Page 8 of The Villain’s Vixen (Wanton Wastrels)
CHAPTER 8
W hen the Crown & Sceptre proved fruitless, Dominic headed for Amos’s residence. Very few people knew where his second-in-command laid his head at night and just as it was imperative that Dominic had never been caught unaware, Amos employed the same discretion. With several places to escape if things became too heated within the underground, Dominic knew them all and was confident he knew where he could find Amos.
He was correct and as he knocked on the door with a special coded rap of his knuckles, it was opened. The burly man stood there, his blue eye in sharp contrast to his dark skin and the eyepatch on the opposite side of his face. “I thought I might be expecting you.”
As Dominic walked inside, he said, “You’ve already heard?”
“News travels fast, don’t you know. Or have you been too preoccupied with your light-haired vixen to remember that?”
Dominic immediately bristled at the mention of Miss Givenwald. “She is a vixen, that I won’t deny, but I am still the same man who leads this operation and you will show me the proper respect or I might be tempted to rid you of your other eye. ”
Rather than get offended or angry, white teeth flashed on Amos’s face in a broad smile. “She really has gotten under your skin.”
“You have no idea,” Dominic muttered irritably. Rather than sit down, he remained standing and set a hand on the edge of the doorframe that led to the modest bedchamber. Other than a shaving set and a few other toiletries, no one could guess that Amos lived there, although this had been his primary residence for more than three years. There were no personal touches on the walls or scattered about. It was perfectly stripped of anything that might be used against him. Dominic wished he might have had the same luxury to pattern his own life after Amos, but splitting his time between the underworld and that of a dukedom was a bit more complicated.
Preferring to delve into the topic of the thief, rather than face his fascination with Miss Givenwald, he looked steadily at Amos. “I shot the bastard, the proof was in the blood left on my windowsill, but I have not yet figured out what he might have been searching for. He already has the pages from the journal.”
“Jewels? Coin?” Amos guessed.
“No. This wasn’t about money. If he wants that, I’m sure he will blackmail me for it soon enough.”
“Hmm.” Amos’s brows drew together. “It would have to be something rather damning in order for him to take such a risk so soon after he obtained the journal.”
“At least I’ve made it even harder for him to steal something else. Bow Street has set two men to watch my residence outside at all times and the servants are alternating on the inside. If he makes it through again, he will have to come in through one of the chimneys.”
Amos snorted. “Perhaps he will embody the spirit of St. Nicholas and do just that.”
The image caused Dominic’s lips to twitch. “Then I shall just have to ensure roaring fires are lit in each one every night. ”
A chuckle was the reply. “I had no doubt you would discover a solution to the problem.”
“Perhaps in something so ridiculous in nature, but when it comes to uncovering what else he wants, I shall have to remain in ignorance.”
Seriousness returned to Amos’s expression. “There has to be something you’re missing. Some vital piece of information that you don’t think matters. It could very well be the key to ending all of this.”
He exhaled heavily. “I will return home and search through all the family gemstones and documentation to see if anything might jog my memory or seem out of sorts. But first I will head to the pub to see if there is something I overlooked there.”
“I doubt there is anything the thief failed to get last time, but it wouldn’t be amiss to check things thoroughly.” Amos tilted his head to the side. “Once you discover who it is, do you plan to turn him over to the authorities, or the Blue Boys?”
Dominic clenched his jaw. “It would depend on how far he pushes me. If he harms Miss Givenwald you already know my answer to that.”
There was a pause and then Amos asked, “Have you considered we might have another traitor in our midst?”
Shaking his head, Dominic said, “After what happened last time, I believe I made my sentiments perfectly clear on how I deal with anyone who betrays those who are loyal to Avalon.”
Amos nodded. “You did, indeed.”
A slight knock came at the door and Dominic was instantly on alert. He straightened. “Were you expecting Devon?” he asked tightly, referring to the other man’s son.
“No.” Amos jerked his head. “I’ll take care of this. And if not, you know when to jump in.”
Dominic stealthily took his place behind the door as Amos answered the summons.
Until that point, Lexie had been congratulating herself for being so intelligent, or rather, she supposed she ought to thank the hackney driver who had deposited her at this ramshackle building with a smirk and a tip of his hat with half of her purse weighing down his vest pocket. However, she had considered it money well spent for cornering the fox in his own hole.
She waited patiently to greet the duke with a knowing smile on her face. Instead, she was greeted by a rather intimidating man with an eyepatch. She would have taken a step backward in surprise if it wasn’t for the fact he was revealing the most enchanting blue eye. Somehow, that made him appear a bit less menacing. And knowing that she had witnessed the duke stride into this very door, she knew he was still here somewhere, unless he’d ducked out a back entrance, in which case, she would soon appear very foolish.
“Good afternoon.” She waited for a reply, but his face was as stony as when he’d opened the door. She cleared her throat. “I was looking for… Avalon.” She nearly stumbled over the duke’s identity, recalling his pseudonym at the last moment.
“What do you want with him?” the man opposite asked in a gravelly voice.
She lifted a brow and replied primly. “That, sir, is between me and him.”
One moment, Lexie was waiting for the other man to speak and the next, her arm was grabbed in a bruising grip and she was hauled inside the room, the door slamming shut behind her. “What the devil are you doing here?”
As a hard body pressed her against the wood of the door, Lexie had to sigh inwardly. This was much better. She would certainly rather face the stormy glare of the duke rather than the dangerous glint in that single blue eye. “Ah, there you are,” she said breathlessly .
“You didn’t answer my question,” he nearly snarled.
She forced herself not to pout, but she wasn’t very happy with his reception. She had been expecting him to applaud her on her quick resolve, instead he was acting like an angry father whose child had done something naughty. “If you wouldn’t crowd me, then perhaps we might have a civil conversation.”
He pushed away from her with another growl, but pivoted back around a short distance away, the first man watching her with something akin to curiosity, as if she were some sort of oddity at the local fair.
She smoothed her cloak and patted her hair and then said, “I didn’t figure you would tell me more about yourself than you did at the opera so I took it upon myself to learn the full truth and what I actually have to fear.”
“Is that so?” The eyepatch swiveled in his direction and an unspoken message appeared to pass between them. Afterward, the duke returned his gaze to her. “You don’t understand anything, and by coming here you might have just secured your fate. It’s best if you leave and pray that no one followed you like you have me.”
Lexie’s jaw went slack. This reunion wasn’t turning out how she’d imagined at all. But what he didn’t know was that she had never been one to back down, and certainly not without having the last word. “Before I go, I would be asking myself how it was that I discovered your location in the first place.”
She turned on her heel and had her hand on the knob when a voice spoke up behind her. “I am rather curious about that.”
She slowly turned to face the man with the eyepatch. Narrowing her gaze, she lifted her chin and said, “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”
He gave a chuckle and then murmured something to the duke that she wished she had been able to overhear before he bowed as gallantly as if he were in the midst of an elegant ballroom and he’d claimed a dance. “Amos, at your service. ”
“No last name?”
His face retained the smile but his eye flashed with warning. “Amos is fine.”
She gave a slight shrug and attempted to quell the sudden unease that slithered down her spine. He had the same power of intimidation as the duke. Thankfully, she had been bullied by her father for years so she was used to the gruff demeanor most often associated with men. “Very well.” Gathering her resolve, she kept her focus on Amos and purposefully ignored the duke. “The hackney driver happened to see… Avalon leaving his residence in… er… another section of town, but he immediately recognized him. And he seemed to act as though it wasn’t a secret that he tended to leave the house at all hours. He claimed that having driven a hackney as long as he had, not much escapes his notice.”
“Interesting.” Amos appeared thoughtful, and then he turned to the man at his side. “Did you realize you were being observed.”
The duke set his hands on his hips and set his jaw. “It would appear I was not as circumspect as I believed. I have become too careless over the years, which is why it is a good thing I’m handing the responsibility over to someone who isn’t bedeviled at every turn these days.” He pinned Lexie with a glare, and she had the feeling that remark was mainly meant for her.
“Say what you will, but you will find that not much intimidates me.” At least, not outwardly.
“I am beginning to see that, yes.”
The low murmur slid over her skin like the finest silk and caused her to shiver slightly.
“You’re cold.” He moved toward her, and although she was perfectly fine, he removed his jacket and laid it over her shoulders. He turned to Amos. “I’m going to escort the lady home?—”
She shook her head. “I didn’t come all this way just to be rebuked for my actions and sent back to my room like some recalcitrant child.”
His glare was hard. “I will not have you traipsing about Whitechapel.” His eyes flicked over her attire. “And especially not dressed as you are. You would become an instant target in your finery.”
“Then procure me something else to wear, because like it or not, until I discover everything there is to know about the threat to my life, you’re stuck with me.”
She was the most obstinate, stubborn, irritating woman he’d ever had the misfortune to meet.
And yet…
Dominic couldn’t help but admire her bravery, however foolish, the pert line of her nose, the mutinous set of her chin, and the sparkle of life in those blue eyes. She was so tantalizingly beautiful that he wanted to gather her into his arms and kiss her until they were both clinging to a tenuous strand of self-control.
But since he was forced to retain his distance, for Amos’s sake if nothing else, Dominic sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was about to say he wasn’t going to argue with her any longer and she would be going back to Mayfair if he had to drag her there kicking and screaming, but then Amos interjected. “I can help with that.”
Dominic jerked his head around. He had never known the other man to cart about women’s apparel to produce at a moment’s notice, but nothing would surprise him. Amos was prepared for most any situation that presented itself, no matter how odd it might seem at the time.
He returned from his bedroom carrying a simple brown linen. He held it up, and Miss Givenwald boldly walked forward. “Thank you, Mr. Amos.” She shot Dominic a triumphant look before she glanced toward the bedchamber door. As Amos waved a hand, she disappeared inside .
As soon as they were alone, Dominic walked over to him. “Have you lost your bloody mind?”
Amos snorted. “I can see why you have lost some of your focus lately.”
“And yet, you decide that it is best if she trots after me like a pup after its master in the most dangerous part of the city?”
“Wasn’t it your townhouse in Mayfair that was broken into this morning?” Amos pointed out.
“And my office just before that,” Dominic returned with a snap.
Amos shrugged. “It’s better to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Or in this instance, you can protect her better if she is with you rather than running all over the East End ducking around corners trying to keep you in sight.”
Realizing that Amos had a point, Dominic leaned his head back against the wall. “I must have really done something unforgiveable in the past to suffer like this now.”
“I wouldn’t see any hardship in keeping Miss Givenwald close. She is quite comely.”
Dominic gave a sharp bark of laughter. “That is the worst part of all.”
“You told me you wanted to take a wife. She’s as good as any.”
“A suitable one,” Dominic corrected. “I have yet to discern if the lady is that, and finding a way to corner me like a fox in its own den is not the way to endear herself to me.”
Amos lifted a brow. “You would get bored with a chit that did everything you asked of her, admit it.” As Dominic remained silent, he pointed toward his bedchamber. “I guarantee that one will keep you heading for her bed night after night.”
Dominic stared at the closed door separating Miss Givenwald from his view as if he could look hard enough and peer through to the other side. In the short time they had known of each other’s existence she had managed to find a way to entice him. She was everything that he’d ever wanted—in a mistress. But then, he hadn’t been searching for a wife to settle down with until recently either. It could be that she would be the perfect choice as a bride, and as Amos said, Dominic doubted the passion that flared between them would ever wane. It was too strong, something he’d never felt before with any other woman.
He was still fixated on the woman behind the door when it suddenly opened and she popped her head around the frame. For the first time she appeared a bit uncertain. “I am having a bit of… trouble getting the hooks attached in the back.”
Before he quite knew he was moving, Dominic’s footsteps were taking him closer to her. She stepped out of the way as he entered the room and shut the door behind them. He had been in Amos’s bedchamber a handful of times and thought nothing of it, but with this tempting vixen standing in front of him, he found the room had suddenly gotten smaller and the bed was the only thing he could seem to focus on. His breathing turned shallow and it took a moment for him to remember why he was there.
She turned her back to him hesitantly, revealing the borrowed dress gaping at the back. He could see the laces of her stays beneath and rather than hooking the dress, he imagined sliding the offending garment off her shoulders and slowly removing the rest of the clothes from her until she was standing there in nothing but her stockings and shoes.
He tried to swallow but it was difficult to manage as his throat had closed up on him.
He reached out his hands and blinked when he realized that they were shaking. What the hell was wrong with him? It was as if he was the inexperienced one in this scenario. She seemed completely unaffected. But as he reached out and brushed a finger across the bare skin of her smooth spine, she flinched and he could tell she wasn’t as composed as she might pretend.
This knowledge made it possible for him to concentrate enough to finish fastening her dress. Afterward, he didn’t immediately move backward. Instead, he allowed his hand to brush the side of her slender neck. He heard a sharp intake of breath, and he leaned down to kiss his way along the smooth column. Her hair was pulled up into a simple knot, and he imagined removing every single pin, allowing the length to flow over her naked breasts and along her shoulders. He would wrap the length around his hand, fisting it in his palm as he drew her head back and smothered her mouth with so many kisses that she started to beg him for mercy.
“Your Grace?”
It was the unsure tone of her voice, along with the sound of his title crossing her lips that caused him to step backward before he turned his dreams into reality. He had not lied when he told Amos this was a dangerous game and Miss Givenwald an equally dangerous woman. “Let’s go.”
He threw open the door and breathed in a great gulp of air as he forced his raging desire to return to a dull simmer.
He couldn’t even look at Amos as he waited for his quarry to join him. She retained his jacket and he noted that she had left behind her cloak with her dress. That was good because it was also of fine quality and would do nothing but alert all of the thieves in the neighborhood like a red flag taunting a bull if she were to don it once again.
He finally glanced at Amos and offered him a curt nod as he opened the door and waited impatiently for Miss Givenwald. She had paused by Amos. “Thank you for your assistance.”
He grinned and it annoyed Dominic more than it should. “Anytime.”
As Dominic lightly grasped her arm to propel her outside, he was trying to think of where they might go, where she would get in the least amount of trouble and it might pacify this insatiable curiosity she had. He certainly wasn’t going to take her to the Crown & Sceptre. There were too many people who knew Avalon for him to be comfortable with parading about a woman as lovely as Miss Givenwald. Although no one would bother her with him at her side, it was when he wasn’t around that concerned him.
With a considering frown, they had moved into the open when the first gunshot rang out.
“What—?”
Dominic uttered a curse as he threw his body over Miss Givenwald to absorb any further impact that might be coming. Amos’s door flew back open and Dominic quickly hauled her back inside just as another bullet shattered the wood against the frame and they slammed the panel shut.