Scandalous Desires (Maiden Lane #3)(68)

Mick looked up at Harry, still standing patiently in front of the ornate desk. “We’re goin’ to strike fast and hard, mind. I want ye and Bert to see to the repairs to the kitchen. See to it that Fionnula is buried proper with a pretty carved headstone. This news o’ a traitor stays with ye and me—I don’t want it leavin’ this room, d’ye hear?”

“Aye,” Harry said slowly. “But where will ye be, Mick?”

“I’m goin’ after me lasses—Mrs. Hollingbrook and Mary Darlin’.” Mick grinned. “We’re goin’ to double-bluff the bastard. Whisper it about that I think the Vicar will be expectin’ an attack so I’m delayin’ me hand. Me leavin’ London will add truth to the lie. But once I’m gone and he’s restin’ easy I want ye and Bert to attack the Vicar’s gin stills. They blow easily, gin stills, nice and high. The Vicar will be thinkin’ I’d attack his person, not his stills. We’ll strike him where he earns his gold and cripple him.”

Mick stood and began gathering papers on his desk. He still had to have a hasty meeting with Pepper if he were to leave London in the morning. The investments Pepper had made for him were now more important than ever.

Harry was silent and after a bit Mick glanced up at the man, half-expecting a protest.

Instead Harry merely looked sad. “ ’Twould be kinder to let ’er be.”

Mick didn’t pretend misunderstanding. “Aye, and if I could leave me Silence alone, none o’ this would’ve happened in the first place.” He stood a moment, tasting the bitter irony on his tongue. Then he looked at Harry. “Can ye do all that while I fetch her from whatever country wilderness her family has hidden her in?”

“Oh, aye,” Harry said grimly. “We’ll blow that old bastard sky ’igh, never ye fear.”

“FOUR MEN KILLED and you didn’t even get the baby,” Charlie said softly. He looked at the carved marble headstone as he spoke, but he addressed the man at his side.

Freddy was standing close enough to hear Charlie’s murmured words, but far enough away that he could swiftly duck any sudden blows. No fool, he.

“ ’E’d ’idden the babe,” Freddy said.

“You should’ve found her.” Charlie stroked the cold marble. Grace had been a good woman—a loyal woman. “That babe means a lot to me, Freddy. I think I made that clear, did I not?”

Freddy shifted uneasily. “Yes, sir.”

“And the woman? The one you were supposed to kill with the vitriol?”

“She were out wi’ Charmin’ Mickey. Went somewheres in a fancy carriage, all rigged out in silks.”

Charlie glanced up slowly. “Did she indeed?”

Freddy looked alarmed at his tone. “Sir?”

“Now that is of interest,” Charlie mused. “He’s never taken one of his doxies out before, has he?”

“She sits at ’is right ’and at ’is dinner table, too, so our spy says.”

“Ahh. Then I’m glad you didn’t kill her outright after all.” Charlie drew a deep breath and tilted his head back, feeling the dawning rays of the sun on the right side of his face. He felt nothing at all on the left side, of course. He traced the ragged ridges and furrows, the unnaturally smooth valleys, with his fingertips. Not since that day sixteen years ago when a small, beautiful boy with hatred in his black eyes had thrown vitriolic acid in his face.

“I’ve waited years for this day,” he mused.

“For what, Vicar?”

Charlie lowered his chin and smiled into Freddy’s horrified eyes. “For the day that Mickey O’Connor chose a woman of his own.”

THE DAY WAS well established when Silence woke from restless, dream-filled sleep. She lifted her head and immediately winced at the crick in her neck. Outside the carriage window the rays of the sun shone on gray fields rolling away to the horizon.

“We’ll make Oxford tonight,” Temperance said from across the carriage.

She held Mary Darling in her lap. Mary was cradling a brand-new doll, but she cast it aside when she saw Silence was awake and stretched out her arms mutely.

“Already?” Silence murmured as she took the babe. She’d not traveled much outside London in her life, but she knew they’d gone a great distance in the night. A great distance away from Michael.

“We changed horses in Chepping Wycombe,” Temperance said, “but you did not wake. Caire tells me that we’ll stop again in a bit for luncheon. There’s a lovely inn in the next town with a cozy back room where we can sup in private. We stopped there on our way to Caire’s estate in Shropshire after the wedding.”

“That’s where we’re headed then? Shropshire?”

“Yes, we thought it the safest place—away from London where we can guard you and Mary properly.”

At the mention of her name Mary made an impatient wiggle. The baby climbed from Silence’s arms and sat beside her, though that certainly wouldn’t last long. Mary hated sitting still, except when looking through the little illustrated book Michael had given Silence. She loved the little men in their funny boats and the strange monsters that rose from the tiny cobalt sea…

Silence remembered with a pang that the book was back at the palace. She’d probably never see it again.