To Taste Temptation (Legend of the Four Soldiers #1)(16)

Sam grinned. He waited a moment more and then followed in the man’s wake. There was a wall here with a gate, separating the mews from the back garden of the house, that was his target. He passed by the gate. It was too exposed, too likely to have a guard or a lightly sleeping groom nearby. He continued into the shadows beneath a tree that overhung the wall. Eyeing the bricks, he backed a pace and then leapt. The wall was about eight feet tall, and he was just able to fling his arms over the top. Swiftly, he levered himself up, rolled over the top, and landed in a crouch on the other side. He didn’t pause but used his jump’s momentum to run along the wall and duck under a bush several paces away. Here he dropped to the ground and lay on his belly, carefully watching the dark garden.

It was a large, rectangular town garden, planted with small ornamental trees and bushes in a severely geometric pattern. A gravel path led from the mews wall to the back of the house, where no doubt there would be separate servant and master entrances. At the moment, nothing moved in the garden.

Sam got to his feet and made his way to the back of the house, eschewing the graveled walk for fear of the sound. As he approached the house, he saw that the servant’s entrance was partly belowground; there was a well with steps leading down to the door. Above was a kind of balcony or terrace with a low, ornamental wall and French doors. A light flickered behind the French doors. Sam crept up the curving granite stairs and close to the glass doors. The man within had not bothered to draw the curtains, and he was as well lit as if he stood on a stage.

Jasper Renshaw, Viscount Vale, half sat, half lay on a great red velvet wing chair. One long leg draped over the chair’s arm and swung absently as he turned a page in the great book on his lap. A large buckle shoe lay overturned beside the chair; the foot on the swinging leg was clad only in a stocking.

Sam snorted softly and crouched by the window, enjoying the fact that the man never knew he was being watched from without. Vale had commanded the Light Company of the 28th. Where the other former soldiers he’d talked to had aged and changed in the six years since he’d seen them, Renshaw—now Viscount Vale—was the same. His face was long and thin, with deep lines bracketing a wide mouth and a too-large nose. He wasn’t a handsome man, and yet his face was impossible to dislike. The eyes drooped at the corners, rather like a hunting dog’s, appearing always slightly sad, even when he was in good cheer. The rest of Vale looked like he’d never outgrown the lankiness of adolescence. His arms and legs were long and bony, his hands and feet overlarge as if he still waited for his limbs to fill out. Yet Vale was the same age as Sam. As Sam considered him, Vale licked his thumb and turned another page in his book; then he picked up a crystal glass with ruby liquid and sipped from it.

Sam remembered Vale as a good officer, though not as commanding as Reynaud. He’d been too relaxed to bother instilling respect in the men. Instead, he’d been the one who others had gone to with their problems and their petty arguments. Vale was as likely to dice with the common soldiers as dine with the officers. He’d always been in a good mood, always ready to tell a joke or play a prank on his fellow officers. It’d made him a favorite of the troops. He wasn’t the type of man anyone would think could betray an entire regiment.

And yet if Sam’s information was true, someone had. He patted his pocket, feeling the paper within. Someone had alerted the French and their Wyandot Indian allies, told them exactly where the 28th would be. Someone had conspired to massacre an entire regiment of his fellow soldiers at Spinner’s Falls. That possibility had driven Sam to England. He had to find the truth. Find if there was a reason for so many to have died that fall day six years ago. And when he found the man responsible, maybe then he could reclaim his soul, reclaim the life he’d lost at Spinner’s Falls.

Was Vale the right man? The viscount had been in debt to Clemmons, and Clemmons had died in the massacre. But Vale had fought bravely, gallantly, at Spinner’s Falls. Could such a brave officer murder an entire regiment just to get rid of one man? Wouldn’t he be marked? Wouldn’t he bear the scars of his depravity on his face? Or would he, six years later, be sitting contentedly in his library reading a book?

Sam shook his head. The officer he thought he’d known six years ago would never have done such a thing. But he’d only been with the 28th for a little over a month. Maybe he’d never really known Vale. His instinct was to confront Vale, here and now, but he would get no answers that way. Better to approach him obliquely at a social gathering. That was why he’d sought the services of Lady Emeline. On the thought of that lady, Sam withdrew, making his way back through the dark garden. What would Lady Emeline think if she found out his true reason for asking for her help? She still grieved for her brother, but would she want to upset her social standing to accuse a peer? He grimaced as he went over the mews wall again.

Somehow he thought that Lady Emeline would not be happy with the course he’d set.

“No! No! No!” Emeline exclaimed the next morning.

Rebecca froze, her foot half lifted, her expression terrified. They were in Emeline’s town house ballroom where she was attempting to teach the American girl a few of the newer dance steps. Tante Cristelle assisted at the harpsichord, which had been especially carried into the room by two burly footmen. The ballroom floor was parquet, polished to a high gleam, and mirrors lined one entire wall. Rebecca, with her raised foot and terrified expression, was reflected countlessly in the mirrors. Emeline took a deep breath and tried to modify her own expression, pasting on a smile.