An Improper Proposal (The Distinguished Rogues Book 6) Read online

  Esme smiled widely and then leaned close to her ear to whisper, “Wicked, generous and kind. But has he mentioned her yet?”

  Iris shook her head. Not once, and she’d tried so hard to find a way to bring up the topic herself but to no avail. She glanced beyond Esme and discovered Lord Windermere staring in her direction. She nodded to him and although he offered a smile, it was clear his attention was on Esme alone. “Have you spoken to Windermere lately?”

  “No. But I have heard he and Lady Bartlett had a falling out a few days ago. Why do you ask?”

  “Because he can’t take his eyes off you. Do you think he might want to apologize for his outburst?”

  “I’m sure I don’t need to hear it.” Esme curled her arm through Mr. Hammond’s and smiled. “I’m parched, sir.”

  A decidedly warm smile crossed Hammond’s face. “That’s the girl I know and love. Shall we search for a quiet corner too, my dear?”

  “Darling, you’re always getting ahead of the game.” Esme laughed wickedly and then kissed Iris’s cheek. “I will see you later. Be careful.”

  The pair strolled away, headed for the card room where they were certain to find a beverage to their taste.

  “We should congratulate Miss Quartermane on her engagement,” Martin remarked as he took her arm. He steered her in that direction, moving at a slow pace and pausing often to speak to guests. Talbot had moved on long before they reached Miss Quartermane and now she could not find him anywhere. Iris thought she caught a glimpse of his pale head as he passed out the door and into the card room but she couldn’t be sure.

  Miss Quartermane smiled warmly. “Here you are. I was just telling Mr. Talbot how much I admired the speed of your marriage. Congratulations. A surprise wedding is exactly the way to get married these days. I would never have said that you pair would make a match. Not a hint of scandal about you both. We’re all desperate to know when and how you caught him?”

  The girl wagged her fingers and the diamonds gracing them caught her attention. Talbot must have almost been drooling over the priceless stones.

  “I, um,” Iris stammered, and then dragged her attention back to the girl’s smiling face. “I’ve always liked him.”

  Martin set his arm around her back. “My proposal caught her by surprise but I simply could not wait another day.”

  Miss Quartermane held her gaze. “And your father has returned in time to celebrate with you, too. How wonderful. Is he here?”

  “No,” she said calmly enough but since no one else had mentioned her father that night, and he’d not left Holly House since his release from debtor’s prison, she was uncertain how to take the remark. So far, society at large seemed unaware of his return to London. “His travels have exhausted him.”

  Miss Quartermane smiled and squeezed her hand. “I do understand the need for misdirection in such cases but it is unnecessary with me.”

  Iris fought the urge to flee. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  The girl shrugged. “I had an uncle who traveled several times in his life. Most uncomfortable for the family to keep quiet, and I would never hold such circumstances against his devoted daughter.”

  Martin stiffened at her side. “Who told you?”

  Miss Quartermane’s brows drew together and she leaned close. “Mr. Talbot suggested some recent difficulties had kept your father from society, and given his history…”

  “I see.” Iris bit her lip a moment. A calculated guess perhaps but how many other people would Talbot drop hints to about her father tonight. “What else did he say?”

  “Nothing untoward. We talked of Acton. He complimented me on my good fortune to snare an earl. He laughed heartily when I mentioned Everett, I mean Lord Acton, let me choose my own gift after he proposed marriage. That is how I knew he was the man for me. He left his safe open the whole time I dithered.”

  Iris exchanged a concerned glance with her husband. Idle gossip was the single best way to spy on society. “Did you mention where Acton proposed to you?”

  “Yes, I’m sure I must have.” Miss Quartermane’s eyes widened slightly. “I told him it is inside the fourth stair in the hall staircase. The strangest place to keep a safe. I should never have said that,” she whispered in a shocked voice.

  Heart sinking, she squeezed Miss Quartermane’s hand. “No. You probably should not have done so, but I’m sure it will be all right.”

  But how could the night get any worse? It was not the location she’d given Talbot earlier in the week. Acton must have more than one safe. She glanced toward the entrance hall. Talbot might not be caught tonight because everyone would be looking in the wrong direction. He’d slip away without detection and the situation would go on and on forever. She searched for Meriwether or Esme to share the warning.

  “Never fear.” Martin signaled Acton to follow and then slipped his hand around hers. “Would you excuse us? Lady Taverham has just arrived and I must speak to her urgently about my cousin’s upcoming visit.”

  “Yes, please excuse us,” Iris said quickly too. Hand in hand, they wove through the crowded room, pausing only when they reached the winding marble staircase.

  Iris glanced left and right. “Are we in time?”

  “Yes, I think so.” Martin hurried beneath the staircase and Iris followed. He reached the paneling and flipped back a false cover—hiding an open safe. “No. We are not. Damn. He’s taken everything.”

  Acton skidded to a halt beside the safe. “Damn it all!”

  “We must find him before he can escape.” Iris caught one side of her skirts and hurried toward the card room. The chamber was full of noise and unfamiliar faces and stank of spirits, but she quickly slowed down so she wouldn’t draw attention.

  She rounded the central table and saw Talbot across the room as he lifted a glass to his lips and took a long sip. He set the glass aside calmly and dipped his hand into his coat pocket. A pocket that bulged in a way no decent tailor would intend.

  The superior, smug smile gracing his face infuriated her. He had the gems on him and was drinking to congratulate himself at the very scene of his crime. How many times must he have done this to others and never been noticed?

  “There’s been a robbery,” Acton shouted loudly at her back. “The watch has been sent for. No one can leave until the culprit has been uncovered.”

  Iris stilled as ordered but kept her eyes on Talbot even as the gentlemen in the card room came to their feet against Acton’s wishes.

  “Don’t move,” Iris screamed as Talbot was partially hidden from her view.

  The gentlemen closest to her stared at her blankly and began to complain of her rudeness to each other. Talbot glared at her and edged to the side. It was only then she realized a window nearest him was open.

  She rushed forward. “Talbot!”

  Acton restrained her even as Talbot dove out the window. Iris struggled free of him. “He’s getting away! Talbot just jumped out your window. What innocent man does that?”

  She was released and Acton and then Windermere brushed past her to stare out into the night-dark gardens. Windermere jumped through the window, as did the Marquess of Ettington a minute later.

  Martin hugged her. “I should have known he was on to us.”

  “Why?” she asked, staring up into her husband’s furious face.

  “The turnkey delivered a note the day after we married. It was not signed but threatened to take away what you loved most.”

  Iris clutched his waistcoat with both hand. “My father is safe but… Dear God, no. He couldn’t know about her.”

  Martin met her gaze blankly. “What is it?”

  “I have to go. Violet isn’t safe.” Iris hitched up her skirts and ran for the front entrance, ignoring the shocked faces and her husband’s demand she slow down. She had to reach her daughter in time and Talbot already had a head start.

  Lord Acton’s home was not far from Pollen Street and she sprinted down the front stairs, past carriages, and along t
he dark streets as fast as her legs could carry her. Behind her, Martin followed, matching her speed and demanding answers. She couldn’t explain. But she knew where Talbot would have gone. She slammed into the front door of her daughter’s home, intending to knock until someone answered, but fell through onto the floor instead as it opened. Horrified the door had been left unlocked tonight of all nights, she caught her breath and then hurried inside. “Mrs. Hughes. Mrs. Blake. Where are you?”

  A muffled scream replied and she hurried in the direction of her daughter’s room.

  A candle was lit in that room and Iris pressed her hand to her chest as she took in the scene before her.

  Talbot was on his belly, bound hand and foot, a white cloth stuffed into his mouth to muffle his screams for help.

  Mrs. Blake stood between him and the baby, a trickle of blood sliding down her cheek as she glared at the man, while Mrs. Hughes brought up the rear, brandishing a candlestick holder and apparently whole and unharmed.

  “Thank heavens you stopped him.” She checked Mrs. Blake’s wound immediately but did not think it serious.

  “No one’s touching our girl,” Mrs. Blake declared as she leaned forward and tugged the cloth from Talbot’s mouth. A dirty infant cloth, if Iris was not mistaken. “That should teach you not to upset the little one.”

  “Do you know these mad women?” Talbot spat and spat. “Release me!”

  “I think not.” Iris crouched low, noticing the spill of gems flowing from his coat pocket and onto the carpet rug. “How dare you attempt to harm an innocent child?”

  He snarled, fighting his bonds. “Ungrateful bitch.”

  “Ungrateful?” Iris regained her feet. “What did you ever do for anyone but terrify and steal from them?”

  Meriwether stumbled through the door, gasping. He spared a glance for the man on the floor and grinned. “My God, you were fleet-footed, my lady. Almost lost sight of you.”

  “Well, I had something of value to protect.” She glanced at Martin and noted his unnatural pallor. His chest heaved and he gave her the strangest look. Iris took a peek at the wicker perambulator behind Mrs. Hughes. Violet was wide awake and appeared on the verge of tears. She picked up the child and cuddled her against her shoulder to calm her. “It’s all right, my darling. The bad man won’t hurt you.”

  She patted Violet’s bottom softly and hummed to her. Everything would be all right now. She gestured to the man on the floor. “You’ll most likely find Lord Acton’s gems in Talbot’s coat pocket, Mr. Meriwether.”

  Talbot protested, but Meriwether searched him thoroughly and then jammed the dirty cloth back into his mouth when he wouldn’t shut up. He spread the gems across the nearest uncluttered surface. “When did you realize he’d tricked us?”

  “As many newly engaged women are prone to do, Miss Quartermane described Lord Acton’s proposal down to the smallest detail to everyone she met. When Acton cried out he’d been robbed, I thought Talbot’s behavior extremely unconcerned. Everyone else was shouting but he was playing with something in his coat pocket. I suspected him immediately, and even more so when he jumped from the window and ran away.”

  Meriwether smiled and glanced about. “I am very glad I confided in you, Lady Louth. You’ve proven invaluable in apprehending a dangerous man. How did you know he’d come here?”

  Iris kissed her daughter. “We received a note threatening harm to those I love, but my husband did not mention the incident to me until tonight. I had to be sure Violet was safe but to my considerable relief, our staff had already apprehended Talbot. They were very brave indeed to attempt it.”

  Meriwether threw a questioning glance at her husband, who’d said nothing so far but lurked in the background. To be honest, Martin looked to be in shock.

  Acton arrived, out of breath and anxious.

  Iris passed Violet to Mrs. Blake. Then turned to Meriwether, “If you wouldn’t mind removing that filth from the room, we’d much appreciate it. The child needs to rest.”

  “Yes, my lady.” Meriwether untied Talbot’s feet and hauled him upright. “I know just where to take him too.”

  The gems on the table winked in the candlelight and Acton quickly went to collect them, checking carefully that none had been damaged. One, a small cut emerald, had fallen loose from its setting and been thrown wide in the apparent struggle with Mrs. Blake. Iris bent to pick it up and returned it to its rightful owner. “One last treasure for your collection.”

  “Thank heavens.” Acton held it up to the light and assessed the stone. “The one I was looking for most of all. Thank you.”

  “It’s very pretty.” Iris didn’t think the gem very valuable but the earl placed it in his waistcoat pocket securely and tied the rest into a white handkerchief.

  He bowed and made his way to the door.

  When they were gone, Iris turned to face the staff. Mrs. Blake appeared triumphant but Mrs. Hughes was pale with shock. She slowly crumpled to the floor, shaking her head. “I’m too old for any more shocks. What a terrible man. What a dreadful night.”

  “He truly is.” Iris knelt at her side and caught the housekeeper’s cold hands in hers. “Perhaps it’s time you married your nice gentleman.”

  A tear slipped down her cheek. “I’d like that.”

  “Good. Shall I have Mr. Cooper sent for immediately?”

  “Thank you, my lady. I don’t know what I’d have done without Martha. He would have murdered us to get to the little one.”

  “We are lucky to have found Mrs. Blake.” Iris helped Mrs. Hughes to her feet and sent her toward the kitchens for the comfort of a strong cup of tea laced with brandy.

  She faced her husband at last.

  He searched her face. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Never mind that now.” She grasped the handle of the perambulator and maneuvered it toward him. “We’d like to go home, if you don’t mind. Holly House is a safer situation for the girl.”

  Twenty-Six

  “I like the name you chose for my daughter,” Martin murmured as he allowed Iris to precede him down the front steps of his daughter’s Pollen Street home and then set the baby and rolling contraption at her feet. “It seemed so important but I couldn’t decide.”

  “I’m glad you approve,” she murmured, hovering over the sleepy child.

  Violet had settled down for sleep soon after Talbot had been taken away for further questioning, and he was anxious to take her and his wife where they’d be safe.

  Iris started pushing the perambulator while the wet-nurse hurried ahead with some of the child’s possessions tucked under her arms. “It will dawn soon.”

  “Yes, the sun is just rising,” she agreed, glancing about her calmly as if their whole marriage hadn’t been turned on its head.

  Martin was anything but calm and he was impressed with Iris’s confidence with his daughter. She knew what she was doing with a child and had made him feel decidedly clumsy around his daughter in the nursery. She even showed up Mrs. Hughes, too, although he wouldn’t dare mention that out loud. Not after the help she’d already given him.

  She was obviously waiting for him to speak on the matter of him having a child but he didn’t know how to start.

  “Mrs. Hughes was out of her depth and this scare will be too much for her to continue as housekeeper,” Iris murmured as the distance grew between them and Pollen Street.

  He sighed. “I know, but she was all I had since I learned about the child’s existence and Vivian Rose’s death.”

  Iris glanced up at him. “You must have been very shocked.”

  “On so many levels.”

  “When did you learn of Violet?”

  “The morning you started asking questions about intimacy.” He guided Iris across the quiet street. “I hadn’t spoken with Vivian in many months. We fell out of sorts with each other and hadn’t spoken since. I didn’t know about the pregnancy. I didn’t know Vivian had died until Mrs. Hughes sent for me and presented me with my daughter.”


  “That’s a terrible way to find out.” Iris shook her head. “She’s very like you.”

  “Do you think so?” He smiled proudly, glancing into the basket where his daughter lay sleeping without a care or concern to trouble her. “I hoped I wasn’t imagining the resemblance.”

  Iris stopped. “You took the housekeeper at her word that the child was yours without any proof?”

  “What else should I have done? Abandoned the babe to an orphanage and washed my hands of the matter? The timing was right. She was my mistress and I was not always careful enough in her bed. Vivian had one protector after me but the child doesn’t resemble him in the slightest. Looking after her was the only choice I had. Vivian had no family and no responsible friends to turn to.”

  He glanced around but they were entirely alone. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you myself. I’ve been trying to find the courage to mention her existence. I’m sure it changes how you think of my character but if things had been different, if I had known before the birth, I likely would have married Vivian so our child would not be burdened with the stigma of illegitimacy. That is why I was so adamant you not become a mistress. How did you find out about her?”

  Iris was silent at that and Martin feared he’d shared too much of his personal life for her comfort. Unfortunately, he’d gotten into the habit of confiding in her and found it hard to hold back anymore. She moved on and he noting how calm she appeared pushing his daughter home. He’d expected an argument. Anger. Even tears.

  “I’ve known about the babe since before our marriage. Esme took me to see her.”

  “What had Lady Heathcote intended by taking you to see my daughter? Can I expect to read of the scandal of my daughter’s existence in the newssheets?”

  “No.” She touched his arm. “Esme would never do that to anyone she liked. She just… She wanted me to have all the facts about you.”

  “And how do you feel about that? Are you upset that I didn’t tell you before we married?”

  “No. I made the decision to marry you knowing all about her existence. I’ve no regrets in having you as a husband. We fit, my lord.”