Chapter Nine

Will leaned his elbows on the roughened stone ledge of Pulteney Bridge and stared into the brown-green depths of the River Avon. The June sunshine dappled the water with sprinkles of silver as people walked along its banks toward the Parade Gardens beyond. As the church clock crept closer to midday, the area grew busy with maids hurrying along on errands and mothers gossiping as their children tossed stones into the water.

It should have been a scene worth painting. Yet, the reason for Will being there cast the scene in ugly gray.

The villain of the piece appeared at the steps leading to the walkway at the water’s edge below him. Will squinted and pursed his lips tightly together. Milne slowly descended, his head held high, his ever-present cane theatrically flicking outward as his booted feet touched each step.

Will shook his head. “You pompous ass.”

Milne continued to stroll along the side of the river, raising his hat to certain individuals whom he deemed worthy of acknowledgment. Others were ignored, despite their genial nods. He walked with the air of a man in control, a man who had the entire world at his feet.

Will smiled. Not for much longer, my friend.

Will pushed away from the ledge and strode along the road, keeping his gaze on Milne. Eventually, he’d have to come back up to street level. It had been almost two weeks since Will had left his rented room above a barbershop in town and moved into the Darson household. Five days since he’d kissed Emily. He wet his lips as he remembered how hers had tasted. Soft and as sweet as the freshest apricot, but when her tongue had met his so eagerly…Will swallowed. How he’d not taken her there and then he’d never know.

Drawing in a long breath, he forced his focus back on the man who continued to walk around thinking it was his right to marry a woman like that. Will’s gut lurched. He’d told himself over and over again since their kiss to walk away, to find another avenue to pursue that would ultimately result in Milne’s ruin. To keep his distance from a woman who haunted him day and night. Yet, he could not. He refused to take the risk of leaving Emily open to Milne’s danger and have him hurt her. The woman was beautiful inside and out and, even though Emily would never be his, he intended to ensure she didn’t waste her life with a bastard like Milne.

Will quickened his pace as Milne made his way toward the steps leading up from the riverside to street level and forced himself to concentrate on the day’s mission to orchestrate a separation between Milne and Emily forever.

Milne emerged onto the street and stopped. Will focused his attention. Milne’s eyes narrowed as he looked about him, his nose lifted as though sniffing the air like the mongrel he was. Will moved behind a flower stall. The pretty young girl working there lifted a bucket of Queen Anne’s lace onto an overturned crate and spotted him. She looked him up and down in open appreciation. Will flashed her a smile. Her cheeks turned rosy before her mother came up behind her and scolded her for daydreaming. Will’s smile widened when the girl smiled back at him and poked her tongue out at her mother’s turned back.

He turned. Milne was headed straight toward where Will hid. He shot back against the wall behind him, his heart beating fast. “Shit.”

Milne walked past.

Waiting a beat, Will exhaled his held breath and followed. Milne stopped every now and then to peer down his nose at a stallholder’s wares, predictably unaware of anyone but himself. Feigning interest in an earthenware pot in a stall a few feet away, Will pulled down the brim of his hat and hunched his shoulders. After a moment, Milne moved on and after another fifty yards, entered a side street.

“Hello then, where are you off to?” Will quickened his pace.

Milne trekked farther along the street, sporadically casting furtive glances over his shoulder. On the third occasion, Milne halted, his nose lifted to the air once more. Will ducked into a doorway and pressed his back against the wood. He squeezed his eyes shut as his pulse pounded in his temple. Had Milne seen him?

He counted to five before leaning out from his hiding place. Milne had walked on, his gait now a manic trot. Will grinned. With Milne’s height and weight, but lack of physical fitness, he bore the uncanny appearance of a gibbon with a stake shoved up its backside. Will came out of the doorway and followed Milne as he skulked out of the side street and into another. Unease stirred Will’s blood. Maybe Milne knew he was behind him and thoroughly enjoyed having the upper hand.

Suddenly he came to an abrupt stop, and Will hunched down behind some discarded boxes left on the curbside. If Milne confronted him, Will would have no choice but to give him the short and to the point punishment he’d had in mind when he first arrived in Bath. He curled his hands into fists. Retribution was often a dirty job, but he wasn’t averse to getting his hands dirty for a good cause.

He risked a peek around the boxes. Milne was bent at the waist, catching his breath. A slow smile curved Will’s mouth. It felt good to see the bastard vulnerable. The man spent far too much time hiding behind an upper-class veneer, trying to show the world he had no weaknesses.

Milne straightened and stared in Will’s direction for a horribly long time before he stepped to the closed door in front of him. He rapped his cane against it three times in quick succession. After a few seconds, the door opened. Neither the person at the door nor Milne spoke; he just walked inside and the door slammed closed.

Will cursed. He had no way of knowing who was in there, if they were male or female, young or old. Standing, Will removed his hat and swiped a hand across his brow. His mind whirled. Milne’s financial security was dependent on his marriage to Emily. As far as Milne was concerned, the marriage would go ahead no matter what. Which surely meant whatever or whoever had brought the son of a bitch to the seedier side of town must satisfy Milne’s other hankering. Lust.

Rage stabbed at Will’s chest. Clearly Milne still paid for the services of prostitutes. He closed his eyes. His mother wasn’t a prostitute. He refused to see her that way. She gave her body so Will could eat fresh food and sleep in a warm bed. She was a mother.

He opened his eyes and willed his breathing to slow. If Milne left one woman beaten and bloody, it was guaranteed he’d do it again. The image fanned Will’s motivation for revenge to fever pitch. Heat spread through his blood as he glared at the closed door. Why would a leech like Milne change just because he had one of the most wonderful women Will had ever met as his fiancée?

Bile rose in his throat as Emily’s exquisite face blurred with his mother’s swollen and bloody one. Milne had neither moral ground nor conscience. He needed to be squashed underfoot like vermin. The truth that there were more women out there beaten and left for dead roared through Will’s conscience. He should’ve tracked Milne down years ago. He should’ve gone after him no matter his mother’s protestations. He covered his face with trembling hands.

He could not lose control and risk being hanged. He’d promised his mother his neck would forever stay attached to his body, and on that he would deliver. As for the promise not to avenge her beating? He’d kept his fingers crossed behind his back for that one.

Female companions willing to share their special type of company could be found at nearly every street corner in certain areas of Bath, and someone with Milne’s wealth could pick and choose. Will lowered his hands and stared at the closed door. Why had Milne come here? Did this run-down, filth-ridden part of town singularly cater to his perversions? Did the woman behind the door provide a special service?

Will fought the need to bash the door down with his bare hands. He needed to put some space between himself and Milne, but at least it was a start that he’d discovered a place Milne visited. Pushing to his feet, Will walked back along the street as memories of his mother thrashed around inside his head like a macabre collection of picture postcards. Milne would never ask or care why the women he exploited did what they did. He would never consider the hardships they suffered to have no option but to stoop to the level of taking a man’s penis inside them over and over again. The piece of shit would view them as nothing more than a means to satisfy his desires.

Angry tears burned the back of Will’s throat. His mother sold herself only when she saw no other choice. Discreet, proud, clean, and softly spoken, his mother was a woman admired and respected. Even by the men who visited her. As a boy, he’d been confused by her visitors, yet happy to have a full belly and unafraid of any who spoke gently to her and kindly to him.

The noises of the busy main street interrupted Will’s reverie and he blinked. Tired to the marrow of his bones, he slumped to the ground, unable to face the crowds. His blood roared in his ears, and he pressed his fists to his temples to block out the shouts and cries of the street traders. The real noise—the noise scraping away at his soul—would not stop until Milne paid for what he’d done and continued to do.

Will stared back down the street toward the closed door before standing. As he battled with the decision to sprint back there and smash his way inside, the sound of a coin clinking to the ground at his feet stole his attention. The boy standing in front of him could have been Will fifteen years before. His jet-black hair was spiked in all directions, his clothes clean but ragged, his bright blue eyes shining with knowledge beyond his years.

“What you doing, mister?” The lad picked up the coin and flicked it into the air. He caught it deftly and enclosed it tightly in his hand. “You lost or something?”

A smile tugged Will’s lips. “I’m having a little look around. That all right with you?”

The boy grinned, his teeth showing as a white slash through his grime-covered face. “You’re thinking of paying a little visit to Laura, ain’t you?”

Will glanced toward the door. “Is that her name? The woman who lives in the house with the milk jugs outside?”

The boy’s smile faltered, and his eyes narrowed. “You ain’t here to cause her no hassle, are you? She’s lovely is Laura.”

“ ’Course not.” Will tugged at his jacket lapels. “Do I look like the type of gentleman who’d ever harm a lady?”

The boy looked him up and down and sniffed. “You don’t look like a gentleman.”

Will grinned. “You’ve got some spunk for a little one, haven’t you?”

The boy shrugged. “Have to, don’t I?”

“Here.” Will reached into his pocket. He pulled out a sixpence and held it between his forefinger and thumb in front of the boy’s face. “What can you tell me about little Miss Laura in exchange for this?”

The lad eyed the coin like it was a gold nugget. “That depends if you want to know about Laura or the halfwits who go in to see her.”

Will respected the boy’s integrity. He gave a slow nod as though considering his proposal. “Let’s start with the halfwits, shall we?”

The boy reached for the coin, but Will snatched it out of reach. “Information first.”

His new friend scowled and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “What d’ya want to know?”

Will tilted his head in the direction of the mystery residence. “A man went in there not more than fifteen minutes ago. I want to know how often he’s here and how long he’s been coming to see her.”

“What did he look like? Judging by the way you’re dressed, you’ll likely be more interested in the stuck-up toff than the geezer with six little ’uns terrified of making it seven.”

Will bit back a smile. “Who’s the toff?”

He crossed his arms. “Well, now, information on someone of that stature might cost you a bit more.”

“No, it won’t.”

The boy pulled back his shoulders. “It might.”

Will forced a glare. “No, son. It won’t.”

Color flushed high on the ragamuffin’s cheeks, and he uncrossed his arms and raised his palms in surrender. “Fine, fine. No need to start flexing your muscles. A kid’s got a right to try, ain’t he?” He glanced down the street. “He’s here every month around this time. He likes Laura, but if she brings a mate in to cover for her, he takes one of them. He ain’t fussy.”

Will followed his gaze. “How long has this been going on?”

“About a year, on and off, I reckon.”

“He’s only here once a month?”

“Yeah, I’m guessing it’s when his posh whore’s got the ladies’ monthly and he don’t want that on his whatsit.”

Will snapped his head around. “His posh whore?”

The boy’s eyes gleamed. “Ah, you didn’t know he had two on the go? If you want to know more, I’m going to have to insist—”

Will tossed him the sixpence. The kid caught it without blinking. Will drew out a second one and held it up. “It’s yours if I like what you say.”

The boy grinned. “Oh, you’ll like it, all right.”

Will’s blood pumped faster.

The boy sniffed and ran the sleeve of his torn jacket under his nose. “He’s got a mistress he keeps in her finery up on Milsom Street. People say she’s been servicing him since he was a teenager. Bit sick if you ask me. He’s stupid over her. Not in love or anything, but he’s got a nasty reputation for wanting things that are his to stay his, if you know what I mean. So rather than let her go, he set her up for his exclusive pleasure.”

“He’s known this woman since he was young?” Emily came into Will’s mind. She said she and Nicholas had known each other since childhood. Did she know the woman he kept as his mistress? Did she know he had a mistress? His stomach lurched with revulsion. How could Milne want any other woman than her?

“Oh, yeah. She works in the milliner’s. Keeps her reputation decent. Load of crap, ain’t it?”

“She’s part of his social set?”

“To a point. Her wealth don’t stretch to that of him and his fiancée, but it means—”

“Wait. You know about his fiancée?”

He laughed. “God, yeah. She’s the most beautiful woman you’ll ever see.” He gave a wolf whistle through his teeth. “She has masses of thick black hair. I bet it reaches to her waist when it ain’t all pinned and fussed with. And her body? Man, what I wouldn’t give to be left alone with her for an hour.”

Will couldn’t have agreed more, but he forced a scowl on his face. When he spoke, his tone was laced with anger. “How have you seen his fiancée?”

The boy frowned. “I don’t live in a bloody cave, mister. I venture into town every now and then. Those toffs can be generous with their donations to a lad on the street once they’ve got the liquor in ’em.”

“You’ve seen her with him?”

“Yep, her and the mistress at the same time sometimes.”

Shock kicked Will in the stomach. “What?”

“Yep. He gets off on it, I reckon. That beautiful woman ain’t got a clue her future husband goes out dancing with both her and his whore in the same damn room.”

Will tossed the second coin, and the boy snatched it in the air. “Cheers, mister. Good doing business with you.”

He moved to walk away, and Will caught his wrist. “You don’t tell anyone I was here asking questions, you hear?”

The boy winked. “No problem.”

Will released him, and his informant walked in the direction of the town center. Milne was exposing Emily time and again to public humiliation, and she had absolutely no idea. She might have told him there was no love between them—but he couldn’t imagine for one minute, she would ignore the risk of public ridicule. The woman’s demeanor screamed of self-respect and the fire in her eyes was testament to her tenacity. Will’s heart twisted. It was that strength, more than anything, which drew him to her. They were kindred spirits. He squeezed his eyes shut. Damn, he could not think of her that way. Not now, not ever.

He turned and joined the throng of people milling along the town’s streets. Whatever happened next, Will now possessed another vital weapon in his budding arsenal and would soon be equipped to obliterate Milne and expose who the man really was for all of society to see. Good God, I’m going to strip him down and let the vultures pick him bare to the bone. A few more bits of evidence and the contract of marriage to Emily, and Milne’s succeeding fortune, would be washed clean away.

Surely, if he could prove Milne’s infidelity, the inheritance would be Emily’s in full?

****

Emily stared at her father across the breakfast table. The morning sunlight lit the dining room and her mood. Overly buoyant since her and Will’s kiss, she had struggled to keep her face devoid of happiness for the past week. It wasn’t right that she was this happy about kissing a man other than her fiancé, but she couldn’t contain the thrill of it.

It made her feel alive that she had so carelessly exposed herself to risk. In that moment, she wouldn’t have cared if Her Majesty Queen Victoria had seen them. She bit back a giggle. Deep inside she was alive—truly alive. The kiss meant that, for now, her entire being was not made up of preparing to sacrifice her life for her children’s future.

Her smile slipped as she dipped her spoon into her boiled egg. For all the happiness Will brought her, she needed to ensure he didn’t accompany her into town today. She lifted her fingers to her lips as she had a million times since their kiss. She’d avoided him and suspected he avoided her. She’d not left the house, so there had been no reason for his company before now.

Today she needed to go to town. She hadn’t seen her friend Katherine for so long, and neglecting their friendship was a bad thing when soon she would need her company to fortify her once she was married. She shivered.

“Emily? Are you cold?”

She forced a wide smile. “Not at all, Papa.”

Emily took a bite of egg as her father turned to his buttered toast. After a moment, she took a deep breath. “I need to go into town today, Papa.”

“Ah, well in that case, I need Will to purchase me some cigars. I don’t like the thought of a lady in a tobacco shop.”

She slowly lowered her spoon to her plate. “I was hoping you’d let Annie and me go alone today. I’d like to go to the haberdashery for some ribbons and then meet Katherine for tea. She’ll hardly relax with a strange man at the table.”

He met her gaze. “No.”

Emily frowned. “Why ever not? I will not be alone. The three of us will be perfectly safe.”

“No.”

“Papa, please. You are being entirely unreasonable.”

“You know the rules. I will not risk you to further assault. My mind is made up. My physicality is faltering, and I want Will with you.”

“This is madness. I will be quite safe.”

“Are you arguing with me?”

Determination pulled back her shoulders. “Not arguing but asking. Please. This trust you have in Will is based on nothing more…Papa?”

Her father sucked in a loud breath, and his fork clattered onto his plate.

Emily leaped to her feet, her heart beating fast, panic a boulder in her throat. “Papa!”

Her father’s arms flailed outward, sending his teacup spilling across the table. His face grew dark red, and a vein bulged at his temple. She rushed forward, sending her plate and egg toppling to the floor unheeded.

Her father started to choke in earnest.

“Papa! Oh, no. I’m so sorry. Papa, please.” She slapped him on the back, again and again. “Why do you insist on eating and shouting at me at the same time?” Her attempt at humor did nothing to lessen her panic. She couldn’t lose him. Not like this.

Emily darted her gaze to the closed dining room door. “Annie! Annie, help me. Someone help me!”

Grasping her father’s arm, she yanked and pulled him from the chair to his feet, her arms trembling from the strain and perspiration breaking out on her skin. What was she to do? Tears threatened as her father’s coughing halted, and the skin around his mouth turned blue.

“Help me. Please. Somebody!”

The doors crashed open, and Will came rushing in. “Emily?”

“Will, help me. He’s not breathing.”

He strode forward and yanked her father from her arms. He whirled him around and slapped him hard on the back. Her father’s lips grew darker.

Emily could hardly bear to watch. “Will, please. Do something.”

He ignored her, his face shone white with concentration. Emily lifted her hand to her mouth as he pulled her father’s ailing frame against his muscular one and counted to three before bringing his hand down hard between her father’s shoulder blades. She cried out.

“Come now, Mr. Darson, be a gentleman,” Will panted. “One, two, three.”

He slapped his back again, this time so hard her father stumbled forward violently, but Will held him fast. A lodged chunk of bacon shot from her father’s mouth, and Emily watched in horrified silence as it flew through the air before ricocheting from the mirror above the fireplace with a resounding ping.

Her father’s gasps of breath and hacking cough filled the room as Will guided him to his chair and grasped his bony shoulder. “Not the best way to start the day, if you don’t mind me saying so, sir.”

Her father dabbed a napkin to his mouth as the coughing subsided. “That was quite a trick you performed there. I feel like such a fool.”

Will swiped a trembling hand over his face. “Would now be a good time to confess I had no idea what I was doing?”

Her father managed a small laugh. “Indeed not. I am grateful all the same.”

With her hysteria back under control, Emily came forward and threw her arms around her beloved father’s neck. “I thought I’d lost you.”

He pressed his lips to her temple. “Now, now, my dear. Didn’t I tell you I will not be leaving this earth until I see you in your wedding dress, eh?”

Emily’s stomach lurched. Her wedding day to Nicholas loomed less than two months away, and the prospect became ever more unpleasant. She painted on a smile and turned to Will. “Thank…”

Her gratitude froze on her tongue. She had been so blinded with panic when he came bounding into the dining room, Emily hadn’t noticed how he was dressed. Heat assaulted her cheeks. Clearly, he’d returned from riding. Had she shouted loud enough for him to hear her in the guest room upstairs where he’d been changing? She jerked her gaze back to her father in order to think straight. “I don’t know how I will ever repay you.”

Even with her back turned, the sight of Will’s bare, muscular chest and torso shone bright in Emily’s mind. Add his bronzed shoulders and dark smattering of hair at his navel which disappeared behind the buttons of his riding breeches and she was entirely lost. The familiar and insufferable pull at her center gave another untimely tug.

She cleared her throat. “I’ll summon Annie and get you straight to bed, Papa. You need to rest.”

“Rubbish.” He gave a dismissive wave. “I choked, nothing more. Now I would like everything to return to normal. Let the event be forgotten. Now about you and Annie going into town today—”

Emily waved her hand. “I am not leaving you after what just happened.”

His steely gaze met hers. “Yes, my dear, you are.”

“But—”

“As I almost died, you can concede to my wish of having Will accompany you.” His eyes gleamed with triumph.

Emily’s mouth drained dry. Now what was she to do? Her father had her exactly where he wanted her. She shot him a glare. “That’s emotional blackmail.”

He laughed. “Indeed it is.” Her father looked over her shoulder and beamed at Will, his eyes so soft with fondness, he might have been looking at his son. “I insist you take the morning off from scouring the streets for your nephew, Mr. Samson, and take Emily into town. I will send Malcolm out asking questions about the boy. Who knows? Another person asking after the fellow might nudge people into taking his absence seriously.”

Helplessness curled into a ball inside her as Emily stared at Will who frowned at her father. “I really don’t think I can do that, sir,” he said. “Every hour that passes is another hour when he could’ve been found.”

Her father shook his head, and Emily scowled. The man was struggling not to smile. He was intolerable. Yet her heart swelled with love for him. If she ever doubted from whom she inherited her cunning…

“Nonsense.” Her father waved his hand once more. “As long as someone is looking for the boy, what does a couple of hours of your dedication matter? I insist. Every day you’ve been here, we’ve hardly seen you. Now you will take Emily out, or else I might have to reconsider our arrangement.”

Trepidation—or anticipation—crept up Emily’s spine and she resisted the urge to bolt from the room. She and Will hadn’t been alone since their kiss. What if it happened again? The fact she didn’t trust herself to resist him spoke volumes. She forcibly locked her gaze on Will’s. “Today could be the day you find the boy. Isn’t that right, Will?”

He stared for a long moment before the frown left his brow, and his eyes shone with enjoyment—a look she was beginning to love as much as detest. Her stomach executed a loop the loop that weakened her knees. Damn him.

He exhaled a heavy breath. “On the contrary, I have exhausted every avenue I can think of, and taking a day to reflect might be just what I need to evoke some new ideas.”

Emily swallowed her scream. The man stood half dressed in her dining room and now expected to escort her into town. Her lips tingled with the memory of his kiss.

Her father slapped his knee, making her jump. “Excellent. Emily wishes to purchase some ribbons and such for the wedding, isn’t that so, dear?”

Her eyes remained locked with Will’s. “I wish to pay a visit to the haberdashery and then on to see my friend who works at the milliner’s on Milsom Street. The excursion will undoubtedly bore you to tears, but if Papa insists—”

“The milliner’s?” Will’s soft smile dissolved, and the humor in his gaze became avid interest.

Emily frowned. “Yes. Is something wrong?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed two or three times before he spoke. “No, of course not.”

Suspicion lit like a spark in her mind. What in the world was he up to now? If she’d doubted Will’s story about a missing nephew before, it had just become ten times stronger.

She smiled. “I will see you out front in half an hour…if that allows you enough time to get properly dressed, of course.”

He grinned before giving a slight bow. “It most certainly will.”

“Very well then.”

She brushed past him.

If the man thought her afraid of being alone with him again, he was sorely mistaken. Furthermore, if he thought she would swoon if he touched her again, he was wrong about that too.

Excitement and daring rushed through her, and Emily turned. “Do you know, I’ve quite changed my mind. Time is of the essence after Father’s upset. I’d like to get into town and back as soon as possible. So there is no need to change from those breeches and boots, I find them…quite acceptable.” She stared openly at his chest. “However, a shirt might be a good idea to save Mrs. Cambridge’s heart if we should see her.”

Turning, her grin equally as wide as his, Emily strode from the room and shut the double doors behind her. Releasing her held breath, she called for Annie before racing upstairs in an entirely unladylike manner.