ELIZA COULD HAVE KISSED THE DRUNK INTRUDER. Hobbs had stopped a couple of feet away from the screen she was crouched behind, and she could hear Millie’s skirts moving to the door.
“Toodle-oo,” she trilled.
“Shit.” Hobbs obviously didn’t appreciate the interruption. But with the drunk crashing around the room, he had no choice but to retreat. “Ya’re in the wrong place if ya’re looking for the gents’. Millie, show ’im the way.”
Millie’s footsteps leaving the room did not slow, and the man seemed to be too drunk to care where he relieved himself.
“No need to trouble yourself, I’ll just be a moment.”
Actually locating a chamber pot seemed to be quite beyond him, though. Eliza heard him weave his way from screen to screen until he stood right at the opening to the nook where she was hidden.
The moment he came into view, Eliza was grateful her hand was still over her mouth or another gasp would surely have escaped her.
Before her, disheveled and swaying, wearing another leather suit, this one decorated with elaborate beading and fringes, stood Henry’s friend Allen. And when he saw her, he flashed her a brilliant smile and moved behind her screen toward her.
“Ah, the pot.”
As soon as he could no longer be seen from the room, he mouthed “close your eyes” to her. She complied, and within seconds she heard him relieve himself into the chamber pot.
Allen let out a satisfied sigh while the tinkling in the pot slowed, and on the other side of the screen Eliza heard Hobbs chuckle to himself.
“I guess I start ’earin’ things in me old age.” Then he walked away from them and out the door.
Eliza could hear the swish of Allen’s leather suit, and then his hand touched her shoulder, and when she looked up at him he pressed a finger to his lips. They heard the door close behind Hobbs, and Allen peeked over the screen to make sure he was indeed gone, then helped Eliza to her feet. “My apologies, Miss Eliza. That rotter was so suspicious, it was the only way I could think of to convince him you weren’t here, or at least not behind this particular screen.”
Her legs were so weak she had to lean against him, and he obligingly wrapped his arms around her. But when her overtaxed brain put together why he was apologizing, she chuckled. “I grew up in an inn. Most drunks don’t give a toss who they piss in front of. In fact, I want to thank you for warning me to close my eyes; it’s much appreciated.”
Allen laughed and pulled her closer. “If I couldn’t see how good you are for Henry, I would do my best to steal you away from him.”
She knew he was just flirting, but she felt a little spark that went beyond being grateful for his timely intervention, so she felt the need to clarify. “And if I didn’t owe him my life twice over, I might even consider it.”
Allen’s amusement turned into a real smile. “Brave, loyal, beautiful, and sensible. Henry truly is a lucky man.”
She blushed at his compliment and, since her legs had steadied under her, playfully pushed him away. “You forgot to add ‘not easily duped.’”
He chuckled and pulled her out from behind the screen and toward the mirrors. “You stay here till you hear three knocks on the door.” He demonstrated on the wall: three sharp knocks, separated by a full beat in between. “Robert should have whisked his wayward mistress to the dance floor by now, and I’m off to become Hobbs’s new, best drinking companion.” He winked at her. “I might even let him find me a girl.”
She burst out laughing at the tease. “Oh! Charming, handsome, and fickle. You are indeed a bargain, aren’t you.”
It felt good to relieve the tension, but she wouldn’t feel safe until Henry was back by her side. Allen must have seen some of what she felt, because he pulled up a chair and laid a hand on her shoulder to urge her to take a seat. “Henry will come get you as soon as I manage to drag Hobbs out of sight.”
She looked up at him, some of her apprehension leaving her at knowing Henry was near, but now that she was calmer, questions started to form. “How did you know where I was?”
“I didn’t. I lost Hobbs in the crowd and went up to the stage to see if I could relocate him. There I ran into Robert, who had misplaced his mistress but was surrounded by a pack of giggling hens. When Henry stormed into the box, demanding to know where you were, Robert realized you hadn’t come back from the retiring room.”
Eliza was more confused rather than enlightened by this speech. “So how did you end up coming to my rescue?”
“Well, I’m the only one not known to either Hobbs or Millie.”
Eliza nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense. But how did you know we were all here?”
There was a note of admiration in Allen’s voice. “Ah, that’s Henry in action for you. Within two minutes of knowing you might be in danger, he knew where Astor was, and had found out Millie was in the same ladies’ room as you. It was clear you were held up in there in some manner, and so I was dispatched to eavesdrop at the door and intervene if necessary.” His grin threatened to split his face. “I did, and then I did!”
Eliza squeezed the hand still resting on her shoulder. “You three are really good at this, aren’t you? Thank you.”
“You are quite welcome. I had better go so Henry can get you out of here. I shall see you tomorrow. From what I could hear through the door, you getting stuck in here may have been worth it.”
He beamed at her, then crashed through the door and into the corridor beyond, back to playing the drunk.
The door slammed shut, and Eliza attempted to gather her scattered thoughts, but she was still slumped in her chair when the door opened and two women entered. The older one of the two sent Eliza a motherly smile. “Too much drink or too much dancin’, deary?”
Eliza produced a tired smile and her best cockney accent. “A bit of both.”
The women laughed and headed for a screen.
When the three knocks sounded, signaling the hallway was clear, Eliza heaved a dramatic sigh. “Christ, I ’ope that’s me man ready to take me ’ome.”
She headed for the door and slipped out to the sound of the other women chuckling. Hopefully, her little role play would be enough to cover her tracks completely.
HENRY TOOK ONE LOOK AT Eliza and knew it was time to call a halt to the night’s adventures. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. “Lean into me, Eliza; it will stop all but the most persistent of my acquaintances from trying to engage us in conversation.”
Eliza promptly wrapped her arm around Henry’s middle and aimed a seductive smile at him. He returned a similar smile, caught the hand at his hip, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Excellent.”
Tired and weary, but looking to all the world like an amorous couple, they negotiated the corridor in good time and were ambling up the stairs when Henry leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Giggle as if I just said something naughty. That’s Astor coming down the stairs.”
Eliza managed a coy giggle, playfully swatted at Henry, and took a surreptitious look at the lord with the cold gray eyes staring daggers at Henry as he passed. Once he was out of earshot, she stretched up to whisper in Henry’s ear, “If looks could kill, you would be bleeding to death draped over the railing.”
Henry made no attempt to see in which direction Astor had gone, but listened carefully to the direction of his clicking heels on the marble in the dark foyer below. “He must be up to something. He hasn’t been this obvious in his hostility toward me in a decade.”
“I think Ho … ”
Henry cut her off with a kiss. “Not here. You will tell me everything at home whilst I ply you with hot chocolate and rub your feet.”
Eliza rested her head on his shoulder. She needed the safety of Henry’s arms and longed for the security of his home after her adventure in the retiring room and the malevolence of Astor’s presence. “God, that sounds good. Take me home, Henry.”
Henry nuzzled into her unbound hair. “I intend to, my sweet.”
They reached the box, and Henry opened the door quietly. In the dim light inside the small space, he couldn’t see anybody. “Daisie, are you in here?”
There was a pause, then a small, shaky voice came from behind a drape at the back of the box. “Here.”
In front of that drape stood the sofa where they had left their capes. Henry was around the sofa in two steps and crouched next to where Daisie had crumpled to the floor in a miserable heap.
“What happened?”
There wasn’t enough room for Eliza to wedge behind the sofa as well, so she knelt on it instead and leaned over the back. “You all right, love?”
Daisie’s relief at seeing both Henry and Eliza was obvious. She tried a shaky smile, but her lips trembled uncontrollably. Almost an hour had elapsed since she and Henry had parted in the foyer, and she had not stopped shaking since. Her panicked eyes found Henry’s. “Lord Pain! I kept an eye on ’im, but then ’e started lookin’ up ’ere, like ’e could feel me lookin’, somehow knew I ’ad talked about ’im. And then ’e left the balcony and I got so scared I hid behind ’ere.”
Henry had taken possession of both her hands at the mention of her tormentor and squeezed them, trying to calm her. Daisie’s pupils were dilated, her eyes unfocused as if she were in shock, and her voice was reed-thin, her cockney almost impenetrable.
“Did anything happen?” He was starting to get truly worried about her.
“He came in ’ere not three minutes ago.”
“Did he see you?”
She shook her head in short, sharp jerks as if to shake out the mere idea of Astor seeing her, finding her. “No, I was down ’ere.”
With a gentle hand under her chin, Henry turned her head and forced her gaze to his. When her eyes focused on his, he spoke again. “Daisie, he is gone. We passed him on our way up. And then I heard him exit through the foyer. He is no longer in this building.”
Daisie nodded slowly and took a deep breath. “I was so bloody scared.”
Henry rubbed her icy hands and watched her closely as the panic receded and her resolve returned. His voice was soft but firm. “I’m here, and as long as I am, he cannot touch you.”
Her eyes remained focused on him, trying to accept his vow to protect her. Once her hands had warmed in his and her breathing evened out, he nodded to Eliza to get ready and crawled out from behind the settee. “We need to get you home.”
Eliza had already taken the wings off her shoulders and pulled the heavy curtain aside. Henry extended his hand to Daisie. “Can you stand?”
Once Henry had Daisie on her feet, Eliza draped the gray cloak around her friend’s still-shaking shoulders. Then she handed Henry his and wrapped herself in her own, while Henry kept his hand on Daisie’s elbow to steady her.
“Come on, love. Sir Henry promised me hot chocolate, we’ll share it.” That earned her a little smile, and this time Daisie’s lips did not tremble.
They got downstairs, through the foyer and into Henry’s coach without any further incident and started the journey back to Cavendish Square in exhausted silence.
FROM DEEP IN THE RECESS between two columns, a tall, cloaked shadow separated itself from the darkness all around and stepped into the road to glare after the departing coach.
“Enjoy these days of peace, ‘Sir’ Henry. I promise they will be your last.”
ONCE HE HAD THE WOMEN safely back within his own walls where he could protect them, Henry tasked Mrs. Tibbit with taking Daisie a cup of hot chocolate and tucking her into bed with a hot water bottle. Once the good lady had hustled Daisie to her room on the top floor, fussing all the way, Henry ordered the promised hot chocolate for Eliza and led her up to his rooms.
A cozy wood fire crackled in his bedchamber, and he led her to the Gobelin-covered high-backed armchair in front of it. Taking her cloak off her shoulders, he sat on the matching ottoman in front of her and removed her satin sandals.
A footman arrived with their chocolate and poured them both a cup of the hot goodness. Once the footman had retreated, Henry filled a porcelain basin with water from the pitcher warming by the fire and proceeded to wash Eliza’s tired feet for her.
Who knew having one’s feet washed could be such a singular experience? So intimate, so caring, and so utterly reassuring. Eliza let out a long sigh, leaned back, and closed her eyes. She could not have said why, but with his hands washing away the evening’s adventures, she felt like she was indeed home and safe and capable of just about anything.
“Now, my sweet, tell me what happened in the retiring room.”
Eliza allowed herself a long pause, during which Henry dried her feet and started to massage them with surprising skill. Eventually, she told him everything in meticulous detail, from the moment she’d entered the retiring room to the moment he had knocked three times, leaving out nothing except for Allen’s flirtatious comments.
Henry kept working on her feet throughout and was silent for a long while after. Finally he released her feet to the carpet, took her empty cup from her hand, and helped her out of the chair. “You are a very brave woman, Eliza. You kept your head and remembered all the details. I am so very proud of you.”
Henry’s praise warmed Eliza from the inside, filled her with a glow she had rarely experienced in her former life. Except for her parents, she could not remember anybody ever telling her she had done anything right, much less well.
She blushed and bowed her head and leaned into him, clearly tired.
“Time for bed, my sweet. And tomorrow, first thing, I will put a man at Miss Clara Adams’s house. If she has a daughter, I believe that is who Hobbs is about to abduct.” He kissed her forehead, helped her disrobe, and tucked her into bed. He shed his own costume, made short work of washing off the remaining gold powder, blew out the candles, and joined her under the covers.
But when he pulled Eliza into his arms to tempt her into a little late night loving, she had already fallen into a deep sleep. Chuckling, Henry spooned himself behind her and settled in for the night.
HENRY AWOKE TO THE GRAY light of morning filtering in through the gaps around the curtains and the sweet weight of Eliza’s head resting on his biceps. The cold winter light and the morning chill in the room contrasted sharply with the sleepy warmth of her body. Her backside was intimately cuddled into his groin, and her hand wrapped around the two middle fingers of his right hand, while his left hand cupped one of her breasts.
Henry savored the feel of his bedmate in his arms for a few moments. Eliza was still fast asleep, and even though Henry wanted nothing more than to nuzzle and burrow into her warmth, he recognized it wasn’t fair to deprive her of sleep after the adventure she’d had the night before. At any rate, he was now wide awake with the day’s challenges pressing on his mind.
Henry gently extricated himself from Eliza’s sleeping form, wrapped himself in his thick, quilted dressing gown, stepped into his slippers, and went about stoking the fire back to life. Once he had achieved a cheerful blaze, he took himself to the library, where he dashed off a number of notes, summoning all involved parties to a meeting later that morning.
To avoid suspicion in case his house was watched, he sent his footman with all three messages to the alehouse as if fetching his morning ale. His man was then to send the messages via some of the exinfantry men frequenting the place and return, ale in hand.
In the meantime, Henry took his morning tea and looked through his mail. Before long, there was a tap on the rear library window, and Henry had the pleasure of shaking hands with one of his old comrades. Elijah was one of Henry’s most trusted men, and the two of them conferred quietly through the open window.
Before the sun had time to break through the morning mist, the man was dispatched to watch over Miss Clara Adams and her daughter, if indeed she had one, and report all unusual activity.
The bracing morning air had cleared Henry’s head, and he lingered in the library over his second cup of tea for some time, trying to work out why Astor was all of a sudden so openly hostile toward him.
He felt increasingly certain that whatever Astor was planning, it had something to do with him, but he couldn’t figure out what the connection was. He was missing something, something crucial. The uncomfortable feeling that something important was staring him right in the face became more pronounced the longer he thought about it, but it didn’t give him any further insight into what that something might be. Eventually, he banished the whole conundrum to the back of his mind, to be reexamined later as more facts came to light.
Henry thought it possible Astor was aware of his ignorance, counted on it, and enjoyed it with all the fiendish malice he was capable of. He was powerless to stop whatever injury Astor was about to do him, because he had no idea what it was.
Henry could only go by the information he had. He would try to block Astor’s next move without jeopardizing the twin goals of eliminating Astor legally and for good, and getting Hobbs off the streets by any means necessary—as long as it happened outside of London’s city limits.
It was a battle of wits, and so far Henry was swinging his rapier in the dark. But whichever way Henry looked at it, it was imperative Astor continued to consider Henry ignorant of any possible danger to him and his, and that prompted him to send Robert a second note to ask him to come incognito.
Having taken care of all that could be done for now, and knowing his guests would not arrive for several hours, Henry ordered fresh tea and took the tray upstairs to seek the comfort and warmth of his bed, and the woman in it.