Taming the Wicked Wulfe (The Rogue Agents) (44 page)

“What are you talking about?
 
She fights me at every turn.”

“She might fight you, but in my humble opinion, she loves you.”

“I doubt that,” Thorn harrumphed.

“We shall see.
 
There, now you are presentable for society.
 
You have a meeting with the Duke of Walsh before going to the
Lady Luck
, have you not?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think he is the leader of the group?”

“If not, then he is very close to the top.”

“I will bid you good luck then, my lord.
 
I will also have someone look at repairing that hole.”

“That is the least of my concerns.
 
Be certain the children are well tended.
 
Rebekah would kill me if I let anything happen to the twins.”

“Yes, she would, my lord.”

Thorn shot his valet a seething look before leaving the house.

Fifteen minutes later, he found himself standing outside a rather magnificent mansion located in Mayfair.
 
When he knocked on the door, he gave the butler his card and then waited in the foyer before he was shown into the study.
 
The room was empty.
 
Ah, so this is how it was to be.
 
Thorn had kept him waiting, and now the duke would keep him waiting.
 
Wulfe crossed the room and chose a comfortable, high-backed chair that would hide his presence from view.
 
Almost thirty minutes later, he heard the tell-tale clipping of boots on the marble and parquet wood floors as Walsh moved from one room to another.
 

“Henson, I thought you said Wulfe had arrived.”

“I have,” Thorn said, peeking around the edge of the chair and staring at the harried man that stood in the open doorway.
 
Good, he’s not as in control as he wants to be
, Thorn thought.
 
“Very comfortable furniture you have here, Walsh.”
 
Thorn stood as the other man entered the room and shut the door.

“Thank you.
 
Can I get you a drink?”

“Thank you, but no.
 
I have a business to see to after this.”

“Of course.
 
Shall we get right to it then?” Walsh asked, holding out his arm for Thorn to take the chair across from his desk.
 
The duke then walked around the desk and sat, the leather creaking as he did so.
 

“I’m curious, Walsh, why did you seek me out?”

“Wulfe, you have always been a rebel.
 
I can recall my father saying that you would ruin the Wulfecrest reputation.”

“Many people feel that way about me.”

“And now you are responsible for the Duke of Wulfecrest and all the decisions made regarding the dukedom until he reaches his majority.”

“None of this is news, Walsh.”

“There is a large group of us disgruntled with the way Prinny is conducting himself and running through the country’s funds.”

“And you believe I can do something about it.”

“
We
believe
we
can do something about it.”

“Who is ‘we’?”

“A group of concerned peers of the realm, and that is all you need to know for the time being.”

“If I am going to throw my support in, I will want to know the people that are involved.”

“Of course,” Walsh agreed, “but you have not yet said you would join us.”

“What exactly is your group planning?”

“We want Prinny removed.
 
The man is an embarrassment to all that is England.”

“And just who do you plan to replace him with?”

“His daughter.
 
She is a biddable young woman.
 
Our group of advisors will direct her in decisions that should be made.
 
We will make certain she marries a man that is not only good for her, but also England.”

“Interesting,” Wulfe mulled over what the other man said.
 
These men want to kill the Prince Regent?
They are out of their minds.
 
“I need time to consider this.”

“Of course.”

“What would my part be in this?”

“That, you will find out if you choose to join us.”

“And what if I don’t choose to join?”

“That is a problem, isn’t it, Wulfe?”

“What exactly do you mean?” Wulfe asked the younger man, attempting to size him up.

“Well, you know what we want to do, though you do not know how we plan to take care of the matter.
 
You know that I am involved,” Walsh waved his hand as he leaned back into his chair.

“You are telling me that my life will be forfeit if I choose not to stand with you.”

“You said it, my friend, not I.”

“I still need time.”

“Of course.
 
I expect to hear from you in the near future.”

“Always a pleasure, Walsh.”
 
Thorn stood, bowed low, and then turned and left the room.
 
The man was insane, and now Thorn had a target neatly drawn on his back.
 
He did not remember leaving Walsh’s residence, nor the trip to the
Lady Luck
.
 
The only thing he kept thinking about was the fact that his life could very well be over and what would become of the twins?
 
Who would watch over them in his place?
 
Who would love Rebekah?
 
He stopped mid-stride in the middle of the
Lady Luck
.
 
Did he love Rebekah?
 
Yes.
 
Somehow, somewhere throughout their time together, he had fallen in love with his wife.

“Lord Wulfe, are you all right, sir?” a footman queried, a look of concern on the man’s face.

“Yes.” He nodded before continuing on across the nearly empty gaming hell.
 
Somehow she had gotten under his skin in more ways than one.
 
Although she greatly irritated him on occasion, she intrigued him.
 
She kept him on his toes with her superior wit.
 
Dammit, Walsh’s threat was not one to be taken lightly.
 
He needed the name of the other members of the group and to find out when they planned to carry out their assassination attempt.
 
What the younger man had said was true.
 
Prinny was a spend-thrift and had wasted much of the country’s coffers when there were many of its citizens starving.
 
Didn’t the man realize there were other ways in which to bring the man to heel?

“What’s the matter, Wulfe?
 
You look as if the weight of the world is on your shoulder,” Glandingham chortled.

“Are you a part of them, Glandingham, or do they just use you?”

“What are you talking about?”
 
The portly man looked nervously about the room for prying ears.

“That’s what I thought.”

“I haven’t said a blasted word.”

“You didn’t have to.
 
What are they offering you, and what exactly are you providing them?”

“I have no idea…”

“Oh, come off it, Glandingham.
 
I want to know everything.”

“In the office,” the man looked nervous and beads of perspiration dotted his brow and upper lip.
 
Upon reaching the office, Thorn shut and locked the door, then turned to see his partner blotting at the moisture on his face and balding pate.

“I’m waiting.”

“You don’t know what you are getting involved in, Wulfe.”

“Such kindness and words of warning.”

“Dammit, I am trying to help you.
 
Don’t get involved with them.”

“I fear it is too late for that.
 
They have cornered me, not vice versa.”

“Then they suspect you have something that can aide them.
 
They only come after people who they think will further their cause.”

“Is that how you became involved?”

“Yes.”

“
The Lady Luck
?”

“No, they had nothing to do with us becoming partners.
 
I ran the estate into the ground.
 
I took the last of my wife’s dowry that I had inherited and bought into half of the
Lady Luck
.
 
Thanks to you, my daughters will have dowries to inherit, and my son will not have only a title to inherit someday.”

“You risked your reputation being involved with a gambling establishment for money?”

“Wulfe, you have always thumbed your nose at society.
 
You have always played by your own rules.
 
Most of us are too frightened to do any such thing.
 
To me, the cost of being turned away by a few peers was fitting.
 
I deserved not to be allowed entrance into their homes.
 
I am allowed in other homes because I keep the men’s secrets that frequent here, often with their mistresses in tow.
 
They use their authority over their wives to ensure that my son and daughters are allowed entrance to make good matches.
 
My children should not be punished for my misdeeds.”

“I don’t feel sorry for you.
 
You made me shoot my friend to allow you to enter into the business as my partner.”

“I did not make you do anything, Wulfe.
 
You would not have done it unless you wanted to.”

“I am not going to argue this aspect with you.
 
I want to know who this group of men is that you keep talking about.”

“I cannot tell you.”
 

Thorn walked over to the far wall, moved a painting, and worked the safe combination.
 
He retrieved a gun that he kept primed and loaded.
 
Turning around, he lifted the gun and pointed it at Glandingham.
 
“You bring up a good point, Glandingham.
 
I would not have shot Liam if I had not wanted to, if I had not thought it would benefit me in some way.
 
I find that I want to shoot you even more at this very moment.”

“Now, let’s discuss this.”

“Yes, let’s.
 
Now, it is my understanding there is a group of men that find themselves to be extremely unhappy with the Prince Regent’s running of our country.”

“Yes.”

“And these men want to remove Prinny from his power.”

“Yes.”

“And the connection these men have to you is?”

“I can’t tell you.”
 
The man almost looked as if he would cry at any moment.

“Let me see if I can explain this to you, Glandingham.
 
My life, and that of my family, has been threatened if I do not join these men in their endeavor.
 
I want names, and I wanted them an hour ago!”

“I can’t give them to you!”

“Why not?”

“Because I do not know who they are!”

“I don’t believe you,” Thorn said, and cocked the pistol.

“Bloody hell, man, you must!
 
I do not know who they are!
 
I have my suspicions, but that is all.
 
I know that Walsh is one of the leaders, but these men are smart, they do not let any one man have the power.
 
They use the
Lady Luck
to meet and plan.”

“How?”

“How am I to know?
 
Have you ever noticed a meeting going on here?”

“No.”

“Exactly.
 
They are good.
 
I don’t even know if they have all met here at the same time or not.
 
I suspect they almost do it like they were working in shifts.
 
One group meets on one day, another group meets on another day.”

“How do they share the information between the groups?”

“I don’t know.”

“Clean yourself up, you have guests to greet.”

“And you?”

“What I do is none of your damn business,” Wulfe growled before he stalked out of the office.
 
He walked outside to find the sun setting, and the buildings cast long, eerie shadows into the streets.
 
“Get me a hack,” Thorn instructed a footman.
 
The man leered at him, a frightened look on his face before he turned to fulfill the request.
 
Only then did Thorn look down and realize he still had a cocked gun in his hand.
 
He gently uncocked it, then tucked it into his coat pocket.
 
The conveyance arrived and Wulfe gave explicit instructions to the driver before climbing in.

Halfway to his destination, he noticed he was not alone.
 
A man on a horse kept a safe distance behind them.
 
It looked as if the game of cat and mouse would ensue once more.
 
He lifted the hatch just enough to speak with the driver, then lowered it once more.
 
He took several notes out of his pocket and left them on the seat for the jarvey.
 
They were coming along a stretch of road where the buildings were in deep shadows.
 
The driver made a left turn, taking his time, and Thorn took the opportunity to slip out of the hack.
 
He moved quickly, losing himself in the shadows of the buildings.
 
He waited patiently until he saw the horse and rider pass by.
 
Even then, he continued to wait, making certain that no one else followed.