“Do you believe it’s a false lead?”
Taylor sighed. “No,” he admitted. “I really don’t think it is.”
Arthur didn’t think so either. There was too much here to be ignored. But the house in front of them looked as if no one had set foot there in years. It was hard to believe that a lady might be inside, even one with as much moral ambiguity surrounding her as Lady Reeves seemed to have. Even someone who needed a place to meet with men she ought not to be seeing could surely do better than this?
But maybe she didn’t want to do better than this. He didn’t know Lady Reeves, after all. Maybe there was something not right with her mentally. Maybe that was what had driven her to be the sort of person she was. It was certainly possible.
Taylor strode confidently up the steps to the front door. Arthur followed with a bit more hesitation. This all seemed rather suspicious to him. How had they found her so easily if she wanted so badly not to be found? It was true that Taylor had good sources, but he had taken years to learn that Lady Reeves even existed. Now, in the space of a single day, they had discovered her location. It was simply too good to be true—and yet, it seemed that it was true.
Taylor knocked on the door.
Arthur fully expected that no one would answer—but he was surprised yet again. After only a moment, a woman opened the door.
This wouldn’t be Lady Reeves. Arthur was sure of it. She was dressed as a housekeeper, and she seemed too young to be the person they were looking for—older than Arthur himself but too much younger than his father. She did not smile at them.
“You’re expected,” she said curtly.
“I’m sorry—we’re what?” Even Taylor seemed taken aback now.
In response, the woman gestured to a pair of double doors. They stood closed. Taylor looked at Arthur, and Arthur could tell that his friend had decided to allow him to take the lead now that they had come this far.
Well, it was too late to turn back now. He strode over to the double doors. If Lady Reeves, or whoever was here, thought that a little mystery was going to scare them away, she had played her cards very wrongly indeed. He threw the doors open.
And there she was.
The lady sitting on the chaise was beautiful, there was no denying that. She had lustrous auburn hair and striking blue eyes that might have been captivating if Arthur had been here for other reasons. If this had been a social call, he would have enjoyed her beauty, for she was a sight to behold. As it was, hedidn’t care what she looked like though it did take him aback for a brief moment. He hadn’t considered it, but of course, a seductress of married men must be lovely, and it was easy to see that she fit the part.
“Lady Reeves,” he said.
“Arthur,” she returned with a friendly smile.
“Your Grace,” he corrected.
“Oh, there’s no need for that sort of thing,” she said. “You and I are old friends by now, aren’t we?”
“We’ve never met,” Arthur said tightly.
“Of course, we have. You don’t recall? Well, no, I suppose you wouldn’t. You were quite young at the time, after all. I thought you might remember the day I visited your father at his home and the argument the two of us had.”
Arthur started to respond, to say that he remembered no such thing and doubted whether it had even happened, but then he paused.
Those eyes. Those piercing blue eyes.
Therehadbeen something familiar about him when he had come into the room. Was it possible—could he have seen her before?
He didn’t want to think so. But…
His mother and father had never argued. They had always gotten along beautifully. And his father had never raised his voice at Arthur either, nor had he been unkind to his staff. In fact, there was only one time he could remember his father yelling at anyone. For a moment, he tried to disbelieve it, to tell himself that whatever he was remembering couldn’t possibly be what Lady Reeves was hinting at. He didn’t want her to have something to use against him.
“You have to leave, Lady Reeves. You mustn’t ever come back here. I’m devoted to my wife.”
“That isn’t what you said the other night.”
“I don’t care what I said the other night! I’d had too much to drink, and you know it. You knew it at the time, and you took advantage of the situation. I don’t know what you thought—maybe that you could get something from me. I know what you do to men. Don’t think no one has told me. I have no money to pay you, and I’m not going to reward your villainous scheming. Leave me in peace. Leave my family in peace. If you ever come near us again, you can expect dire consequences!”
That was all he remembered. He hadn’t understood what the argument was about when he was a child. He hadn’t realized thathe had retained so much of it to this day. But apparently, he had, and now, he looked at Lady Reeves with a rush of horror.
“You tried to blackmail him,” he said softly. “You tried to blackmail my father.”
