I got a whistle for just such a thing.”

She glared at them both and left.

Mr. Reed pulled something else from his pocket.

Irons. He hoisted the doctor by the armpits, dragged
him over to the desk, and locked him to it. The casual, experienced
way he’d punched the doctor and now handled the shackles and the
unconscious man shocked Rosalie almost more than the doctor’s
behavior had.

Mr. Reed was not a gentleman.

“Do you carry those everywhere you go?” she
asked.

“Only lately,” he said. “Once I understood about
that powder. And sometimes, during the full moon, Clermont can
become more aggressive than usual.”

Mr. Reed rose to his feet and looked down at the man
who was now groaning. “So even though he attacked you, you’re
willing to let him have the aphrodisiac?”

The maid returned with a basin and a towel. She
gaped down at the doctor. “Hey, you can’t leave him attached to the
furniture like that.” The water sloshed as she slammed down the
basin and dropped to her knees next to the man again.

“Excuse us for a minute.” Rosalie grabbed the empty
hatbox. “We’ll be right back.”

She was glad to hear the footsteps of Mr. Reed as he
followed her down the hall to the laboratory. The box lay on the
workbench, innocent-looking and small.

Reed still shook with anger, but if Miss Ambermere
could remain calm after what had happened to her, he could at least
pretend to follow her example. He pointed at her hatbox. “Should I
put it back in there?”

Miss Ambermere shrugged, a small, hopeless gesture.
The calm was perhaps only because she was overwhelmed. He wanted to
go to her and gather her into his arms and croon meaningless
phrases until she lost the dazed look.

“I don’t know what to do. The thing is, my mother
has been searching for it. And my mother…” She shrugged again, even
more hopeless.

“Ah.” Now he understood why she had hurried away
secretively to get rid of it, and it cheered him far too much.
Nothing to do with a lack of trust in him.

“We should decide what to do and then leave here
soon,” he said. “Your mother and Clermont will be waiting. I think
he’s at your house.”

She nodded. “All right. I’ll take it with me. But we
can’t just leave the doctor in shackles like that.”

Reed wasn’t sure that was a bad idea, but he said,
“I can wait another ten minutes. That might be enough time to
decide what to do about him. Clermont is so determined to find the
powder, I needn’t worry that he’ll cause any other sort of
trouble.”

“How would he do that?”

“You do have females working for you?”

“Yes, of course, but… Oh. Never mind.”

Reed went to the box and held his breath as he
scooped it up, using his handkerchief to protect his fingers. He
dumped the box and handkerchief into the hatbox.

He went to a water basin, washed his hands, then let
his breath out with a whoosh. “I hope I’ll notice if my behavior
changes, but I think I’m safe. Tell me if I start to behave
badly.”

One side of her mouth crooked. “It would be rather
horrible if you and the doctor started babbling about bodies.”

Reed heard himself growl. “Did he do a lot of
talking?” He remembered some of the words he’d said to her that
he’d wished he’d kept to himself.

“Yes, far more talking than you did the other day.
And you seem to recall much more of what you did and said than Miss
Renshaw does. So the substance obviously doesn’t have exactly the
same effect on everyone. Except, well, there is that one
thing.”

“Indeed.”

They went back into the room where the doctor on the
floor was now struggling to sit up. The maid was trying to lift the
hutch to set him free, but he was staring off into space, not
paying attention to her pleas for his help.