Betrayal Read online

  Her cheeks warmed. She fisted her hands, digging her short nails into her palms to ward off any more emotional outbursts. It did no good to weep at every moment of the day.

  While her emotions got under control, his expression dimmed. Did he want her to be a blithering idiot, weeping at the least provocation? If so, he chased the wrong woman. She pulled her shoulders back and turned toward the door.

  With a shake of his head, he offered her his elbow, and they made their way into the dining room.

  Connie joined them for dinner, which meant she felt better. “Miss Tally has ’ardly moved in her sleep. I’m plagued with nightmares, but she sleeps like the dead.”

  “You slept quite a lot when you first arrived,” Elizabeth said.

  “It was good of you to go and get her. There’s many wouldn’t have bothered for a servant, let alone an African.”

  Reece put down his fork. “We do not see it that way.”

  “No. You came and got me out of that ’orrible place too. No one would have cared if you’d left an old whore to rot in ’ell.”

  His eyes softened. “I would care, Connie. I would care very much.”

  She also put down her fork and looked her host in the eyes. “What I’m tryin’ to say, sir and miss, is I appreciate your coming to get me.”

  “You are most welcome.”

  She picked her fork back up and stabbed the dove on her plate. “I’ll be out of your hair tomorrow.”

  “Where will you go?” Elizabeth’s heart pounded.

  Connie shrugged. “Just back to mi place I s’pose.”

  Reece wiped his mouth with the cloth from his lap then placed both hands on the table. “Is that what you wish to do, Connie?”

  She shrugged. “It’s what I do so’s I can eat and have a roof over mi’ head.”

  “You are welcome to stay here, or we can take you up to the hunter’s school. A…less taxing opportunity could be found for you.”

  She stared at him with a twisted mouth. “What else am I good for?”

  “You were very good with Tally today. Perhaps you would consider a position at The Company hospital. I’m sure it can be arranged with Dr. Barns. There is also a hospital in Edinburgh now. Either one would greatly benefit from your help. After all, who better to help with victim recovery than someone who truly understands what these people have gone through?”

  Her jaw dropped. “And you think they’d want me?”

  “I’m sure of it.”

  Elizabeth kept her mouth shut. It was a brilliant idea, and the fact that Reece, a man of means and position, would have thought of it, had her eyes brimming with emotion once again. She had no right to feel pride, but when she looked at his kind eyes, that’s what filled her.

  “I might like to try a new city. No one would know nothin’ ’bout me in Edinburgh. I could give it a fresh go.”

  “Shall I make inquiries tomorrow?”

  She shook her head. “No one would ever believe I’d be nursing health back into the sick. What do you think, miss?”

  “It’s an excellent opportunity. You will make a splendid assistant.”

  “Maybe that thing won’t find me up there in the wilds of Scotland?”

  Elizabeth held her breath.

  “I’m afraid the master’s reach is far enough to find you even in Scotland. You will still require protection, no matter the city where you choose to live. However, The Company buildings are protected by strong magic, and if you are very careful, you will be as safe in Edinburgh as at the royal palace here in London.”

  “Is that so?” She stared at them both.

  “It is. I know I would feel better if you were behind the walls of a Company building.”

  “Then I’d appreciate you seein’ if there’s a place for me up there, sir.”

  “Very good. I will write first thing in the morning.”

  * * * *

  Elizabeth went to her room after dinner. She needed time to think. Men like Reece didn’t exist. They were only in fairy stories where they rode in on a white horse to carry away the fair maiden. She was no fair maiden, and this was no fairy story. She sent her maid away and washed before changing into a clean nightgown. The ritual she’d started when at school continued, and she placed several weapons around the room where she had easy access to them should a demon attack her during the night.

  The late hour aided her decision to finally crawl into bed. She’d have to force her mind to slow down for sleep to find her. The low knock on her door forced her to grab the dagger hidden behind the night table. “Who is it?”

  Reece popped his head inside. “Just me.”

  She put down the blade. “Is everything all right?”

  “I wonder if we can talk.” His gaze started at her loose hair and traveled down the length of her voluminous white gown.

  She tingled with excitement from just his perusal.

  “You look very charming.”

  “You have seen me like this before. In fact, you have seen me in far less.”

  He stepped in and closed the door. The latch clicking caused a shock of anticipation, which traveled down and settled between her thighs.

  “True, but I do not tire of the sight of you.”

  She walked to the hearth where a small fire still burned. Sitting, her heart hitched as he drew closer. “What do you want to talk about, Reece?”

  He sat in the opposite chair. “I feel I was too hard on you in the study this evening. I want to apologize. You owe me nothing. I was out of line to ask for your secrets.”

  “Why did you offer to help Connie?”

  His fingers flexed and clenched to fists. “I do not wish to see her sell her body and end up in a death toll on the streets of London.”

  “Yes, but why do you care?”

  “That is an odd question. Why should I not have concern for a woman who has been under my roof and under my care?”

  “Because most men in your position would not have taken her from the asylum in the first place. You have done more than your part.”

  “I do not see it that way.”

  “Tell me how you do see it, Reece.” She leaned forward with her elbows on her knees.

  Every bit the English gentleman, he still wore his coat and cravat, and yet nothing about him was like any other gentleman she’d ever met.

  He looked at the fire for a long beat, then back at her. “I will offer you some insight if you will do the same. An exchange of information, if you will.”

  The knot returned to her chest and throat, though it wasn’t as tight as before. “What do you want?”

  “I will tell you the answer to your question if you promise to tell me what you remember of the night of the sacrifice.”

  She expected he would ask about her attraction to the master, so his question came as a relief. “There is little I can tell you. They forced something down my throat, a drug of some kind, and my memory is foggy.”

  “That is all right. We shall see if the fog will lift tonight.”

  “What if I cannot recall whatever it is you are looking for?”

  “I’m only looking for the truth, Lizzy. If you give me that, I will be satisfied.”

  She nodded, but her palms dampened and her heart raced.

  He looked back at the fire then leaned his head against the wingback chair. “One of the reasons I joined the hunters is because my father did not approve. I know how immature it sounds, but I was young, and my father and I had never seen eye to eye as you know.”

  “What does that have to do with Connie?”

  He kept his eyes closed, but a tiny smile warmed his handsome face. “Patience, my love. This is my story.”

  The endearment went right to her heart, and with his eyes closed, she indulged in placing her hand across her pounding chest.

  “Of course we had servants while I was growing up.”

  “And you have servants now.”

  H
is eyes snapped open, and he narrowed them on her. The muscle in his jaw ticked. “Ah yes, but the servants in this house are well paid and well treated. I care what happens to them, and as long as they are loyal to me, I will continue to protect and respect them.”

  “Your father’s house was not the same?”

  “No. Far from it. I was very young when I realized how poorly my parents treated the people working for them.”

  “In my experience, most children take after their parents in this regard. Why were you different?”

  He leaned forward and sat in the same position as she, with his elbows on his knees. He propped his head on his fists. “To be perfectly honest, I do not know the answer to that question. But I can tell you the moment when I knew I did not want to be like them.”

  Being alone in her bedroom with him created a bubble of intimacy. The fire crackled, her nightgown glided across her skin, leaving a delicious tingle in its wake as she moved her feet closer together and pulled them up into the chair.

  His low voice filled the silence and warmed every inch of her. “Like most children of my station, I had a nanny. She was the most wonderful woman in the world, and her name was Mrs. Mathers. My parents were cold and without emotion, but my nanny was warm and loving. She took excellent care of me, taught me my letters and numbers as well as good manners. She might not have known it, but she also taught me about kindness. All the other servants loved her. I loved her too. My parents treated her with mild disdain, but that was normal in the household.

  “When I was seven, and about to be packed off to boarding school, Mrs. Mathers was dismissed without so much as a reference. When she asked for one, so she might obtain a decent position, my father refused her request. I know because I hid in the servants’ passage leading to my father’s office.”

  “Did your father give a reason for refusing her request?”

  “He said she’d made his son a soft crybaby without any future whatsoever. She deserved no good reference and would get none. He ordered her to leave the house within the hour.”

  “Dear God. She would be hard-pressed to find employment without a reference. Your father must have known he doomed her to unemployment.”

  “My father did not care. He did not care that day, nor did he care six months later, when he received the report that Mrs. Mathers had died of exposure. She’d frozen in the streets of the nearby village. You see, to my father, a woman of her station was completely unimportant. She had no value and her death, as well as her life, meant nothing to him.”

  Tears rolled down her cheeks. “But she meant a great deal to you.”

  “She was more mother to me than my own. I was only seven, but I vowed then I would treat all the people under my care with respect and dignity. I pray I have always kept that promise.”

  “I’m certain you have. The servants in this house adore you. That much is certain. But Reece, what does it have to do with joining The Company or helping Connie?”

  “The second is an easy answer. Connie needed our help. She should not have suffered in that horrible place. Her claims of demons were not a sign of insanity. She had seen demons, and the master likely pursued her before Dr. Barns committed her to Bedlam. As an organization, we failed her. Once she came under my roof, she became my responsibility. I hope to keep her safe if it is within my capabilities.

  “The first question is more complicated. We heard someone snatched up the poor and used them in some unholy way. My father, of course, did not see this as a problem. In his opinion, the kidnapper did society a favor by ridding us of them. I saw an injustice and made it my business to try to help. You can imagine the argument prior to my quitting the house. I went in search of the villains and found both demons and Drake Cullum.”

  “Your father could have cut you off and left you with nothing.”

  “I was young enough to believe I did not need his money.”

  “He pays for this house, does he not?”

  “In part. I pay the servants. I’ve managed to make some personal investments, which offer me a good income. My father has not cut me off, nor does he send me an allowance. He maintains this house, which he never visits, and I am grateful for that. Though, if need be, I could afford my own house.”

  “You are a remarkable man.” She struggled to push the words through the emotion building in her chest.

  His neck turned a bright red. “Now, it is your turn.”

  She’d spent months brushing those memories aside. “I do not know what I can tell you.”

  “What happened after you were captured?”

  She closed her eyes; burlap filled her nose and chafed her skin. “I was stuffed in a sack. It was dark and my muscles ached from bouncing around. After what seemed an age, they dropped me on a hard floor. Sulfur filled the air seeping through my dark bag. There was crying from somewhere.”

  Reece wrapped his fingers around hers.

  She opened her eyes to find him kneeling before her. Looking into his clear eyes eased the ache of the memory. “When they finally dumped me out of the sack, the room was filled with monsters. They jerked me to my feet and prodded my back with a stick, forcing me to walk forward. I fell and banged my knee on the stone floor. A malleus jerked me up and pushed the center of my back until I continued down a hallway and into the nave of a deserted, old church. The stench gagged me until I vomited on the floor.

  “Connie was there. Her head lulled to one side, and a durgot priest stood over her with a strange dagger with three blades. I did not know the blade had a name then. The priest poured liquid over her head. It might have been water. She didn’t react, and her stare was empty. The priest cut her palm with the blade, and her blood ran down into a pattern in the floor.”

  “What was the pattern?”

  Closing her eyes, she forced her mind back, but all she saw was lines in the stone, filling with blood. “I cannot say.”

  He squeezed her hands. “It does not matter. Tell me what happened next.”

  “The dead eyes of a trebox demon stared down at me. It thrust a cup into my hand. I tossed the cup to the floor. A demon grabbed my arms and pulled them behind my back. Pain stung my scalp as it gripped my hair, forcing my head back. The trebox gripped my jaw and forced a bitter liquid into my mouth. Then it held my mouth closed until I swallowed the horrid poison. Immediately, my mind wandered and the church blurred. All the sounds were muffled and the images blurred. Beyond that, I only remember pain and fear until you freed me. Everything is blurry until I woke up at the hospital in Cheapside.”

  He opened her left hand and ran his fingers over the scar in the center of her palm. “This was some kind of ritual or consecration. That is why the master wants you back. He went to great deal of trouble to ready you and the others for the sacrifice with the dagger.”

  “He no longer has the Blade of Skane.”

  “Perhaps he does not need it.”

  “What about the seamstress. She killed herself. Did not that foil his plans?”

  “If that is what really happened. We only know she died and her husband found her. It might serve us to go and speak to him.”

  “He won’t stop looking for me, will he?”

  “Whatever was done will likely have to be undone for the three of you to be safe, Lizzy.”

  “Are you sure it can be undone?”

  “I have faith you will be safe and we will make a life together. You will not be taken from me.”

  “Because I am under your roof and you feel responsible for my wellbeing.”

  “You are a hunter, fully capable of taking care of yourself. You do not need my protection. My desire for you is about more than protecting you.”

  “It would be an excellent way to aggravate your father.”

  “Ha. I love you, Lizzy. I do not care what my father thinks. I do not love you in spite of your meager beginnings. I do not care from where you come. You could be a queen, and I would love you no more or less. It i
s difficult for you to understand that a man, raised a gentleman, could not want to take a bride of the same background. I understand your unease. I will not bully you. I will only love you until you see my intentions are honorable and sincere.”

  She burned for him, and the flames pooled at her core. He had said nothing to entice her desire, but everything he said about loving her drove her lusty madness. His lips were magnetic, and she leaned forward until hers melted into them. Suddenly, all her objections to his courtship sounded silly. With just the two of them, nothing society demanded mattered.

  His fingers threaded her hair and cupped her cheek while he moaned against her mouth. He slid his other hand along her leg to her thigh, then over her hip to her waist.

  Everywhere he touched burned for more. The awkward position did not allow enough contact. She ran her fingers through his hair, along his neck and shoulders. She gasped as he pulled her from the chair to the floor and covered her body with his. Her nightgown bunched around her hips. The fire and Reece staved off the chill of the cool night.

  Even gripping his shoulders and back, she still could not get close enough.

  He prodded her lips and she opened. The spark of delight as his tongue touched hers shot down to her most intimate places. Her nipples hardened against the fabric of her gown and she stifled a cry.

  Reece broke away and trailed kisses down her neck to the bow, keeping her gown on her shoulders. He pulled the knot free and pressed his lips to the hollow between her breasts. “Lizzy, I will need your help to stop this. I do not have the strength to stop touching you on my own.”

  “Good. Do not stop.”

  Chapter 8

  She begged for more, and he wanted to give her everything. He would spend his life in that endeavor. The story she told should have warned him off. She and the other women had been consecrated and marked with a special blade. Yet he refused to believe her fate was sealed. He would die to keep her with him and to keep the other two alive.

  What should have been a flag to back away, only spurred him forward. She had dug deep into a terrifying memory to give him the truth he wanted. She trusted him to use the information for good. No one could ask for more than that.