“Yes, I suppose I could see that.”She brushed hair off his brow, needing to touch him one more time before she must go.“Dangerous is what you are,” she murmured.
He let her hand slip from his.“I think you should go home, Lady Sommerset.”
“Yes.I think you’re right.”For some reason, tears pricked the back of her eyes.Violet turned and walked to the door.With her hand on the door handle, she glanced back over her shoulder.Rhys lounged back in the chair, his eyes hooded as he watched her.Violet shot him a small smile.“Take care of yourself.”Then she forced herself to open the door and leave.
Chapter Sixteen
Rhys paced infront of Matthew’s desk.His leg ached.Hell, everything still ached, but less so than yesterday, thanks to the stuff Violet had spread on him.Fuck, having her fingers rubbing the salve across his skin had been heaven.But her touch had only made him crave more, like a shot of liquor, spreading warmth through his chest and promising absolution if he only continued to consume.That’s why he didn’t drink, and why he had chosen to be celibate.Temptation led to obsession.It was a weakness he couldn’t afford.He rubbed the center of his chest.Focus.
“Walter needs to be taught another lesson.What the fuck was he thinking, sending his guys after me in broad daylight?”
“More of a lesson than you killing two of his best blokes?”Matthew replied.“I think you sent a pretty clear message.”
Rhys whirled around to face his oldest friend.“You didn’t see that filthy bastard pressing her up against the wall, touching her, scaring her.”Violet had been frozen with fear, tears spilling from her eyes.He tugged a hand through his hair.
“Who?Frank?”
“No, some skinny bastard.Frank called him off before I could kill him for touching her.”
Matthew’s lips twitched.“I have never seen you so worked up.Normally, your anger is cold as ice.It’s this woman.Violet Sommerset.”
Rhys blew out a long breath and slumped into a chair across from Matthew.It was about Violet.Walter and his boys could go fuck themselves for all he cared.But seeing Violet manhandled and frightened had made him absolutely feral.
“She has really gotten under your skin, hasn’t she?”Matthew grinned.
“Why are you smiling, asshole?”Rhys glared.
He shrugged.“Never thought I’d see the day is all.”
Rhys brooded.“Her husband is hurting her.”
Matthew straightened, his expression darkening.“Shit.I’m sorry.”
“Violet is trying to keep him away by finding something she can use to blackmail her father-in-law.I have been asked to find out what dirty deeds the duke is up to, so our paths crossed, and we found our goals to be the same.The trouble is, you’re right.She has gotten to me with her fragile ‘damsel in distress’ routine.”He ran a hand down over his face.“That’s unfair.It’s not a routine.She is a fucking damsel in distress.She’s pregnant, to boot.”
“Fuck.”His friend’s low curse said it all.Matthew leaned forward.“We could hide her here.Keep her safe.I hid Stella here successfully from Jonas for a year.”
Rhys considered it.“I don’t think it’s the same.Violet is far more recognizable than Stella was and you have plenty of toffs attending to the club these days since Hartwick started coming by.Someone is bound to recognize her.Unless we lock her away, if she’d even let us.”
“You could always take care of the problem, discreetly, of course.”Matthew raised his eyebrows.
“I already promised her I wouldn’t kill him.Bad enough she had to see what I did to those guys in the alley.Fuck, I thought I was done with this kind of thing.”Retirement was feeling harder and harder.There would always be old enemies lurking in the shadows.Would he ever be able to just live his life like a normal person?Run his businesses, have some peace?
“Hell yes, you can be done with violence.We didn’t work so hard to leave the gang behind and build something good for ourselves for nothing.If you want to be done, then you can be.Listen, life is dangerous, bad things happen, but by and large, you can choose your path.”Matthew stared at him with serious eyes.“Even you, my brother.”
Rhys nodded.He didn’t have the words to tell Matthew how much it meant to hear that from him.Matthew had found a woman that he loved, and in order to keep her and her son safe, he’d had to face his past and his evil brother.Matthew knew what it was to fight for the life you want.Rhys sighed.He couldn’t help but feel that he had committed far too many bad deeds to ever deserve the kind of happiness his friend had found.His soul was far too black to be redeemed by the love of a good woman and all that other fairy-tale bullshit.
“The way to help Violet is to get rid of that husband of hers.The father is the key to controlling the son.I need to figure out what the hell Lavensham is up to.The only thing I was told was that I am the only one who can stop him.”Bloody Fleming and his goddamn deathbed wish.“Lord Fleming was a friend of Lavensham.If he thought he needed to be stopped, then it must be bad.All those in their boyhood club usually protected each other’s secrets.”
“We should’ve asked Elizabeth for help already.She is like a bloodhound when it comes to ferreting out information,” Matthew said.
Matthew was right.As the editor of her own newspaper, Elizabeth excelled at information gathering.Rhys nodded.
“I’ll talk to her tonight after dinner,” Matthew said.
“I have spoken with Hartwick, but he burned that damn book of secrets that our father kept.Bloody do-gooder.”
“What about Violet’s father?”Matthew asked.“He is one of Lavensham’s circle.Maybe he knows something.”
