Dangerous Diana (Brambridge Novel 3) (9 page)

Melissa looked longingly up at the underside of his chin. “If you stop unbuttoning me, I will tell you.”

Hades paused. She used the opportunity to step away.

“I received an anonymous note. It said to bring thirty thousand pounds and the book to St. Giles.”

“Thirty thousand pounds?”

“Payment for my mother’s gambling debts. But they had all been settled. I didn’t understand so didn’t pay. I had no idea what book the note meant. I no longer own any books.”

Hades looked down his nose at her.

“What do I have to do to protest my innocence?” It seemed as if every which way she turned Hades was determined to give no quarter to her. “Just let me go home, please.”

“No. You have something that the Viper wants, and I can use that.”

“You can
use
that? You mean as in
use me
to capture the Viper?” Hades didn’t even have the grace to look embarrassed. Even in her frustration Melissa had to admire the strong curves of his face as he gave her a look of complete granite.

“Yes. We call it using bait. Very apt with a villain named the Viper.”

“Bait? Bait! But what about…” Melissa trailed off into silence. The heat of her body had rapidly cooled and she shivered. Had those kisses meant nothing to him? Were they all another elaborate show of his will, to entice her into his bidding?

“What about what?” Hades raised his eyebrows.

“Nothing. I’ve decided not to wear this dress. Please leave.” Melissa stepped behind the Chinese screen that decorated the end of the bed chamber and dropped the dress to the floor. With a muffled scream, she stamped at the heavy material.

After a short silence, Hades stepped quietly across the carpet and only the squeak of the handle as he left through the door heralded his exit. Clad only in a short shift, Melissa stepped back into the room. Oh, why hadn’t she made her escape before? Clutching her arms to her body, she shivered. She had turned from being the Viper, to an undefined captive, to now being used as bait.

With slow steps she moved to where the high-necked dresses hung in a large cupboard opposite the end of the bed. Unfurling her arms, she opened the doors and stared inside. Jerkily rifling through the masses of fabric, she found one that she would be able to do up herself. It was a vibrant blue with intricate flowers woven onto the hem and waist. Efficiently she stepped into the dress and deftly buttoned as many hooks as she could find. Without wasting time to check on her reflection, she left her hair loose around her shoulders and, swiping her silver spectacles from the table, settled them on her nose.

Sadly she looked down at her old brass glasses that also sat on the vanity table. Their lenses remained completely shattered from the knock that she had taken on entering the house. There was no point in keeping them. They were useless now. As useless as they had been when the now dead Edgar had stepped on them and, holding them hostage, forced her blindly and unknowing out on the ton to find a husband that would have supported them, gambling debts and all.

She stepped into the hall and closed the door with bang. Arturo stood guard outside her door. With a small yip he followed her down the stairs and into the hall. Male voices argued good-naturedly in the study.
Hades never had any visitors.
She sidled closer to the door, leaning in to catch every word.

“The Viper has apparently killed another man. Word is he’s very angry. And nobody will buy the information he is selling. His price is too high.”

“Perhaps in his heightened state he will make a mistake.”

“I sense that he will just grow more violent and we will see more deaths, Harding. You need to start employing another strategy to catch him and soon. Some of the men at the office are beginning to chatter. They are wondering why you aren’t making a move. You’ve had four weeks.”

“I, err, had a small distraction.”

Melissa gasped, and clapped a hand over her mouth.

“Distraction? Don’t tell me you’ve been chasing women for the last couple of weeks.”

“Nothing of the sort.”

Melissa huffed indignantly. So she didn’t fall into the category of women any more, did she?

“Something has fallen into my hands that will allow us to defeat the Viper.”

So she had just fallen into his hands had she? Hades would regret the day that he said that.

“I really must go, Harding. I’ll be interested in seeing what you come up with.”

So would she—especially when Hades found her gone.

Melissa had seen where the footmen usually kept the cloaks of guests and the household. It was a small cupboard that fitted into the paneling under the staircase. Tiptoeing from the door of the study to the bottom of the stairs, she held on to the bannister and edged as quietly as possible along the hall carpet to the cupboard. The door to the alcove opened soundlessly. Her cloak lay clean and dry in the space underneath. Darting a hand in, she drew the cloak out and threw it around her neck, clasping it closed.

The study door began to open. Taking three giant steps, she landed back near the front door as Lord Freddie Lassiter, one of Lord Stanton’s very good friends, left the study.

Melissa sighed in relief and folded her hands under her cloak. She had met him before, he would be friendly, especially as she and Lord Stanton had parted on good terms. “Lah! Lord Lassiter. One of the men that I wanted to see.”

Freddie gazed open-mouthed at her. “Miss Sumner! As I live and breathe—” He leaned heavily on his cane and took a tentative step forward. Hurriedly, without giving him time to speak, Melissa spoke again.

“As you are here, you might as well escort me out. This was just a chance visit and I need to see you more than the earl.”

“It would be my pleasure. I haven’t seen you for months.” Regaining his composure, Freddie stepped towards the front door. “I will just wait for Carter to open the door.”

“Oh, no need to do that,” Melissa said urgently. Really, did this man not realize that she was trying to escape?

A cough at the end of the hall made them both look back. Carter appeared at the foot of the stairs flanked by two of the largest footmen in the household.

Melissa smiled weakly. “Oh, Carter. Lovely to see you again. Dear Lord Lassiter was just showing me to the door. I’ve decided that I don’t want to visit the earl after all.”

To Freddie’s obvious astonishment, Carter did not move. The footmen also regarded her watchfully. Their heads swung in unison to look at the study door. Unfortunately Arturo also chose that moment to sit on Melissa’s feet so that she could not turn to see what they were looking at.

“Arturo!” She shook her legs. “Get off my feet.” She slid a sideways look at Freddie. He regarded her with a narrowed look.

“Leaving so soon, Miss Sumner?” Hades’ voice smoothly interrupted her altercation with the dog.

“I yes, er, sometimes some visits can feel like a lifetime, can’t they?”

One of the footmen sniggered which was sharply cut off after an elbow from Carter.

“I would be very happy to escort Miss Sumner out of the door as she asked.” Freddie leaned on his cane and raised his eyebrows.

“Oh, I just bet she did,” Hades muttered audibly.

“Carter, I would be grateful if you could open the door for me now. I really am late for another appointment.” Freddie took a pocket watch out of his coat and flicked it open.

Carter still had not moved by the time Freddie had closed and pocketed the time piece again.

“Well, man?”

Melissa held her breath. Hades nodded with one movement of his head. With a surprised jerk, Carter motioned the footmen forward to open the doors.

“I say, Miss Sumner, shall we go?” Freddie held out his free arm to Melissa. However, Arturo still sat firmly on Melissa’s slipper. He howled softly.

“Arturo!” Hades said sharply. “Biscuit.”

But even that was not enough to shift the hound immediately. He gazed forlornly into Melissa’s eyes and with a mournful woof stood up and waddled to Hades. Hades picked up the little dog and cradled him in his arms. But Arturo would not look at him, and continued to gaze at Melissa.

“Yes. Thank you.” Melissa gulped and took Freddie’s arm. “Earl Harding, I will call on you briefly at another point at my convenience. However, if I manage to sort out my problem, I may not need to call on you at all.”

Melissa pushed her nose into the air, and tried to sail out of the house. Her efforts were hampered slightly by Freddie’s limping and slower gait and the rising need to move away as Freddie’s arm rubbed against hers.

As the great door closed on them both, Melissa let out a large breath and inhaled again. She was outside for the first time in two weeks. And the feeling was bittersweet.

“Never seen Arturo act like that before,” Freddie muttered. “I say, Miss Sumner. Can I take you anywhere? I don’t see your carriage nearby…”

Melissa swung her head to gaze at Freddie. “Hmm, what?”

“Your carriage?” His voice held a tinge of frustration.

“Oh? Oh, no I walked. Such a lovely day.” Melissa eyed the sky. It looked unfortunately like rain. Freddie followed her gaze and raised his eyebrows. “I’ll walk back again,” she continued.

Letting go of his arm, she stepped away in relief. Her need to shudder stopped immediately. Why was it that with Hades it was a different matter? And yet he didn’t have good intentions towards her either.
For goodness sake
, he was planning on using her as Viper bait!

“I can’t let you leave unattended,” Freddie shouted after her.

“I’m sure that there would be more chatter if you entered a closed carriage with me, without a maid!” Melissa called back. Resolutely she turned her back on the lord and started off at a fast clip in the direction of Bayswater.

Freddie’s carriage followed her all the way to Mount Street, and with each rumble of its carriage wheel, her unease grew. If he followed her any further, then he would discover where she was living.

As she passed Lady Colchester’s house, she looked up longingly at the front door.
Thank God
—the knocker hung loosely on the door. Victoria was in London. She’d stayed there before whilst pretending to be Lord Stanton’s fiancé. Darting up the steps, she waved backwards at Freddie’s carriage with an urgent hand and let the knocker fall twice with a loud thump. As the door opened wide, she breathed a sigh of relief.

CHAPTER 11

The ticking of the clock in the stillness of the study unnerved Hades. In times gone by he had found it soothing. But now it was merely annoying. It heralded the exact amount of time since Melissa had left him.

He couldn’t believe it. She had left him. Normally he held women in a thrall.
And
he had vowed not to be defeated by Melissa. Now he had not gained either a victory or a defeat, merely an impasse. His foot kicked idly at his desk. He hadn’t even had the chance to give her the books he’d made himself a fool over.

Arturo lay stretched on the rug in front of the fire. Hades was worried. Arturo had been refusing biscuits for the last three days. Ever since Melissa left. Yet another male in the household that was missing the blasted female’s presence. Carter was walking around like a wet March Sunday. The footmen cast him surly glances and were slow to do his bidding, and even Charles and Carlos were most put out. His dinner was served erratically and sometimes there was no pudding at all.

It was extremely vexing. He had, however, not lost his chance of losing her as a lure. He walked to the shelves of the study. Pulling out a slim volume, he opened it at a well-thumbed page, already marked with a small slip of paper.

“When near, make it appear as if you are far away…” It was hard to imagine how to do that. “Offer the enemy a bait to lure him, feign disorder and strike him.” Now
this
was something he could use. Sun Tzu the Chinese scholar knew what he was writing about. His thirty-six stratagems had come in very useful for Hades in devising some of the British military campaigns. Perhaps he would come up trumps again for him with this little diversion.

Hades glanced at the door to the study. The house was deathly silent. He had done the right thing in letting Melissa leave,
surely
? In order for her to gain the attention of the Viper again, she needed to be seen back in her home environment, and as she had not had the opportunity to give the Viper the money and mysterious book that he wanted, it was almost certain that the Viper would be in contact shortly.

He sat back down in the green chair and tried to tempt Arturo with a biscuit again. It was no good; the dog didn’t even raise his head to him, even though his eyes followed Hades’ every move.

“I’m keeping an eye on her, you know.”

Arturo blinked. Hades continued, “I didn’t just let her go, she has a guard at her house too.”

That was the one thing that really niggled at him. In order for Melissa to be the lure or bait, she was in harm’s way. It had been hard to acknowledge that the still unexplained death of the kitchen boy and disappearance of the under-footman was potentially the work of the Viper.

Melissa must have known something. When Carlos and Charles had spoken of their observations, she had gasped quietly. She didn’t seem to have realized that the cake had been left for her to eat with the intention that she would fall into the same fate.

Hades frowned. Carlos and Charles had said that everyone had eaten of the cake though, and none had died apart from the kitchen boy. That can’t have been the result that the Viper was hoping for. Even so, Hades had increased the security surrounding the house since that point. Each new member of staff was interviewed by himself personally. And one of his ‘associates’ was watching the house in Bayswater.

If only he knew more about Melissa. Leaping up from the green chair, he strode into the hall and called for his butler.

“Hat and coat, Carter, please. I’m going to see Lord Lassiter. And do stop glumly frowning like a washed out old boot.”

Grabbing his coat from the gasping butler, Hades walked with renewed vigor out of the front door. Needling poor Carter was always quite rewarding.