Page 18 of The Honorable Rogue (The Notorious Nightingales #5)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

T he Hen and Rooster supposedly cooked the best beef and ale pie in England, or so Leo told him. The building looked like a home any family would be proud to live in. White weatherboards were clean, and gardens flanked the path that led up to the front door. In fact, the only thing that alerted a traveler that it was a tavern was the sign swinging above the front door with a hen and rooster on it.

Having stabled their mounts and the carriages, they entered through the shiny black door and were instantly hit with the wonderful scents of food.

“My mouth is watering,” Alex said.

Charles looked at the other guests as they entered the dining room to see if he knew anyone. He found Violet Althorp with her brother seated at a large round table, and felt a jolt of pure joy, followed closely by need. He wanted that woman far more than he’d ever wanted another.

“And he’s back,” Alex muttered.

“What?” Charles dragged his eyes from Violet .

“That man who keeps filling my head. Initial T … Ted or Toby,” Alex said.

Tobias.

“The dead man,” Leo drawled. “I still haven’t found that list, either, but I need to, as it is constantly bothering me, and I fear I will get no peace until I do.”

Violet’s list.

He needed to talk to his cousins about what he knew, just as he needed to tell them about his writing The Adventures of Mr. Salvador . Secrets always came out, his mother said.

“Is that Miss Althorp seated there, Charles?” Alex asked.

“You know very well it is, Alex.”

“Well then, it’s my guess that whoever this man with a T name is, is connected to her, as he was in my head the other night when I was close to her at the ball.”

“Very likely,” Leo agreed.

“As luck would have it, that is a large table they are seated at, and perfect for all of us.”

“We can’t just?—”

“Of course we can,” Leo cut Charles off. “I know Lord Talbot. We have fenced together many times.”

“But you can’t just speak about dead people to them, Alex,” Charles hissed.

His cousin threw him a pitying look. “I have been doing this for some time now, Charles, as you have. I am well aware I cannot just sit at the table and say, ‘So I have this dead person who wants to talk to you.’”

He couldn’t stop them, and soon he was following his family to where the Althorp siblings sat eating.

“Good day to you both,” Alex said when they arrived. “Do you mind if we share your table?”

Lord Talbot rose and bowed, as did Violet, who dropped into a curtsy. She looked pale to Charles, and there were dark smudges beneath her eyes. Was she sick? The thought made his stomach clench.

“Of course,” Lord Talbot said before reseating himself.

“Excellent, I’m quite fatigued,” Cyn said, dropping into a chair with a loud groan. “I’m sure I am carrying a baby pachyderm.”

“If our child has your ears, wife, then you could be right,” Leo said, sitting beside her.

Charles took the seat to Violet’s right, across from her brother, and Alex, to her left, which he could see surprised her.

“I need to thank you, Mr. Thomas, for your attempt to retrieve my sister’s reticule, and I apologize for your injuries,” Lord Talbot said, drawing his eyes away from Violet.

“Thank you.” Charles was surprised she’d told him about that day, because even if her maid had been there, it was still wrong that she’d been in that carriage with him.

“I’m not happy about her actions, but they are hers, not yours, as you would have been incapable of much but focusing on your pain,” Lord Talbot said.

“I understand you have dislocated your shoulder also, my lord?”

A grimace twisted his face briefly. “Not something I ever want to do again.”

“Agreed,” Charles added.

“How is your shoulder, Mr. Thomas?” Violet asked, looking at him for the first time since that kiss they’d shared.

Having those deep brown eyes settle on him was suddenly unnerving, like she could see right through him to all the dark thoughts inside his head.

“Much better, thank you. And you, are you well, Miss Althorp? I have not seen you in society, and you appear pale.” Charles tamped down the fear .

“Yes. I was unwell but am now better,” she said.

“But did a doctor check you over?”

“He did, and I am healthy, Mr. Thomas.”

She is sitting right there at your side, Charles reminded himself. There is no further need to worry.

“They were robbed actually, so my cousin is a little unsettled. Although his shoulder, I believe, is improving,” Charles heard Alex say to Lord Talbot.

“You were robbed?” Violet’s eyes flared with panic.

“They simply wanted our money and anything valuable we carried,” Charles said to calm her. When, in fact, he was now sure they were after something else. What, he was no closer to knowing, however.

“Miscreants,” Lord Talbot hissed softly.

“I had stronger words,” Ram said. He was seated next to Lord Talbot. “It’s never a pleasant experience to have a pistol aimed at you.”

“Indeed,” Violet said, her eyes moving around his party.

“Just Mr. Hellion, me, and Mungo,” Charles said. “The others were not with us.”

They gave their order while everyone thoroughly discussed the incident. Violet stayed quiet, listening. Charles noted her teacup and saucer were placed in the middle, above the plate that held her food. A napkin was folded beside her plate in a perfect rectangle. I have a dislike of crooked things. He remembered her telling him that in the bookshop.

She and Alex then proceeded to chat like old friends. He even got a laugh out of her, which lit her face and added another layer of beauty.

“Do you have siblings, Mr. Thomas?”

Charles nodded at Talbot’s question. “Two sisters. One older and one younger. I understand you have three. My sympathies,” he added .

“They make you irrational, sir, especially those younger than you.”

“Now that’s unfair,” Violet said, dragging her eyes from Alex. “I’m the most well behaved of us, surely?”

“You are just sneakier,” her brother drawled. “But it is the younger ones you worry about the most,” Talbot added softly when Violet had resumed her conversation with his cousin.

Charles thought back to that day in that bookshop. Her pain had made him feel helpless. He could only imagine how that had affected her brother.

“I understand.” And he did because he felt like that about his sisters—especially Flora, who had suffered at the hands of a man who had said he would wed her but was having dalliances with other women. Charles had ensured the man realized the error of his ways.

“What has you this far from London, my lord?” Charles asked when the man fell silent. He couldn’t tell him he knew about his sister’s loss, just as he knew he couldn’t tell her. It wasn’t a secret that sat well with him, and yet the time to tell her he had been the man in that bookshop had passed. It would remain his secret.

“My father wished me to drop some papers to someone he has business interests with nearby,” Talbot said. “That look of surprise on your face suggests you thought us indolent noblemen like many, Mr. Thomas.”

“No… yes.” Charles went for honesty. “I know many families who are more modern thinking, as are mine, but there are still those who think ‘trade’ a dirty word.”

“My father is an intelligent man and soon realized that the money he inherited needed replenishing. Many are fools to not understand that things are changing.”

“He sounds like a wise man.”

“He is, and one of the best I know.”

Charles thought about his father and what he’d believed he was. Once he would have said that about him, but no more.

“Do you believe in those that can connect with the dead, Miss Althorp?” Alex asked, and he and Lord Talbot both heard the words.

“Well… as to that, I’m not entirely sure.”

“Why would you ask my sister that, sir?” Talbot demanded.

“I mean her no harm, my lord, but would ask that you bear with me while I explain,” Alex said calmly.

Talbot gave a sharp nod.

“Few people are aware of this, Miss Althorp, but my family is clairvoyant.”

They never willingly told people, simply because no one believed them and usually ran in the opposite direction screaming if they did. It seemed Alex had information for Violet about her late fiancé.

“I have had someone attempting to communicate with me, Miss Althorp, and both times it was when you were near,” Alex continued.

No, it can’t be. Charles heard Violet’s words in his head.

“Clairvoyants? Really?” Talbot looked disbelieving.

“He speaks the truth,” Charles said. “We rarely talk about it, but it seems Alex has a message for your sister.”

“I won’t have her hurt again?—”

“Alex would never do that. He is a gifted clairvoyant, my lord, and he is also one of the best men I know.”

“I’ve never believed in such things,” Lord Talbot said slowly as he turned to look at his sister. Alex now held her hand and was talking softly to Violet.

“Which is completely understandable, and yet when you have lived with it for your entire life?—”

“You also?” Lord Talbot raised a brow .

Charles nodded. “All of my family who are blood related, my lord.”

The man’s eyes went around the table to those who sat with him. Only Leo was his blood, and he nodded to Lord Talbot as their gazes met.

“Well,” was all he said, his eyes going back to his sister.

“Ah, it makes sense as to what Leo is looking for now,” Alex said to Violet.

“Pardon?”

“Do you know someone who has passed with the initial T ?” With wide eyes, she nodded, fisting her hand on the table in front of her.

“I think Toby or?—”

“Tobias,” she whispered.

“I feel a pain here.” Alex touched his head. “Did he pass due to something happening to his head, Miss Althorp?”

She nodded.

Charles remembered that day he’d hurt his shoulder that Violet had asked about his head, and knew that was because her fiancé had died after hitting his.

“He was young. Happy,” Alex added. “I can feel his warmth and humor.”

She pressed one hand to her mouth, and the other fell to her side in a fist. Charles lowered his and briefly squeezed her hand before returning it to rest on the table. He hoped the contact comforted her in some small way.

“I am seeing a book in a language I do not understand, but I know that he’s pleased about it.”

“R-Russian,” she whispered. “He wanted me to learn to speak and read it.”

Alex’s smile was gentle. This was the side of his cousin he loved the most. The kind, giving man who gave peace to people who suffered through the loss of a loved one .

“He wants you to know he was not in pain when he passed and knew you were there with him.”

She wept then. Charles pulled out his handkerchief and handed it to her before her brother could. She took it and pressed her face into the linen. He wanted to put an arm around her and offer comfort but knew her brother would never allow it.

“Tobias is showing me a woolen blanket with holes in it,” Alex added.

A strangled laugh came out of Violet then. “H-he wanted me to learn to knit also, and I’m woeful at it, I’m afraid. We exchanged lists of things the other should master before… well, before they died of old age.”

“Oh well, we cannot all be good at everything. That would leave us little opportunity to brag,” Alex added.

She laughed again, and this one was stronger.

“I’m seeing a clock, Miss Althorp, which suggests Tobias is telling you to grieve him no more. He wants you to live your life.”

“I-I miss him so much. He was my best friend,” she said.

“And losing our best friend is like losing part of us, but was Tobias a man who would wish you to stop living after his death?” Alex asked.

Charles knew everyone was focused on the conversation between Alex and Violet, just as he was.

“No, he would not,” she said. “There is guilt, you see.”

“What guilt?” her brother asked.

“That I lived, and he died.”

“And thank God you did,” Talbot said.

“Completely understandable.” Alex patted her hand again. “But it is time to take the first step, Miss Althorp.”

“If I may intervene?” Leo said. “This list you were given, does it have five things on it?”

She nodded .

“I have an urgent need to find it. Was it lost that day in your reticule?”

“Yes.”

“Very well, I will see if I can get it back for you, as Tobias wrote it. Unlike my amazing brother, who I’m sure just gave you a gift you never thought to have, I simply find things,” Leo said with a soft smile.

“You are just as amazing,” Cyn said loyally.

Violet gave Leo a watery smile. “I would be grateful.” She then picked up her tea and gulped down several mouthfuls.

“Well,” Lord Talbot said, exhaling loudly. “I may have to revise my opinion of clairvoyance after that. I believe your cousin just did for my sister what none of us have been able to, Mr. Thomas.”

“Freed her?” Charles asked.

“Exactly that. What skill do you have in that area?” the man then asked.

“I hear voices. The day your sister had her reticule taken, I heard the boys who took it say, Grab and run .”

“Is it loud?” Charles could see Talbot was genuinely interested.

“It can be, but I am able to block it out. As you imagine, walking about the busy streets of London, there are many voices. My sister feels emotions, and my cousin Mrs. Fletcher has visions of what has been or will be.”

“You must all be hell to live with,” Lord Talbot said, which had Charles laughing.

“You have no idea,” Bramstone said from across the table. “Thankfully that does not come through my side of the family.”

Their meals arrived, and they ate and chatted then, but Violet was very quiet the entire time, no doubt thinking about Alex’s words .

“We must be going.” Lord Talbot eventually rose. Violet did the same but dropped her reticule.

“Allow me,” Charles said, bending to retrieve the small bag. Their eyes met briefly as he passed it to her. Then she turned away and left with her brother and the paper he needed her to translate tucked inside.