Chapter Eleven
“I say, don’t look now, but we are being approached by several noble people.”
“You can’t swing your parasol around here without hitting a few, so could you be more specific, brother?” Eloise asked.
But Alice knew who was approaching, because he’d interpreted the signal she’d sent him when passing. Lord Stafford. Before Thaddeus could say their names, she heard someone calling to her. Turning, she watched the group approach.
Lord Stafford walked with the wives of his friends on each arm, while their husbands ambled in their wake. He looked calm, with none of the unleashed power she’d seen in that boxing ring, but Alice knew it was there beneath the surface.
Greetings were exchanged, and then Lady Hamilton said, “How lovely it is to see you out here on such a beautiful day. We are to take a turn along the Serpentine. Would you all care to join us?”
“We would love to,” Thaddeus said with his usual enthusiasm, before the two women with him could comment.
Soon they were strolling. Alice watched Lord Stafford release his friends’ wives and move to her side. He then held out his hand to her. Eloise shot her a speculative look.
“Thank you.” She put her fingers on his arm. They then let the others walk on, and fell in behind.
“What did you want to talk to me about?” he said softly.
“I received a note this morning from one of my informants.”
“How many do you have?”
“That has no bearing on the matter at hand, Lord Stafford.”
Alice turned as he did and their eyes collided. She felt the punch of heat at his nearness in her stomach and looked away.
“Just curious. Forgive me. Pray continue, my lady.”
“Are you mocking me?” Alice hated men doing that to her. She ran her father’s estate and finances, and likely better than most men, even if she couldn’t inform them of that. She would not tolerate anything but respect from this man.
“No, I was not mocking you, Lady Alice. Are you always this sensitive?”
She blew out a very unladylike breath. “Probably.”
He snorted out a laugh.
“What did the note say, my lady?”
“A man meeting the description of Kenneth Jackson entered the Black Dog in Wapping. He’s been seen there twice now, and asking plenty of questions. I will meet you there at midnight.”
He was silent for a while as they both stared at their friends who wandered before them.
Alice was far too aware of this man. Every time his body brushed hers, she tensed. It had to stop.
“You will not go alone,” he said softly.
“As I believe I have already explained, you have no say in what I do—”
“Where is your father?”
The change in conversation threw her for two heartbeats, and then she regained her wits. “That has no bearing on what we’ve just discussed, my lord.”
“I know he’s in France, but does he play no part in your life, or watch over you at all?”
A dark scowl marred his handsome features now.
“Look, Lord Stafford, I am not your concern, and never will be, and if you persist with these questions, or demands, I will no longer let you know when I receive word, but do as I wish.”
This time it was he who exhaled loudly.
“Fine. I will get a hackney and collect you. Then we will proceed to the Black Dog, which let me assure you is not a place for ladies such as yourself to be seen—”
“Let me be clear on something, Lord Stafford,” Alice hissed. “I refuse to listen to your recriminations or lectures any further, so if this is to work, you need to learn to be quiet!”
Lord Hamilton, who was directly in front of Alice, must have heard her words, as he turned with a smirk that he directed at his friend.
“Are we clear?” Alice said in a quieter tone.
“Crystal,” he snapped back.
They continued to walk behind the others, but the tension between them was palpable. Alice was pleased when they were finally heading back to the carriages.
“Shall we wander to the band?” Thaddeus asked.
Before Alice could refuse, they were all heading that way.
“Bloody brilliant,” she muttered.
“Tut tut, Lady Alice. Such language.”
“Go to hell, my lord.” Why did this man get a rise out of her? Why did she want to kiss him one minute and slap him the next…no, not kiss, Alice!
He gave a loud bark of laughter that had all eyes turning their way. She noted that Lady Devlin was glaring at her, and wanted to tell her not to worry, as she was no threat to her daughter’s marriage prospects.
“So, you will need to wear—”
“I have left the house for such reasons before. Please do not lecture me on what I need to do or wear, Lord Stafford.”
“I do believe that sentence just took ten years of my life,” he whispered. “Tell me you did not go alone?”
“I did not. I have a footman, one of the staff members I told you about, who is…ah, well, let’s say zealous in his protection of me, thanks to my brother.”
“How so?”
Why did I say that? She never talked of private things with anyone. And yet hadn’t she already told this man far more than she should have?
“Just know that I rarely leave the house without a large escort, Lord Stafford.”
“I feel like that was a threat.”
“Take it as you wish. I will make my own way there,” Alice said.
“You bloody will not,” he whispered in a furious voice.
“Then I will collect you in my carriage. We will discuss this no further. Be ready, as I shall wait no more than five minutes, my lord.”
His hiss of breath had her smiling.
“Is this informant reliable?”
“He is.”
“Very well,” he said but added nothing further.
After listening to the band for a while, they then wandered some more, and Alice heard the conversation going on around her while wondering how soon she could excuse herself and leave. Not easy considering she’d come with the twins, but perhaps she could plead a headache.
Lord Stafford wasn’t an easy man to be in the company of, especially when she was as aware of him as she felt right then.
“We shall take this path down to the water,” Lady Corbyn said, further heightening Alice’s need to flee. She wasn’t fond of water, possibly because she’d not spent any time in it, and also she couldn’t swim, so there was no way she was taking a chance of falling in.
“What are you doing?” Lord Stafford asked her as Alice moved to his other side, which placed him closest to the water.
“Moving away from the water.”
“Because?”
She shot him a look, and met his eyes.
“Need I have a reason?”
“Absolutely,” he replied.
“I don’t like water.”
“Any and all forms, or just large bodies of it?”
She could see the small tilt to his lips. He was enjoying teasing her.
“Large,” she said with a smile on her face that in no way reached her eyes. “We all have phobias, Lord Stafford.”
“Oh indeed, Jamie loathes snails,” Lord Hamilton said from in front of them, as clearly he had been listening again.
She couldn’t be sure, but thought Lord Stafford’s teeth just snapped together.
“Indeed, if you want to bring him to heel, wave a snail in front of him. It’s the slimy underside that makes him squeal.”
“I have never squealed a day in my life, and I’ll thank you not to share any more of my secrets or I shall start doing the same.” Lords Hamilton and Corbyn said nothing further. Their wives, however, weren’t so quiet.
“What secrets do you have on them?” Lady Hamilton demanded.
“Nothing,” both Lords Hamilton and Corbyn said at the same time, making Alice laugh.
Lord Stafford smiled at her and this time it was genuine, and the effect had her blinking. The man looked younger suddenly, and approachable. As if he was not plagued by demons as her brother had once been. She found herself returning the gesture.
They continued to move with the others along the Serpentine, as a breeze stirred the water, rippling the surface like someone was stroking it. Her skin prickled suddenly, the fine hairs at her nape rising. Looking around, she tried to discover why. Was someone watching her?
She glanced sideways, careful to keep her expression blank, but her eyes flicked across those nearest. People were strolling, chatting and laughing. Nothing amiss. And yet, beneath the polite bustle of the park, she could feel it. Something wasn’t right.
“What is wrong, Lady Alice?” Lord Stafford murmured, his deep voice pitched so only she might hear.
“Nothing.”
“Your shoulders are rigid. Like a horse about to bolt.” His head bent, his lips dangerously close to her ear. “What do you see?”
“Nothing,” she said swiftly. Too swiftly.
His gaze lingered on her profile, but he said nothing more.
Up ahead, Lady Hamilton had slowed her step so the women could examine the feathers on another lady’s bonnet.
The conversation swirled with chatter about Paris fashions and the impossibility of obtaining the right dye for ribbons this Season.
Alice answered when addressed, but her eyes drifted again across the crowd.
There, by the boats. A man in a plain brown coat, his hat pulled low. His stance was too still amid the movement around him. She could not make out his features at this distance, but she had the unsettling impression that he was studying her.
Lord Stafford followed the direction of her glance. His hand closed ever so lightly over hers, where it rested on his sleeve. The brief pressure startled her, and she nearly pulled away.
“Do you know him?” he asked softly.
“No.” Alice forced her lips into a polite curve as Lady Devlin studied them, frowning, as they passed the group she and her daughter stood in.
“And yet he has you unsettled?”
She looked up at him.
“Perhaps it is not you he is watching, but me.”
“Do you know him?”
“I could not say from this distance, but it’s possible, and as I’m sure you don’t have enemies and I do, then it’s very likely it is me he is observing.”
“What enemies do you have?” Alice asked before she could stop herself.
“I may appear a gentleman, my lady, but let me assure you that is not always the case.”
“I do believe that sounded sinister, Lord Stafford.” Alice pushed the words past the dryness in her throat.
“One piece of advice I will impart now we are to be working together to find Jackson is, don’t be suspicious of everyone, Lady Alice; it will drive you mad. Sometimes a man is just out walking with a woman, or enjoying a solo jaunt around the park.”
Her eyes went back to the man, who was now bent at the waist speaking with a young boy. Why had she believed he was looking at her? Why had she felt that prickle of awareness? Was he right? Was she just being suspicious?
“Are you all right, Alice?” Thaddeus asked.
“Of course, but if you are ready to leave, then I am.”
Thaddeus studied her, but whatever he saw in her face had him not questioning her need to leave.
“Jamie!”
Everyone in their party turned at the shriek, but it was Lord Stafford who started forward. In fact, he was nearly running by the time he reached the two women walking toward him.
“His sisters,” Lady Hamilton said. “Lovely ladies. They do not spend a great deal of time in London, but Jamie is always happy when they do.
Alice watched him kiss his sisters’ cheeks and give a bark of laughter when they said something.
“Come along. You will love them,” Lord Hamilton said to Alice and the twins. “They are not grumpy and aloof like their brother.”
Alice thought most peers were aloof but kept that to herself. She could just leave, taking Thaddeus and Eloise with her, but then Lady Hamilton took her arm, urging her in the direction of Lord Stafford and his sisters.
She kept a polite expression on her face as they reached them. However, she did not look at him. Alice was unsettled; there was no getting around that. First, there was the conversation they’d shared today, and then that man, who Alice thought had been watching them.
“This is Lady Alice,” Lord Stafford said to his sisters.
She dropped into a curtsy and smiled at the two women. Something in their eyes made the hair on the back of her neck rise. Calculating, she thought. But why? Until today, she’d never met either woman.
“How lovely to meet you, Lady Alice,” the sister closest to her said.
She opened her mouth to say something further, but her brother cut her off with a question about his nieces and nephews. After a few more minutes of general chatter, Alice sent Thaddeus a look, which he clearly understood.
“Well,” Thaddeus said. “It is time for us to take our leave.”
They said their goodbyes, and were soon heading back to her townhouse.
“I found it interesting that Lord Stafford singled you out, Alice.”
“Not interesting, Eloise. He also singled out Miss Devlin.”
“Yes, but—”
“No buts. There is nothing between Lord Stafford and me, so we will leave it there if you please.”
Surprisingly, the twins complied with her request, and the rest of the journey was conducted in comfortable silence, even if inside Alice was feeling far from that.
After arriving home, Alice went straight to her room and opened her journal.
She wrote, in careful, deliberate strokes, everything that had happened that day.
When she finished, she lay back on the bed and let the room grow quiet around her.
The thought of the man who had killed her brother filled her mind as it always did.
She had lived with him in her thoughts for so long that she wondered, for a moment, what it would be like to wake and not think of him.
“I’ll find you,” she whispered into the dark. “And you will pay.”
For now, she told herself, nothing else mattered.
Her purpose was set, and she would not deviate.
Lord Stafford would not hinder but help her to achieve that.
From this point on, she would keep her dealings with him strictly professional.
Alice was certain he could be dangerous to her in more ways than one otherwise.