Debutantes Don’t Date (19 page)

“What are they saying?” Anne asked her. She couldn’t get around Jasper’s arm either.

“Do I trust you enough to go somewhere that isn’t in public view?” Jasper asked of
the man.

“You know me, mate; I would warn you beforehand if I meant to kill you. Besides, you
fared well enough against me last time.”

Grace could hear the humour in the man’s voice and could well imagine him sneering
down at Jasper.

“It’s not me I’m concerned about and you well know it.”

“Aye, and it’s the lady behind you I’m worried about too. You need to get her out
of sight. Now.”

“You need to tell me what is going on first, Caine.”

“Do you know a man called Wester?”

Jasper tensed but before he could reply, Anne’s head popped out from behind him to
look the strange man in the eye.

“What about my brother?”

“Your brother, eh? Is that how he got you out into the street today?”

Jasper and Grace both turned to stared at Anne. Her face went red. “I…umm…well…you
see, the thing is…umm. Robin asked me to take a walk with you to the park today.”
The words rushed from her lips. “What is he up to? What has he done now?” she asked
the unfamiliar man.

The man looked around at the people gathering around them. “Like I said, we should
get out of public. Where’s your house, Bingham?”

“Victoria’s house is just down the street, we could go there. If you’re in luck, Harrison
will be there too,” Jasper said.

“Ah, Victoria, I haven’t seen her in ages. How is the old girl? She finally managed
to snare Harrison did she? She always did have her sights set on him didn’t she?”

“Umm, Japer, don’t you think you should introduce us?” Grace asked.

“I would be honoured to make your acquaintance, Miss Lancaster, but it’s best to leave
the introductions until we are safely inside.”

“But…”

“Grace, he’s right, we need to get off the street.”

The walk the rest of the way back to the Harrison’s was kept to a normal pace and
they managed not to attract any more attention.

Hoskins opened the door of the manor as they approached. No emotion was detectable
on his face as he admitted them.

“Is my brother-in-law still at home?” At Hoskins’s affirmative reply, Jasper continued,
“Please inform him we need an audience straight away.”

“Jasper, is that you?” Victoria’s voice came from her drawing room just off the foyer.
“Tell Grace I need her to try on those dr…Oh!” Victoria came into the hallway and
spotted the man with them. “Rupert Caine?!” She flew across the room and flung herself
into his arms. “Is it really you?”

“Victoria,” Rupert chuckled, “aye, it’s me.”

“Get your hands off my wife.” The cold tense words rang through the house. Every eye
rose to the top of the staircase where Neal now stood.

Victoria stepped back and Rupert’s hands fell to his sides.

“Good to see you, Harrison.” Rupert stepped forward as Neal descended the stairs and
offered his hand to him. “May I offer my heartiest congratulations upon your marriage?”

“We have been married for ten years now, congratulations are a bit late don’t you
think?” Neal looked at Rupert’s extended hand but didn’t offer his own when he reached
the bottom. “I thought you were dead.”

“Could someone please tell me what is going on here?” Grace asked, looking from one
face to the next.

Jasper was the first to answer. “Yes, well, Neal, it appears we need your study…and
you. Ladies, if you will excuse us?”

The men filed down the hall, leaving the women to stand in the entrance. “Come, ladies,
I think we need a drink. And something a bit stronger than tea, don’t you agree?”
Victoria led them into her drawing room but left the door ajar so the men couldn’t
sneak by without them knowing.

“Victoria, who was that man?” Anne asked when they were seated. “And how does he know
my brother?”

Handing them each a glass of sherry, Victoria sat down in her favourite chair. “That
man is Rupert Caine, second son to the Duke of Kensington.” She took a large gulp
of her drink. “He went to war, like most second and third sons, but he didn’t come
back, ever. No one saw him again since the day he left. He never came home to visit,
at least not that I heard, and a few years ago it was rumoured he was killed in battle.
Lord Kensington even had a funeral service for him and everything. To see him here
doesn’t make sense. As for how he knows your brother, Anne, your guess is as good
as mine.”

“So if you know him, then why was Jasper running away from him in the street?”

“I need another drink, how about you; do you need a top-up, ladies?” Victoria rose
to refill her glass. “Jasper and Rupert went to Eton together. They got along well
enough at first, I suppose, but, well, let’s just say boys will be boys and one misunderstanding
led to another and they tried killing each other a few times.”

“Really, and you let him into your house?” Grace asked in surprise.

“Keep in mind that neither of them was successful, and really they were just boys
back then. I’m sure Rupert won’t try to kill anyone today.”

“But then why was Jasper running?”

“I suppose we will just have to wait for the men to tell us, won’t we?” Victoria said
before finishing off her second glass. “Refills, anyone?”

Neal shut the door of his study and then took the most comfortable chair in the room.
Jasper couldn’t really blame him; it was his house after all.

“Would you care to tell me why you had your hands all over my wife, in my own house,
and why the hell you aren’t dead?” Neal demanded as soon as everyone sat down.

“Sorry, old chap. Victoria was always a pretty little thing, I just couldn’t help
myself. No harm done though, is there?”

Jasper wasn’t so sure about that, he had never seen Neal so livid. His body was totally
still; he didn’t even blink as he stared at Rupert.

“Ah, Rupert, maybe you should tell us why you chased us through the streets today?”
Jasper asked, trying to defuse the situation somewhat.

“It’s a long story and I am really not at liberty to go into any details, but what
I can tell you is Lord Wester hired me a month or so ago. He had a problem, see.”
He looked towards Jasper. “Seems his sister was to marry you, Bingham, but a skirt
got in the way and you offered for her instead. The problem is he has spent all his
money and all the money his family would receive for her hand.”

“So the rumours are true,” Jasper said.

“He also told me that he was counting on being able to ‘invest’ half of his sister’s
allowance once she was married,” Rupert added.

“That bastard. He was going to steal my money from my wife?!”

“But she’s not your wife. And it gets worse.” Rupert turned his eyes to Neal again.
“You wouldn’t happen to have a drink, would you?”

Neal raised one eyebrow and continued to stare at the big man.

“Never mind.” Rupert leant back in his chair before continuing. “Wester has it in
his mind your new lady is to blame for everything. He hired me to ‘get rid’ of her.”

“And you took the job?!” Jasper lurched from his seat and started towards the man
he knew better than to trust. “What is wrong with you?”

“Whoa now. Don’t you want to hear the rest of the story?” Rupert put his hands up
but otherwise made no move to defend himself. When Jasper slumped back into his seat
he continued. “I took the job to protect her. I have been underground, you could say,
for so long I am now one of them. No one expects me to save the people I am hired
to kill. Do you remember the night we saved that girl from Dotsworth?”

Jasper remembered all too well. Lord Dotsworth had kidnapped the poor girl and was
taking her to Scotland to marry against her will. She was the heiress to a massive
fortune and she had too many suitors to count. Obviously Dotsworth didn’t like his
chances against the others and took matters into his own hands. Luckily for the lady,
Rupert and Jasper were fighting outside the ball she was abducted from and they followed
on horseback. They had managed to save the poor girl and return her to her father
before anyone even knew she was missing. She accepted an offer for her hand the next
day and was married by special licence. She didn’t want to risk getting stolen away
again. Of course there were rumours that she
had
to marry but when nine months passed and there was still no baby, it was assumed
it must have been a love match.

“What does Lady Kessler have to do with anything?”

“It got me to thinking. There are a lot of people who disappear in the slums of London,
more than you and I will ever know about. Some people leave of their own accord, but
some disappear with considerable help. I came home. You didn’t know that did you?
I found my grave. Do you have any idea what it’s like to see where your own body lies?
Well, needless to say I didn’t go to visit my parents.”

“Why not? They would be thrilled to see you alive.”

“No. I don’t think they would be. I’ve changed and I couldn’t bring myself to dirty
their lives with the filth I brought back with me. I am capable of things you couldn’t
even imagine.”

Neal rose from his chair and crossed to the sideboard and poured three very generous
brandies. He handed one to Rupert. “You may need this after all.” He passed another
to Jasper then sat down with his own. “Please,” he said, waving his glass, “continue.”

“Thanks, where was I? Oh, yes, Lady Kessler. Anyway it got me to thinking that if
I wouldn’t go home, I needed to do something, didn’t I? I was never one to stand around
while someone else did the work. So I set off for the slums and put myself out to
hire. I spend quite a bit of my time gambling. I attract rather a few clients that
way. Not all of them bad, either. But the men I target are ones with a grudge. Lord
Wester was different. He came directly to me. I’ve worked years to gain that kind
of reputation, and finally I have it. Too bad, I may have lost all my hard work today
in the street with you.”

“You still haven’t explained what exactly it is you do and why Lady Kessler is involved,”
Jasper pointed out.

“Lady Kessler isn’t involved. I haven’t seen her since we dropped her off at her father’s
door that night. No, she doesn’t know anything about this.”

“Well, what is it then?” Jasper was getting beyond frustrated with the lack of information
Rupert was telling them. He wished he would just get to the point.

“I save people. I am hired to kill or make them disappear, but instead I, with financial
help from my sponsors, relocate them instead. When it is safe, if they have family,
I move them too. So far no one suspects me. Your fiancée, Bingham, was one of my targets.
Wester wants her gone and he won’t stop at anything until her blood is spilled.”

Silence filled the room and they sat staring at each other for what seemed to Jasper
for hours. Finally his thoughts formed into plans.

“She will need to be watched. Constantly. Neal, could one of your footmen be assigned
to that detail? She cannot leave this house without protection. Is there any way we
can move the wedding forward? She would be safer if she was already my wife.”

“Even better if she could bear you a son,” Rupert added. “I’m telling you, Wester
will not give up without a fight.”

“Besides keeping her here under lock and key I don’t see what else we can do.”

“You don’t want to tell the women,” Neal said. “It would be best if they don’t think
anything unusual was going on.”

“Ha! What am I to tell them about the race I led them on in the streets this afternoon,
then?” Jasper asked.

“Tell them it was a game, women never understand what we men get up to. They think
everything we do revolves around sport or gambling. Tell them you had a bet that Rupert
couldn’t catch you, or some such nonsense.”

“What about the footman constantly on watch outside Grace’s room, Bingham, how are
you going to explain away him?”

“Grace already knows I think Lord Wester is up to no good; I’ll just tell her the
truth, or at least some of it. I don’t trust Wester.”

“Right then, are we ready to join the ladies?” Neal asked as he got up from his chair.

“I think we should have another brandy first.” Jasper held up his empty glass, not
quite ready to face Grace.

Chapter Twenty

“I can’t handle this. Let’s go for our walk without them, shall we?” Grace asked Anne.
They had been in the drawing room for hours, waiting for the men to come out of Neal’s
study. Victoria had fallen asleep on the settee ages ago; her gentle snores had been
the only sound in the room for the last ten minutes. “Come on, I need to get out of
this house. I’ve been cooped up for weeks because of my stupid fall and I really need
to go to some shops before the wedding. Are you coming?” Grace asked from the doorway
as she walked from the room.

Anne scrambled to her feet and hurried after her. “Are you sure we should leave the
men alone? What if they come out of there and we’re gone?”

Grace shrugged. “Then we’re gone. I’ll tell Hoskins where we are going if that’ll
make you feel better.”

“He wants to get rid of you,” Anne told her as they walked down the street.

“What? Who does?”

“My brother.”

“Not you too. You don’t really believe that do you? Why would he want to get rid of
me?”

“The truth is he wants me to marry Lord Bingham, not you. He holds you responsible
for me not marrying him. But the real reason is Robin needs the money. He told me
today the creditors have been knocking on his door and if he can’t come up with the
money soon…Well, needless to say, he doesn’t like you and he figures if you aren’t
around then I would be free to marry your Lord Bingham and he would get his money.”

“I don’t see how he would get money by you marrying someone.”

“He was going to ‘invest’ my monthly allowance for me. In other words he is going
to take half of it and gamble it away.”