Hold Your Breath 01 - Stone Devil Duke (10 page)

Turning onto a main thoroughfare, he couldn’t hold in a sigh, shaking his head.
“Clearly the men in your life have had a hard time saying ‘no’ to you, Aggie, which is why you now find yourself in your current state. Make no mistake. I have no such reservations. The only thing you should be hearing right now is ‘no.’ The biggest no you have ever heard in your life, ringing in your ears. You are stopping this nonsense.”

Devin
hoped her head-down silence, meant that maybe, just maybe, she was actually listening to him.

“
I understand. I can see that panic drove you to this point. But your panic needs to stop. Your planning. Your scheming. All of it needs to stop. I will take care of the remaining men, and I will condone no more of your late-night sneak-outs.”

Her hands tightened in her lap.
Devin could feel her whole body recoil next to his. But she didn’t look up. Didn’t challenge.

“If I find you out again,
Aggie, I will drag you to your aunt and uncle’s home. They will be told what is going on and what you have been doing. They might forgive you for such a transgression, or they might not. Either way, they will not forget. And I will have them put you under lock and key until I resolve this situation.”

At the alley a block away from
Aggie’s townhouse, Devin slowed the hack. Aggie slipped off the perch before Devin stopped the wheels, and she started to walk stoically, gait stiff, past the courtyards behind the houses.

He didn’t like the complete avoidance. She was either completely humiliated, or planning something. He didn’t like where his strongest suspicion took him.

“Aggie,” he said, voice loud but low. She stopped, but didn’t turn around to him. “I expect to see you at the Appleton party this evening, per your previous commitment.”

A
silent nod, and she moved forward, disappearing into her house.

No. He didn’t like at all what he suspected.

W
arm night air filtered in through the tall window she stood next to, and Aggie leaned slightly to the breeze. If it weren’t for the whiffs of air, she would have passed out long ago from the combination of no sleep and the stuffy crowd. The party twinkled, music filtering through the crowd and chandeliers casting a warm, glowing quality above the sea of lightly colored gowns and contrasting dark colors.

Aunt Beatrix stood by her side
, talking endlessly with her friends about which of the men present were rakes, scoundrels, gold-diggers, or solid husband material.

Aggie couldn’t
count the number of times her aunt, or one of her aunt’s friends, turned to her, and with sly confidence, berated her for whatever social sin they believed Aggie was committing at a particular moment—stand straighter, bigger smile, flutter the fan, too many blinks, smaller smile. Each of the ladies surrounding her was convinced introductions would roll in if Aggie just tried a bit harder.

Introductions
and requests to land on her dance card petered in, and Aggie danced a few sets, but whenever another dance or more conversation was requested of her, she always politely made excuses to get back to her aunt.

Each time,
Aggie could see the disappointment in Aunt Beatrix’s face as she made her way back to her aunt’s side. It was like this at every soirée. And although Aggie appeared to be continually scanning the attendees of the party, she was not looking for interesting, marriageable men—she was looking for one man.

One evil face.
The one face she had to find. The one face that would grant her peace. Even if the duke found the other two bastards and disposed of them, she would not be at peace. Devin didn’t know about the fifth man. The one Aggie was desperate to find. Their leader.

He
was the one that had put the final bullet into her father.

A familiar pang rang across her
left arm. The one that had cut her.

He was too well-dressed,
talked too much in the cadence of a gentleman for him not to be part of society. She was positive if she searched hard enough, she would find the man.

Party after party
, ball after ball, she scoured. But she had yet to find him. And until she did, she had to continue putting on a false front at these parties—with at least enough pleasantness to ensure the invitations kept coming.

Her initial certainty that society would be the best place to find the man who killed her father was beginning to wane. But his ego and wardrobe still had her convinced he would show up in society eventually. Ag
gie just prayed he would appear soon—either in society or given away by one of his thugs.

A young man, blond hair just barely hanging out of his eyes
, approached her at that moment, flanked by Aggie’s aunt, who was wearing a cat-caught-mouse grin on her face. Introductions to Lord Ferrington were made, and Aggie politely allowed herself to be led to the dance floor.

Not two turns in
, Aggie was astonished by Lord Ferrington’s pretentiousness. Her aunt must be getting desperate if this was the best that could now be produced. Aggie bit her lip as he swept her through the crowd, trying to remain agreeable, docile, and dumb. It was an easy enough task, and afforded her a nice round of face searching.

Dance over, Aggie escaped the Baron and
made her way back through the throng to her aunt. Her aunt started in before Aggie’s feet stopped.

“Aggie, honey, I see you ha
ve dissuaded yet another. I do not know how you manage to do it so quickly. I had to pull upon all my guile to capture Lord Ferrington as it was. You are putting them away faster than I can take them in, dear,” her aunt said good-naturedly. “Now, far be it for me—of all people—to be pushy about such matters, but maybe you should give some of these men a chance?”

“Yes
, maybe I should,” Aggie said, noncommittal.

“It is
dreadfully warm in here.” Aunt Beatrix flipped open her fan and fluttered it around her round face. “Now dear, do not be coy with your aunt. I watched you that entire dance with Lord Ferrington and you did not say but two words. I believe I even saw you openly biting your lip. Your lip! I do not care how odious a comment that man made—and yes, I am sure he made several—your mother taught you better than to bite your lip in the middle of a ballroom.”

“Biting the lip was a bit much, was
it not?”

“I a
m afraid so, dear.” Beatrix smiled warmly at her niece. “Now, we both know how charming you can be when you set your mind to it, so maybe you would like to try it one of these nights?”

The ho
pe in her aunt’s voice sent a pang of guilt through Aggie. As if she didn’t have enough to feel guilty about. Tommy, the duke, now she couldn’t even properly paste a smile on her face for her aunt. Blast it, she needed to get some sleep. She was near to being a walking corpse.

Even in
reprimanding, her aunt was more than kind to her, and Aggie knew she had done little to deserve it. She forced a bright smile. “You are right Aunt Beatrix, I should try harder. You have been amazing at securing all of these introductions. Thank you for being so understanding.”

Her aunt smiled in satisfaction
and turned to join in on the conversation of her friends. Aggie was relieved it had been that easy. Usually her aunt went on for a bit longer.

Aggie took a sip of champagne.
She just had to make it through a few months and then she could get back to the plan for the rest of her life. Live at Clapinshire. Take care of her mother. Marry off Lizzy. Be content.

All she had to do was participate in the season and find her father
’s killers. That was all.

At least
the social functions placated her aunt and uncle, so they could at least believe they tried their best to get her a husband. Aggie knew her aunt would never forgive herself if she felt she hadn’t done all she could to find Aggie a suitable husband—Beatrix had lived through the pain of spinsterhood until she met Howard. But Aggie hoped that after this season, her aunt would turn her attentions to grooming Lizzie into a darling debutante.

The even
ing wore on, and Aggie scanned the room, watching the balcony above as new arrivals were continually announced and descending down the half-circular, green marble staircase. The crush was thicker than normal, and Aggie couldn’t shake the feeling that if she didn’t look at every present person’s face, she would miss him. That one man who could end her torment. The man who murdered her father.

The pit in her stomach expanded. The pit of failure.
If she could just see a bit more, hear a bit more, search a bit more, she would find him. Two were down, but three still remained. And they knew all about her. Time was critical now.

A flash of Lizzie and her mother home
alone without her seized Aggie. She would have to put more guards on the house first thing tomorrow. Had she been thinking straight today, she would have already done so. But by the time she got in, scrubbed every bit of stubborn soot from her skin, found Tommy, rounded up a doctor for him, stayed with his mother and his baby sister for the afternoon, stopped by the stables to make sure the duke had deposited Sunshine appropriately, and made her way home to ready for the party, she was exhausted. Sleep hadn’t been an option.

H
ow dare the duke demand her presence here tonight? She could be at home, tucked into bed. Yes, he had assisted her—killed for her, if she was honest about it. Yes, he gave blood for her. Yes, he claimed he wanted to help her. But did that really give him control over her whereabouts?

Yet here she was.

Aggie cringed at the list. It actually was a generous tally in the duke’s favor.

Aunt Beatrix nudged her in the side, head ti
lted to the left. “Apparently, your latest dissuasion was not as successful as you hoped.”

Aggie
ripped her eyes off the crowd and looked left, only to see Lord Ferrington moving through the crowd, his determined eyes locked on Aggie.

She swallowed a sigh and produced a polite smile. Her aunt deserved it.

~~~

Devin
was in a foul mood. The search that day for the two remaining bastards was worthless. And not only had he not taken care of the men threatening Aggie, when he arrived at the Appleton party, he walked in to find Aggie immersed in conversation with Lord Ferrington. He did not like the man. Though he barely knew him, he knew of him. The baron was a bloodsucker.

Across the wide room, Killian extracted himself from a circle of men and joined
Devin, handing him a glass of Madeira.

“
My men have had no luck. Have you found out anything else?” Devin didn’t bother with pleasantries after the day Killian and he had. Even though he had a slew of investigators after the two men, he and Killian had spent most of the day visiting the lowest of the low holes trying to find the two bastards.

Devin
wasn’t stupid enough to enter those holes without Killian watching his back. Although they ferreted out those that knew of the band of four, now two—notorious in their own right—they weren’t to be found in any of the places people guessed. The two were hiding. And hiding meant planning.

“
No,” Killian said. “And I visited some of Vivienne’s most sketchy connections. No luck.”

Devin
nodded. Killian’s red-headed mistress had a rather colorful past, and she was always one to make sure she had plenty of favors to cash–in around London. “I am beginning to wonder if they are not alone. The continued attacks, they do not make sense. If we learned anything today, it was that these men are brutal, but simple idiots. Why continue after her? Why continue unless someone was prodding them. Someone who had something to lose.”

“Could very well be,” Killian said.
“You know the best person to explore that theory with is across the room. She probably knows much more than she has let on.”

“Do you think?”

“I do not trust. So yes, I do think so.”

Devin
sighed. “Thank you for your assistance.”

“Happy to help.
Even if it was for naught today. It is a nice change for me to help you, not the reverse.”

Killian’s eyes followed
Devin’s glaze. “Are you going to tell her we did not find them?”

Devin
took a sip of the wine he had yet to lift. “Yes. She needs to be ready for anything, since I cannot be constantly by her side.”

A smirk ran across Killian’s face.
“There is a way you can be by her side, you know.”

Devin
’s glare shot to his friend. A look feared by many, it did nothing to the smirk still set firmly on Killian’s face.

“Why would you go there?
Again?” He shifted his look back to Aggie.

“
Aside from the obvious duty to produce an heir, one, your eyes have not left her since you came in. Even just now, you could not afford to look away from her to me for more than a second.”

“She
is better looking than you.”

“Ego be
-dammed, I will give you that.” Killian took a long swallow from his glass. “And two, you look like you want to crush Ferrington.”

“She has spent far too long with the man
. The gossips love fresh meat, and she is very near to being served up. Where the hell is her aunt? She should be cutting the conversation.”

Killian gave a courtesy look around, smirk not moved.

“What good is a chaperone that does not know how to chaperone?”

“Seems her lack of a proper chaperone has been quite convenient for her,
” Killian said, “and for you, thus far.”

Devin
’s eyes flickered to Killian, then back to Aggie. Granted, Aggie appeared to be just barely concealing a face of boredom over the conversation, but Killian was right. The sight of the two of them sent slivers of unnatural—yes, he would have to admit it—jealousy, down his spine.

He didn’t really care to explore it, but
he had begun to think of Aggie as his. Yes, he wanted her in his bed. But this was beyond a simple bedroom rendezvous. He was afraid he had actually begun to care about her well-being.

Then there was the matter of her innocence. A
fter the obvious embarrassment Aggie displayed the previous night when Devin was shirtless, he was beginning to question his earlier conclusion about her experience with men. Was it possible, as bold as she was, that she was not experienced in the bedroom?

Devin
’s cool gaze pierced into the back of Ferrington’s head. Jealousy was new to him, and he didn’t particularly enjoy it. But to interrupt Aggie’s conversation would only create an unnecessary stir throughout the party.

A
t this point, he didn’t want to start raising questions about his association with Aggie.

“
You should think about putting the demons to rest, Devin.” Killian’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Move on. Live a real life. Who they were, is not who you are.”