Dangerous (33 page)

“To me?” She looked surprised. “That’s all there was to it?”

“She had no right to talk to you the way she did.” Sebastian looked down as Lucifer vaulted lightly onto his lap. He started to stroke the cat.

Prudence smiled, looking vastly relieved herself. “It was nothing, Sebastian. Her small offense was certainly not worth the sort of retaliation you had in mind.”

“I’m not so certain of that.” Sebastian paused. “What was all that nonsense about her being in love with my father?”

“My intuition together with some of the things she said before you arrived lead me to believe that to be the case.” Prudence sat down across from him. “It is very sad, is it not?”

“I cannot imagine my aunt being in love with anyone.”

“I can.” Prudence leaned back in her chair. “Now, then, let us resolve this issue of what to do about Jeremy once and for all. I don’t want you keeping everyone, including me, on tenterhooks just because it amuses you to do so.”

Sebastian toyed with the silver-plated wax jack that he used to melt sealing wax. “I’m still making inquiries.”

“I rather suspected you were. You are going to help Jeremy, aren’t you?”

“I suppose so.”

“Do you mind if I ask why?”

“Does it matter?” Sebastian was thoroughly irritated by the question.

Prudence smiled apologetically. “I cannot help being curious.
It is my nature, you know. Are you going to continue your investigation because you feel it is your responsibility to your family?”

“Hell and damnation. No.”

Disappointment dampened her smile of expectation. “I see. Then is it because your own curiosity is aroused to such a degree that you cannot resist learning the answers?”

Sebastian shrugged. “That is no doubt part of it.” He scratched Lucifer’s ears. “But not the whole of it.”

“Are you doing it because it amuses you to continue the investigation?”

“Goddamn it, Prue, I’m doing it because of you.” Sebastian shoved aside the wax jack. “There. Does that satisfy you?”

She stared at him. “You’re going to help Jeremy because I want you to do so?”

“Yes,” he said. “I am in a mood to indulge my new bride. What is so unusual about that?”

She frowned. “I see. You’re doing this because it amuses you to indulge me.”

“As everyone knows, I am inclined to take pleasure in some very odd forms of amusement.”

“But Sebastian—”

There was a discreet knock on the library door. Sebastian was profoundly relieved by the interruption. “Enter.”

Flowers cautiously opened the door. He was carrying a small silver salver that held a folded note. His dour face relaxed somewhat when he saw that the lord and lady of the house had not come to blows.

“Your pardon, madam, m’lord. A message has arrived for Lady Angelstone.”

“For me? I wonder who could have sent it.” Prudence leaped to her feet and hurried across the room before Flowers could get to her.

Her impulsiveness caused Flowers to heave a long-suffering
sigh. He handed over the note and backed out of the library.

Sebastian watched as Prudence tore open the seal. She charmed him, he thought. Or perhaps
enthralled
was the right word. Everything about her worked on him like a magic spell, driving out the cold. Her animated face, her feminine vitality, her passionate sincerity, all warmed him from the inside out.

“Good heavens, Sebastian.” Prudence looked up from the note. Her face was tense with excitement. “It’s from Lord Bloomfield.”

“Bloomfield? What the devil does he want?” Sebastian put Lucifer aside. He got to his feet and swiftly crossed the room to snap the note out of Prudence’s hand. He scanned the spidery handwriting.

“He refers to recent occurrences of spectral phenomena.” Prudence’s eyes narrowed with speculation. “Do you suppose he is referring to the deaths of the other two Princes of Virtue?”

“Bloomfield is said to be extremely odd, perhaps quite mad. It’s possible that after learning of the deaths of Ringcross and Oxenham he might have convinced himself that Lillian’s ghost has come back.”

“He wouldn’t be the only one who believes that,” Prudence reminded him. “That is exactly what that poor old man who called himself Halfwit Higgins believed.”

Sebastian studied the note. “Either Bloomfield is as mad as rumor claims he is, or else this is a ruse to lure you to his house.”

“A ruse? Why on earth would he want to lure me to his home?”

“I don’t know. One thing is for certain: You are not going to go there alone.”

“Of course I won’t go alone. I shall take my maid.”

“No,” Sebastian said. “You will take me.”

“I am not at all certain I wish to take you with me, my lord. This is my area of expertise, after all.”

“God knows you have meddled enough in my end of the investigation.” Sebastian refolded Bloomfield’s note. “The least you can do is allow me to meddle a bit in your area of expertise. Now you must excuse me, my dear. I am off to my club.”

“But we were in the middle of a very interesting conversation before Flowers brought in that note. I wish to continue it.”

“Sorry, Prue. Told Sutton I’d meet him.” Sebastian kissed her lightly on the mouth and then headed toward the door. “I also want to observe Curling to see if he appears as anxious as Whistlecroft says he is.”

“Whistlecroft said he was anxious?” Prudence followed Sebastian out into the hall. “You never told me that.”

“I have not had the opportunity. If you will recall, you were busy entertaining my aunt when I returned.” Sebastian collected his hat and gloves from Flowers. “Do not wait up for me, madam. I shall be late getting home tonight.”

“Angelstone, wait.” Prudence cast a quick glance at Flowers, who looked as if he had gone deaf. She took a few quick steps forward and lowered her voice. “My lord, we
were in the midst of a rather important conversation a few minutes ago. I should very much like to continue it.”

“Later, perhaps.”

“Angelstone, are you trying to avoid me?”

“Of course not, madam. Why would I wish to avoid you?”

For the second time that day, Sebastian escaped through the front door of his home. He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Flowers close it behind him.

The last thing he wanted to do was finish the conversation he and Prue had been involved in before Bloomfield’s note had arrived, he reflected. He was not entirely certain why he was afraid to pursue it. He only knew that he did not want Prudence asking any more pointed questions about why he was continuing the investigation.

He had allowed her to think it amused him to indulge her in the matter, but he knew that was not the whole truth. The reality was that she had become so important to him that she had acquired an incredible amount of power over him. He would do almost anything to please her. That knowledge worried him.

No one had wielded any real emotional power over him since that cold, fog-shrouded dawn in the mountains of Saragstan. He had built a barrier of ice against any possible threat. The cold place he had constructed had protected him until now, but he knew that somewhere inside him the thaw had begun. The sunlight Prudence had brought into his life was having an insidious effect.

Sebastian craved her warmth, yet he feared it. He knew there was a very real possibility that if the ice inside him was completely destroyed he might discover that there was nothing at all left to fill up the empty space.

Yet even as he feared the dark nothingness that might be waiting where the cold was now, he ached to know what Prudence was feeling for him. He needed to know if she was
drawn to him by anything deeper than mutual interests and shared passion.

He wondered if she would ever be able to love him.

Shortly before midnight Sebastian walked out of the card room of his club. He had spent the past three hours playing whist with several inebriated members in hopes of learning something useful about Ringcross and Oxenham. There had been gossip aplenty about the deaths, but no one spoke the word
murder
. No one mentioned The Princes of Virtue, either. All in all, it had been a wasted three hours.

“Ah, there you are, Angelstone.” Garrick strolled across the room to join him in front of the hearth. “I was wondering if you were still about. Any luck in there?” He nodded in the direction of the card room.

“A bit.” Sebastian shrugged. “I won a thousand pounds off Evans and probably could have won a great deal more, but I was too bored to continue the play. No challenge to the sport. The man was so cup-shot he could barely hold his cards.”

It occurred to Sebastian that he had not told Garrick about his latest case. He realized that there were two reasons why he had not confided in his friend. The first was that the investigation involved a Fleetwood and he knew without asking that Prudence would not want him discussing it with outsiders. In truth he had no wish to do so. Like it or not, it was a family matter.

The second reason he had not talked to Garrick about the investigation was that he no longer needed a confidant. He had Prudence.

“Speaking of cup-shot,” Garrick said quietly, “there comes Curling. He looks like he can barely stand upright.”

Sebastian watched Curling walk through the door of the club with the overly careful stride of a very drunk man. “One does not often see him in that condition.”

Garrick held out his hands to the fire. “The last time I
saw him in such a condition was about three months ago. We both wound up at a card table together after a long night of drinking. I cannot remember much about it, but I seem to recall that he was as drunk as I.”

“I believe I remember the evening in question.” Sebastian watched Curling lower himself gingerly into a chair. “It was the following morning that you informed me you intended to give up drinking for a while.”

Garrick’s mouth tightened. “I swear to you, Angelstone, I never again want to get into the condition I was in that night. I don’t like the feeling of not being able to recall what I said or did. And I definitely do not want to ever again feel as ill as I did the next day.”

“You say Curling was just as deep into his cups that night?”

“Yes. His coachman is responsible for getting us both home,” Garrick said in a tone of self-disgust.

“If you will excuse me, I believe I will have a word with him.”

“As you wish. I will see you later.”

Sebastian walked to where Curling was sitting by himself. There was a fresh bottle of port on the table beside him. Curling had already poured himself a glass. He glanced up at Sebastian with bleary eyes.

“Oh, it’s you, Angelstone. Join me?”

“Thank you.” Sebastian sat down and poured a small measure of port into a glass. He stretched out his legs and made a pretense of settling in for a long session of companionable drinking. He took only a small swallow of the rich, sweet port.

“Here’s to wedded bliss,” Curling said in a slurred voice. He raised his glass and downed half the contents. “I trust your lady is still managing to amuse you?”

“Very much.” Sebastian turned the glass between his hands.

“Tell me, is she still pursuing her little hobby?” Curling
held his own glass so tightly his knuckles were white. He stared down into the contents as if peering into bottomless depths.

“She is still interested in spectral phenomena. The hobby amuses her and I have no objection to it.”

“Do you remember our conversation about ghosts at the castle?”

“Vaguely,” Sebastian said.

“I believe I told you that I thought it might be rather entertaining to actually encounter one.”

“I seem to recall you felt the experience would be an excellent tonic for the ennui you say plagues you.”

“I was a fool.” Curling rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You might be interested in knowing that I have since changed my mind.”

“Why?” Sebastian smiled without any humor. “Have you actually encountered one?”

Curling slumped farther into his chair and gazed into the middle distance. “What would you say if I told you that I am beginning to wonder if ghosts truly do exist?”

“I would say you have consumed too many bottles of port tonight.”

Curling nodded. “And you would no doubt be correct.” He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the back of the armchair. “I cannot recall how many bottles I have had this evening.”

“I’m sure they will all be accounted for on your bill.”

Curling’s mouth twisted. “No doubt.”

There was silence for a moment. Sebastian made no attempt to end it. His instincts told him that Curling would do so soon enough. Unless the baron fell asleep first.

“Did you hear of Oxenham’s death, by any chance, Angelstone?” Curling asked after a moment. He did not open his eyes.

“Yes.”

“I knew him rather well,” Curling said.

“Did you?”

“He and I were friends.” Curling opened his eyes.

“I understand.”

“Never thought he’d be the type to put a pistol to his head.”

Sebastian examined his wine. “Perhaps he had suffered recent financial reverses. It is a common enough reason for suicide.”

“No. I would have known if he had lost a great deal of money.”

“Was he a gamester?”

“Only in a small way. He did not lose his fortune in a card game, if that’s what you’re implying.” Curling took another large swallow of port. “Nor was he prone to fits of melancholia. I don’t understand it.”

“Is it important to you that you find a reason for his suicide?” Sebastian asked carefully.

“I think so.” Curling’s hand bunched into a fist. “Bloody hell,
yes
. I have to know what really happened.”