The Devilish Duke, page 19
“My lady?” Stokes called out from the top of the entrance. “Your aunt has asked that you pass on her best wishes to Lady Crowley and reiterate her sadness over the news.”
Her shoulders tensed as she grimaced, bracing herself for her fiancé’s reaction. “Thank you, Stokes.”
“You are going to the Crowley residence?” Devlin’s voice was suspiciously even.
She chanced a quick look up at him. The easy grin he had been sporting was now gone, replaced with an expression of steely determination, which she did not like one little bit. “Yes, I am going there.”
“To visit Lady Crowley, was it?”
“Um, yes?”
“She is not even in residence at the moment.” His tone was laced with suspicion.
“And how would you know if she is or is not?” Well, there went her assurance to her aunt. And she hadn’t expected him to pay such attention to detail. Though she should have known he would. The Devil Duke didn’t get to where he was without doing so.
“As soon as you mentioned an interest in attending their house party, I made some enquiries,” he said.
“You did?”
“Yes. Interestingly enough,” he continued, “Lady Crowley has already left town to firstly visit the restoring waters of Bath before she heads to their country estate to host their next party. To which I am sure you will be happy to know I have accepted the invitation to attend.”
“Excellent. Thank you for informing me.” At least now, if she couldn’t get answers today, she would hopefully get answers at the very country estate from which Jane had gone missing.
“No need to go to their residence now, is there?”
“I shall still go and leave my card.” He didn’t need to know exactly what she was about.
“No, you will not,” he countered, his voice brooking no argument. “At least not without me.”
“I am perfectly fine to go on my own and drop off a visiting card.” Honestly, how many times would she have to deal with him trying to dictate to her? She took comfort in the thought that she’d eventually wear him down.
“If that was the actual point of you going, then I would agree it would be fine.”
“You do not believe me then?” Really, she had thought she had the most innocent of expressions on her face. The man was obviously a very good fib detector. The talent would come in handy with others, but she’d rather he not employ it on her.
“Oh, I have no doubt you would leave one of your cards,” he agreed. “But I also have no doubt that there is more to your purpose of visiting than that.”
“There might be,” she conceded. “However, it is not really any of your business.”
“On the contrary,” he remarked, “everything you do is my business.”
She lifted her chin a fraction. “Until we are married, it is not.” She would have to stamp out this interfering habit of his and quickly.
“You think so, do you?”
“I do. Besides, you cannot stop me.” She realized her mistake as soon as she said the words. Sophie had come to realize that Devlin had a particular penchant for doing exactly what others said he could not.
He grinned, though there was little humor in his eyes. “If you do not get into my carriage and allow me to escort you to Lord Crowley’s, I shall pick you up over my shoulder and carry you back into your residence for all to see. Then I would ensure that you were kept under lock and key and that your brother was fully informed of your plans.”
“You would not,” she countered, even though she knew that that was precisely what he would do. An overwhelming urge to hit him flooded through her, another feeling she was becoming all too accustomed to recently.
“Very well, then.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, but before she even had a chance to blink, he bent down and scooped her up and over his shoulder. Sophie gasped and clung to his waist from behind. “Put me down,” she squawked.
He ignored her as he strode toward the steps of her residence.
“Fine!” she yelled out. “You can escort me to Lord Crowley’s.”
“Good,” he said, but instead of putting her down, he marched back toward his carriage.
Sophie looked up toward her residence and saw Stokes’ startled face at the top of the stairs. She must look a sight, being carried like a sack of potatoes.
“Lady Sophie? Do you need assistance?” Stokes asked as he started down the stairs.
Lovely. Just what she needed. Stokes telling her brother about this spectacle. Then there would be no stopping Daniel from calling her highhanded fiancé out, where goodness knew what injuries they would inflict upon each other. “I am fine, Stokes. The Duke is simply escorting me to Lord Crowley’s,” Sophie called out.
“Then you will not be needing the carriage?” Stokes asked, concern still alight in his eyes.
“No, thank you. Truly everything is fine, and please do not tell my brother of this,” she called out a moment before Devlin unceremoniously hefted her into the carriage. “Are you mad?” she whispered to Devlin. “My brother will have your head if he hears of this.”
He merely shrugged and stepped in behind her. “To Lord Crowley’s residence,” he called out the window to his driver. Without warning, as the carriage lurched forward, he leaned over and hauled her onto his lap.
“What are you doing?” Sophie yelped as her backside came to rest squarely on his thighs.
“Greeting my betrothed,” Devlin replied before his fingers caressed the nape of her neck and his mouth claimed hers.
She felt the heat of his lips, but before she could even gather her wits, he pulled away from her and deftly deposited her back on the opposite seat. She blinked. “You seem to be doing an awful lot of greeting me lately.”
He sat back against the cushions, a decided twinkle in his eyes. “A benefit of being engaged. Now, will you tell me the purpose of our visit to Lord Crowley’s?”
Sophie took in a deep breath as she, too, settled herself on her side of the carriage. The man’s mouth did all sorts of wicked things to her equilibrium. It was very unsettling.
Discombobulated as she was, she supposed that there was no getting out of telling him now, and after all, perhaps he could help. With his size, let alone his rank, that crotchety old butler would not close the door in his face. “Very well,” she said, proceeding to tell him all about her worry over Jane, the visit from Tina, news of the new footman’s death, and the footman’s origins in the Crowley household.
After she finished her account, he sat silently for a moment.
“That is why you are so determined to go to Lord Crowley’s house party then,” he said, “to find out what has happened to this girl Jane?”
“Exactly so,” she agreed. “You see now how imperative it is that I speak with the Crowley’s butler or housekeeper. I need to find out what they know of Jane’s disappearance, and now I have to ask about this Robert Benlow, too.”
“A more apt description would be that you wish to play detective and fish about for clues, would it not?” his deep voice suggested.
“I am not playing at anything,” she briskly informed him. “Jane is an ex-Grey Street orphan. She is like family to me, and I cannot just abandon her. I must do all in my power to find out what has happened, and even though it looks like he was a thief, Benlow was in my family’s employ when he was murdered.”
He leaned his elbows on his knees and groaned. “I once pitied the poor sap that would be saddled with you, and now I find that I am pitying myself.”
Sophie, for one, had no pity to spare for the Devil Duke. “A situation entirely of your own making.”
“I know,” he readily conceded. “Thank goodness I decided to pay you a visit today. Heaven knows what you could have gotten yourself embroiled in if I had not.”
“You make it sound so sinister, as if I am visiting a dockside tavern in the dead of night.”
“You might as well be. You have no idea how dangerous this situation may be.” His stare was intense, as if he was trying to scare her into changing her plans. “If Jane has met with some malevolent outcome, which certainly this Benlow has, then do you truly believe that snooping around trying to find out what has happened to her is safe?”
“But Devlin, I have to find out what has happened to her. I shall not rest easy until I know.” And really, how could going to the Crowleys’, in the middle of Mayfair, with a dozen servants about, not be safe? Jane was her friend and part of her Grey Street family. Sophie would not give up on her.
“You are determined on this course of action then?”
“Most definitely.”
He gazed steadily at her, an unreadable expression in his eyes. “Very well then. Let us go and see what the butler knows.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sophie looked across at Devlin, seated against the plush cushions of his carriage, his legs stretched out and brushing slightly against her own. Their visit to Lord Crowley’s residence had not gone as expected. Instead of producing any answers, all it had done was raise a great deal more questions.
She very nearly gasped as the outside of Devlin’s thigh knocked more fully against hers when the carriage went over a bump. Odd how she had never really noticed how confined and yet intimate a carriage was before. “Um, thank you, by the way, for your assistance today. I would never have thought to bribe the butler to gain entry and get some answers out of him.”
“Money is what makes the world go ’round,” he replied.
“I suppose it does,” she conceded. “But none of it makes any sense still. First Jane disappears, then this girl Tina and the footman Benlow both up and leave the Crowleys’, too. Yet Benlow coincidently gains employment in my household after his predecessor just so happens to be viciously beaten and incapacitated. Then it would appear he steals my mail, and Tina comes asking if Jane has been in contact, pretending to not know Benlow at all. It makes no sense.”
“No, it does not,” he agreed.
She wrung her hands together. “No one leaves their posts without a reference or without telling anyone. There’s the fact, too, that Benlow had a reference supposedly written by the Crowleys’ butler, yet when asked about it, the man denied he ever wrote one. There is something extremely suspicious going on here.” And Sophie was determined to get to the bottom of it all, certain that if she could, she would find Jane.
“I shall make some further enquiries immediately,” Devlin said grimly.
“Thank you, I do appreciate it,” Sophie replied, glancing out the window. “What are the chances that two maids from the same residence up and leave without a word to anyone? It simply does not happen. They would have nowhere to go. Hopefully, we shall discover some answers at the Crowleys’ house party.”
Devlin was silent for a moment. “I do not think it a wise idea for you to be looking into this any further.”
She blinked in confusion. “But Devlin, I must. I simply cannot stop.”
“You can and you will,” he commanded. “I do not like the way this situation is evolving, and I do not want you in any danger. Already it appears you’ve been at risk while that footman was in your house.”
“I appreciate your concern,” she allowed as his admission told her at least some of his high-handedness came from fear for her safety. “But you must understand that this not a game for me. Jane is an ex-Grey Street orphan, with no one else to look out for her. It is personal for me. I cannot simply stand by and do nothing. Besides, you did agree to take me to the party.”
“Which reluctantly I shall do.” Devlin sighed. “At least promise me that you shall not make any further enquiries about this situation without me being present to protect you.”
Though Daniel had always been rather determined to protect her, a great deal of the time he was away at the country estate or traveling overseas, so she’d gotten rather accustomed to protecting herself. It was somewhat heartening to hear Devlin’s words. “I am fairly used to doing things alone.”
“As am I.” He smiled briefly. “But we are to be married and must learn to do things together. And if truth be told, I do not wish to worry about you any more than I already do.”
“You worry about me?” Perhaps he wasn’t wholly the rake she’d thought him.
A guarded look slid over his eyes. “If anything was to happen to you, my deal would be jeopardized, which I can’t afford to have happen. It would set my project back months.”
Her spirits fell. Of course, that was why he cared. Her ascribing more to his actions than business was a dangerous path to tread. With sudden clarity, Sophie understood for the first time why her mother had kept forgiving her father, over and over again. Why her mother had thought that her love could change her father and why it never could. A leopard never changed its spots. Sophie would do well to remember that, and then she and Devlin should be able to make their marriage work as the efficient business arrangement it was.
“I am sorry for my brother’s behavior last night.” She hoped that a change of topic would help to alleviate the suddenly charged atmosphere. “It was very unexpected and ungentlemanly of him to hit you as he did.”
“Unexpected, yes. However, if I too had a sister, I daresay it is exactly what I would have done.” He rubbed the left side of his jaw where Daniel’s punch had connected. “But it is over and done with now, and it was not your actions that require an apology.”
“But nonetheless, Daniel is my brother, and I was sorry that he hurt you.”
“Hurt me? Please, he barely grazed me.”
Men could be so prickly about injuries. “The side of your jaw is mottled with a purple bruise.”
He leaned across and picked up her hand. Caressing the underside of her palm with his fingers, he brought her hand up to his lips. “As I said, just a graze.”
Sophie ignored the warmth spreading through her body from his touch. “Well, it looks rather sore. Does it hurt?”
He released her hand. “It is just a small bruise, which I am sure will subside in a few days. Must say, though, that Nicholas was most impressed by the sight of it.”
The thought of Nicholas brought a smile to her face. “I imagine he would have been. Where is he today, by the way?”
“If I was to hazard a guess, I would say harassing Jenkins, no doubt,” he answered. “I really am going to have to find him another governess and soon, too. Perhaps you could assist with that?”
“I would be happy to help. But he can always come with me to Grey Street of a morning in the interim.”
Devlin nodded. “I am sure he would enjoy that. He kept prattling on about his visit with you. I believe he wants to adopt a whole bunch of kittens now.”
“Yes,” she laughed, “he was quite taken with them.”
“As I am with you, my lady.”
Sophie blushed and quickly looked out of the window. How many times had he used that phrase with another lady before? She didn’t really want to know and fought to change the topic. “Aunt Mabel has a good remedy for bruises.”
“I think I am actually becoming somewhat fond of the bruise. Most ladies find a man with a bruise rather dashing, do they not?”
She laughed softly, her embarrassment from a second ago forgotten. “Quite frankly, I think a woman that holds such an opinion to be a twit. Males that engage in fisticuffs to settle a difference of opinion are idiots. Using one’s mouth and talking is a much better way to settle such things.”
“I could not agree more. One’s mouth can settle many ailments.” Devlin’s expression definitely had an air of mischief about it. “Perhaps you wish to kiss my injury better with yours? I have heard it can speed up the healing process a great deal.”
“What a load of nonsense.” Sophie rolled her eyes.
“How would we know unless we try?” He leaned in closer toward her. His hands reached out, and before she realized his intention, he had clasped a hold of her waist and pulled her onto his lap.
What was the man thinking? They were almost at their destination. She put her palms up onto his chest to steady herself. “Devlin,” she breathed, “this is ridiculous.”
“I find I am in need of your tender ministrations,” he murmured as he slipped his hand behind her head, his fingers intertwining in her hair.
Her breath hitched in her throat as she gazed into the intense blue of his eyes. His mouth was barely an inch from her own. “But you cannot kiss me. The carriage might stop at any moment.”
“I can kiss my fiancée wherever I damn well want to and particularly in my own carriage,” he stated as he brought his other hand up and slowly caressed her cheek. “Besides, we have plenty of time until we reach your residence, and my footmen are extremely well trained. Even if the carriage did stop, they would not open the door and disturb me without my say-so first.”
It took a moment for his words to sink in. Sophie placed her hands firmly against his chest and pushed away from him. “Do you mean to tell me that having a lady in your carriage cavorting with you in such a manner is a common enough occurrence that your footmen know not to disturb you? Even after you have reached your destination?” The idea of him treating her just like his other conquests was enough to send her into a rage. She would not be taken for granted or treated, like those…those loose women!
He scowled. “That is not what I meant at all.”
“Is it not?” she ground out as she reached down and attempted to dislodge his hands from her waist. It was no use; the man’s grip was made of iron. “My brother was right to warn me about you.”
“For God’s sake, you are not going to listen that damn overly protective brother of yours, are you?”
How dare he disparage her brother, who had more integrity than anyone she knew? “Daniel’s words seem to have great credence, particularly as a moment ago, you confirmed as much.”
“Like hell I did.” He refused to let her go, though she knew she could have broken away completely if she’d really tried. The problem was, part of her wanted him to explain away her fears.
“Well, how many women have you had in here and kissed?”
