To Taste Temptation (Legend of the Four Soldiers #1)(82)

“Yes, and that is very odd.”

Emeline raised her eyebrows. “That everyone was staring?”

“No, no!” The older woman waved an impatient hand. “That Lord Vale allowed himself to be tossed so cavalierly.”

“I don’t think—”

“Mr. Hartley is not so big as milord Vale, and yet he was able to overpower him. It makes one wonder how he came by this strength.”

“Perhaps it was the strength of a madman,” Emeline muttered with dark humor. She didn’t want to think about the fight, the sight of two men she loved trying to kill each other, the look in Samuel’s eyes at the last...But it was hard to distract Tante Cristelle off the subject. “The wedding will be ruined, I know. We will be lucky to have more than two guests attend.”

Tante Cristelle immediately took the contrary opinion. “It is not so very bad, this gossip and excitement. One would think that gossip is always bad, but this is not so. The talk will cause many to come to your wedding. I think you will have quite the turnout.”

Emeline shuddered and looked down at the teacup in her lap. The thought of all those people coming to her wedding just to gawk, hoping perhaps that Samuel would make another appearance and disrupt the wedding, was terribly distasteful. And worse, she knew Samuel had washed his hands of her. The look of disillusionment, of disgust, in his eyes last night had felt like a physical blow. He would never want to see her again, she knew. Which was just as well, of course. Far better to make a clean break.

If only she could pick up her spirits a bit so that she could face her future. This path had been laid out for her before she was ever born. She was an aristocrat, the daughter and sister to earls, a woman of family and standing. All that was expected of her was that she make a good match, have children, and conform to society’s rules. It was not such a hard task, and until now she had never questioned it. She’d been a good wife and mother. Hadn’t she held the remains of her family together against all odds? Hadn’t she found a second husband as worthy as the first? And if there would be no fidelity in the marriage, if the love was a fraternal, rather than passionate one, that was only to be expected. Only a fool would balk at her path at this late date.

Only a fool.

Emeline bit her lip and gazed into her cooling tea as Tante Cristelle droned on across from her. Despite all the lectures she gave herself, she couldn’t stop mourning for a man not of her world. Samuel had looked at her and really seen her. He was the first and probably the last in her life to ever do so. And what was more miraculous, he’d not recoiled. He’d seen her awful temper, her unwomanly strength of mind, and he’d said they were good. No wonder she still mourned him. Such complete acceptance was intoxicating.

Still, she was a fool.

PEOPLE LOOKED AT Sam as he made his way through the London streets that afternoon. They would peer at him out of the corner of their eyes, then look quickly away again, especially if they met his gaze. He’d seen himself in the mirror this morning and knew what they gawked at: a blackening eye, a cut and swollen lip, and the bruises turning purple on his cheek and jaw. He knew why they looked, but he hated it nevertheless. He’d never been anonymous in a crowd—he wore moccasins, after all—but today they looked at him as if he were a lunatic.

That was the first difficulty. The second was that he wished Vale was making this trip with him. Stupid, he knew, but there it was. He’d become used to Vale’s banter and his sardonic view of the world, and even though he loathed the man, he missed him as well. Too, it would’ve been useful to have another at his back in this.

Sam glanced over his shoulder for followers and ducked into a narrow passageway. He had to pause a moment and lean against a filthy wall, holding his side. Something stabbed there. One or more of his ribs were probably cracked. Rebecca would have a fit if she knew that he was out of bed. His little sister had been surprisingly stubborn last night in her insistence that he see a doctor. In the end, he’d given in to her pleas. What did it matter when the world had fallen in on him?

He peered around the corner of the wall he leaned against and started out again, ignoring the continual pain from his ribs. There was only one thing he had to resolve, and then they could quit this damn island and go home.

This part of London was quiet and mostly clean, the odors assaulting his nostrils kept to a dull roar that hardly disturbed. Sam turned down Starling Lane. The buildings that lined the street were made of newer brick, probably built after the great fire. Small shops were at the street level, tiny, dark windows displaying wares. Above the shops were apartments, presumably for the shopkeepers.

Sam pushed open the door of a small tailor. The shop was dim inside with a low ceiling and a dusty scent. He didn’t see anyone else in there. Sam turned and locked the front door behind him.

“A moment’s wait, if it please you, sir!” a male voice called from somewhere in back.

The shop was actually quite shallow—presumably the bulk was taken up by the back where the work would be done. Bolts of cloth were stacked on shelves with a single waistcoat displayed on a tree. The waistcoat was well stitched and sturdy enough, but the material wasn’t of the finest. This led Sam to think that this tailor probably catered to merchants, doctors, and lawyers, instead of more wealthy gentlemen. There was a tall counter and beyond that an open doorway. Sam slipped behind the counter and peered into the doorway. As he’d suspected, the room behind the shop was much larger. A long table took up much of the space, with odd pieces of cloth, marking pencils, spools of thread, and paper patterns scattered along its length. Two young men sat cross-legged on the table, sewing, while an older, balding man bent over a swath of fabric, swiftly snipping with a pair of shears.