Regency 03 - Deception (26 page)

The duke appeared suddenly from the opposite side of
the house with the largest man Levi had ever seen firmly in tow.
The giant seemed hesitant but willing to follow Derringer. Levi
waited for them warily.

“
This is Tiny,” Derringer said by
way of introduction as soon as they were close enough. The four men
moved deeper into the shadows.

“
Tiny is going to watch for
anything suspicious on his end of Town.”

“
Where does he live?” asked Levi,
eying the fairly young, very large man with some
misgivings.

“
I live in Cheapside. For now,”
remarked the giant with a grin. His voice was high and light and
very surprising in so large a man.

Levi shot him a stunned look. The man’s accent
hinted at an education, possibly an extensive one. “Who are
you?”

Tiny bowed quite as nicely as if he were any Society
nob. “My name is Josiah Wilton. Everyone calls me Tiny Boy. I work
at whatever job pays well enough. Hello again, Bruiser.”

Bruiser grunted in reply to this greeting.

“
Bruiser here is still perturbed
about that thrashing you gave him not too long ago,” remarked
Derringer with a malicious grin.

Bruiser grunted again but still said nothing.

“
So all you have done, Hart,”
commented Levi thoughtfully, “is hire a couple of street ruffians
to
watch
?” He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Perhaps a
little disappointed. He had been so sure they would find Rhiannon
immediately and return her to safety.

Derringer gave him an exasperated look. “No,
lackwit. John will find Forester, discover if he has any
accomplices. Tiny here will determine if we need help, should do as
Forester asks, or if we can retrieve your daughter right from under
her captors’ noses.”

This time it was Levi who grunted. Then he fixed the
duke with a gimlet stare and warned, “If she gets hurt, your grace,
I’ll kill
you
.”

*

Aurora was going mad. She was sure of it. They had
been gone most of the night, doing God only knew what, while she
sat at home worrying and wishing she could have gone with them. Men
were so very vexing sometimes.

She had invited the Prestwiches and Northwickes to
stay the night and she was relieved that they had accepted. Verena
stayed up with her waiting for word from the men. It was the
longest night of her life and she prayed for it to end so she would
know that her daughter was safe.

Pacing by Verena yet again, Aurora twisted her hands
together, turning her ring around and around on her finger. She
looked up when the other woman addressed her.

“
Rory dear, please stop pacing. It
is giving me the headache,” she complained with a gentle
laugh.

Aurora smiled and made herself sit down next to her
friend. They still waited in the drawing room. And waited. And
waited.

“
I cannot take this any longer!”
exclaimed Aurora passionately. “They have been gone this age and
not a word have we had. What if something dire has befallen
them?”

“
I doubt anything dire would dare
to threaten the Duke of Derringer,” replied Verena with rare
cynicism.

This made Aurora smile. “It would indeed be odd were
that to happen. But I just feel so very helpless, waiting here,
doing nothing while some…madman has my little girl!”

Aurora surprised herself by bursting into tears yet
again that night and Verena tried to soothe her as best she could.
A commotion in the hall outside had Aurora springing from her seat
and rushing out the door, her tears miraculously drying as she
went. Verena followed close behind.

“
Did you find her?” called the
countess. “Did you find her?”

Levi caught his wife around the waist. “No, Rory, we
did not find her.”

She pulled furiously away from him and glared at
both of the gentlemen as they removed their outerwear. “Then where
the devil have you been?” she demanded.

“
Laying the groundwork,” commented
Derringer.

Aurora studied them. They were dressed in black,
normal for the duke but unusual for the earl. And their clothing
was old and tattered. “Groundwork for what? Playing at highwaymen?”
she inquired, scorn dripping from every word.

Levi took his wife’s arm and propelled her towards
the drawing room. “It would be best if we continued this discussion
out of the servants’ hearing, love,” he whispered harshly against
her ear.

At the moment, she didn’t care who overheard them
but she nodded anyway and allowed him to steer her back up to the
drawing room. He pushed her down into a chair and stood across the
room in front of the fireplace. Derringer seated his tall frame in
a chair near Aurora and smiled at her mockingly. She glared
back.

She looked around and realized that Verena was not
with them. “Where is Doll?” she asked, her pale brows drawn down
into a V.

“
I’m here,” the other woman
replied a trifle breathlessly. “Con asked me to wake him as soon as
you arrived. He would have stayed up and waited but he was so very
tired that we insisted he go to bed.” She blushed slightly but sat
down on the sofa, her hands folded primly in her lap.

Northwicke smirked and went to stand near the window
overlooking the street below. His entrance was quickly followed by
that of Prestwich and his wife. Bri sat down next to Verena while
Adam joined Levi by the empty grate.

“
We are all here now,” snapped
Aurora. “Where is my daughter?”

“
We don’t know,” replied the duke.
“Yet.”

“
And how, your grace, do you
suppose you will find out when you are here, doing
nothing?”

Derringer’s black eyes flashed, but whether it was
amusement or annoyance was anybody’s guess.

“
Why do you not just pay the
blasted ransom and get her back? Why play around endangering her
life?” demanded Aurora, her voice rising with each word
uttered.

Before Derringer could give her the setdown he was
obviously aching to give her, Levi stepped between the combatants.
“Do you really want to pay Forester, Rory? Think about it.
Blackmailers never quit. He will demand more and more money until
he finally tells the world of your behavior anyway. He has to be
stopped, silenced for good.”

Aurora closed her mouth and glared at her husband.
He was right and she hated him for it. She was tempted to tell him
so. But nothing could really be resolved between them until
Rhiannon was safe at home and spewing anxiety-driven nonsense would
only make things that much harder to fix. So she kept her mouth
shut and listened to the gentlemen as they discussed the matter at
hand.

“
What exactly have you done?”
inquired Adam with a quirk of one black brow.

“
Hired some street ruffians to
kill Forester,” replied Derringer with a mocking look sent Aurora’s
way.

“
No you didn’t,” claimed Levi, a
half-exasperated, half-amused expression crossing his features.
“You hired two lowlifes to watch him.”

“
I wonder if Tiny would let you
live if he heard you call him a lowlife?” mused the
duke.

“
Who is Tiny?” inserted
Northwicke, turning from the window and studying the room’s
occupants casually.

“
Josiah Wilton,” answered
Levi.

Aurora started. “Did you say Josiah Wilton?” she
asked, a confused frown marring her smooth forehead.

Derringer’s black eyes swiveled to meet her shocked
stare. “Ah, yes. You would know young Josiah, would you not, Miss
Aurora Glendenning of the Staffordshire Glendennings. He was not
told your family name since it quite slipped my mind that you were
probably acquainted.” He paused, a look of devilish amusement
stamped across his harsh features. “So what is Tiny to you, Lady
Greville? Friend or foe?”

Aurora wondered if she should lie then castigated
herself for even entertaining the thought. Her penchant for lies
had gotten her into this mess and she knew if she didn’t stop there
would be no chance for her and the man she loved. So she worked up
her anger at the duke instead.

“
You are aptly named, my Lord
Heartless,” she hissed furiously. He favored her with a mocking bow
from his seat. “The truth is, he was neither,” she told him.
“Merely a neighbor.”

“
The truth, Aurora? Are you sure?
Do you even know what truth is? How many other children do you have
secreted away somewhere?”

Aurora locked gazes with Lord Derringer, determined
not to look away, determined not to let him see her pain at his
nasty words. Everyone else seemed to watch the battle of wills but
no one stepped in.

“
That is enough, Derringer,” said
Lord Connor, finally. All eyes turned in surprise to the normally
quiet man. His face was deadly calm and his voice matched his
expression.

The duke gave the other man an assessing look before
clamping his mouth shut.

Tears started to Aurora’s eyes before she could stop
them, her frustration and anger far more than any normal person
could endure. No mother should have to know how it felt when a
child was taken. No mother should have to endure such hell. And
because of her own stupidity, Aurora was facing the possibility of
life alone.

Her husband couldn’t even bring himself to defend
her when maligned by his friend. It was left to someone who little
knew her.

It took everything left in her to prevent the
overflow.

Her husband crouched down before her. He took her
hand, a faint smile of reassurance on his lips. “Don’t cry, Rory.
He would be delighted to see it.”

“
How can you abide that man?” she
demanded, furiously blinking back her tears. She was relieved at
what appeared to be genuine concern in her husband’s dark brown
eyes. “He has not one redeeming quality. I doubt not his own mother
would avoid him, were she still living.”

Levi’s smile disappeared. “Don’t ever mention his
mama to him, Aurora. That subject is best left closed. And he is a
very good friend if not a very pleasant person. Try to understand,
Rory. He is not a happy man. He has no reason to be. And he will
find Rhiannon and restore her to you unharmed. I promise.”

~~~~~~

It was hours later, about mid-afternoon, when the
butler informed his lordship that there were two unsavory persons
asking for him.

“
Where have you put them?” asked
Levi as he hastily tied his cravat into something resembling a
careless knot. He shrugged into his coat, and followed the butler
out.

“
They are waiting in the kitchen,
my lord.”

Levi flew ahead of the servant and was presently in
the warm kitchen facing Tiny Boy and a small wizened little man
that he had not met and could only assume was the other man
Derringer hired.

“
Follow me, gentlemen,” Levi told
them diffidently. He paused on his way out of the kitchen. “Do
either of you want refreshment?”

The old man grinned while Tiny just gazed at him
impassively. Levi ordered a tea tray sent to the study at the back
of the ground floor of the Mayfair townhouse. He supposed Tiny was
the sort to always be hungry and the old man looked as if he’d not
eaten in days.

After the wide-eyed maid left and the men were
ensconced in comfortable leather armchairs, Levi asked, “Who are
you?”

The old man grinned. “Big John’s me moniker, at yer
service, lor’ship.” He sketched a mocking bow in Levi’s direction
from the depths of his chair.

Levi laughed. He couldn’t help it. “You are Big John
and you are Tiny Boy?” He erupted into hearty guffaws, clutching
his sides. He finally sobered and wiped his streaming eyes. “Lord,
I am sorry. I was not laughing at either of you. But it felt good
to laugh about something. Where the devil did you get your names?
Never mind. That is not important. Where is my daughter?”

This seemed to be Big John’s cue. He erupted into
speech, punctuated by the smacking of his lips, some of his words
so broad even Tiny seemed to have some trouble understanding him.
Levi was nearly clueless as to what he was being told.

He turned to Tiny when John ceased to speak.
“Translation?”

The large man smiled. “Big John found this Forester
fellow residing in Cheapside. Quite convenient to my way of
thinking. It seems he’s been visiting with a close neighbor of his,
a couple by the name of Miller. Do you know them?”

“
No. Who are they?”

Tiny shrugged. “John did not say. He’ll know soon
enough.”

Big John nodded, his gape-toothed grin wide and
comical but somehow reassuring. Several biscuits and cakes
disappeared into that wide maw then, giving the earl a slightly
queasy feeling in his stomach.

He returned his attention to the giant.
“Continue.”

“
Apparently, the neighbor the
other side, a widow named Mrs. Smythe, heard some strange noises.
She said it sounded like a child crying for its mama but she was
almost positive that the Millers did not have a child with them
when they moved in.”

“
She was sure it was a child
crying and not some animal?”

“
Aye, she was positive,” Tiny
assured him. “She says she’s raised fifteen of her own and would
know a child’s cry over an animal’s anywhere. Her youngest boy, a
fifteen-year-old lad, confirmed her story. He’s heard it,
too.”

Levi scowled menacingly. “If that monster has hurt
her, I’ll kill him.”

“
That don’t mean he be ‘urtin’
‘er, ye know,” commented Big John around a mouthful of cucumber
sandwich. “Scart,” he explained succinctly.