Redemption (25 page)

“He may
be out to silence you because you were the last one to see Samson
alive. You are his witness and he has no idea what Samson told you
before he was murdered. Even if you don’t owe the man any money, he
isn’t going to let you get away given you are a witness of sorts
and may know something about his crimes the authorities would be
interested in.”

“But why
didn’t he just silence me when he killed Samson? Why try to
blackmail me into paying him anything? He has a thriving gaming
house and can’t be short of funds. It just doesn’t make
sense.”

“I think
he may want something from you that you aren’t aware of yet.
Strangely, I don’t think it has anything to do with money either.
Although he tried to extract money from you, it could very well
lead onto his request for something else less
salubrious.”

“What
could be less salubrious than blackmail?” Julian
snorted.

Ben
shrugged. He felt somewhat sordid just discussing the crimes of
London’s mobsters. “I don’t know. I can only suggest that while you
are in jail, and have nothing better to do with your time, you
think about it. What is Trent up to that might require you to
provide him with either knowledge, money, or something else? One
thing is for damned sure,” Ben continued when Julian stared
thoughtfully at the scarred table top. “He isn’t going to get his
hands on Lizzie.”

“Here,
here.” Julian pushed to his feet when Ben stood and moved toward
the door. Although his being chained to the table prevented him
from following, he held his hand out to Ben. “Look after her,
McArthur. She will make you an admirable wife.”

Ben
nodded and stood to one side while the guard unlocked the door. He
didn’t look back as he walked down the corridor. Instead he looked
toward the future, and more importantly, Lizzie’s part in
it.

At the
hotel, Lizzie walked down the main flight of stairs arm in arm with
Patty. While they were waiting for Ben to arrive with his carriage
they had decided to take tea in the morning room.

“Miss
Pinner?” Lizzie turned around. “There is a message here for
you.”

Lizzie
stared at the clerk blankly, a sinking sensation deep in the pit of
her stomach.

“It
could be from Ben,” Patty reasoned with a shrug.

Lizzie
smiled her thanks at the clerk when he handed her a small piece of
folded parchment. She glanced down at the note in her hand with a
frowned when she saw the familiar writing. It was from
Julian.

“God,
that man doesn’t stop,” she murmured as she followed Patty into the
morning room.

“Who
doesn’t?” Patty asked as she selected a table and headed toward
it.

“Julian,” she sighed and lifted the letter to show
her.

“Let’s
order tea. Then you can open it and see what he wants.”

Lizzie
nodded and remained quiet while they were served with tea and an
assortment of cakes. She smiled her thanks at the waiter and helped
herself to milk before she tore the grubby note open.

“He
wants me to go and see him again,” she murmured moments
later.

Patty
froze in the process of dropping sugar into her cup. “I hope you
are not considering going?”

At first
Lizzie shook her head but then thought about the imminent move to
McArthur House. Although she was grateful for Ben’s generosity, she
knew that it was going to be incredibly difficult to go anywhere
without him by her side. While last night it had been wonderful to
have him beside her, this morning was broad daylight. There could
be absolutely no danger to her with so many people about, could
there?

“You
will not go back there,” Patty chided, stirring her tea with more
ferocity than was necessary.

“Ben
said that he needed to go and see Julian at some point but didn’t
say when. I will wait and go with him,” she murmured
thoughtfully.

“Ben?
Benjamin McArthur, your beau?” Patty’s brows lifted as her eyes
twinkled with mischief.

Lizzie
blushed and smiled at her aunt. “He is wonderful. He is so
handsome. He has invited us to remain with him while we are in
London. I told you that he was going to pick us up this morning.
Well, with Julian’s rather questionable behaviour of late, Ben
thinks it would be best if we resided somewhere safer. I hope you
don’t mind but I agreed.”

Patty
thought about that for a moment and then nodded. “I have to confess
that I do find hotels rather soulless places, don’t you? While the
luxury they afford is sublime, it just doesn’t feel the same way a
proper home does.”

“I know
what you mean,” Lizzie sighed, thinking of the sleepless night she
had just spent tossing and turning. All right, so most of her
dreams had been about a rather handsome and intriguing man who
lived across town, but the unfamiliar feel of the bed had done
little to help ease her into a peaceful slumber.

“If you
are agreeable, once we have finished here we will pack. Ben said he
would call for us just before noon to take us to McArthur
House.”

“That
would be wonderful,” Patty beamed. After a moment though her smile
dimmed and she nodded toward the parchment. “I hope you reconsider
about that. I think it would be wiser of you to ignore Julian
completely now. Once the solicitor has his signature on that
paperwork there really is no reason for you to see him. He is wrong
to ask you to keep going. It isn’t right that you should be
anywhere near the place. After all, if he can send you a note like
that, he can tell you want he wants in a letter. He is hardly
pressed for time now, is he?”

Lizzie
had to agree with that and nodded thoughtfully as she tucked the
missive into her reticule to show Ben later.

The
ladies chatted casually while they drank tea and ate the delicious
cakes on offer when, about half an hour had passed, Lizzie became
aware of a disturbance beside the clerk’s desk in the entrance
hall.

“Oh,
God, it’s him again,” she whispered, quickly turning her gaze away
from the tall, somewhat macabre sight of Raymond Trent talking to
the clerk.

“What is
it, dear?” Patty asked with a frown and peered across the room to
see what the problem was.

Lizzie
glanced about the room in search of a way out but the only doors
they could use were the main doors that led to the entrance hall
she wanted to avoid. Silently willing herself not to panic, she
carefully sipped her tea, and tried to keep her gaze trained on her
aunt.

“Don’t
look toward the entrance hall,” she murmured.

“Why
dear? What is it? You look as if you have seen a ghost.”

“It is
that man who accosted me on the street yesterday. He is in the
entrance.” Lizzie briefly recounted what had happened last night
outside of Pendlebury House and watched her aunt’s brows lift. “He
is the same one.”

“I hope
you are not contemplating paying him, no matter how much pressure
he puts on you,” Patty groused. In spite of Lizzie’s warning, she
glared at the man in question.

“No, I
am not, but the man seemed strangely reluctant to take no for an
answer and insists on speaking with me. Ben warned him to keep his
distance last night but it appears that he didn’t
listen.”

“Well,
he need not think he is going to pester us here, dear,” Patty
declared militantly. “Are you finished?”

Lizzie
nodded. Suddenly, the wonderful tea and cakes she had just consumed
lay like a lead weight in her stomach.

“Let’s
go.”

Lizzie
gasped and watched in astonishment as Patty pushed away from the
table and began to march across the room like a general marching
off into battle, leaving her niece to hurry after her. To her
dismay, as they approached the door, Trent turned to stare darkly
at them. For one horrifying moment, Lizzie thought Patty was going
to march right up to him and scold him for his harassment. To her
surprise, and later mirth, Patty merely tipped her chin upward in a
most regal manner and steamed a regal trail across the lobby
without a backward look.

“Oh,
Miss? Miss Pinner?” The reception clerk called.

“My
niece is not taking visitors today,” Patty declared snootily,
shooting Trent a most disparaging glance. “Take a
message.”

Lizzie
ducked her head and meekly followed her aunt to their room while
biting her lip to prevent her smile from breaking forth.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

It was
with no small measure of relief she walked into McArthur House
later that day with her aunt, Patty and Ben at her side. Lizzie
studied at the opulence within the huge mansion and immediately
felt right at home. It was just as she had imagined. It had all the
warmth and elegance of a house that was well lived in rather than a
showplace there to display its owner’s wealth and status, and was
just as charming as Ben.

“Oh,
this is heavenly,” Patty breathed, gently touching the highly
polished oak panelling that covered the walls in the entrance
hall.

“It’s
wonderful,” she breathed and shared a smile with Ben, who looked
somewhat relieved at the heartfelt declarations.

“I will
show you up to your rooms. Then I should like a word with you,
Lizzie, if I may?” Ben drawled and nodded toward the main
staircase.

“Ben,
this is lovely,” she murmured when Ben opened the door to the room
that would be hers.

The vast
space was decorated in muted shades of red and green gently tinged
with gold. Its lavish furniture consisted of an ornate four poster
located in the centre of the room, a dresser and a chest of
drawers, all made of cherry red wood and intricately carved with
acorns and flowers.

“My room
is right next door. Patty, you are across the corridor so you are
close enough to Lizzie should you need anything. There are servants
on hand all the time so, if either of you need anything just tug on
the bell pull. The Butler’s name is Sugden. He is around here
somewhere, most probably making arrangements for dinner. I shall
tell him you are here. Meantime, please make yourselves at home.
Lizzie, when you are ready please come down to the library. I have
several matters I need to discuss with you about my visit to the
jail this morning. The study is the third door across to the left
of the main hall.”

“You
have been to the jail already?” Lizzie gasped in surprise. She had
been so happy to see him when he had appeared in the hotel’s
entrance hall this morning that she had completely forgotten the
problems with Julian.

“Yes, I
did. I will explain more later,” he replied. With that, Ben bowed
at each lady politely and quietly left the room.

Lizzie
looked at her aunt in astonishment when she giggled like a giddy
school girl and nodded to the room behind them.

“This
wonderful, is it not? It was a splendid idea to move here I don’t
mind telling you,” Patty beamed.

“I
know,” Lizzie sighed, studying the brightness in her aunt’s eyes
cautiously.

Since
their arrival in London several days ago, her aunt had been an
entirely different person altogether to the woman she had gotten to
know in Derbyshire. So much so that Lizzie was starting to sense
that something wasn’t quite right. There was no sign of her aunt’s
previous eccentricities – not even a glimmer. In fact, Patty
sometimes appeared more logical and clear headed than Lizzie
herself was. If Lizzie hadn’t lived for several weeks with the
worst of her aunt’s behaviour she would have considered that her
aunt was in excellent physical and mental health.

As
though sensing Lizzie’s suspicions, Patty turned a look on her that
brought a shiver up her spine. Those rheumy eyes had an age-old
wisdom in them that warned Lizzie there were many hidden secrets
yet to be told, and Lizzie rather suspected she knew what those
were – or one of them at least.

“I think
we need to talk later,” Lizzie murmured thoughtfully and watched
some of the enthusiasm fade from Patty’s eyes as she nodded. Eager
to talk to Ben though, she didn’t push right now. “Come on, let’s
go and take a look at your room, shall we? Then I think we need to
discuss what to do about Derbyshire.”

Patty’s
lips pursed and she nodded thoughtfully before she ventured toward
the room opposite.

“You go
and see your young man,” Patty said once they were in the corridor.
“I think I am going to take a little nap. I will see you at dinner,
my dear. If you want me meantime, just knock.”

Before
Lizzie could speak, Patty disappeared into her allotted room and
closed the door behind her.

“Well, I
will go and see Ben then,” she murmured to the closed
door.

Shaking
her head she hurried toward the main staircase, aware that deep
inside she had a yearning to see Ben alone. Although he had only
just left the room, she was practically bursting to find out what
he had discovered this morning but, more importantly, wondered if
he would kiss her again.

“Thank
you for coming so quickly,” Ben murmured when she appeared in the
doorway. Rather than bow politely he drew her into his arms and
captured her lips in a kiss that seared them both.