Bringingher to the office went against everything in me. Presumably they were watching this place, or had someone doing it for them. And I brought her right into the line of fire.
The distraught cry at the sight of my office nearly did me in. If that hadn’t done it, the way she inspected me, with her eyes and hands, for injury that could not possibly exist, certainly did it. Her concern melted the last bit of resistance in my heart. No one had ever… cared before. Not like that, to the point of irrationality.
Oh, Adriane had cared in as much as I kept her fed, housed, and clothed. And she enjoyed toying with me. The late duke had cared as long as I continued to function as an example to hold up against his wastrel of a son. Mother cared, but my only memories of her were of her wasting away to illness. She hadn’t enough left to worry after me. Kit cared, as a friend, a companion, perhaps even as a brother.
But this was different. I was enjoying it in a purely selfish way that I would never willingly admit. And when her hands ranover my torso, searching for nonexistent damage, it took more will than I thought I possessed to catch her hands in mine and reassure her.
I had bundled her into Kit’s office for the three of us to talk. She wasn’t listening, her gaze kept darting to the wall between his office and mine. Of course, I was too focused on her to listen to Kit’s prattling either.
“Lady Rycliffe?”
“Celine, please. You’ve prevented Davina from being sold to a Prussian prince. I think we can dispense with the formalities. And I apologize, it has been something of a morning. Could you repeat that?”
“Austrian,” he replied.
“Excuse me?”
“It was an Austrian prince.”
“Well, that might not have been so bad. The gowns are better in Vienna,” she retorted.
“I— But— She…” Poor Kit, he wasn’t prepared for the full force of Celine.
“That was a joke. I appreciate your assistance in all of her scandals, even the ones that have the potential to end with tiaras.”
“Right,” he said. “Will seems to think this break-in was possibly related to your late husband’s death. Is there… Are you able to tell me what you remember from that time?”
“You do not ask the easy questions, do you? Where should I start?”
“The beginning, I suppose?”
With a weary sigh, she began. “I had been out for several seasons when Gabriel and I met. After Mama and I left France, we relied on the generosity of theton. My grandmere passed a year or so before I was presented, and for the first time since weleft France, we were independent. I enjoyed the feeling of being beholden to no one, and I was in no hurry to wed.
“It made me very popular, you see. Men would trip over themselves for a dance. It’s a flattering feeling. But Gabriel was different. He knew immediately what I was doing. It’s difficult to describe—that feeling of knowing something—someone—is dangerous but wanting it more desperately than anything.”
Celine was far away, back in 1806 or 7. Back with the man who still held her heart. Mine twisted uncomfortably, even knowing that the information might be essential.
“He tried to stay away, tried to drive me away. He insisted he didn’t seduce innocents any longer. But he couldn’t— I couldn’t—wouldn’t. I even allowed others to court me, Leopold Bennet, Earl of Champaign, specifically. But one night, Gabriel and I slipped out onto the terrace and walked back in engaged.
“After we wed, everything was wonderful. For a little while. Then he started arriving late, missing engagements entirely, that sort of thing. When I confronted him about it, he told me about most of his dealings. Before me, he had an exclusive relationship with a madam. Victoria was her name. They were… close. He even went so far as to invest in her brothel.”
“Victoria White?” Kit asked.
“I do not know. It’s possible.”
“How do you know that?” I interjected.
“You stare at gentlemen’s finances all day long. How do you not know the most popular brothel in the city?” I winced before shooting him a glare. He should not be discussing such crass matters in front of my—Celine. And she certainly did not need to know I was quite as inexperienced as I was.
“He said her benefactor was the most powerful man in the city. Because she knew all the secrets, you see. He had a few other less than honorable activities, boxing matches he fixed, that sort of thing. He also told me about a scheme he ran withhis horses. He had one that was a particularly popular stud, and sometimes he would use a look-alike instead and collect the fees anyway. Then, a few years later, he would place wagers against that horse in races. But he said he stopped all of that when we met.”
“And you believe him?” Kit voiced my thoughts, with much less incredulity than I could have managed.
“I do. I know I sound naive. But he loved me.”
“All right, anything else?”
At his question, her eyes shot to mine. Adriane then.
