“I thought Madame Lucienne was your cousin?” was all Zach could find to say.
“Third cousin, so nothing smokey I assure you,” Plunge said in a jovial tone, as if he was discussing which cake to eat at tea.
Madame Lucienne had her veil on, so once again, Zach could not see her face. He watched Plunge wrap a hand around her waist and pull her against his side.
“So, not that loyal to dear Elian then, madam,” Zach snarled. He then backed out the door and closed it behind him.
Shaking his head, he tried to make sense of what he’d seen. Surely she was not foolish enough to actually care for that fool? Why did the prospect of that beautiful woman with Plunge make him feel ill?
“You have never even seen her face, so why are you annoyed?” he muttered. But he remembered the feel and taste of her lips and how right she’d felt in his arms.
Zach shook his head to clear it and began walking, checking the remaining rooms on his side. He had a job to do. He found no Frenchwoman. Correction, no one was speaking French.
Why did something feel off about that scene with Plunge and Madame Lucienne now that he could think clearly? Zach wondered. The woman on the bed had been wearing a coat and bonnet. Plunge and Madame Lucienne were fully dressed also. Surely, if they were about to participate in a ménage á trois, they would have been dressed more scantily. Especially the woman on the bed who was likely a lady of the night.
Plunge’s expression had been serious when he’d looked in. The silly smile had come later. Zach was confused. He’d always believed the man an empty-headed fool. Now, he wasn’t so sure.
“What’s wrong?” Nathan asked him when they’d left the brothel and made their way back down the stairs outside.
Zach moved into the shadows against the side of the building.
“I saw Plunge in there with Madame Lucienne.”
Nathan frowned, and Zach realized he had not mentioned his second encounter with the Frenchwoman to his family.
“They are cousins,” Nathan said. “Or so I was led to believe, but why are they in a brothel? Surely, they’re notthosekinds of cousins?”
“Third cousins apparently. I also found her at Lady Louise’s. She was searching for something. I’m unsure of what, but she was going through a desk, which belonged to Lady Louise.”
“And you’re just telling me this now?”
“I forgot,” Zach lied, unsure why he hadn’t mentioned the encounter until now. “We hid behind a screen when a couple arrived. After the couple had left, I asked her if the name Lord Blackhall meant anything to her. It did by her reaction, but she fled before I could grab her.”
“And I repeat, why are you just telling me this now?” Nathan demanded.
“I forgot.”
“No you didn’t. You’re the smartest of all of us and never forget anything,” Nathan surprised him by saying.
“No I’m not.”
His brother studied him. “Yes you are by far. You’re the best of all of us.”
“That’s enough,” Zach said, refusing to acknowledge how good those words felt.
“So, Gabe was right,” Nathan said softly.
“About what?”
“Later. Here is not the place to discuss this.”
“Discuss what?”
Nathan waved his words away, and Zach knew he wasn’t getting anything more out of him until he was ready to talk.
“I was wrong not to mention seeing Madame Lucienne, Nathan.”
“I wonder why you didn’t?”
