What You Desire (Anything for Love 1)

Had it been in any other circumstances, Sebastian would have regaled them with a host of fabricated details, just to make Delmont squirm. “Forgive me, but we do not have much time,” Sebastian urged. “I need the address of the warehouse in Wapping, the one owned by the same company as Labelles.”

“You believe Dampierre has taken your wife to a warehouse?” Delmont asked with some apprehension, as he sat in the corner like a boy no one wanted to play with.

Dudley raised a brow and gave Sebastian a sanctimonious grin. “It would make sense,” he nodded. “He could not take your wife to Labelles,” he continued, stressing the matrimonial connection. But then he paused. “Wait, there is a house.”

Sebastian jumped up from the chair as Dudley rushed over to the desk and rifled through some papers. “Here it is,” Dudley said scribbling the directions. “It’s in Burr Street.”

“Burr Street,” Sebastian repeated. “Near the docks?” If he was correct in his assumption and Dampierre was using his ship to transport women, then he would have planned to ship out at the earliest convenience. The tide would be high for another few hours. But Sebastian could not assume he would wait until the afternoon, let alone another day.

“Give me a minute and I shall come with you,” Dudley said.

Sebastian placed his hand on Dudley’s shoulder. “Stay here. Charlotte needs you. Besides, Delmont will assist me, won’t you Delmont.”

“Of course,” Delmont inclined his head. “It is the least I can do.”

Dudley examined Sebastian’s domino. “Well, at least let me get you a coat.”

As his carriage rattled along the narrow streets, Sebastian removed the mahogany box from under his seat and began loading the pistol.

“I take it you have some sort of plan?” Delmont said, sounding a little more at ease than he had done previously.

“Of course,” Sebastian glanced up and smiled. “I’m going to kill him.”

“I meant something a little more structured,” Delmont replied with a shake of the head. “You can’t shoot a man in a street, someone will call a constable.”

“Who said anything about shooting him,” Sebastian countered, reaching down into his left boot and pulling the hunting knife from its sheath. “I’m going to use this.” He turned it around in his hand and it glinted in the lamplight.

Delmont appeared alarmed and swallowed deeply.

“What?” Sebastian said. “Are you telling me you would not do the same for the woman you love?”

Delmont shrugged. “I have never been in love. Well, perhaps once, a long time ago,” he said, his tone melancholic.

And there it was, Sebastian thought, the reason behind Delmont’s disreputable conduct. “Do you know why you’re sitting there? Why I have not strung you up from a tree somewhere?”

Delmont simply shook his head.

“Well, other than the fact you’re the only one who can identify Dampierre. I speak from experience when I say, sometimes good people do bad things, and more often than not for justifiable reasons.”

Delmont sneered. “And you have decided I fall into such a category.”

“We shall see,” Sebastian said placing the knife back in its sheath. “Now, as to my structured plan,” he mocked. “As we have to ride past Burr Street, we’ll check the house first. I’ll wait in the carriage on the corner of Nightingale while you knock the front door. If they’re there, you are to say you do not believe the marker to be genuine and you wish to discuss the matter with Dampierre.” Sebastian considered his companion. “Can you do that?”

“Of course,” Delmont replied with a hint of arrogance.

The moment they pulled up on the corner of Burr and Nightingale, Sebastian was almost certain Dampierre had not brought Sophie to the house. Despite the hour, there were still a few men lying on the floor outside the King’s Arms Tavern. The street was also home to a vast number of sailors, some of whom were only just making their way home to their lodging houses.

Delmont confirmed his theory when he returned to the carriage. “The house is empty,” he said slightly breathless. “I knocked twice, then the woman next door lifted up the window, poked her head out and shouted sling yur hook. That was until she noticed the quality of my clothes and then she asked if I could spare a few shillings. She is probably rousing her husband as we speak in the hope of stealing my handkerchie

f.”

Sebastian almost smiled. Delmont could be quite humorous, but his mind was occupied with more important things. He opened the carriage door but did not get out; instead he used it to lean on so he could speak to Haines, perched upon his box seat.

As Sebastian closed the door and sat back in his seat, he relayed the arrangements he had made with Haines. “The warehouse is off Green Bank. Once we’re certain they’re inside and have made an assessment of the situation, we will proceed as before … with you providing the distraction.”

Delmont shrugged. “Well, I am regarded as rather adept when it comes to creating amusing diversions.”

Chapter 27