Seaton shrugged and petted the kitten in his lap.“It’s good to know when someone is trying to fleece you.”
He couldn’t disagree with that.“Hmm, we could have used you down on the floor tonight.I had to kick Gerling and his friend out for hiding cards.Fucking toffs think they are so smart.”
“Who caught it?”Seaton asked.
“Ben.He has a nose like a bloodhound for this type of thing.Can always sniff out a sharp.”
Stella tried to hide an enormous yawn behind her hand.
“Time for bed?”he urged gently.They all kept night hours, but there was no need for Stella to stay up once the show was done.She should get some sleep.
Stella nodded.“Yes, I think I will.”She rose and accepted her kitten from Seaton.
“Thanks for keeping me company, lil sis.”Rhys flashed her a rare smile.
Stella came over and gave Matthew a hug.He still wasn’t used to her spontaneous shows of affection.Not that he was complaining.He exchanged a look with Rhys over her shoulder as he patted her back.“Good night, Stella.”
After she and her kitten had gone, Matthew crossed to his desk and poured himself a whiskey from the crystal decanter that sat on one corner.He didn’t bother to offer Rhys any; his friend never drank alcohol.Then he took his sister’s seat across the table from his friend.
“Glad to see you back.”He didn’t ask what kind of job Seaton had been doing and Rhys didn’t offer.
Rhys nodded.“Just got back into town this evening.Ben said you’d been to Mayfair to break into some fancy hat shop.”
“Yeah.”He filled Seaton in on how he’d gone to confront Rutledge, but instead ended up in an alley saving a young woman from being murdered.How Miss Harper had found the top hat and how they had decided that the killer was probably a toff.Matthew took a sip of his drink.“It’s Jonas.The ledger in the hat shop says it was his hat in that alley.He certainly fits the bill as a killer.”
“Unless his valet is borrowing his accessories and killing young women,” Seaton said with a wry grin.“What are you going to do about it?”
“Nothing.He is not my responsibility.”He took another gulp to help swallow his lie.Damn it, he didn’t want anything to do with Jonas.“He is a fucking viscount.Above the law.”
“The law?”Rhys snorted.
“Getting into it with Rutledge is one thing, but killing my brother, who happens to be a peer?I’m not that foolish.I have to think about Stella now.”
“Yeah, and he’s a threat to her too.”
Matthew just shook his head.He stared down into the amber liquid in his glass.He thought about Mary Beth and the other girls that Jonas had most likely killed.He’d vowed to find out who the culprit was, but he had never imagined it would be his brother.It wasn’t a lie that it made stopping Jonas more difficult.Money and the title made for a safe cocoon around men like him.
“I almost had him in my hands last summer,” Rhys said.“I underestimated how clever he was.He gave me the slip on the waterfront.I am almost certain he set up the explosion that killed your father.”
Matthew raised his head with a start.“You were there?Did my father really kidnap Hartwick’s duchess?”
“Yes.She was the one who saw your brother set up the powder keg below deck.Jonas told her not to worry, as it wasn’t meant for her.I gave him chase through the boats that night, but he got away.”
“Elizabeth told me some of it.She told me about the duel that led to her fiancé’s death.”
“Ah, so you were with her tonight.”
Matthew ran a hand down his face and slumped back into his seat.“Yes.”
“Don’t you think sleeping with her is rather complicated?”
“Pardon?”Matthew straightened.
Rhys sent him an arched look.“You smell like sex.”
Fuck.But he smiled despite himself.Spending the evening in bed with Lizzie had been worth it.“Fuck, yes, it is complicated.But she is worth it.Everything about her is complicated, from her past to the son she is raising on her own.She is prickly and sharp-tongued and smart as hell.She invited me to her bed.You can’t seduce a woman like that.She chooses you.”
“Are you going to tell her who you really are?”
