Raven (Gentlemen of the Order #2) - Adele Clee Page 0,13
chair. “Though in my experience, obvious assumptions are often wrong.”
“I have learnt to take nothing for granted.”
“Indeed.”
Silence—that seemed as long as the years they’d been parted—stretched between them.
Sophia’s gaze turned reflective as she studied him in the dim light. “Can I ask you something?” She didn’t wait for a reply. “Why do you do this?”
“Do what?” He knew exactly what she meant.
“Why do you work as an enquiry agent? Your father was a decorated Major General in the Royal Fusiliers. Having saved the life of Viscount Morley’s youngest son, most men consider you a war hero. You have wealth, intelligence and an impeccable reputation. Why risk your life trying to catch a deserter or solve the murder of a maid?”
He could offer several reasons. Namely, he had nothing else to live for. In saving others, he hoped to save himself. Death might bring the peace he craved. But he refused to reveal his motives, refused to revisit that dark place despite the devil’s calling.
“You’ve kept abreast of my cases, Sophia,” he said in the playful tone that sounded foreign to his ears. “Dr Goodwin might say such an interest borders on obsession.”
The lady swirled the sherry in the glass. “I have an unhealthy interest in everything you do, Mr Cole.” Her gaze rose slowly to meet his. “It’s how I know you don’t have a mistress. You rarely visit gentlemen’s clubs and discard invitations to balls and soirees unless attendance is pertinent to a case. When you’re not working, you spend your nights alone at home.”
He suffered from the same obsession and knew as much about her habits and tastes.
“You failed to mention brothels,” he teased. “If you’re confident I don’t have a mistress, where do you suppose I take my pleasure?” Between her soft thighs was the only place he’d dreamed about of late.
Sophia’s chin dropped, but she regained her composure. “I cannot imagine you visiting a bordello.” Her gaze slipped over his chest with the same fervent hunger he’d witnessed this morning. “I thought you preferred your women more … wholesome.”
“Not always. But I would rather feel something for the women I bed.”
She swallowed deeply. “So there has been no one since Hannah?”
He might have told her to mind her own damn business, but said, “No. No one since Hannah.” Though he was not short of offers.
“Envy is like a crippling disease, is it not?” A sad sigh left her lips. “I have never coveted anything in my life, but I desperately wanted what she had.” Her hand shook as she raised the glass to her lips.
“Fate had other plans for us,” he said, swallowing past the lump in his throat. “Hannah was a kind, loving woman. She tried to be a good wife, tried to battle—” He stopped abruptly. Downed his brandy to drown out the morbid memories of finding her during a heavy downpour, shivering and soaked to the skin.
“Fate delivered us both a wicked blow.”
They remained silent for a time, lost in thought.
“You mentioned my last case,” he said, returning to her original question. “The maid wasn’t murdered. She took her own life because she could no longer tolerate the abuse.”
Sophia tutted. “Something has to be done about these poor girls in service.” She seemed equally keen to change the subject. “I often wonder if Mr Archer took advantage of Maud. They both confessed to sharing a mutual attraction, but men can be deviously persuasive.”
Deviously persuasive?
Was she referring to her experience with Lord Adair?
“There, you have proved my point. Your assumption that the maid took her life because of her employer is wholly incorrect.”
She narrowed her gaze. “Yet we both know such tragedies occur.”
One might say the maid’s employer was to blame. “He did have relations with the girl, but the housekeeper was the vile tormentor. The woman acted out of misguided loyalty in a bid to save her master’s reputation. She hoped her vicious tactics would drive the maid away.”
“Such schemes rarely go to plan.” Sophia stood. “Would you care for more brandy?”
Finlay’s traitorous gaze drifted from his empty glass to her bare feet. “No. I’ve had enough to help lull me to sleep.” Any more and he could not maintain his defences.
“Did you discover anything useful during your enquiries today?” Sophia placed her empty glass on the mantel. She drew the poker from the iron stand and prodded the dying embers.
“Blent gave me a tour of the grounds.” Avoiding the woman whose alluring presence followed him wherever he went had been his priority.