Victorian Vigilantes 01 - Saving Grace (3 page)

“I had to prioritise,” Stoneleigh replied, shrugging. “I set your people to search the most likely places first. Didn’t occur to us that Lady Eva would go anywhere near Whitechapel.”

It hadn’t occurred to William either. Unfortunately for Stoneleigh, just the thought of his sheltered wife being exposed to the brutal realities of life in that part of London only served to fuel his rage.

“We…that is to say I, assumed she would run to the West End and turn to one of her swanky friends for shelter—”

“Why, in your expert opinion, would my wife require shelter?” William’s voice was reduced to a sibilant hiss. “She has a perfectly safe home here.”

“Well, I…” Stoneleigh shuffled his feet. He usually said whatever he wished in front of his employer without fear of retribution. Clearly he understood that privilege didn’t apply when discussing Lady Eva. “She was scared. Not surprising after what she saw, so I figured she would go back to the people where she felt most at home.”

When William considered what she
had
actually seen he could no longer contain his temper, especially since he was powerless to discipline the man who had dared to threaten his wife and caused her to bolt in the first place. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on William. At last he had an opportunity to carve out a niche for himself as one of the wealthiest and most influential individuals in the realm. Influential for reasons that would be frowned upon, he understood that much, but you had to play the hand life dealt you and make the best of it.

After this episode, like him or hate him, society would no longer be able to turn its back on him—especially not with Eva at his side. Her pedigree was impeccable. She also looked like an angel, was known to and respected by everyone whom it was worth knowing, and was welcomed everywhere. Even though society frowned upon William, Eva was still received when she called upon her elite friends. Not that he allowed her to do so very often. He didn’t like her going places where he was unable to control the situation. It was a balancing act, from William’s perspective. It suited his ambitions for the higher echelons of society to remember who she was and, by association, whom she was married to. Familiarity didn’t always breed contempt.

Privately, William agreed with Stoneleigh. When Eva didn’t return home, his first thought was that she must have gone to one of her aristocratic friends. At least that meant she would be out of harm’s way, until she came to her senses and returned home. Being a patient man, William knew it could only be a matter of time before she had to come back, voluntarily or otherwise. The law was on his side and no one had the right to forcibly separate a man from his legal wife.

Now he knew she had been hiding in Whitechapel of all places, his blood ran cold. She had virtually no money, as borne out by the fact that she’d been forced to hock her wedding ring. The very ring he had had designed especially for her and slid onto her delicate finger five years previously. William chose to believe Eva loved him in her own way and would never remove that ring unless she was desperate.

But just how desperate was she and what else had she been forced to contemplate in order to stay alive? By God, if another man had laid so much as one finger on his wife he would track that man down and tear him apart with his bare hands. Then he would beat her senseless for allowing it.

He would beat her anyway for her disloyalty; for daring to show independence and distracting him at such a crucial point in his planning. When he ought to be concentrating all his efforts on his latest endeavour, William was reduced to fretting over his ungrateful and disobedient wife.

At first he thought she would find her own way home and he was ready to forgive her for turning away from him. He could quite understand how afraid she must have been and he would have reassured her on that score. Now he had to face the unpalatable truth—a truth he would never willingly admit to anyone except himself—his wife had left because she no longer wished to be with him.

Damnation, she was his! He had saved her wretched family from ruin for her sake and yet all she had done during the entire course of their marriage was look down her pert little nose at him. Not that she ever dared to voice her disdain, but then she didn’t need to. He sensed it in every fibre of his being. She was cool and aloof with him and he was never able to interpret her thoughts. She erected a barrier around her emotions and never showed her feelings, except when she was with their daughter. That was why he had allowed her to keep the brat. In his innermost heart he had always known that in spite of his kindness and generosity, she despised him. But she adored the child and would never leave her, which ensured she would never leave William either.

Or so he’d always thought.

“Three days?” William’s voice rose. He so rarely shouted that Stoneleigh looked truly taken aback. “Three days this ring has been in your possession and only now I find out about it.”

“Well no. We only found it late last night.”

William crashed his fist on the surface of his desk. “I have been offering huge rewards for any information leading to my wife’s whereabouts this past week, and yet we have only just found out about the ring. Damn it man, this won’t do!”

William stood up and paced the length of the room. He hated losing his temper, couldn’t remember the last time it had happened, and strove to regain control of himself. He caught sight of his heightened complexion and wildly staring eyes in a nearby glass. He looked like a madman, barely recognisable; a timely reminder of the futility of anger that helped to calm him. Out of control people seldom made rational decisions. He took several deep breaths and waited until he felt he could safely speak again. Eva was the only person on the planet who had the ability to make him loose his composure so comprehensively, mainly because she was the only person in the world whom he cared about.

“All right,” he said, returning to his seat. “We now know she has been in Whitechapel. Why in the name of the devil has it taken this long to find out? A lady of quality would stand out like a fox in a hen house in such surroundings.”

“Like I say, we weren’t looking there.”

William wanted to throw something at the man for being so obtuse. Later he probably would, but right now he needed him. He took a deep breath and glanced up at his prized duelling swords, prominently displayed in a case on the wall opposite his desk. The jewelled hilts glistened in light reflected from the windows, helping to calm him. The swords were another purchase from a gentleman’s estate sale. William had thrown himself into the sport because it was an acceptable occupation for the gentleman he planned to turn himself into. It transpired he was a natural with a rapier—a skill he would put to good use when it came time to slice Eva’s lover through his miserable heart.

“What are you doing to track her down?” he asked Stoneleigh in a mordent tone.

“We’ve had a dozen people scouring the streets of Whitechapel since first light, asking at boarding houses, offering rewards for sightings of her. The net’s closing, sir. We’ll have her any time now.”

Before William could formulate a suitably scathing reply, a servant tapped on the door.

“Someone here to see Stoneleigh,” William’s butler said. “He says it’s regarding Lady Eva and is urgent.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?” William barked. “Send him in at once.”

A man William recognised but whose name escaped him walked into William’s inner sanctum.

“What news?” William demanded to know.

“We’ve managed to track a Mrs. Dalton down to a boarding house in Whitehall,” the man replied.

William tried not to show any reaction but suspected his relief was self-evident.

“Is she here?”

“No, sir. She was seen leaving the building this morning. Someone followed her to Mitre Square but before he could accost her, she got into a handsome.”

“So we’ve lost her again,” William said in a tone of muted fury.

“We went to the room she’s renting. The landlady says she has paid for another two nights and her possessions are all still there.”

“She has no possessions.”

“She bought a few essentials, apparently,” the man said gruffly.

William was suddenly grateful his wife didn’t choose to wear, at least during daylight hours, any of the expensive jewellery he’d bought her. Her unwillingness to do so used to irk him because it implied she was questioning his taste. It occurred to him now that just one of the huge diamonds he liked to see against her alabaster skin could have kept her in style for months. The abandonment of her wedding ring no longer seemed such a travesty, but more a sign of desperation.

“So, presumably she is planning to return,” William said pensively. “Have her quietly brought home the moment she does.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You can go,” he said to both men. “Oh, and Stoneleigh, send Rose to me.”

Stoneleigh smirked. “That I will.”

Rose was head parlour maid and everything Eva was not. She enjoyed William’s attentions and, unlike Eva, was inventive and athletic between the sheets. Not that he would ever want Eva to behave in such a manner, and would be shocked if she showed any inclination to do so. She was a lady and ladies didn’t enjoy sexual relations—it was merely a duty they bore with stoicism in order to please their husbands. Every night when William called upon Eva, she simply lay there like a statue, spread her legs without him having to ask and twisted her head away as though she didn’t wish to look at him.

That was the part William didn’t understand. He had been told by more women than he could count that he was both charming and pleasing to the eye. Why did Eva find it so distasteful to look upon him when all he wished to do was worship her? It made no sense at all. He felt as though he owned her body but there was a core part of her he could never touch.

He would be interested to know if all ladies of quality behaved thus when their husbands went to them. There was no one he could possibly ask.

Rose tapped on the door and entered without being told to do so.

“You sent for me, sir,” she said with a cheeky smile that both pleased and annoyed William.

“Go through and prepare yourself.”

William jerked a thumb towards the door to his adjoining bedroom. Rose swung her ample hips as she walked through the door, already unfastening her bodice. By the time William joined her she was completely naked, lying on his bed, looking a bit like a rotund cherub. She had gained weight recently, William thought off-handedly. He removed his jacket and unfastened his trousers, nothing more. He seldom chose to entertain women in the nude. His wife was the only lady entitled to enjoy the sight of him as nature intended.

“Hands and knees,” he said curtly.

Rose wiggled into position, her heavy breasts swinging beneath her like pendulums. Without preamble, William positioned himself behind her and grabbed at her breasts, gouging at them, while Rose made throaty noises of encouragement. He had never taken Eva in anything other than the missionary position. He never touched her lovely breasts with anything other than gentleness and consideration, simply because he respected her feelings.

William’s erection nudged at Rose’s entrance and she pushed back to welcome him inside. She disappointed him despite her enthusiasm because she wasn’t Eva—Eva, whom he longed for and missed more than he would have thought possible. Her treachery was like a physical ache. She was his one weakness and, try as he might, he couldn’t conquer his desire for her. Nothing he gave her would ever be enough for Eva, but William wasn’t noble enough to let her go. He needed her as much as he needed the air he breathed and the food that sustained him.

William slid into Rose and grabbed her hair. He yanked it hard and finished quickly, feeling little better than he had before he started. Since Eva’s betrayal, not even Rose could hold his attention.

“My my, sir, you were anxious to see me today.”

William got up and adjusted his clothing. “Get dressed and go back to your duties,” he said curtly.

“If it’s of no inconvenience, I need a word in private, sir. Something’s happened—”

“Not now.”

“Oh, but–”

William left the room without a backward glance.

Eva mentally conceded defeat. What madness had made her imagine she could ever outsmart a man of William’s ilk? His evil tentacles reached into every corner of society, even the rarefied echelons of Grosvenor Square, apparently. What other reason could these gentlemen possibly have had to lure her here? Disappointment, fatigue and a lack of food combined to make her feel lightheaded. Coherent thought, in her current agitated state, was near impossible. She gave up trying it and contemplated her hands instead, unaware what she should say, feeling alone, furious, and utterly desolate.

“Do not be alarmed, ma’am,” the earl said in a softly persuasive tone. “We mean you no harm.”

The expression of deep concern in his warm brown eyes was so convincing that an unfamiliar feeling of wellbeing seeped through her, almost persuading her to lower her guard. Almost. Eva reminded herself what was at stake as she attempted to assess the turn events had taken. Lord Torbay knew who she was and had the advantage of her. Had she realised he was
Lord
Torbay instead of just plain
Mister
Morton she would have been better prepared to face him—or else she wouldn’t have come at all.

Damn it, she should have made the connection anyway. As it was, she was unequal to meeting the intelligence she saw reflected in those compelling eyes and turned away, taking a moment to collect herself.

Lord Torbay was probably now thirty-five. He’d been considered the catch of the season when she had her own come-out six long years ago, and for many seasons before that. But even the most determined of debutantes had been unable to persuade him to the altar. His chiselled features, beautifully displaced, his elegance, wealth and charm were a potent combination and she could quite understand why so many ladies had attempted to ensnare him.

Had her circumstances been different, perhaps she would have joined their number, but at the time she had been more concerned about her family’s perilous circumstances than her own future. Marriage to a bully and tyrant had quickly followed, teaching her never to notice other gentlemen. Her husband seemed to think he could read minds and often punished her for having disloyal thoughts where none existed.