Nothing looked optimistic. Then she found the worst thing of all. Her heart sank deep into her stomach, almost hitting the floor when she read a notice of overdue payment.
She gulped hard, looking at the paper behind. Written in red ink was the word unpaid.
Then, at the bottom of the paper she saw the words,The Devil Lord.
Emmaline's heart stopped altogether. How could her father have been so stupid? How could he have been so reckless?
She knew very little of the man, and even less about her father's dealings with him, but what she had heard of the noble lord turned debt collector, she did not like one bit. Blackmail, extortion and violence were always the center of every story whispered surrounding him.
He was not often talked about in polite conversation and certainly she had never heard any lady utter his name, but she had heard the businessmen mutter of him before. She had heard of how once, many years ago, a number of noblemen had disappeared at the hands of saiddevil lord. And she had heard other terrible things besides.
Yet not once had she heard more than that of him, not a glimmer of who he was, where he came from or what he might look like, only that he was not the kind of man one wished to meet in a dark alley.
What Emmaline thought to do at the sight of his name was quite utterly insane and yet what other choice did she have? She had to confront this devil lord and throw herself upon his mercy. Her father was sick, perhaps even dying thanks to her. Facing the devil for him was the very least she could do in order to make things right.
Chapter 6
Alex screwed up the report he had just received and dashed it across his office. Anger flooding his system, he yelled in fury as he swiped the contents of his desk onto the floor.
Books, papers, ink pot and quill and all manner of other things went. The lighter papers fluttered down while heavy ledgers crashed and thudded, causing an awful racket.
In the open doorway, Sean appeared. “Your Grace, what is the matter?”
“Leave me!” Alex snarled back at his friend. He was in no mood to talk or even explain. The substantial loss of income from the lost India shipment had all but buckled his plans to get out of the darker businesses of the club.
He would need to throw more club parties now, encourage his girls to work twice as hard, and have the pickpockets step up their game. It was a vile enterprise but one that had its uses. The people that depended upon him and his late father’s debts made it impossible for him to be otherwise, no matter how he wished it.
“Your grace, I—”
“I said, get out!” Alex snarled, grabbing the only thing still left on the table, his whisky bottle. He was about to dash it at the wall beside the door, hoping to frighten his friend away from his tirade for fear of what he might do when Sean finally managed to get his words out.
“There is a lady here to see you, Your Grace.”
Alex's hand stilled, the bottle rested on the table with his fingers still wrapped around the neck. “I beg your pardon?”
“There is a lady here to see you, Your Grace,” Sean repeated. Alex gritted his teeth.
“I heard you well enough,” he ground out, “What I do not understand is what you mean. Ladies are not permitted within these walls.”
“Forgive me, Your Grace, but she was giving the boys at the door quite the earful,” Sean said, dipping his head. The half-smirk on his face suggested the lady's determination was admirable.
Nausea rose in Alex's throat. There was a reason he did not permit ladies within his walls. Even gentlewomen were discouraged. They were not safe within the walls of the devil's lair.
“Is the floor quiet?” Alex asked, dropping down in his seat, perhaps in shock.
He couldn't remember the last time he had seen a woman within his walls who was not a whore or some gentleman's mistress.
“Yes, Your Grace, it is still early,” Sean said, “There's only a couple of the regulars in for now.”
“And the girls?” Alex asked.
“Most are still eating breakfast but there's a couple on the floor,” Sean explained. Alex's chest tightened.
“Has she given her name?”
“Yes, Your Grace, Lady Moreau.”
Alex's heart near beat out his chest. It couldn't be. He had hoped never to lay eyes on her again.
