Vexing the Viscount

“And how are you, Middleton?”

“Quite well now,” he answered and wrapped his arm around Tia. “I see you have met Miss Featherstone.”

“Yes, we met at Lady Whitfield’s party.” Alistair smiled. “We even shared a dance.”

“Did you now.” Braden slid a glance at Tia’s face. Her cheeks had reddened slightly. Had they shared more than a dance?

“Yes,” Tia finally spoke up. “We did share a dance.”

“Of course,” Braden said.

“Good evening to you both,” Alistair said with a quick nod.

“Stay away from him,” Braden warned Tia once his cousin was out of earshot.

She looked up at him with wide eyes. “Why? He seemed quite lovely to me.”

She had no idea about the perverted nature of most of the people in this room. It had been a terrible mistake to bring her here tonight. “He may not be all that he seems.”

“I believe the same could be said of you,” Tia retorted.

“So it could.” Braden clasped her elbow. “We are leaving now.”

“As you wish.”

They walked out of the room and out to his carriage. Silence filled the carriage as they rode toward the Red Door. It was time to tell her everything. She deserved that. And he needed her help as much as he hated the idea of needing another person.

“I supposed if we are to be lovers, we should be honest with each other.”

Tia looked over at him. Curiosity filled her. She knew what she hadn’t been honest about, but what was he hiding? “What do you mean?”

“My business and reason for staying in town is to find Jonathon.”

She looked up at him, but tears blurred her vision. Perhaps he wasn’t the monster that so many tried to portray him. “It is?”

“Yes, he needs help, Tia.”

“I know.”

He released a long sigh as if he didn’t want to say more, but must. “Did he tell you about the opium?”

“Yes,” she replied slowly. A part of her felt it was wrong to break Jonathon’s confidence, but she obviously couldn’t help him alone. “That is why I was trying to find him. He told me a few days before he left that he had to go back to London. That someone needed him. I assumed it was a lie and that he was still having issues getting away from the drug. I tried to convince him to stay at the estate where the temptation would be less, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“I’m worried, Tia. The runner and I have checked all his usual haunts. No one has seen him. Until I heard about the fight at the Red Door, I was beginning to think he might be dead.”

She stared up at his handsome face, unable to look away from the pain she saw. “It will be all right, Middleton. We will find him. I know of a doctor who is in town and helps people who really want to stop eating opium. But it’s very difficult for most people.”

“Does he have success?”

“Yes. But not in every case.”

“Thank you,” he whispered before kissing her hand again. “Is there any place he might have told you that I should know about?”

Tia shrugged. “I checked all the places he talked about with me, but no one had seen him.” This time, she squeezed his hand. “We will find him, Middleton.”

He stared down at her intently. “Call me Braden.”

She glanced away and shook her head. “It wouldn’t be proper.”