A Regency Lady's Scandal: The Lady Gambles / The Lady Forfeits

Nathaniel had remained conscious long enough to explain that he had been set upon the moment he’d stepped outside the club earlier, the wounds on his hands caused both from the blows he had managed to land upon his attackers, and defensively as he’d held those hands up in front of him to stop the worst of the knife cuts upon his face. Once he’d fallen to the ground, he had not stood a chance against the odds, as he was kicked repeatedly until one of those blows had caught him on the side of the head. After which he knew no more until he awoke to stagger back inside the club and ask for help.

Considering those odds of four against one, Dominic was sure that if murder had been the intention, then Nathaniel would now be dead. Also, his purse had still been in his pocket when he’d regained consciousness, the diamond pin also in place at his throat, so robbery was not the motive, either. From that Dominic could only surmise that the thugs had achieved what they had set out to do, and that the attack had been a warning of some kind.

But a warning to whom exactly … ?

The words of caution Gabriel had given Dominic before he’d left Venice, in regard to Nicholas Brown, the previous owner of Nick’s, had immediately come to mind. Dominic was well aware of the other man’s violent reputation; while publicly Brown behaved the gentleman, privately he was known to be vicious and vindictive, his associates mostly of the shady underworld of London’s slums. Also, the other man had been most seriously displeased to lose Nick’s in that wager to Dominic.

No, the more thought he gave to the situation—when Caro allowed him the time to think about it, that was—the more convinced he became that Nicholas Brown was somehow involved. That tonight’s attack might not been meant for Nathaniel at all …

Dominic had left for Venice only days after winning the wager that had cost Brown his gambling club, only returning back to London two days ago, a fact that would no doubt have reached the other man’s ears as early as yesterday. As such, it would have been all too easy for the four thugs lying in wait outside the club to have assumed that the gentleman leaving alone, long after the last patron had left, with his face hidden by both the darkness and the hat upon his head, was Dominic himself.

He had discussed the possibilities briefly with Drew, the older man having agreed that his previous employer was more than capable of sending some of his paid thugs to attack Dominic. Except those thugs had not dealt the lethal blow to the man they had attacked. Drew had offered the possibility that it might not have been a case of mistaken identity at all; that Brown could well be deliberately hurting people known to be associated with Dominic, as both a threat and a warning, before later extracting his revenge from Dominic himself.

Dominic gave a grimace as he anticipated Caro’s reaction to what was to be the subject of their next conversation. ‘I have no idea as yet. But in view of the fact that the attack occurred outside Nick’s, it has been decided that, for the next few days at least, all of us associated with the club should take the necessary precautions.’

Caro stared across at him blankly. ‘But surely I am in no danger? No one except you, Lord Thorne, Drew Butler, and Ben Jackson has even seen the face of the masked lady singing at Nick’s. That is the reason you threw your cloak over me when we were leaving the club earlier!’ she realised suddenly, looking shocked.

He nodded grimly. ‘It is not my intention to frighten you, Caro.’ He frowned darkly as she obviously became so. ‘But, until we know more, Drew and I are agreed that the masked lady must disappear completely, whilst at the same time every precaution taken to ensure the safety of Caro Morton.’

‘Perhaps I might go to stay with Mr Butler and his family?’

‘Drew and I dismissed that possibility,’ Dominic explained. ‘Unfortunately, Drew and his family share their modest home with both his wife’s parents and his own so there is simply no room.’

‘Oh.’ Caro frowned. ‘Then perhaps I might move to the obscurity of an inexpensive hotel—’

The earl gave a firm shake of his head. ‘A hotel is too public.’

She sighed her frustration with this situation. ‘Is there any real danger to me, or is this just another way for you to ensure that it is impossible for me to do anything other than return from “whence I came”?’

Dominic looked at her thoughtfully. ‘Would you even consider it if I were to suggest it?’

‘No, I would not,’ she stated firmly.

‘No,’ Dominic conceded flatly. In truth, it was no longer an option; if Brown really were responsible for tonight’s attack, there was also every possibility he was already aware of Caro’s identity as the masked lady. He undoubtedly had informers and spies everywhere. As such, Caro returning to her home unprotected could put her in more danger than if she were to remain in London. ‘Drew and I have come up with another solution.’

Caro eyed him warily. ‘Which is … ?’

‘That I now escort you to your lodgings, where you will pack up your belongings and return to Blackstone House with me.’ Not an ideal solution, he allowed honestly, but one that more easily enabled him to ensure her safety. The fact that she would at the same time be all too available to the desire he was finding it more and more difficult to resist was something he had tried—and failed—not to think about.

No wonder Caro stared at him so incredulously!

He raised an eyebrow. ‘If you choose to accompany me to Blackstone House, then I will do all in my power to ensure your stay there is a temporary one. If it appears that it is to be longer than two, or possibly three days, then I will endeavour to find alternative accommodations for you. In any event, my offer of protection is one of expediency only. A desire, if you will, not to find one, or more, of my employees dead in a doorway during the next few days.’

Caro felt her face grow pale. ‘You truly do believe those thugs will attack again?’ She was totally confused as to what she should do. She had managed her escape from Hampshire easily enough, but she knew her older sister well enough to realise that Diana would not allow that situation to continue for long. That, despite Caro’s letter of reassurance, once Diana had ascertained she was nowhere to be found in Hampshire, then her sister would widen her search, in all probability as far as London.

Diana’s wrath, if she should then discover Caro living in the household of a single gentleman of the ton would, she had no doubt, be more than a match for this arrogant man!

She shook her head. ‘Surely Mr Butler did not agree with this plan?’

‘On reflection Drew agreed with me that at the moment your safety is of more importance than your … reputation.’ Dominic’s mouth twisted derisively.

She shook her head. ‘I simply cannot—’

‘Caro, I am grown weary of hearing what you can or cannot do.’ He sat forwards on the seat so that their two faces were now only inches apart, his eyes a pale and glittering silver in the weak, early morning sunlight. ‘I have told you of the choices available to you—’

‘Neither of which is acceptable to me!’

He gave her a hard smile. ‘Then it seems you must choose whichever you consider to be the lesser of those two evils.’

Caro understood that Dominic was overset concerning the injuries inflicted upon his friend this evening, and the damage also caused to his gambling club before the attack, that he was genuinely concerned there might be another attack on those working or associated with the gambling club. But having already suffered twenty years of having her movements curtailed out of love and respect for her father, she had no intention of being told what she could or could not do, either by her guardian, or a man she had only met for the first time yesterday. ‘And if I should refuse to do either of those things—go home or accompany you?’

Dominic had admired this young woman’s courage from the start. Appreciated that feistiness in her, her lack of awe, of either him or his title, as well as her willingness to disagree with him if she so chose. But at this moment he could only wish she was of an obedient and compliant nature! ‘It is late, Caro—or early, depending upon one’s perspective.’ He sighed wearily. ‘In any event, it has been a very long night, and as a consequence perhaps it would be best if we waited until later today to make any firm decision one way or the other?’

She nodded. ‘Then we are in agreement that once you have returned me to my lodgings I will remain there until we are able to talk again?’

Caro had all the allure of a prim old maid in that unbecoming brown bonnet that once again hid most of her hair, Dominic decided dispassionately. In fact, she looked nothing at all like the delicious, half-naked woman he had made love to earlier. Which was perhaps as well, given the circumstances! Dominic had thought to teach her a lesson earlier, and instead he had been taught one—that at the very least, Caro Morton was a serious danger to his self-control.

‘We are not agreed at all,’ Dominic contradicted, making no effort to continue arguing with her, but instead tapping on the roof of the carriage and issuing instructions to his groom to drive directly to Blackstone House. ‘I will send to your lodgings for your things later today,’ he informed her.

‘You—’

‘Caro, I have already assured you that should my enquiries take longer than those two or three days, then I will make other arrangements for you; let that be an end to the matter,’ he said as he relaxed back in his seat, one dark brow raised in challenge.

A challenge she returned. ‘It is seriously your intention to introduce me—even temporarily—into your household?’

‘Seriously,’ Dominic said.

She gave a disgusted snort. ‘As what, may I ask?’

‘Should any ask for an explanation—’ his tone clearly implied that there were few who would dare ask the Earl of Blackstone for an explanation concerning any of his actions! ‘then I will suggest that you are my widowed and impoverished cousin—so many young women were left widowed after Waterloo. That you are newly arrived from the country on the morning coach, with the intention of staying with me at Blackstone House whilst I arrange a modest household for you in London.’

‘Without clothes or a maid?’ Caro scorned.

Dominic shrugged unconcernedly. ‘An impoverished widow cannot afford to employ a maid until I arrange for one, and your trunk will be delivered later today.’

She eyed him impatiently. ‘Does the Earl of Blackstone even have a widowed and impoverished cousin?’

‘No.’

‘Do you have any cousins?’

‘No.’

She eyed him quizzically. ‘Any family at all?’

‘Not a single one.’

Caro could not even imagine a life without her two sisters in it. Admittedly she had put a distance between them now, but it had been done in the knowledge that she could return to them as soon as Gabriel Faulkner had been convinced by Diana that none of the Copeland sisters had any intention of ever marrying him.