Victorian Vigilantes 01 - Saving Grace (15 page)

Eva laughed. “Forgive me, but you don’t strike me as being the slightest bit weak.”

“It is time for you to leave, Olivia,” Lord Torbay said.

“Just when we were getting acquainted again.” Mrs. Grantley stood and shook out her skirts. “I shall report back to you as soon as I have news.”

“Take great care,” Eva said, biting her lip to keep her emotions under control. “You can be sure my husband’s people will be watching. Even so, if you can assure me that Gracie is well and not pining for my company then I shall be greatly obliged to you.”

“That I can most assuredly do,” Mrs. Grantley replied, walking through the door that Lord Torbay held open for her.

Alone with Eva, Isaac turned towards her.

“Are you really all right?” he asked.

“Yes, thanks to you. I feel better than I have for a very long while. But for Grace I would be–”

Isaac smiled at her. “I know you are worried about Olivia’s assignment, but there is really no need to be. There is no connection between the two of you to make anyone suspicious. Besides, she can be charmingly inventive. She fools everyone with her bird-witted performances.”

“Why
does
Mrs. Grantley involve herself with your work?”

“She is a free spirit. Her notoriety, as she likes to refer to it, sometimes works in her favour, enabling her to do more or less as she pleases. Olivia enjoys breaking rules and living up to people’s poor opinion of her.”

“I don’t blame her for that.”

“People
are
very careful about being seen in her company, mainly because she discourages them if they get too intimate.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Her husband left her reasonably well provided for so she is in a position to please herself.” Isaac shrugged. “It has always been my belief that having endured one unhappy marriage, she has no particular desire to try the institution again.”

“I can certainly understand that point of view. Why be beholding to a man if you have the means to remain independent?”

He focused a speaking look upon her, intending it as a soft caress. “Unless, of course, you meet a man who excites your passions and makes you smile.”

She swallowed but didn’t meet his gaze. “Perhaps she already has.”

“I beg your pardon.”

“We were talking of Mrs. Grantley. It is my belief that if Lord Torbay was to pursue her, she might have a change of heart about remaining independent.”

Isaac arched a brow. “What makes you say that?”

Eva laughed. “Surely you have noticed how the atmosphere literally sizzles when the two of them are in the same room?”

“Well, I suppose, now that you mention it.” He rubbed his chin, not having previously given the matter any consideration. Jake and Olivia were so often together, always bickering, that Isaac thought nothing of it. “Olivia and Jake? Now there’s a notion.”

“Why are men so blind to the obvious when it comes to affairs of the heart?”

“You ladies are better qualified to notice the signs. You are brought up to notice them.” Isaac realised he had said the wrong thing when her eyes clouded over. “I’m sorry.” He took her hand and laced his fingers with hers. “That was insensitive.”

“It’s perfectly all right, Lord Isaac, you—”

“Isaac,” he replied. “It would please me to hear you use my name.”

She paused for a beat. “Very well, Isaac.” She tugged her fingers free but he immediately reclaimed them. “I am not sure you should hold my hand. Anyone might walk in on us at any moment.”

“Jake has business to attend to and no one else will interrupt us.”

“You seem very much at home in Lord Torbay’s household. Do you always live here when you are in London?”

“I have my own rooms in Brook Street but Jake keeps me so busy I seldom see them.”

“And you are a gentleman of leisure, free to do as you please?”

“Hardly that, but I am comfortably situated. My parents still live and they run the family estate in Hertfordshire with the help of my brothers. Fortunately my grandfather left all of his grandchildren provided for and so I am free to pursue my own interests.”

“Now let me see if I recall.” Eva toyed with her lower lip, plucking it with her forefinger, a gesture Isaac found enticing. How much longer he would be able to resist kissing the plump lips she was mindlessly teasing was anyone’s guess. “Your father is the Marquess of Hereford. You are the youngest of five, having two older brothers and two sisters, and you were probably horribly spoiled and indulged as a consequence.” She abandoned her lip and smiled at him instead. “You see, I haven’t forgotten everything I learned about eligible partis prior to my come-out.”

Isaac laughed. “Your memory is in fine working order. But to answer your earlier question, I went into the law when I left university. For some years I argued cases at the Old Bailey, with a modicum of success. Then, a few years ago, Jake requested my help with one of his cases and…well, I now spend more time working for him than doing anything else.”

“You enjoy taking risks?”

“Certainly I do. What gentleman of leisure does not?” He coiled one of her curls around his forefinger, brushing his knuckles against her neck as he did so. “Are you wondering when I intend to claim my kiss?”

“No!”

“Liar.” He moved closer and breathed softly on her neck, sending a shiver of anticipation trickling down her spine. “If you lie to me I shall have to punish you,” he whispered.

“Punish me? No thank you. I’ve received more than enough of that at my husband’s hands.”

“There you go again, comparing the two of us. I should have thought last night would have shown you that we have little in common.”

“Yes, I apologise for insulting you. Even so, I have no wish to be punished.”

“Perhaps that is because you have never been punished by a man who intends for you to enjoy the experience.”

“I can’t imagine enjoying being humiliated.”

“You are obviously not aware that the dividing line between pleasure and pain is so thin as to be diaphanous. It is simply a matter of learning how to control your reactions and allowing your body to do the rest.”

He slid one hand along the back of her neck, drawing her closer until only a fraction of an inch separated their mouths.

“You fascinate me, Lady Eva.” He brushed his lips softly against hers. She gasped but didn’t attempt to evade him. “Relax, sweetheart. I don’t intend to ravish you quite yet.”

She gulped. “But you do intend to?”

“Certainly, if you will permit it.”

She trembled, but Isaac could tell from the unguarded passion and curiosity reflected in her eye that she didn’t do so because she was cold. Or afraid.

“I might need time to get used to having a choice.”

He imbued his predatory chuckle with a wealth of self-confidence. “Oh, you don’t, not really. I won’t force you. Your body will make the decision for you.” He touched her lips again. “I suspect it already has.”

“You have certainly made me curious.”

“Then tonight I will claim my kiss, and take you a step further, but not past the point of no return.” He kissed the back of her hand. “But now, you must excuse me, I have business to attend to myself. We will meet again at luncheon.”

Isaac left her seated on the settee and walked towards the door. He glanced back at her, thinking how endearingly lovely she looked. Even if he hadn’t had an errand to take care of for Jake, he would have left her anyway. If he didn’t distance himself from her immediately, he wouldn’t be able to wait another hour to hold her in his arms. Really, Lady Eva had a lot to answer for. Before she had come along he’d been perfectly content with his life. Thanks to his obliging brothers, there was no pressure upon him to marry, and he had enjoyed his time working and playing with Jake.

But now, Eva had turned his well-organised existence on its head. She was like no woman he had ever met before and he was fascinated by her. Her haunting, aesthetic beauty, her fragile vulnerability and quite extraordinary sensuality drew him like a moth to flame. He wanted her, not just for now but as a constant companion.

Unfortunately she had a very aggrieved husband sitting in Sloane Street, awaiting her return. One who would do whatever it took to regain control of her. Isaac was equally determined. No matter how this business ended, she would not return to Woodstock. Isaac didn’t have the slightest concerns about living with her out of wedlock, if he could persuade her to agree to the unorthodox arrangement. Woodstock would never leave them in peace, of course, but if Jake managed to pull this assignment off then Woodstock would have more immediate concerns, like avoiding the noose. Then there was the question of Eva’s daughter. Somehow she must be plucked from beneath her husband’s roof and returned to her mother’s loving care.

Isaac sighed. Why did life have to be so damned complicated? He would continue to arouse Eva’s passions but absolutely would not fuck her, no matter how great the temptation, until this assignment came to a successful conclusion. Sometimes being noble was a damned curse.

***

Stoneleigh had always known little Grace would be the catalyst that led them to Lady Eva. With that in mind he put himself in charge of the men watching Mary and the child in the park. He wanted to be the one to return the recalcitrant woman home. Woodstock could be generous to a fault when a person did something to please him.

As he settled down to wait, he mulled the situation over in his head. Woodstock was a fool to cling to Lady Eva. Anyone with eyes in their head could see she despised him and everything he stood for. Worse, all his enemies knew she was his one weakness. Stoneleigh smacked his lips together, well able to understand why he was so smitten. If the day ever came when he finally got rid of her, Stoneleigh would give her a tumble himself and show her what it was like to be fucked by a real man. His cock thickened and he adjusted it inside his breeches, not especially caring if his arousal was obvious to passers-by.

Stoneleigh had managed to spy on Woodstock once when he had Lady Eva spread beneath him, open and unwilling. She had lain there like a corpse, head turned to one side, her expression contemptuous and repelled. Her dead eyes stared straight at the panelling Stoneleigh was hidden behind, as though she knew he was there and was begging him to rescue her.

“Soon, little lady,” he muttered, sliding a hand into his pocket and gently rubbing his still rigid cock. “Soon I’ll show you how it feels when it’s done right.”

Stoneleigh also regularly spied on Woodstock when he was with Rose. A man could learn a lot to his advantage through voyeurism. Woodstock was a different person when he was with Rose, giving it to her hard and rough, slapping her about, filling her every orifice with his less than impressive erection. Rose egged him on, stroking his ego as well as his cock, but only because he paid her so well. Rose had told him on more than one occasion that only Stoneleigh’s thick knob gave her true satisfaction. Now she was in the family way but was unsure whether the brat in her belly was Woodstock’s or his.

Either way, it didn’t matter. Stoneleigh had taken the money Woodstock intended to pay Rose off with and used it to set her up in a small room not that far from the one Lady Eva had recently occupied. She was his now. He would support her and the kid, just so long as she did as she was told and let him slack his lust whenever the fancy took him. When he got tired of her, he’d set her to work at what she did best, which wasn’t cleaning out grates. She was far better at lying on beds than she was at making them. He was on good terms with the landlord in a Covent Garden tavern. Rose, with her easy-going ways and willingness to do just about anything, could make a small fortune for him in that establishment.

Stoneleigh was proud of himself for being such a philanthropist. Not many people would bother with a fallen housemaid who had thrown her weight around without actually pulling it. She was the master’s plaything and had Stoneleigh as her protector and so none of the senior staff beneath Woodstock’s roof dared to confront her when she was slipshod around the house.

Hardly surprisingly, the rest of the household had been delighted by her spectacular fall from grace, unaware that Stoneleigh had taken her in. His cock twitched as he anticipated returning to the room he had installed her in. He’d already thought of a few inventive ways in which she could express her gratitude.

“Hey up!”

Mary and Grace had arrived at the lake. Stoneleigh had stationed himself there a while back, aware the lake was their regular destination because Grace enjoyed feeding the ducks. Several other children were doing the same thing, closely supervised by their nannies. There appeared to be a mother or two amongst them as well. One such had crouched down beside Grace, talking to a little boy of about the same age, including Grace in whatever she was saying. Both children laughed, as did Mary. Stoneleigh couldn’t see the woman’s face, but he could sure as hell see her body, and what he saw made his already throbbing cock stiffen painfully.

“Who the devil is she?” he asked aloud. “Wouldn’t mind introducing myself.”

She was obviously a lady so that was out of the question. Still, a man could dream, couldn’t he? It wasn’t Lady Eva, but could it be one of her friends? The woman retreated to a bench, a safe distance away from the lake. Her child attempted to bowl a hoop that was almost as big as he was, under the watchful eye of his nurse. It was a pleasant day and the nannies seemed in no hurry to return to their respective households. Many stood in groups gossiping, others occupied the benches surrounding the lake. Grace ran out of food for the ducks and Mary encouraged her away from the lake. She looked around and then sat in the only remaining seat, beside the woman who had attracted Stoneleigh’s attention. Grace sat at her feet and appeared happy to play with a doll.

Stoneleigh’s suspicions were alerted, although he couldn’t precisely say why. He watched closely to see if the woman engaged Mary in conversation but was interrupted when one of his men came up behind him.

“Who’s the woman, Barker?” Stoneleigh asked.

“No idea.”