Somebody To Love (19 page)
Authors: Kate Rothwell
CHAPTER 18
The maid knocked on her bedroom door. “Mr. Calverson wishes to speak to you.”
Five minutes later, Araminta was ready to throw herself on him, but out of pure anger, without a trace of lust.
“No, Araminta, you should not return to Kane’s,” he repeated in his most annoyingly tranquil manner, watching her from his velvet-covered chair.
Araminta paced the library’s thick carpet. “But he will suspect that I have something to do with Olivia’s disappearance. And I am sure then he will trace her to you.”
“That is of no importance.”
“Then why on earth did we bother with the silly sneaking about this afternoon?”
“I did that in part for Miss Smith’s peace of mind. I knew that she is terrified of Kane, and she has other worries as well.”
Araminta glared at him. “And has she told you about these other worries? Oh, certainly, it makes perfect sense to me that she would tell a man she barely knows all about her troubles when I have been her friend for months and have learned nothing about her.”
Griffin raised his eyebrows. “Alas, and here I thought you were breathing fire for other reasons.”
“What are you talking about? I was doing no such thing. When did I breathe fire?”
“When I greeted your charming little friend, I thought I saw you about to explode with rage. And since I knew I had made the effort to behave, ah, less like ‘a cold toad,’ I thought perhaps you were jealous because you suspected I was flirting with her.”
All of the air seemed to flow out of Araminta’s chest. She could not meet his amused face. “Nonsense,” she managed to murmur. Why did he have to remember every horrible word she’d said to him that day so long ago?
“Yes, I understand that now. You were indeed jealous, but only because I managed to get Miss Smith’s attention away from you.”
She felt the edges of her mouth twitch.
“Good, I’m glad you think it is funny.”
“I think
you
are funny.”
you
are funny.”
He heaved a sigh and straightened. She noticed he sat, rather than sprawled, on the chair. Clearly the man was recovering quickly.
He seemed less drawn, as well. “I am an object to be either despised or laughed at, am I, Araminta?”
She eyed him but could not discern if he spoke with any real emotion. Before she could formulate either a reassuring or a biting answer, he said, “Do you promise not to return to Kane’s?”
“I can’t make that promise,” she said at last. “At the very least I must speak to the people who worked for me.”
“Hobnail could do that for you.”
She brightened for a moment, then shook her head. “No, if he carries messages from me, someone would tell Kane, and that would put Hobnail under suspicion. I don’t want to do anything that might harm him.”
“He can take care of himself.”
“He has been a good friend,” Araminta said, firmly. “I saw what Kane tried to do to you, remember. I would hate to be the reason Kane turned on Hobnail. And at any rate, it would hurt no one if I go say my good-byes.”
Griffin raised one eyebrow in an expression she recognized as disgust. “I shall not stop you.”
“Very good of you, I’m sure.”
“While you’re gone, I will have a talk with Miss Olivia Smith.”
“What will you tell her?”
He smoothed the edge of his mustache with his forefinger. “Go now. I don’t want that bastard coming back early and finding you.”
She thought she’d managed to hide her automatic flinch, but he watched her now, a speculative glint in his eyes. “It’s because I used that word, bastard, isn’t it?”
She pressed her lips tight, ready for his mockery of her overwrought response.
“I’m sorry, Araminta. I should haveknown better.”
She was not ready for a simple apology. And she was not at all sure she liked the way it made her heart beat harder.
She aimed a smile in his general direction, unable to meet his eyes. “I’m used to it by now, you know. I’ve been a bastard for any number of years.”
“It is an ugly word, and you are not an ugly woman.”
Oh, no. She would not permit her yearning body to soften at his gentle words. She pushed back her shoulders and groped in her dress’s pocket for her gloves. “Well. Now. I’ll be back as soon as possible. It’s best if I use the back entrance again.”
He gave an irritated, dismissive gesture, a single sweep of a hand. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
She had retrieved enough equilibrium to meet his gaze. “I’m used to being something worse than simply a bastard, Griffin.”
His eyes grew cold. Did he think her simple statement of the truth was self-pity? But then he said, “I ruddy well hope you don’t have to put up with any nonsense while you’re staying here.” And she knew that his anger was for her sake.
She went to say good-bye to Olivia and was delighted to realize the jealousy had evaporated.
Williams came into the apartment soon after Araminta had gone.
“Sir, you were correct.”
“Senator Burritt, eh? What’s kept his mouth shut?”
“The girl had been writing letters. She sounded perfectly happy. But when she refused to come home for her mother’s birthday last month, he grew suspicious. Kane has acted like a concerned constituent and come forth to offer to help find her. But our man will find Burritt and reveal the facts.”
“Araminta was right. She did put her father off the trail.” Griffin shook his head. “What a greedy man Linder Kane is. He not only wanted to possess the senator, but he wanted the senator’s daughter, too.”
After Williams returned to the office, Griffin called Annie, the maid.
“I need you to act as chaperone for Miss Smith.”
She guffawed. “Me? I like that.”
He blew out an impatient breath. “Less of it, Annie. Just come in and keep yourself busy, or pretend to. Do some sewing or what have you. Despite what she’s been through, I think she’s a proper young lady and will be appalled at being left alone with a man.”
Annie gave another hoot of laughter and walked off, her bum swaying as if it were a hammock. She always put on a show for him, but Griffin was not tempted.
He went to the parlor, where the thin and colorless Miss Smith listlessly flipped through a book, a cup of tea on the table by her side. How did the female live with a chef as superb as Araminta and not grow fat as a pig? She must be ill.
She looked up when he walked toward her, and he was reminded of a startled rabbit cringing in the grass. He longed to tell her that he didn’t eat girls—at least not for tea—but knew that would have her hopping away. So he put on a gentle smile and bowed.
Annie came in and began straightening the already perfect room. She tipped him a wink.
All of this smiling felt strange on his face, which he’d trained never to relax. He lightly kissed Miss Burritt’s hand and again reassured her that he was more than pleased by her visit.
“But I am sure the music will be wonderful. I love good music, don’t you?” Olivia said, and Griffin saw the shadow of the coquette she must have been.
“Indeed. You must attend a performance with me.”
She started. “I am sorry, but I can’t.”
Griffin decided she needed a bit of prodding. “Come now. Eventually you must emerge from hiding, now that you’ve escaped from your prison. It is time to face the world, Miss Burritt. We know your identity.”
The girl turned even paler. She gave a cry of dismay and rose from the chair, knocking the book to the ground. “Oh, no, no,” she gasped and fled the room.
By the mantel, Annie flipped her dust cloth over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. “You were sort of crusty, but really, what a dope she is.”
Griffin didn’t bother to reply.
In the confusion of the kitchen, a red-faced Jack shook a fist at Araminta.
“Where the hell you been?”
Araminta drew herself up, even as she tied her apron in place. “Do not speak to me that way.”
“But we’re hours behind and you just disappeared and—”
“We’ll be fine.” She turned to Maggie. “I see you finished the hors d’oeuvres. Good work.”
There was so much to do before the evening’s entertainment. She could not possibly leave them to work on their own. As she chopped and basted, she spoke to Maggie in a quiet voice. “I shall have to leave my position here.”
Maggie nodded so vigorously a couple of red curls slipped from her mobcap. “We’re all surprised you stayed as long as you have. Even Jack says you’re good enough you ought to be able to work anywhere you like.”
Araminta had to smile. “If my plans succeed, Maggie, I hope that you will agree to work with me again?”
Maggie gathered some finely sliced carrots, tossed them in a bowl and grinned. “Just send word and I’ll be round at once.”
Within two hours, dinner was ready to be served. She decided to leave before cleanup began.
Really, there was no need for all the fuss these men put on. Jack and Griffin both overworried. The dinner for the night’s thin crop of gamblers was fine, and Kane had not reappeared.
She managed to privately bid good-bye to all of the people who worked for her. Jack just stared, open mouthed, as she slipped him a few dollars. She gave each of them some money. Kane might grow enraged and seek out someone to take the brunt of his abuse, now that Olivia was gone. She did not want her assistants to be trapped in his household.
Hobnail, glum and stolid, met her at the kitchen door, and they set off for the hotel. He hailed a hansom cab and handed her in, then climbed in to sit across from her.
“So you’re moving in with him.” Hobnail’s voice was heavy.
“Only until the situation with Miss Smith is straightened out.”
“Oh, no. He’s set his sights on you. And his boys say he always gets what he wants.”
“I don’t think so, Hobnail.” She ten put o not to show her annoyance at being discussed as if she were one of the Calverson Company’s business deals. “I think he’s just been bored.”
Hobnail rubbed his stubbled, square jaw and scowled at the hat he’d wedged on his knee. “He always gets what he wants. And I heard him say it myself. He wants you.”
She sniffed in disgust, though the quiver that ran through her did not feel entirely like revulsion. “I am not interested in that man. I can’t believe he goes about telling the world he wants me. As if I were some sort of decorative item.”
As she walked up the back staircase, she found herself balling the fabric of her skirt and wishing it were Griffin’s throat.
And when she was met by the flirtatious maid, who said, “He’s raging mad because you took so long,” she merely frowned. The feudal lord was angry because one of his minions had not jumped through a hoop quickly enough? She clenched her teeth, determined not to lose her temper.
Griffin stood in the middle of the sitting room, feet wide apart, arms folded across his chest, face rigidly inexpressive.
“I am glad to see you are feeling well enough to stand and walk,” she remarked distantly.
He apparently did not notice her chilly politeness. He answered in a tone even flatter than usual. “Where the hell have you been? I nearly sent the police after you.”
She peeled off her gloves and arranged herself on a sofa. “You sound just like Jack, the rather vulgar man who works for me. I had work to do.”
“You are not to go back to that place, do you hear? Hobnail is too busy to watch out for you.”
She smoothed her skirt, still puckered from her rough handling as she’d climbed the stairs. “Mr. Calverson. I am here to help my friend. Not to be your menial and follow your orders. I should think you have plenty of servants; you don’t need to acquire more.”
“Servant?” His voice dropped menacingly low. “If you were my servant, I would have fired you long ago.”
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