“
The problem is, all the experiments I’d sent were old ones I’d found in a little box she kept in her room. I’d just sneak in while she was out, copy down a handful of experiments, then send them off before she could find me with them and ask why I had them.” He shuddered and curled up as much of his top lip as his scarred skin would allow. “Anyway, I’ve run out. Not that I find that to be a problem for which I am to find a solution. You are.”
Alex stared at his friend and raked his fingers through his hair. “Let me get this right. You’ve taken it upon yourself to copy Caroline’s scientific observations and sell them to a widely circulated publication for the past four years, garnering her all sorts of acclaim for being one of the brightest minds in the field of biological science, and she doesn’t even know it?”
Marcus nodded.
“
You do know she has a right to know her work has been published, don’t you?”
Marcus nodded again.
“
And you also know before the sun sets tonight, she’ll know.”
“
I’d be disappointed if she didn’t,” Marcus said with a shrug. “She deserves to know. I only kept it from her at first because I didn’t want to crush her feelings if the editor didn’t accept her work. After that I didn’t tell her because I didn’t know how she’d feel about what I’d done.”
“
Wait, you just said you did it to make money for her to have a Season,” Alex countered.
“
I did. But if this hadn’t worked out, I had other ways to make the money. It would have taken longer, but I would have done anything to scrape up the funds.” He sighed. “The truth is she’d worked hard on all that. And while I personally may not care to read about it, others do. And you know as well as I do she would have never had the opportunity to get published or take the credit under her own name like she deserved. So I did what I could.”
“
You were afraid she’d be angry you for doing this?”
“
Yes. Wouldn’t you be?”
Alex nodded. He’d have been furious. But Marcus had a point. If he hadn’t done it anonymously, her work would have been dismissed as soon as the editor got to the by-line, no matter how good the content. “All right. Enough on that. I’ll tell her and let her decide if she wants to continue to publish her work or not.”
“
Good,” Marcus said. “As much as I love my cousin, copying her notes was pure torture.”
Alex grinned for the first time all day. “I bet for you it was.”
“
Almost as torturous as it would have been for you to live with my sister, I imagine,” Marcus parried.
“
I doubt that.” Things may not be going well for him and Caroline just now, but fighting with her was better than just being in the room with Lady Olivia. He glanced at Marcus and met the man’s steely, grey gaze. “Marcus, I’ve wanted to talk to you about something for a while.”
Marcus nodded. “I have a feeling I know what you’re going to ask.” His voice was serious, and all the excitement that had earlier lit his face vanished.
“
The nitrous oxide party,” Alex said flatly. “I remember most of the details, but there’s one thing that’s been bothering me.”
“
Which is?”
“
Do you know what happened to her?”
Marcus blinked at him. “I suppose you’re talking about the little girl we were caught sneaking out?”
Alex nodded. His throat was too tight with emotion to speak.
Marcus’ eyes turned to look out the window. “I don’t know what happened to her that night,” he admitted softly. Slowly, he met Alex’s gaze again. “But I know what happened to her later.”
Alex just stared at him, waiting for him to continue. He didn’t trust his voice to speak the words, to ask the questions he feared he didn’t want to know the answers to. That little girl had haunted his dreams for nearly the past fourteen years. She’d been merely six or seven living alone with a man so addicted to nitrous oxide he’d have sold his own daughter into prostitution to feed his habit.
“
She married,” Marcus said a minute later. “Happily, I believe. One of those, what’s the term I’m looking for—” he waved his hand in the air— “love match. That’s it. She had a love match.”
Alex nodded. “Good for her,” he said at last, hoping his friend wouldn’t comment on the roughness of his voice or the relief he was sure covered his face.
“
Good for him, too.” Marcus turned back to his work. “I trust you can find your way out.”
Alex gathered the stack of papers from Marcus’ desk and left the room. The ride home was much slower, almost leisurely even. He had no reason to rush home. His wife wouldn’t be waiting with open arms to greet him. They’d both said and done hurtful things, but the cruelest of it all was he still wanted her. He might have tried to convince both her and himself to the contrary only hours ago, but with the cloud of anger gone, he could see the truth; and that truth was he still burned for her, but would likely never have her again. There was no reason for her to take him back. He’d let his emotions get the better of him this morning and he’d as good as lost her because of it. There’d be no more bright smiles to greet him or scientific banter in the conservatory. She’d not tease him about his clothes being in disarray when he came to their room at night. They wouldn’t even share a room at night. All in one fit of hurt and anger, he’d somehow managed to lose it all.
Sadness in his heart and papers in his hand, he mounted the front steps to his house. Grabbing hold of the doorknob, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as the one voice in the world he never wanted to hear again floated to his ears.
Chapter 25
“
What the blazes is going on in here?” Alex roared, bursting through the entryway of the front parlor where Caroline, Mother, and Rupert Griffin were engaged in a rather heated discussion.
Caroline wiped tears away with the back of her hand. “Nothing that concerns you.”
He pushed further into the room. “Like hell it doesn’t. This is my house and anything that goes on in here concerns me.” He crossed his arms and turned to Griffin. “What are you doing here bothering my wife and mother? If you wish to speak to me, that can be arranged. But leave them out of it.”
“
I did make arrangements,” Griffin spat, scowling. “It seems your
wife
was a little late to deliver the message.”
Alex stared at the man’s haggard and coarse face. In the past fourteen years he’d only seen the older man one other time, the same day he’d first met Caroline at the
Society
meeting. Even between then and now, there was a drastic difference. Time and addiction had been cruel to him. But not nearly as cruel as the man himself had been.
“
Seems she has the good sense to know I’d not have allowed filth like you past the front door,” Alex responded coldly.
Griffin snorted. “You always were a bit conceited, young Alex. Oh, excuse me, Lord Watson. How unfortunate that beating you received didn’t humble your gentlemanly pride any.”
“
No, I suppose it wasn’t nearly as effective as locking a little girl into a dark closet,” he said bitterly, ignoring the sounds of distress coming from across the room.
“
It’s none of your business how I chose to deal with her,” Griffin blustered.
“
You no good, filthy bastard.” Alex grabbed Griffin by the lapels and slammed him into the wall with such strong force the breath was knocked out of him and he crumpled to the floor. Alex bent down, grabbed hold of the front of Griffin’s shirt, and yanked him back to standing position before moving his hand to hold Griffin about the throat.
“
Unhand me,” Griffin rasped against Alex’s strong hold.
“
Not on your life. What are you doing here?”
“
I explained it in my note,” Griffin replied, grabbing Alex’s wrists.
Alex tightened his grip. “What the devil are you talking about? You never sent me a note. Believe me, if you had, I’d remember it.”
“
I didn’t send it to you, I sent it to my daughter.” Griffin tried to pry Alex’s fingers off his throat.
“
You sent it to your daughter?” Alex bellowed, applying more pressure with his fingertips. “What good does that do me?”
The disgusting smile that pulled on Griffin’s lips made Alex hope Marcus had been right, and that poor girl had grown up and married a man who truly loved her. She deserved it after growing up with this man for a father. “A whole lot of good, I should think. You seem to have formed quite an attachment to her.”
“
Right, because I saw her once for less than an hour when I was sixteen, and since I’m thirty now, that makes a lot of sense,” Alex said sarcastically. “Don’t worry, I know you struggle with any kind of math that’s not directly connected with measuring out the perfect amount of nitrous oxide for your nightly habit, so I’ll tell you that means it’s been nearly fourteen years since I’ve seen her last.”
“
I believe for once my math is better than yours, young Alex. You saw her less than fourteen minutes ago. Less than two even.” Griffin cackled. “Caroline, dear, won’t you be a good girl now and tell your husband to get his hands off your papa?”
“
Caroline?” Alex repeated hollowly, turning his head to look at his pale, unsteady wife. He blinked at her and suddenly everything fell into place. Caroline hated total darkness. She’d become nearly sick and positively withdrawn the day he’d mentioned Griffin’s name when Father had pressed him as to why he’d tossed Lady Olivia and Caroline out of the
Society
. Even that made sense now. Lord Sinclair hadn’t been trying to protect Lady Olivia from Griffin by having them thrown out of the
Society
; he’d been trying to protect Caroline.
Trying to protect her in a way two sixteen-year-old boys couldn’t.
For that moment, the world stood still for Alex and he was once again transported back in time to when he was sixteen and Marcus approached him for a favor. One so enormous he claimed he’d never ask for a favor again. Alex had agreed instantly. With a promise of never asking for anything again, Alex knew this was important.
An hour later, Marcus took him to a nitrous oxide party in London hosted by Rupert Griffin. They’d paid their admittance fees and mingled for a few hours. At midnight most of the guests were intoxicated too much to notice—or care—what was going on around them. “Let’s go,” Marcus said, pushing Alex through the doorway of the drawing room.
Alex nodded and followed Marcus through a maze of darkened staircases and hallways until they reached a dead end with a door. Very slowly, Marcus eased the door open to reveal a little girl in a tattered nightshirt balled up in the corner. She sat trembling with her knees drawn up to her chest, her forehead resting against her knees.
“
Come on,” Marcus called to the little girl.
The little girl looked up at Marcus and moved to wrap him in a hug. Marcus squeezed her back, whispering something in her ear.
Over Marcus’ shoulder, the young girl looked at Alex hesitantly, and the sadness in her eyes ate at his heart. Marcus murmured a few things to her before lifting her in his arms and carrying her down a different hall. They went to a room with a balcony that was three stories above where they’d tied their horses to a tree when they’d arrived.
Marcus handed Alex the little girl, then went to the railing of the balcony and threw his leg over. Alex hadn’t asked too many questions until then, but as it was becoming more apparent they were about to kidnap this little girl, he’d questioned his friend’s decision. Marcus paused only for a second to tell him earlier that day he’d overheard her father talking with a brothel owner about selling her into the trade when she was twelve and asked for an advance on the funds. Alex’s stomach tightened at the thought, strengthening his resolve. He would help Marcus get this girl out of there at any cost.
Marcus scaled down the brick wall, leaving Alex to hold the trembling girl. Having a three-year-old sister at the time, he didn’t feel too terribly awkward holding her, but couldn’t think of a single thing to say to calm her trembles or stop her silent tears. He just held her close and ran his hand along her back, trying to comfort her any way he could.