Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
M ichael stared at the cryptic message in his hand, asking him to meet in St. James’s Park across from The Queen’s House in one hour.
That was awfully presumptuous. What if he was busy?
He sighed. There was little chance of that. He was never busy. That was part of his problem. At least it would give him a chance to ride.
“What do you have there?”
Edward walked up to where Michael stood in the front foyer, turning the note in his hand as he tried to determine the sender’s identity.
He saw no point in lying to his brother, not when he most likely would have to come crawling to him once more for help.
“Someone has demanded my presence. In St. James’s Park, no less.”
“Michael, what could this possibly be about now?”
Edward appeared less judgmental and more exasperated, although Michael wasn’t certain whether his upset was with him.
“If I knew, I wouldn’t be standing here considering whether or not to go, now, would I?” he asked, lifting a brow, and Edward let out a sound that was part snort, part groan. “The only person I would hope would be summoning me is Adelaide, but she could come and knock on the front door if she chose.”
“This better not be another extortion scheme like Adelaide’s brother once tried to pull,” Edward cautioned, to which Michael only rolled his eyes.
“He knows well enough not to try that again with you, and I have not done anything else worth blackmail,” he said before pausing. “At least, not that I know of.”
“Is that not the problem?” Edward asked dryly. “That there might be things you did while inebriated or with a woman that could come back to haunt you?”
Michael rubbed his forehead. Edward wasn’t wrong, but Michael was usually careful. Careful enough, anyway, and he had done nothing untoward in the past year.
“I do not believe I will go,” Michael decided.
“How could you not?” Edward asked, aghast.
Michael shrugged, unbothered.
His brother needed every question answered and every problem solved.
Michael had always thought the best way to ward off trouble was to avoid it.
“If I do not go, I do not have to deal with it.”
“Michael.” Edward stared at him in horror. “Problems do not go away just because you ignore them.”
“Ahh, that’s not always true.” Michael shrugged, and Edward reached out and took the note from him, too quick for Michael to evade him.
“This is written by a woman,” Edward mused.
“How do you know that?”
“The penmanship.” Edward stared at him. “Do you think you have another child?”
“No,” Michael shook his head. “Absolutely not.”
“You have been with a fair number of women.”
“Had to make up for your lack of conquests, did I not?” He attempted to joke, but it fell flat. “I’m sorry, Edward, I know I said I wouldn’t bring that up again?—”
Edward pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yes, you seem to have forgotten that. This is serious, Michael.”
“I know. I’m not an idiot, Edward, I know how to prevent—” He stopped when he caught Edward’s stare. “Very well. I did make one mistake. But that was with Adelaide. I got carried away as she overwhelmed my every sense. Before her, I did not error. As far as I can recall.” He scratched his head. “I have to go, don’t I?”
“Yes, Michael,” Edward said with a sigh. “You have to go.”
And, an hour later, Michael found himself standing on the edge of St. James’s Park, staring across the serene lake at The Queen’s House in the distance.
The park was not particularly busy at this time of day. However, he was still uncertain about how to find his mysterious letter-writer without knowing their identity.
He left his place and began to meander down the winding path, stopping in shock when he saw who was walking up to him.
“Adelaide,” he practically stuttered. “What—why…” He could only hope that she wouldn’t find out he was here to meet with someone. She couldn’t discover he was being blackmailed, for she would insist on knowing why. And if it was for a rather nefarious reason, he didn’t want her to learn anything about it.
His head hurt just thinking about it all. When had his life become so complicated?
When he’d had a baby with a woman out of wedlock and had then fallen for her.
“Thank you for coming,” she said with a sigh. “I was worried that you wouldn’t.”
“ You wrote me the note?” he said, aghast.
“Yes,” she said, blinking. “Who else would?”
“I don’t know!” he exclaimed. “That was my concern. Why would you not just come to the house? Or, at the very least, sign the note?”
“I needed to talk to you alone,” she said, lowering her voice as though someone was going to overhear her. “And if I signed it, Dot or Edward might see it and want to know why I was writing you. This was the best way.”
“This feels like we are spies for the Prince Regent,” he whispered, leaning in closer, only then noticing that she was wearing something rather odd on her back.
“What’s behind you?”
“Mabel.”
“Mabel?” he exclaimed, walking round to see behind her. The baby was sleeping on her back in some contraption. “Is that safe?”
“Of course it is safe,” she said, swatting at him. “I would never put our baby in an unsafe situation.”
“Fair enough,” he said. “I just have never seen anything like that before.”
“Because you are trapped in your high towers, never seeing women who do not have the luxury of a governess for their babies,” she said. “Not that I would want to hand my baby over to someone else’s care.”
“Why are we here, in St. James’s Park?” he said, looking around. It was fashionable enough, where many of his peers congregated due to its proximity to the royal residence. Its lush lawns were beautiful, with gravel paths winding around the serene lake accented by flocks of waterfowl, but Hyde Park was far more common.
“Because my most recent memory of Hyde Park includes me falling into the Serpentine and having to be rescued by Dot,” she said wryly. “It was not my best moment. Besides, I had no wish to be walking along with you and having to stop by every person we meet for you to greet them.”
“I like people,” he said unapologetically.
“So do I,” she said before eyeing him. “But not those people. Now, focus, Michael. I have a matter of importance to discuss with you.”
“Is everything all right with Mabel?” he asked at the severity of her tone, his heart rate quickening.
“All is well with her,” she said. “I promise, I would have told you immediately if there was anything of concern.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“Can we walk while we talk?” she asked. “The movement will help keep Mabel sleeping.”
“Of course,” he said, falling in step with her, enjoying both the scenery and her company, as confusing as this might be.
“I have a problem. One that involves my brother.”
“Ah, yes, the infamous Jack Tate.”
“Unfortunately, yes,” she said wryly. “I’m unsure if I ever told you this, but he is not actually my brother. My mother married his father when we were both around fifteen years old, and we became siblings. Unfortunately, he was not the brother I had always wanted. Instead, he was extremely unkind and lived to torment me.”
“That’s what always bothered me,” Michael said. “Why did you stay working for him for so long?”
“Because I had nowhere else to go. I tried to get other jobs, but they all knew Jack, and he would spread lies about my terrible work or threaten their livelihoods so no one else would hire me. I don’t know how to do much else. It wasn’t until you and Edward looked after me that I had another choice. Thanks to Dot’s connections, I have somewhere else to work.”
His head snapped up to her at that. “You are working?”
“I am,” she said, raising her chin, challenging him to say more.
“Adelaide, you do not have to work. I will provide for you. I have told you that again and again.”
“And I told you I am saving for the inn I always wanted.”
He swallowed hard.
“If that is what you really want, then I will help you.”
“You will not buy my inn.”
“Why not? You are raising my baby!”
Their voices had risen, and she closed her eyes, calming down. She didn’t want to risk upsetting Mabel.
“We’ll have to come back to this, Michael, for there was another reason I wanted to talk to you today.”
“Very well,” he practically growled, for he was not done with this.
“Jack found me at my new job. He was angry with me for leaving and demanded that I return to The Red Lion where — trust me – the conditions would be less than favorable.”
“That son of a?—”
She held up a hand. “I told him I was happy where I was and wouldn’t be returning to work for him. Then he told me he needed a favor. I told him no, and he then threatened me.”
“What did he say?” Michael had never been a particularly violent man – he was more a lover than a fighter – but at this moment, he wanted to find Jack Tate and show him the consequences of threatening someone he cared for.
Not that Adelaide belonged to him. He would never make the mistake of saying that aloud, for then it would be Adelaide who would threaten him.
But still.
“He asked me to use my connections to do him a favor.”
“Your connections – to whom?”
“To you.”
“He knows that we still speak?”
“Apparently,” she said, her lips in a grim, tight line as she and Michael stopped for a duck and her babies to cross the path before them. “He knows about Mabel too, even though I tried to lie and say there was no baby.”
Michael turned toward Adelaide so that he could face her. “Adelaide, is your brother so threatening that you don’t want him to know about our daughter?”
She passed a hand over her face. “I don’t think he would ever hurt her, but I also know he will go to any lengths to get what he wants. I didn’t want him to know there might be a way to get to me or you.”
Little did the man realize that Adelaide alone was enough to get his attention. But he couldn’t say that now, for it would likely only scare her away.
“What does he want from me?” he said instead.
“He wants you to deliver a note to Lord Gregory.”
“Lord Gregory?” He leaned back, surprised. “He’s one of my closest friends. Although, I suppose it has been some time since I have seen him. Do you know, he was with me the night we met?”
She pursed her lips. “I am guessing now that was no accident.”
“I do not follow.”
“Did you decide to come to The Red Lion that night, or was it Lord Gregory’s idea?”
Michael scratched his head. “It’s hard to remember now, but I suppose it was Lord Gregory’s, for I wouldn’t have otherwise known about the tavern. Now, had I known who would be there?—”
“Stop,” she said with a laugh. “Back to the matter at hand. It was Lord Gregory’s idea.” She sobered. “I believe he and my brother are involved in some unlawful scheme together.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t say for sure,” she said. “When I worked there, I suspected my brother was up to something. He would disappear for periods of time, and he just had this look that told me there was more that I didn’t know about. But I never wanted to ask, for what would I do about it? I couldn’t turn him in, nor did I want to be involved.”
“So….”
“So now he wants this letter delivered to Lord Gregory. He said it had to go to him directly, that he couldn’t risk a servant handling it. He also wanted me to make sure you didn’t open it.”
“Why not?”
“Because he said then you would be connected to whatever they are involved with.”
“Well, let’s see it,” Michael said, holding his hand out, wishing that it was Adelaide’s hand he was reaching for, but he would take what he could get.
She reached into the pocket of her skirt. “I’m not asking you to open it, Michael,” she said. “I’m asking… well, I suppose I’m asking for your help.”
“For my help?” he repeated, blinking. “You mean my brother’s?”
“No,” she said, her brows furrowing. “Why do you think I asked you to meet me here? I don’t want Edward to know about this. Michael, your brother is a good man, but sometimes I think he is too good. He would likely want us to go to the authorities, which may be the answer in the end, but Jack said if I told anyone or did anything to get in his way, he would tell them I was involved in all of this. It would be believable, for how could I have been foolish enough to work there for so long and never know what was happening? And if something happened to me, then Mabel…”
The fear in her eyes distressed him, and even though he had told himself not to touch her, Michael reached out and wrapped his arms gently around her shoulders, his fingertips brushing the straps where the pack hooked onto her arms.
“First of all, if, in the very unlikely event that something were to ever happen to you, I promise you that I would take care of Mabel. I would never let anything happen to her nor allow Jack to come close to her, do you understand me? Even if you do not trust me, we have Dot to help. But that is the worst-case scenario, for she needs you .”
She tilted her head, hiding those beautiful blue eyes. “Thank you, Michael. I do trust you.”
“I appreciate that. Secondly, I will protect you with everything I have, do you understand me? We will find a way to ensure that Jack doesn’t get away with whatever he is doing without allowing anyone to believe you are implicit. Fair?”
“Yes,” she said, lifting her face, her eyes shiny with unshed tears. “Thank you. You are doing far too much for me, considering I… that I…”
“That you turned me down?” he said with a rueful smile. “Yes, you did. But I thought a lot about what you said. It took me some time, for you said a lot. And I do understand you.”
He was still going to find a way through the barriers she had erected, for deep in his heart, he knew that none mattered. Not when they cared so deeply for one another. He could feel that she still held affection for him. How could she not? Even if she felt a small portion of what he did for her, it would be enough to overcome all of her objections.
It had to be.