Chapter Four

Mitch went back downstairs and made straight for his office at the back of the house, where he rang for a servant. One of the mechanicals hurried in.

He employed two human servants—one of them the chauffeur and the other the cook—and three automatons. All the mechanicals were high-quality, silver models, none of the hybrids for him, though the hybrid automatons in the city, as it was now rumored, had started producing their own.

The one that rushed in had been created to act as a housemaid. It had blue glass eyes in a burnished, vaguely sculpted face.

“Bring me bandages and iodine,” he told it.

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ve cut my wrist.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Oh, and get me a scotch.”

“Sir.”

The automaton hurried out, and Mitch gazed around his office with distracted eyes. He’d situated it here at the rear of the ground floor where his men could come and go through a separate entrance, taking care of business without disturbing the workings of the household.

Now he suddenly realized the place looked like a tip. He wasn’t much with paperwork—never had been. Accounts were even worse. But he knew how to rake in a buck.

He always thought of this room as the heart of his kingdom. But at the moment, his kingdom looked a little tarnished.

What had he done? What, upstairs in his wife’s room? Frightened her? Spoiled his chances? Lost her for good?

No, he hadn’t lost her. You could only lose something you’d once had; he’d never had Tessa in the first place.

Now he knew why.

She loved somebody else. Another man. She’d come to him with her heart already engaged elsewhere.

He’d never had a chance.

“Damn it.” He pounded his hand on the desk, behind which he sat. That only made the bite hurt more.

Somebody might have told him that before he married her. Her blasted father might have—if he knew. Or Tessa herself might have.

Would he have cared? Honestly, he doubted it. He’d wanted her from the first, and the fire had only built from there.

He shouldn’t have kissed her like that, upstairs. But he’d seen red when she said she loved somebody else. He’d wanted to show her—

What? That he was the brute she already believed him? That he loved her more than anyone else ever could?

Now he had choices to make.

He could let her go. No, that would never happen.

He could continue waiting for her to come around and want him. Which might never happen either.

He could find out who this man was, the one she said she loved, and off him, thus eliminating the competition.

Yeah, he liked that option best. Of course if Tessa found out, it would make her hate him forever. Which just meant he couldn’t let her find out.

The mechanical came back in with a basin and some bandaging. Mitch submitted himself to her cold touch, thinking all the while of his wife upstairs. How hot and sweet her mouth had tasted. How it felt when she flexed her body beneath his. The thrilling feel of her breasts touching his chest, even just through their clothes.

Only imagine when he had her naked and willing, crying his name in demand.

It would happen. He always got what he wanted, however impossible. He just had a few obstacles in the way this time.

On one thing he’d insist—when it happened he wanted her to want him.

After the maid left, he went and summoned one of the fellows from the yard. A few always hung around back there, runners and agents, in case he needed anything.

Tiny came into the office, his flat cap pushed to the back of his head, the stub of a cigar between his teeth. Tiny had a wizened look, a result of growing up in Carter House with the rest of them. A wonder how Mitch had grown so tall on the poor fare provided in that hell hole—except he’d got out first and started providing for himself before he could ransom the rest of them. And he’d perfected the art of stealing food long before that.

Tiny had little, pale blue eyes in a face like a monkey’s and wore a perpetually worried look.

“Yeah, Boss?”

“I’ve got a job for you. Strictly on the Q.T.”

“Fair enough.” Tiny’s standard response to most things. Roll an old man for a penny? Fair enough. Steal a carriage? Fair enough. Blackmail a policeman? Sure!

“Nobody can find out, mind. I’m trusting you.”

“What is it, Boss?”

“My wife,” Mitch began and got no farther before Tiny’s expression set. None of the fellows had approved of him marrying Tessa, as he well knew. A few, including Tiny, had even said so.

You can do better, Boss. Those had been Tiny’s words, as he recalled. Find a real woman.

Tessa was a real woman. Having just felt her body beneath his, he could testify to that.

“I want you to find out something about her, about an acquaintance of hers.” He corrected himself carefully. “Former acquaintance. There’ll be a man, one who has…engaged her affections.”

Tiny’s eyes bulged. “You don’t say?”

Mitch silenced him with a glare. “I just want you to discover the man’s name, nothing more. You understand?”

“She been two-timing you?”

Mitch didn’t know, but he wouldn’t admit that. He shook his head. “I just need his name. And where to find him. He and I may need a talk.”

“Damn, Boss. I did warn—”

“You did, and that’s in the past.”

“I’ll put our best men on it. I think we’ve got a contact—a ladies’ maid—in her father’s house.”

“Good. I trust you, Tiny.”

“You can trust me with your life, Boss. You’re the one got me out of Carter’s. I’d do anything for you.”

“I know.”

“Hey, Boss, you ever think about going back there?”

“To Carter’s? Hell, no.” Only in nightmares.

“I mean to, maybe, destroy the place. Burn it down.”

“An interesting idea.”

“I think about it a lot.”

“What about all the little kiddies inside, eh, if you torched it?”

“They’d thank us.”

“Not if they fried.”

Tiny said with certainty, “Death would be better.”

“Maybe. But they’ll get out in due time and make men of themselves, right, Tiny? The way we did.”

“God help ’em. Boss, do you remember—”

“I don’t want to think about that place, Tiny.”

“But do you—”

“I said I don’t want to think about it.”

“Right, Boss. I’ll go start making these inquiries.”

“Good man.”

“Meanwhile, do you want someone to follow your wife? If she goes out, I mean.”

“Might not be a bad idea. But be discreet, right?”

****

“I wanted to say,” Mitch drawled the next morning at breakfast, “I think you should quit staying so close to the house. I wouldn’t want you to feel like a prisoner here.”

Tessa looked up and encountered his gaze—very hazel in the clear light coming through the dining room windows, and dangerously watchful.

She’d barely been able to look at him since their encounter in her room yesterday—had barely been able to stop thinking about him, either. The way he’d kissed her, with such thoroughness and heat. The sensation of his body covering hers. The way he looked at her.

The way he watched her now.

What did it mean?

And his words—they must be a trap of some sort. Had to be.

“Uh…” She hesitated. “Where would I go?”

“Shopping, maybe. I can arrange accounts at any shops you like. Socializing. Visit your family or friends.”

A trap, most definitely. He thought she’d lead him to Richard.

As if she’d be that foolish.

“Well, perhaps.” She looked at her plate. The food on it suddenly sickened her.

The little dog, Valerie, sat on her lap. She ran a hand over its smooth back. “I’ll give it some thought.”

“Tessa…” Mitch spoke her name to regain her attention. “I feel we’ve begun badly. But I want our marriage to succeed. We need to strike a balance where we both get what we need.”

Tessa’s eyes narrowed. What did that mean? She had her suspicions, and they made her heart start to beat double time. After what had happened yesterday in her room, she couldn’t doubt what he wanted. Would he bargain for it?

Of course. Men like him always bargained or threatened. Coarse men, toughs, hard—

She halted her thoughts there, when she remembered the way his body had felt against hers. Hard. She flushed involuntarily.

Breathless, she said, “Depends on what I say I need, doesn’t it?”

He eyed her steadily. “I’ll give you anything within reason, if we can have a regular husband-wife relationship.”

By God! He still wanted her, even though she’d blurted out the truth about Richard.

But would he be willing to let her see Richard—have a relationship with him on the side—if she shared his bed?

For an instant her mind blanked on the thought. Alone in the bed with Mitch Carter, at his mercy, naked and utterly vulnerable.

She whispered, “You saying our marriage should be a bargain?”

“All marriages are bargains, at least the way I see it.”

She tipped her chin up. “Ideally, there should be love.”

Something flickered in his eyes. “Ideally. But you’ve confessed you’re in love with another man.”

“A person can’t help her feelings.”

“That’s true.”

“So—what are you saying?”

“I’m saying I want you to be…content. I want both of us to be.”

“And…and what will make you content?”

“You. In my bed.”

There it was, out in the open. Heat stained Tessa’s face. The mechanical maid came in carrying a fresh pot of tea. Tessa looked down at the dog in her lap while the maid bustled around.

Not till she left did Tessa say, “I’m afraid I can’t…”

“Not yet, maybe.”

Silence fell, alive and vibrating.

Tessa broke it with sudden haste. “Perhaps I will go out today, visit my parents.”

“Good I’m sure they’d like to see you. I have business all day anyway. Why don’t you take the steamcar? I’ll get a cab.”

“I don’t like the steamcar.”

“Why?”

“It’s too big, too ostentatious.” Did he even know what that word meant?

“Then I’ll use the car. You have the doorman call a cab.” He flashed her a sudden, sharp-edged smile. “There now, we’re already discussing things like a proper man and wife.”