Page 26 of The Honorable Rogue (The Notorious Nightingales #5)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

T he carriage rolled into Crabbett Close and stopped outside number 11. Opening the door, Charles looked back along the street but saw no sign of anyone. Had it only been this morning he’d left here and strolled down this very street with his most pressing concern being the need to ensure he got an apricotine before Ram purchased them all?

“Please wait,” he said as he handed the driver some money. “I need you to take someone to an address and return with another person.” The driver nodded.

“Come, Miss Althorp.” Leo helped her down.

“Get her inside, Leo.”

“You also, Cousin. Inside at once.”

They hurried up the steps and into 11 Crabbett Close. Closing the door behind them, Charles let out a long breath. He knew they were finally safe, for now.

“What has happened? Your face is bloodied again!” Mungo roared, stomping toward them. “Miss Althorp also has blood on her.”

“Perhaps you could save your yelling until their nerves have settled,” Leo said. “Tea and food, Mungo. There is a story to tell, but I fear we will need nourishment to hear it. I will find Uncle Bram.” He then ran up the stairs.

“We are both well, Mungo,” Charles said. “I need Benjamin to go to an address and bring Lord Talbot, Miss Althorp’s brother, back here at once. What address will he be at?”

“He should be at his lodgings at this hour,” Violet said.

“I will explain everything, but only once everyone is here, Mungo. It’s urgent that I speak with all the family.”

“I will send word to the others at once,” Mungo said with uncharacteristic compliance.

“Come, you need to pen a note to your brother telling him to come here immediately, Violet.” He urged her to the parlor, where he knew the desk was stocked with everything she would need.

“Perhaps I should just go home, Charles.”

“This is serious, Violet. You have to see things have gone beyond you unraveling a clue. Even now one of us could be hurt or worse.” He grabbed her shoulders and gave her a little shake. “There is no time for worrying about reputations. Your only concern should be your safety.”

“Yes, of course you are right.” Her voice was unsteady. “I shall pen the note to Ambrose at once.”

Benjamin, one of the Nightingale staff, took the note and hurried out to the hackney. At least if her brother was here, her reputation would be protected, if no one had seen them fleeing through the streets of London that was.

“I will have tea brought for you, Violet. Please excuse me for a moment.”

“Of course. Can I help, Charles?” She stood just inside the doorway, clutching her hands together now.

He wanted to hold her again, but knew he couldn’t, not here .

“I will take care of it. Please just sit, Violet. You have had a harrowing experience.”

“I will not break, Charles,” she said with a snap to her words.

“I know that, but there is little you can do at the moment. When the others arrive, there will be questions, so sit, drink tea, and regain your strength for the inquisition that is coming.” He walked out before she could say another word, which he knew she wanted to. He found Miss Bud in the kitchens.

“A young lady is in the front parlor. Would you see if she needs to refresh herself and then have tea brought?”

“Of course. I’ll see to it at once. Can I get you something for your face, Mr. Thomas?”

“I believe the last pot of Mr. Greedy’s salve is still in my room,” Charles said.

“He is home. I could collect him for you?”

“All is well, Miss Bud, but thank you for your concern. Plummy is not about, is he? I have no wish for him to hear what we are to discuss shortly.”

Miss Bud rolled her eyes. “No, indeed. He was here earlier, but I sent him on his way.”

Constable Plummy tended to spend a lot of time at the Nightingale residence, as he was rather fond of their housekeeper.

“You look like you need this.” Miss Bud handed him a ginger biscuit.

“Many thanks.” Charles took it and then a large bite as he left the kitchens. The taste of sweetness and ginger was delicious and—Miss Bud was right—something he needed.

Violet is safe and here in the house. She had been incredibly brave through what they’d just endured, and he doubted many would have behaved with the composure she had .

Charles took the stairs two at a time and found Bram at the top with Mungo.

“What has happened? Leo said he came across you on the run, bloodied, and with Miss Althorp again, but he knew nothing more.”

“I promise to explain it all, Bram, but first I wish to wash and change. We are well, and I will tell you the entire story but would prefer to do so only once the others arrive.”

Bram didn’t look happy with his answer but accepted it. Charles was living under his roof and therefore under his protection as far as the eldest Nightingale was concerned.

“Very well. I shall go and keep Miss Althorp company. Ivy is from home with the others. Theo is here, and he can charm any woman, so I’ll bring him down with me.”

Charles ran to his room to wash and change. Looking in the mirror, he saw more swelling, and his shoulder ached like the devil. Grabbing the salve Mr. Greedy had given him, he slathered it over his shoulder and face and then dressed.

Once he was done, he collected the book the note had been in and left. Voices reached Charles as he started back down the stairs, and he found Leo, Ram, and Flora with the others. Violet was sitting, her hands clasped around a cup.

“But what has happened, Miss Althorp? I insist you tell us at once,” Flora said as he entered the room.

“Stop haranguing her, Sister. Sit and wait. The others will be here soon, and I will tell the story with Miss Althorp’s help.”

“Your shoulder?—”

“Is well, Flora. Sit.”

They started arriving fifteen minutes later. Alex, Ellen, and Gray. Last to storm into 11 Crabbett Close was Lord Talbot, Violet’s brother.

“What the bloody hell are you doing here?” he asked his sister. “If you’ve compromised my sister, Thomas, I’m killing you.”

“You try and I’ll kill you also,” Flora snapped.

“Enough, Flora,” Charles said. “And you should kill me, my lord, if I had compromised her.” Which he had but no one was finding that out. “But don’t speak to your sister like that,” Charles said, getting to his feet.

The man stalked to stand toe to toe with him, and they glared at each other.

“You dare tell me how to speak to my sister,” the man growled.

“I will if you do so in that manner,” Charles growled back.

“Enough,” Violet said. “Sit, both of you. We have much to discuss.”

Her brother’s head whipped to the left to impale Violet with a hard look.

“Lord Talbot, please sit, as we need to find out what is going on, and my brother-in-law would tell us nothing until you arrived,” Ram said.

He didn’t want to, but Talbot took the seat next to his sister, and Charles moved to the other side of the low table and fell into a chair, suddenly exhausted. His body was aching in places it hadn’t been this morning.

Mungo then brought a tray of whisky, and Miss Bud a fresh tea tray piled with yet more food. Charles took a whisky.

“Do I need to arrest anyone?” Gray asked, resigned.

“As to that, I’m unsure,” Charles added. “Shall I start?” he asked Violet. When she nodded, he began. “I found an old Russian book in a shop on the day I hurt my shoulder. This book.” He raised it to show them. “I noticed it had something inside the cover, but it was not until speaking to Captain Sinclair and hearing the story of the Pavlov fortune that had never been found that I opened it and saw a note was in there.”

“The note was written in Russian,” Violet added, and Charles knew his story would be peppered with interruptions from her.

“I knew Miss Althorp was learning Russian, and that day at the Hen and Rooster, I gave it to her to translate, which she did. Earlier today, I met with her and Miss Wilson?—”

“God’s blood, I knew she would be involved,” Talbot snapped.

“I’m quite sure you will have a great deal to say on many matters regarding this, so please refrain until the end,” his sister snapped.

Even considering the gravity of the occasion, Charles had to battle his smile, pleased to see her standing her ground with Talbot.

“Miss Althorp gave me the paper she’d translated today, and we discussed it. I then heard a voice in my head saying, Circle around and take them all. Don’t shoot. He wants them alive. If they are harmed, he will make us pay. ”

Talbot made a sound like he was in pain.

“Mr. Thomas then got us to run out of the trees toward the road, but two men stepped into our path. He charged them and managed to dislodge the gun?—”

“Christ, there was a gun,” Talbot muttered.

“We ran to the road, where a carriage was coming toward us at speed,” Violet added quickly. “Mr. Thomas tried to look inside.”

“You stood in the middle of the road? What were you thinking, Brother? You should have been fleeing!” Flora shrieked at him.

“I was not in the middle of the road. I was beside it?—”

“Still, you should have been fleeing!”

“Calm down, love,” Ram said .

“We did after that if it makes you feel better,” Charles said.

Absolute silence followed his words, and then everyone started talking at once.

“You should have come straight to me,” Gray said, looking annoyed.

“You met my sister alone in a park?” Lord Talbot roared.

“Dear God, Brother, someone could have abducted you,” Flora said.

“This family is always finding trouble,” Mungo growled.

“Do you think it has something to do with Pavlov’s missing fortune?” Alex asked.

“One at a time,” Bram said.

“There was someone in that carriage,” Charles said. “And I thought it looked like a woman but cannot be certain of that.”

“You met my sister alone in that park?” Lord Talbot roared again.

“I was with Tilly, as I have already told you. Now be quiet, Rosie,” Violet snapped.

“Rosie?” Ram queried.

“It’s his nickname,” Violet added, scowling at her brother.

“And hers is Pixie, but we digress,” Talbot snapped. “What the hell are you about meeting him in the park?” He jabbed a finger at Charles.

“Do you mean the man who went after my reticule and saved me today from being abducted, which in turn would likely have meant I disappeared forever?” Violet said.

“Violet,” her brother warned.

“This is getting us nowhere,” Ellen said. “What did the note say?”

“There is more to tell yet,” Charles said. “We got into a hackney and thought ourselves safe, but after dropping Miss Wilson at her house, they found us again. Someone stopped the hackney and threw the driver from his seat. Two men took over the reins. We then leaped from it when they slowed to turn a corner?—”

“I feel ill,” Lord Talbot said.

“And still, you did not come to me,” Gray muttered.

“I doubt I’d believe this story if I read it,” Alex added.

“Then we found Leo in a lane,” Charles said. “What were you doing there, by the way?”

“Do you remember I told you I needed to find that list of Miss Althorp’s? Well, it’s been bothering me for days, so this morning Cyn told me that if I do not go and find it, she was packing my things and throwing me out of our house. Apparently, I’ve been distracted. So I went hunting and discovered this in a pile of rubbish where you found me. Does it belong to you, Miss Althorp?” Leo said, holding out a crumpled piece of paper to her.

“My list,” she whispered, taking it. “I-I can never thank you enough.” She clutched it to her chest.

“In all of London, you were able to find that scrap of paper?” Talbot asked, looking shocked.

“I believe we told you what we were,” Leo said.

Talbot nodded. “Knowing and understanding are two different things,” he added.

“But what did the note say?” Flora demanded.

Charles pulled it from his jacket pocket and read, “ In the heart of the forest, where the moonlight falls, a castle stands without walls. Look not for doors but seek the beast, as what you seek lies beneath. ”

“That’s odd and cryptic,” Alex said.

“How on earth are we to work out what those words mean?” Mungo said. “They make no sense.”

“I hate anything cryptic,” Bram said.

“I came up with a few ideas,” Violet said and went on to explain her theories. “Really, they’re very loose ideas,” she added when she received several blank stares .

Charles felt vindicated for feeling the same way when he’d heard them earlier.

“If Mr. Pavlov was a man who enjoyed reading and deep thinking, there is every chance that his clues will not be easy to decipher. Hence, you cannot think of it rationally,” Violet added patiently.

“Why can it not just state, ‘Go to the large brick building and find the treasure’?” Alex sighed. “Deep thinking annoys me excessively.”

The other men in the room raised their glasses to that.

“We need to find out who is behind that attempted abduction today or where that note leads,” Charles said. “I fear they will not stop until we do.”

“How did someone know you’d be in the park today?” Lord Talbot asked.

Charles watched Violet exhale slowly. “I think there was someone in Father’s office the night of the musical, and they overheard me explaining everything to Tilly.”

“What else aren’t you telling me?” He watched Talbot’s hand curl into a fist at his sister’s words.

“Nothing,” she said quickly… too quickly.

“That’s a lie.”

“Where do we start looking for whatever we’re meant to find?” Bram asked, stepping in like he always did to play peacemaker.

Charles watched Violet look at the clock on the wall opposite where she sat. “I need to go home before Mother grows suspicious,” she said, rising.

Her brother, who still had his jaw clenched and looked ready to commit murder, nodded.

“I will drive you. Wait while I collect the carriage,” Mungo said.

“There is no need. We can?— ”

“I said wait here,” the Scotsman said, cutting off Talbot, who in turn looked shocked.

“It’s usually only my sisters who speak to me like that,” he said when Mungo had left.

“Don’t feel bad. We get that daily,” Alex said.

He didn’t want her to go. In fact, Charles wanted Violet to move in here where he could watch over her and keep her safe. Where he could hold her when he wanted to, but he also knew that was not happening.

“I think we all need to put some thought into this and meet again tomorrow. Right now, Miss Althorp should to return home before the rest of her family realizes something has happened,” Bram said. “Charles needs to be looked at by Mr. Greedy again to check his shoulder, that bruising, and your nose.”

“I’m fine.”

“Your face has been a punching bag,” Flora snapped.

Bram spoke again before Charles could. “We meet here tomorrow.”

“Evening,” Talbot said. “So no one sees us leave or come here.”

“Very well,” Bram said. “You will be safe here. No one gets in or out of this street without notice, and I will ensure everyone knows to notify me if any strangers are seen.”

“Charles and Miss Althorp cannot go anywhere alone from now on,” Leo said.

“Agreed,” everyone but Charles and Violet said.

“Let me do some research about Pavlov,” Gray said. “So far the only people breaking the law are the bad ones, much to my relief.”

“My family is leaving London tomorrow for two nights to visit friends. I am not going, and I’m sure Violet could fake an illness today and stay in London if I say I will be with her, as she’s clearly a talented liar,” Lord Talbot said, glaring at his sister again. “We will be here tomorrow night to plan how we end this.”

Everyone nodded.

“The carriage has arrived,” Miss Bud said from the doorway.

Charles walked Talbot and Violet out.

“Watch over her, my lord.”

“Ambrose,” the man snapped. “If we are to work together to keep you both safe, then I can’t have you my lording me constantly.”

“And I am Charles. Forgive me for leading your sister to trouble.”

The man sighed loudly. “Now my anger has cooled, I can admit she is more than capable of finding it herself, but I want this sorted, Charles, because I will not have my youngest sister in danger.”

“And I’m standing right here,” Violet said, looking from her brother to Charles.

“Agreed,” Charles said, ignoring her. The men then shared a look of understanding.

“Goodbye, Charles, and thank you for keeping me safe,” Violet said solemnly. Her eyes met his briefly before she walked away.

Letting her leave was one of the hardest things he’d ever done.