Regency Spymasters 01 - Spy Fall (20 page)

She grabbed it and he pulled her up, her bottom hitting the seat next to him with a hard thud. “I assume we’re headed to Kenwood,” she said as he cracked the whip, setting the horses into motion.

“Brilliant deduction.” He blinked hard, trying to see through the angry haze of red blurring his vision.

“You need to settle yourself before we arrive.” She spoke with that calm composure that never failed to irk him when he was at his most discomposed.

“I will be quite settled once I kill Tristan Fitzroy.”

“I understand that you are angry.”

“You have no notion of what I’m feeling. You may pride yourself on remaining detached from emotion, but I am not indifferent to the fact that that blackguard stole my sister’s child.” He felt her go stiff at his side.

“We do not have all of the facts,” she said.

“I swear”—his jaw twitched with barely contained rage—“if you intend to defend Darling, I’ll throw you from this conveyance myself.”

“I understand why you want to send him to Hades, but it would be most unwise.”

“Give me one good reason not to detach that cur’s head from his body.”

“Because he may have the answers we seek.”

“I already have the answer I need about that thieving bastard.”

“What if he is a party to this extortion involving your father?”

The suggestion cut through his fog of fury. “You think he might be the person extorting Aldridge?”

“I cannot know this answer,” she said. “Darling has visited France in the past.”

“You think he’s a French spy?”

“We must be rational and consider all of the possibilities,” she said. “At this moment, you allow anger to rule you.”

“Devil take it.” He forced a calming breath. “You are a most confounding female, especially when you are right.” He pulled back on the ribbons, easing the curricle’s pace.

“It relieves my mind that you are willing to see reason,” she said.

“It doesn’t make any sense for him to be working with the French.” He struggled to put order to his thoughts. “No matter how I turn it over in my mind, I cannot think of why Darling would risk losing the child by revealing her existence to Aldridge. His devotion to Anna is clear.”

She narrowed her eyes in contemplation, the late afternoon sun glimmering in the spectrum of color there. “That is why you must allow him to live long enough to answer our questions.”

“It all makes sense to me now.” Feeling filled his chest. “There was something familiar about the child, but it wasn’t that she resembled Darling, it was because she reminded me of her mother.”

“It would explain your attachment to the child. And Aldridge’s.”

“He must have lied about her age. Anna can’t be six. My sister’s child would barely be five years old.” He made a sound of frustration. “And I didn’t catch the lie because I know nothing about children and what size they are supposed to be.”

“Nor do I.”

“Elinor’s child lives.” Emotion choked his throat. “It feels like a miracle.”

“
Oui
, she is alive and safe,” Mari said softly. “Darling has much to answer for, but at least he saw to it that the child was loved and well cared for.”

“I suppose that’s something.” Renewed fury welled up in him. “But I still intend to kill the whoreson.”

“Cosmo. And Miss Lamarre.” Darling rose from behind his massive mahogany desk to greet them. “This is an unexpected pleasure.”

They’d been shown into the viscount’s study, which Cosmo realized he’d never seen before. With its clean lines and gleaming polished surfaces, the space was much like the man himself. Yet he was fast discovering that something much darker lay beneath Darling’s polished veneer.

“Where is Anna?” Cosmo demanded at once, not bothering to conceal his murderous expression.

Mari sighed. He knew she’d have preferred to treat Darling with more subtlety, but he was so entirely consumed with furious disbelief, he had no hope of behaving with finesse.

“Anna?” Wearing no tailcoat, Darling adjusted the cuffs of his shirt, tugging his pristine white sleeves into perfect, elegant lines. “I pray Aldridge hasn’t sent you to deliver yet another pony.”

“No, this is no delivery. I’ve come to pick something up,” Cosmo ground out. “Something that belongs to me.”

“Oh?” Aldridge inquired with cool courtesy. “And what, pray, would that be?”

“Is Anna at home, my lord?” Mari interjected.

“No, not at present, Miss Lamarre.”

“Where is she?” Cosmo stalked toward Darling. “Answer the question.”

“Really, Cosmo,” Darling said mildly, “your manners leave much to be desired.”

“You son of a whore,” Cosmo said. “Tell me where she is.”

Darling inhaled with shock. “I see you are corned as usual, Cosmo. You must have had too much to drink in order to use such foul language in the presence of Miss Lamarre.”

“Unfortunately, for you, Darling, I’ve never been more sober.” Grabbing the viscount by his perfectly wrought cravat, Cosmo slammed him hard against the bookshelves. “Where is Susanna?”

Stunned comprehension slackened the aristocratic lines of Darling’s face. “What did you call her?”

“Susanna. That is her name, is it not?” Cosmo rammed him against the shelves with each word, as if to punctuate their meaning. “The name her mother gave her. Anna is named for her grandmother, is she not? After
my mother
, Susanna Dunsmore.”

Darling paled. “Ridiculous. Whatever gave you that idea?”

“Eudora Rumbold was most helpful,” Mari said.

Darling looked past Cosmo to Mari. “Impossible.”

“Why would you say that?” she asked.

“Because he paid her off.” Cosmo shook the viscount again. “Didn’t you?”

“He didn’t hide her very well, as we were able to find her,” Mari lied.

“What did that wench tell you?” Darling’s uneasy gaze slid from Cosmo to Mari, and a sheen of perspiration appeared on his upper lip. “She is a liar.”

“She told us you took Elinor’s daughter,” Cosmo said through gritted teeth, “and that you promised to return her to us, her true family.”

Darling’s cheeks were bloodless. “You are mistaken.”

“The biggest mistake I’ve ever made was pulling you off that cliff when we were boys.” Cosmo swallowed down the virulent bile surging through his chest into his throat. “I should have let you die like the wretch you are.”

Darling’s sea-blue eyes iced. “Then who, pray tell, would have gone to Paris to save Anna? You were too busy spending yourself in cock alley to aid your sister.”

Guilt at having failed Ellie assailed Cosmo again; it was a physical pain, as though someone had gouged his chest with a hatchet. If he’d been the one to go to Paris all those years ago, Darling would never have been able to perpetuate this massive fraud. “Be that as it may,” he choked out, “duty demanded that you return the child.”

“Return her to whom? A no-good wastrel such as yourself?” Darling’s smooth mask slipped, his gentle features twisting with scorn. “If you hadn’t spent the last six years in a drunken stupor, you might have noted the child’s presence before now.”

The truth of Darling’s words punched the air from Cosmo’s lungs. He released the bounder with a final shove. “What about Aldridge? He is everything that is decent. He should have had the care of Elinor’s child.”

“Aldridge? He gave his only daughter to a foreigner, a frog.”

Surprise penetrated Cosmo’s pain and fury. “Marrying Laurent was Ellie’s choice. You knew that.”

Tugging his disheveled waistcoat straight, Darling uttered a harsh laugh. “Was it also her choice to be left alone to die on foreign soil? Even now, her body rests among strangers. Because of Aldridge. He as good as killed her.”

Cosmo inhaled a sharp breath. “How could you treat Aldridge so callously? He loves you as a son.”

“He never truly cared for me. He took Ellie from me. She was mine.”

“It was Elinor who didn’t want you, and obviously for good reason.”

“She was but a girl. What did she know of the world?”

“She knew enough not to marry you.” Cosmo was unnerved by the undisguised hatred in Darling’s expression. “Clearly, she recognized the truth about you before the rest of us.”

“I was devoted, steadfast, and patient.” Anger blazed in Darling’s eyes. “For years, I waited for her to choose me as everyone expected she would. Then Aldridge allowed her to be swayed by that French toad. How could I give Elinor’s daughter into the care of a man with such lamentable judgment?”

“It was not your choice to make,” Cosmo said.

“Ah, but it was.” A wild look gleamed in Darling’s eyes. “Elinor should have been my wife. Now her daughter is mine. I retain all that is left of Elinor. Anna loves me. She’ll never leave me as her faithless mother did.”

“If you believe I’d allow my sister’s child to remain in the care of a bedlamite such as yourself, you are even madder than I thought.” Cosmo said. “I am not leaving here without Susanna.”

“How will you accomplish that? What proof do you have that my Anna is Elinor’s dead son?” A smug expression settled over Darling’s face. “They’ll think the drink has driven you to madness. I possess papers that prove Anna is my bye blow by Irene Talbot. Do you have any papers stating otherwise?”

“You are the mysterious benefactor who paid for Irene Talbot to go to America,” Mari said, “so that the truth of it would never come out. Did she even bear a child?”

“Irene? Cosmo and I both drank from that well, but it appears our mutual mistress was barren, except for my beloved daughter Anna, of course.”

Comprehension lit Mari’s quicksilver eyes. “Then you started the rumors about Irene Talbot being with child.”

Darling’s smile was wintry. “It shall be my word against Cosmo’s. I’m a well-respected viscount. He’s naught but a scoundrel who mourns his lost sister by wallowing in drink.”

“You forget, monsieur, that I have witnessed your confession,” Mari said.

Darling ran a brazen gaze over her. “Forgive my frankness, Miss Lamarre, but who will take your word over mine? You are no lady.”

“You bloody bastard—” Cosmo erupted.

Laying a firm hand on his arm, Mari said, “Perhaps you are correct. After all, we have no proof. But I cannot help but be curious…” She tapped her fingers on her chin in contemplation. “If I am of no importance, why did you seek to have me killed?”

Shock snapped Cosmo’s head in her direction. It hadn’t occurred to him that Darling could be the blackguard who had tried to do away with her. Mari kept her gaze on the viscount, regarding him with an almost casual curiosity.

“
You
sabotaged the parachute and the saddle?” Cosmo asked. “Yet another excellent reason for me to destroy you.”

Unperturbed, and apparently sensing he’d gained command of the situation, Darling relaxed, taking a moment to smooth a hand over his hair. “Miss Lamarre was asking a lot of questions. She was far too curious for her own good.”

“She could have died.”

“Yes, well, that was the point, after all.” Darling brimmed with easy confidence. “I understand this all might be difficult for your drink-addled mind to comprehend. That prick of yours must be quite talented for Miss Lamarre to put up with the loutish rest of you.”

“I have no complaints,” Mari said with a serene smile. Cosmo bit back the urge to defend her honor. Clutching his hands behind his back, he struggled to keep from ramming his fist down Darling’s throat. He bit his lip, determined to remain silent and allow her to continue Darling’s interrogation. He wasn’t certain where she was going with her questions, but he knew her well enough to know there was a reason for them.

“I became suspicious of your intentions during a recent call I paid to Miss Chalcroft,” Darling said. “Rosie mentioned in passing you were seeking information pertaining to Elinor’s lady’s maid. I thought to myself, ‘What interest could a total stranger have in Ellie’s maid?’ Now I surmise you are likely working for someone with an interest in Anna, but my well-placed French contacts know nothing of who that might be. So, if it isn’t Aldridge, it must be Laurent’s family. I suppose they think they can steal Anna from me.”

Understanding lit Mari’s face “You are the high-level leak.”

“He is?” Cosmo looked from her to Darling. “You work for the French.”

“You’ll never have Anna,” Darling said. “I’ve sent her away.”

Cosmo had had enough. Pulling his holstered pistol from inside his tailcoat, he leveled it at Darling. “Tell me where she is.”

The viscount appeared unimpressed. “Really, Cosmo, you’re hardly going to shoot me. You’d end up on the gallows. And even you would not hurt Aldridge by depriving him of his son. After all, the old man has already lost his daughter.”

“I don’t think you understand.” Keeping his weapon aimed at Darling, he backed up to the door and turned the lock. “I’m not going to kill you.”

Darling’s brows rose. “You’re not going to shoot me?”

“Oh, I am definitely going to shoot you,” Cosmo said with lazy self-assurance. “I’ll start with your left foot and then perhaps the right. What do you think, Miss Lamarre?”

“A clever plan,” she said. “Several superficial wounds, until the pain becomes so unbearable he tells you where he’s sent the girl.”

The color bled out of Darling’s face again. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“You think not?”

Loud noises and the sounds of a scuffle sounded outside the study door, somewhere down the hallway. Marcel’s voice. Darling leapt at Mari, grabbing her around the neck and drawing her back against the front of his body.

Cosmo cursed. “Let her go and I might let you live.”

“The drink has pickled your brain. Do you not understand that I hold all of the cards here? I’ve got Anna and your precious whore.” Darling tightened his chokehold on Mari. “I will never allow that angelic child to be sullied by your everyday presence.”

With a sound of distress, Mari gripped Darling’s arm which was braced across her neck. She looked hard into Cosmo’s stormy face while her free hand began to inch up her skirt.

He knew very well what she kept attached to her thigh. “Let her go, Darling.” He spoke in measured tones, hoping to buy Mari enough time to draw her blade. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret. As you say, we have no proof you’ve done anything amiss.”

“You’re hurting me, my lord.” Mari whimpered quite convincingly as her fingers brushed over the gleaming, silver blade tied to her thigh.

“Shut up, both of you,” Darling said. “Put down your weapon, Cosmo.”

Someone banged on the locked study door. “The invitation has arrived, Mari,” Marcel called. “The gentleman has gone to retrieve it.”

Taking advantage of Darling’s momentary distraction, Mari whisked out her blade and plunged it deep into the hard muscle of his thigh.

Darling screamed in agony, blood coursing from his punctured thigh. He crumbled to the floor. “You cut me,” he said in a daze, as though he couldn’t quite believe it.

Marcel banged on the door. “Open up!
Merde
! What goes on in there?”

Lowering his weapon, Cosmo went to the door and clicked the lock open. “Your sister is busy emasculating Viscount Darling.”

Marcel burst through, the tension in his face relaxing when he took in the sight of Mari standing next to the bleeding man on the floor. “Are you all right?” he asked sharply.

“
Oui.”
She gestured toward Darling. “But the viscount is in need of assistance.”

“How the devil did you know we were here?” Cosmo asked.

“I went to the inn first,” Marcel said. “After speaking with Miss Rumbold, I anticipated you would be here.”

“Why have you come?” Kneeling beside Darling, Mari pulled off the viscount’s cravat and began to wrap it around his thigh as a tourniquet.

“Ouch.” Grimacing, Darling tried to wrench his blood-soaked leg away from her. “What are you doing?”

Cosmo resisted the urge to thrust his boot into Darling’s gut. “She’s trying to save your life, you worthless idiot. If it were up to me, you’d bleed to death.”

“Marcel,” Mari asked, “what has happened?”

Her brother’s solemn eyes met hers. “The invitation has arrived. I believe it is being accepted as we speak. We must go now.”

“What invitation?” Cosmo demanded. “We’re not going anywhere until we find Anna.”

“The girl?” Marcel asked. “She is safe. Rosalind has her.”

“Rosalind?” Rising to her feet, Mari regarded her brother with interest. “I was not aware you are on intimate terms with Miss Chalcroft.”

“What is Anna doing with Miss Chalcroft?” Cosmo asked impatiently. “How can you be certain she is there?”

Marcel’s face became blank; he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I happened to be visiting Miss Chalcroft when the girl arrived. They have an appointment to collect sea fossils. They are spending the day together, as I understand it.”

Darling moaned again, gripping his leg. Marcel surveyed the scene with a dispassionate expression. “Go and see to Aldridge. Leave his lordship and Anna to me.”

“Aldridge?” Cosmo looked from Marcel to Mari. “What has any of this to do with the marquess?”

Mari’s intent gaze met his. “It is time. They’ve made contact.”

Kneeling beside Darling, Marcel hauled the moaning man into a sitting position. “The meeting is set for after sundown.”

Cursing, Cosmo bolted for the door. “That doesn’t give us much time.” He halted when he realized Mari hadn’t followed. “Hurry. What are you doing?