Seduced (20 page)

Jack pushed to his feet and paced away from his friend. He shook his head. “Shit. He’s no pup like the others.”

“No, he ain’t.” Hoffman sounded tired. It was such a rare thing that Jack spun to face his right hand man and found he had slumped slightly in his chair.

“How do you know for sure?” Jack asked.

“It’s the only bit of good news I have for you,” Hoffman said with a sigh. “I’ve got a man in with him. He managed a few details in a message to us, but nothing more. He’s got to be careful now. Not let them get suspicious about his true identity.”

Jack nodded. “Well, it’s something, I suppose.”

“Madman is why our stock and our men have been disappearing.”

“They’re dead,” Jack said with a frown as he pictured the twenty or so lost since this fresh attack on his position had begun six months before. He knew most of their names, knew their stories.

“Or some traded over,” Hoffman offered with a scowl. “Madman has a lot to offer to a certain type of villain. I wouldn’t doubt a handful are now truly on his side, feeding him whatever information they’ve got. Luckily it’s mostly stragglers he’s acquired. No one who knows where the lair is. Just the side holes for the lower-level men.”

Jack couldn’t deny that
was
good. Hoffman had been forward thinking to keep most of the details of where Jack stayed a secret. “So what’s his play?”

“He’s going to weaken you as much as he can with his actions. And then he’s going to—”

He cut himself off, and Jack swallowed hard. Hoffman looked afraid, and he’d never seen the salty older man have a flicker of such an emotion before. This was dire.

“Then he’s going to strike at me directly,” Jack finished when it appeared Hoffman couldn’t.

He nodded. “Yes. And you know his reputation, Jack. He won’t rest until you are destroyed,
obliterated
. He will try to make an example of you so that no one dares go after him once he has your crown.”

Jack tried to remain calm. But he couldn’t be calm. He had stakes that were far higher than his own life. He thought of War, an obvious weak point. His brother was leaving London that week, though. He might be safe if he wasn’t in Town when O’Malley began to make his big moves.

And then there was Letitia. He didn’t think anyone had yet realized his affair with her, not in his own organization, at any rate. But it didn’t mean he wasn’t being followed when he met with her. He was usually aware of such things, but a good tail was hard to judge. It was possible their bond had been uncovered.

Which meant she was in danger too.

“Is it a woman?” Hoffman asked.

Jack jerked his head up. Was Hoffman suddenly reading minds? It was uncanny.

“What?” he blurted out, trying to buy himself a little time while he formulated a good answer. Hoffman knew him well and a lie would have to be believable.

“Jack, you’re not here when you should be,” Hoffman said, getting up. “When you
need
to be. Only a chit could do that. Unless it’s trouble with your brother.”

Jack shook his head. “War will be gone soon, out of danger.”

“Then a woman.”

“No. Yes. No.” Jack ran a hand through his hair. “Look, she’s just a bit of fun.”

That had sounded right in his head, but now that he spoke the words out loud, Jack realized they weren’t true. Letitia was far more than a bit of fun. She meant something.

And that was dangerous. To her. To him.

“Might be best to put away ‘fun’ for a while, boss,” Hoffman said, his face lined with increased worry. “Because this is serious.”

Jack gritted his teeth. Hoffman was right, of course. About all of it. And yet the thought of putting Letitia away was actually physically painful to him. Why, he didn’t want to say.

“Yes,” he muttered when it became obvious that Hoffman was waiting for a response. “It’s very serious, indeed.”

Letty’s cousin Edward, the Marquis of Woodley, and his wife Mary had a beautiful home in the center of London. Currently Letty stood in their ballroom, in her familiar spot along the wall, watching as the beautifully dressed people spun by on the dance floor.

But tonight she wasn’t lamenting her position just outside the others. No, she was waiting. Waiting for Jack.

This was a farewell gathering for War and Claire, who were departing London in just two days for their home in Idleridge. And this small gathering of just fifty or so good friends and close family was their sendoff.

A sendoff she knew Jack wouldn’t miss. She found herself lifting up on her toes, searching around for him for what felt like the hundredth time since her arrival half an hour before. And yet she was disappointed again when she didn’t find him in the crowd.

She flattened down on her feet again and frowned. In truth, she didn’t even know where she stood with Jack. He’d left her home through her window after thoroughly satisfying her and she’d had no word for him in the three days since.

So perhaps excitement to see him wasn’t such a good descriptor as nervous anticipation.

“Woolgathering?”

Letty jumped and turned to find Claire at her elbow. She forced a smile for her beautiful cousin. Claire’s shiny blonde hair was done up in a very fashionable chignon, her gown was impeccable, but it was something else that made her so gorgeous. She glowed from the inside, like a beacon.

“I’m beginning to despair as I realize just how much I’m going to miss you when you’re gone,” Letty said, taking Claire’s hand. “What will I do without you? We’ve become so close in the six months since your return.”

“Well, you will come to Idleridge to visit War and me…and both the children.”

Letty tilted her head. “Both? But there’s just Francesca and—” She broke off at Claire’s widening grin. “Oh, Claire! A baby?”

Her cousin nodded and couldn’t contain her happy laughter. “I’m a few months along. Not quite showing yet. It’s part of why we’re leaving London now. There is enough gossip without me having a giant pregnant belly just a few weeks after my wedding to feed the rumors even more.”

“I’m so happy for you,” Letty said, hugging Claire. And she was, despite the tiny twinge of jealousy that burned briefly in her heart.

“Thank you,” Claire said with a contented sigh. “I know I’m lucky to have the full support of my family after everything I did while away with Aston. I do not take that for granted.”

Letty frowned at the mention of her cousin’s late lover. The same man who had pursued her briefly before she realized the truth. Thinking of him wasn’t painful, for their affiliation had been brief and chaste, but it did make her mind return to Jack.

“Is War’s brother going to join us tonight?” she asked, hoping she sounded nonchalant.

Claire shrugged. “I’m sure he will. Edward and Mary invited him, of course.” There was a long pause before she added. “It seems you two have become quite friendly in the past few weeks.”

Letty jolted at that keen observation. Or perhaps not so keen. Had she been so obvious in her connection with Jack?

“He is an interesting person,” she said, hedging the truth ever so slightly.

“Indeed, he is,” Claire said, one fine brow arched high now, her focus hawkish on Letty’s face. “
Very
interesting. But not entirely safe.”

“No, I suppose not,” Letty agreed with a frown. “His life is dangerous. I do worry about him.”

The words were out before she realized she was going to say them, and she all but clapped a hand over her mouth. Still, she couldn’t take them back, and Claire was now turned fully toward her, staring at her.

“You
worry
about him. Well, that sounds like you have gotten closer to him than just a few conversations. Letty, I have suspected you might be interested in Jack, but is there something you want to share with me?”

“No,” Letty burst out, shaking her head. “Of course not. What would there be to share?”

“I don’t know. You are a lovely woman, you are a widow and available. And Jack is…well, Jack is Jack. He was born to tempt women.”

Letty tried not to let her reaction be clear on her face. Claire saw her as just another nameless conquest to Jack. And perhaps that was all she was. Only what was between them felt like something deeper. Something more meaningful and true. They had connected, and not just on a physical level. She had told him secrets that had burned in her for years. And he had held them so gently.

And he’d confessed his feelings, his secrets, to her too. She knew that meant something. It
had
to.

“Letty,” Claire said, her tone a warning. “I don’t want to see you hurt.”

Letty shifted at those words. Hurt. Hurt because Claire knew that Letty couldn’t tempt a man like Jack. Not for long. Of course, she knew that too. Her time might have already passed, despite their connection.

“You are worrying over nothing, I assure you. I know that a man like Jack could never have an interest in a woman like me. Not beyond a moment.” She shrugged like it meant nothing.

And just as she did so, the very man they had been discussing entered the ballroom. He stood in the doorway a moment, looking around the room with a disinterested glance. He was devastatingly handsome, especially in his finery. His broad shoulders, his dark hair, his smoky gaze that she couldn’t quite make out from the distance but could picture perfectly after all her dreams of it. Her worries faded, her fears subsided. All that was left was Jack. All that was left was the desire she felt for him.

Claire touched her arm and Letty inwardly cursed herself. She had been staring, grinning like a fool. Belying every damn thing she’d been telling her cousin.

“Letty, I can see you are beginning to care for Jack.” Letty opened her mouth, but Claire held up a hand. “Let us not waste time arguing over the truth, cousin. I have eyes and I can see. I’m only going to tell you to be careful. I love you and I don’t want to see you hurt in the end.”

Letty ducked her head. “I’ll only be hurt if I don’t understand reality, Claire,” she said, shooting Jack another side glance as he moved into the crowd. “But I assure you, I know exactly what is going on. And where I stand.”

Letty was lying, and she was fairly certain Claire knew it too. When it came to Jack, Letty didn’t know anything except that she wanted him. And that as time went by, she would risk more and more to have him.

Jack saw Letitia standing beside Claire the moment he entered the ballroom and his heart promptly dropped into the very pit of his stomach. She was beautiful, her silky brown hair wound up simply, little tendrils of it framing her face. She wore a dark pink gown with a gray silk overskirt, and it made her skin all the more porcelain and perfect. He wanted to cross the room and kiss her right there in the middle of the crowd. He wanted to stake his claim on her even though he knew there would be dire consequences for them both if he gave in to such a foolish inclination.

Instead, he turned away and found his brother in the crowd. War was standing off with his brothers-in-law Edward, Jude, Evan and Gabriel. War looked rather pinched and uncomfortable as the party spun around him. Jack smiled despite his foul mood. His brother was happy now, there was no denying that. But there would always be a tiny piece of him that still belonged in Jack’s world. It would bind them long after War had disappeared into the countryside with his proper wife and his new life.

Jack wove his way through the crowd, ignoring the stares and whispers from those around him. He went straight to War and smiled at the Woodley men who flanked him.

“Gentlemen,” he said, clapping a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“Jack,” The Marquis of Woodley said, his smile genuine even though Jack knew he didn’t truly belong in this man’s house. “Mary and I are so happy you could come.”

“Congratulations on the impending birth of your first child,” Jack said with a tip of his head.

Woodley’s smile broadened. “Ah, so War told you. I’m glad. Yes, we are very happy. And congratulations to you as well. A first-time uncle-to-be.”

Jack sent his brother a quick look. It seemed he and Claire had shared their news with her family at last. And with no outward consequences given the smiles of the brothers, despite the fact that Claire had clearly become pregnant before their wedding.