Never Run From Love (Kellington Book Four) (35 page)

Hal obediently followed.

The earl seated himself behind his desk, then
directed Hal to take the chair opposite.  “Give me one good reason why I
shouldn’t call you out.”

“I can think of none,” said Hal.   “I behaved
abominably.  You are within your rights to do so.  If I were in your place, I
would probably do it.”

That seemed to discomfit the earl.  But before he
could figure out how to respond, his wife entered the room and both men rose.

“My lady,” said Hal, bowing to the woman, who looked
as fierce as any tigress.

“I heard you had a caller, Frederick,” said the
countess.  “I came to ensure there would be no bloodshed.”

“Apparently, even Kellington believes I should call
him out,” said Heffner, helping his wife into a seat by his side.  “That’s put
an unfortunate damper on my anger.”

“Don’t worry, dear,” said his countess.  “I am angry
enough for the both of us.  Lord Henry, what do you have to say for yourself?”

“I have no excuses, Lady Heffner.  I behaved as a
child, with no thought for others when I made the blasted wager, if you’ll
forgive my language.  But in the interim, as I’ve come to know your niece, I
feel shame for my earlier actions, as well as a growing regard for Miss Sutton
that I have until recently been too dim-witted to recognize.”

“Have your wits recovered sufficiently to recognize
it now?”

“Yes, Lady Heffner.  I love your niece and wish to
marry her, with Lord Heffner’s permission.”

“Why should we entrust her to you?” asked Heffner.

“Because I shall do everything in my power to make
it up to her for the rest of my life.”

“Nothing you do could make it up to me, Lord Henry.”

The three of them turned to see Melanie standing in
the doorway. 

Hal rose right away.  “Melanie…”

“It is Miss Sutton, my lord.  And do not even try to
make excuses for your behavior.”

“I have no excuses.  Only shame.”

“You can try to convince my aunt and uncle of your
sincerity, but not me.”  Mel was all but vibrating with anger.

“Perhaps, Frederick, we should leave the two of them
alone,” said Aunt Evelyn.

“I believe leaving them alone was how the problem
started,” said her husband.

“Nevertheless, we shall,” said Aunt Evelyn, as she
put her arm through his and led him from the room.  As she passed Mel, she
kissed her on the cheek.  “Listen to him, my dear,” she whispered.  “He may
surprise you.”  Then Mel’s aunt and uncle left them alone, but with the door
ajar.

 “You seduced me to win that cursed wager.” 

The words sliced deeply into Hal.  He had never
known such shame.  “The stupid wager was about a kiss.”

“Did you win more money when you…”  Here she had to
take a moment to calm herself.  When he started to interrupt, she raised her
hand to stop him.  “Did you win more money when you ruined me?  I expect that
made you quite a hero with your despicable friends.”

“They don’t know about that.  At least, not through
me.  We were seen at Madame Thurmond’s.  Someone is blackmailing me.”

“And my uncle.”

“What?”

“Yes.  My uncle, who has been nothing but kind, is
being blackmailed to cover my shame.”

“He cannot pay the blackguard.”

“That’s easy for you to say, my lord.  Kellingtons
care naught for scandal.  You’ve become infamous for your dalliances and
indiscretions and are all the more revered for it.  But this will ruin not only
me, but Mary.  I have done this to Mary.”

“You haven’t done a thing,” said Hal.  “The fault is
mine alone.”

“The fault is shared, my lord.  I am not so much a
hypocrite to say I did not go into this willingly.  But the shame will be for
my family and me to bear.  I’ve told them I wish to return to Philadelphia, to
lessen the shame on them.”

“Are you going with Parker?” asked Hal, alarmed.

Mel was silent for a moment.  “I believe he was on
the verge of proposing marriage.  That shan’t be possible now, of course, but I
hope to return and be of some use to him.”

“You cannot marry Parker!” said Hal.  “You will
marry me!’

“Why?  Has the Duke of Lynwood declared it to be
so?  Because I will never marry you, Hal Kellington.  And both you and your
brother can go to the devil if you think to make me.”  She turned to leave.

Hal was at her side in an instant, reaching out to
hold her hand.  “Mel,” he said desperately.  “Please.”

She looked at him, her eyes filled with tears.  For
a moment, Hal hoped she might see through this to forgive him.  But she simply
shook her head.  “No, Hal.  I will not be fooled again.”

Then she left the room and ran up the stairs.  He
was about to follow until her aunt blocked his path. 

“Give her time,” said Aunt Evelyn.  “Try again
tomorrow.  She may yet come around.”

Hal stared at where Mel had disappeared, then turned
to her aunt.  “And what about you, Lady Heffner?  Will I ever convince you how
sorry I am?”

She considered the question for a moment.  “You
remind me of another young man who was somewhat foolish but came to realize his
love for a young lady.”

“What happened to him?”

“I married him.  Now take yourself off, Lord Hal. 
You both need time to think.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The next morning, Hal awoke, feeling miserable.  Nothing
would make him feel better until he could fix what he’d broken.  He had to find
the man who was blackmailing him to ensure he didn’t hurt Mel any further. 
Then somehow he’d convince Mel to give him another chance because he had to
marry her.  He couldn’t think of what his life would be like if he didn’t.

He was just on his way downstairs when Arthur
entered the house.  “Hal, Richard Parker is at the Home Office for questioning. 
I thought you might like to be present.”

“Yes, I would,” said Hal, grimly. 

Half an hour later, they were at the Home Office,
where Parker was seated on Arthur and Vanessa’s settee and two constables stood
by the door.  Arthur raised a brow at the sight of his wife serving Parker
tea.  But Hal was the one who truly took exception. 

 “What the devil were you doing that day in Newgate,
Parker?” asked Hal.

At the sound of Hal’s voice, Parker turned.  His
teacup went flying as he jumped over the settee to attack Hal.  “You bloody
bastard!  I’ll kill you for what you did to Melanie.”

Hal looked just as ready to trounce Parker, for the
two of them immediately began throwing punches and rolling on the ground.  The
constables had been slow to react, no doubt shocked by two toffs behaving as if
they were in a tavern brawl.  But Arthur was able to pull Hal off the man, then
the two constables grabbed Parker.

“Gentlemen!” said Vanessa, between pours.  “And I
use the term loosely.  Take your seats, for we have much to discuss.” 

As Parker wiped his scraped knuckles, he bowed to
Vanessa.  “My apologies, Lady Vanessa.  But you might as well throw me in
Newgate because nothing will stop me from giving Lord Hal the beating he
deserves.  I shall, however, wait until our business has concluded.”

“Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Parker,” said
Vanessa.  “Now, if you will be so kind as to tell my husband and Lord Henry
what you have told me.”

“I believe Charles Francis killed the prisoner at
Newgate to cover up his involvement in – and quite possibly his supervision of
– a white slavery ring.”

“Those are serious allegations, sir,” said Arthur. 
“Why do you think this?”

“When Miss Sutton told me about the missing
prostitutes, it made me think of a few more irregularities over the past year. 
In addition to providing passage for the women, my friend Captain Clinch ships
various goods back and forth between here and America, many of them bound for
merchants in Philadelphia that I know quite well.  They’ve told me on more than
one occasion that there were missing items from the shipments.  When it was
brought to the Captain’s attention, he was most apologetic and even reimbursed
the merchants for the worth of the missing items.  He is an honorable man and
felt most distressed by the loss.

“On the voyage over, I asked Clinch about the
operation of the docks, and he told me about the general rise in crime over the
past year.  No arrests had been made, which made him believe the criminals were
professional and had sufficient funds to pay sailors to look the other way, as
well as officers of the Watch.

“I began making more trips to the docks to observe
what I could, which is where I saw Charles Francis on more than one occasion.”

“There’s a cathouse nearby that he likes to
frequent,” said Hal.

“So I learned,” said Parker.  “Francis is
surprisingly flush, despite the fact that his second cousin the earl has lost
most of his inheritance at the tables over the past year, adversely affecting
the income for the entire family.”

“How would that affect Francis’s funds?” Vanessa
asked Arthur.

“From what I recall, the current earl is a young man
and was sent down from university two years ago.  As the earl, he has full
control of the estate and its holdings.  Other members of the family may derive
income from rents and investments, but they have little to no say in its
management.  If he gambled away the fortune and the estate is entailed, he
likely siphoned off the other members’ income.  Yet, Parker, you said Francis
is flush.”

“Quite.  And participation in the white slavery ring
could explain why.  He also had a reason to hate Lord Henry and you as well,
Lord Arthur.  It seems the current earl lost quite a bit of money at the gaming
tables to both of you.”

Both Arthur and Hal looked at him blankly.

“Is that true, Arthur?” asked Vanessa.

He shrugged.  “I’m ashamed to admit there was a time
when I didn’t pay much attention to whom I was playing.  I very likely did play
against him, though I can’t say I remember it.”

“I remember him,” said Hal, slowly.  “And I did play
him a few times.  It was just before I became friends with Francis.  It’s funny
that I never made the connection before.  I remember Francis made some comment
about his cousin being a sapskull.”

“And you never discussed it after that?” asked
Vanessa.

“No.  We had other, uh, interests.”

“Like ruining a young girl,” said Parker. 

Hal ignored the accusation.  “That makes more sense
now, too.  He probably goaded me into taking that wager as part of his plan to
ruin me.  I must confess he found the perfect revenge.”

Vanessa reached over to take his hand.  “Don’t
worry, Hal.  We’ll find a way to make this right.” 

“Yes, well,” said Arthur, as he removed his wife’s
hand from Hal’s, “right now we are here to put a stop to the slavery ring.  Parker,
do you have any proof?”

“Unfortunately, not.  I followed Francis into
Newgate.  I even saw him on the same cellblock where the prisoner was murdered. 
He was talking to someone, but since I was playing least in sight, I couldn’t
see who it was.  It was then that I was escorted off the premises, but as I was
leaving the prison, I heard the alarms sound about the murder.  He was right
there.  He could well have done it.”

“And how do we know you didn’t do it?” asked Hal. 
“All we have is your word on all of this.  For all I know, you invite the
prostitutes to America only to sell them into slavery there.”

“You only have my word as a gentleman,” said Parker.

“Not good enough,” said Hal with some satisfaction.

“Actually, Hal,” said Vanessa as she picked up a
letter.  “During our investigation we found letters from a former prostitute
who’d journeyed to America and then written to a friend here in London. 
Everything she says in the letter seems to corroborate Mr. Parker’s version of
his operation in America.”

“She could have been coerced into writing it,” said
Hal.

“It seems rather sincere,” said Vanessa. 

“I still don’t trust him,” grumbled Hal.

“And I’m still going to beat you senseless,” said
Parker.

“Mr. Parker,” said Arthur sternly, “while I
understand the sentiment, he is my brother.  And I believe it is time to talk
to Charles Francis.”

*                    *                    *

Finding Charles Francis turned out to be a
challenge.  He wasn’t in his rooms and his valet said he hadn’t come home the
night before.

They left a constable to keep watch at his
apartment, then they checked White’s and a few coffeehouses he was known to
frequent.  But it was all for naught.  They decided to split up to increase the
likelihood of catching up to him.  Arthur and Vanessa went in search of him at
his other clubs.  Parker picked up Stapleton at Bow Street to comb the docks. 
And Hal searched the venues he knew best:  the whorehouses and gaming
establishments.