The Husband Hunt (Madison Sisters 3)

Chapter Fifteen

Robert stared at Smithe blankly. "Findlay?"

"Hmm. Never heard much of the man myself. Know he's a respected Baron and such, or supposed to be. But it turns out he's one dissolute bastard for all that," Smithe said and consulted a small notebook. "Too fond of drink and gambling. Likes prostitutes, but they don't like him so much 'cause he apparently only finds his pleasure by inflicting pain on others. Has a violent temper and wants what he wants. " He flipped the notebook closed and glanced to Robert. "Seems he's wanted Miss Madison for a while. Apparently had some plan to get her a couple years ago with the help of her brother-in-law. " He paused and raised an eyebrow. "That would be Lord Radnor. "

"His brother," Robert assured him grimly. "Not Lord Radnor, but his brother George. "

"Hmm. " Smithe looked dubious, but let it go and continued, "It seems those plans he had apparently ran amuck and he's been awaiting his chance to get at her again. It was just happenstance that Mrs. Morgan got involved. He was at the brothel the night before the incident that led to her being locked up there. Morgan happened to mention she was expecting the girl to tea the next day. I gather Findlay immediately pounced on that, then paid her scads of money to drug the girl, prepare her for him and present her for his pleasure. Said he was going to marry her . . . after. " He shrugged. "Mrs. Morgan swears that's the only reason she agreed to it. The girl would be married all good and proper to a fine, respected lord and no harm done," he finished dryly.

Robert sat back with a curse. He'd suspected one of the men currying favor with Lisa might be the suitor, but he'd suspected Pembroke, not Findlay. It was Pembroke's pastries that had made her ill and forced her to stay home the night she was attacked. And it was at Pembroke's outing where the second attack had occurred. Of course, that had helped to push the suspicion Pembroke's way and he supposed a smart man would want the suspicion elsewhere. It had left Findlay free to court Lisa without interference. It had also knocked out his only strong competition when Robert had suggested Lisa stay away from Pembroke.

"Damn," he muttered.

Smithe nodded and pointed out, "There's little that can be done about Lord Findlay legally without tarnishing Miss Madison's reputation. " He allowed a moment to pass and then added, "And even if you were willing to risk that, without Mrs. Morgan here as a witness to his involvement, it would be difficult to prove anything. But you did say to let the woman go if she gave us the name and so that's what we did. "

Robert grunted at these words. He'd already realized all of that before he'd even known who the suitor was. He had no intention of going through legal channels to handle the man. He intended on hunting the bastard down and personally beating the hell out of him for putting Lisa through all of this, and for what he would have put her through had she not escaped Mrs. Morgan's that day.

"Of course, there are other, less legal ways to deal with a man like that," Smithe continued as if reading Robert's mind. "I don't usually encourage that sort of thing, but in this case it does seem the only way to keep the young lady safe . . . short of her marrying someone else and being removed as temptation. Is there any chance she will marry soon?"

"A very good chance indeed," Robert assured him grimly. His talk with Richard the night before had cleared his mind on certain issues and he had been trying to tell Lisa that when Smithe arrived. The minute the man was gone he would return to the parlor and tell her of the epiphany he'd had. How he'd realized that what he'd thought was true about his childhood and his mother wasn't true at all. That he'd come to see that his father was a bitter old woman hater who had infected him with his poison, but she was the antidote. He would tell her that he realized now how irrational and stupid his thoughts on marriage and wives had become, and that he did trust her, with all his heart.

Of course, Robert acknowledged that he would have the occasional habitual doubt enter his mind that he would have to fight off and deal with, but he would do his damnedest to ensure he did not take them out on Lisa. He would not drive her away as his father had done with his mother. He would cherish her and keep her close all the days they had together.

"Well, that ensures her safety at least. Findlay can hardly marry a married woman," Smithe said with satisfaction. "As for the other, there is a risk he might still try to get her alone to have his way with her, but I suspect a stern talking to and a fist or two to the man's face would be enough to discourage him from taking that tack. "

"Undoubtedly," Robert agreed dryly.

"Just let me know if you want a couple of my boys to give him that talk and I'll see to it," Smithe said, standing up.

"I think I would prefer to handle that myself," Robert said silkily, getting to his feet as well.

"I thought you might," Smithe said with a grin as Robert walked him to the office door. "It's what I would do. "

Robert didn't comment, but ushered him out into the hall and toward the front door. His fists were itching to plant themselves in Findlay's face.

"I shall send you my bill, my lord," Smithe said, pausing at the front door. Glancing back he raised one eyebrow. "To your proper address and not here, I imagine?"

"Yes. Please," Robert said, opening the door for him. "Very good. " Smithe nodded and then turned to step outside. Robert watched him go to his carriage, then closed the door and turned to head up the hall.

The parlor door was still closed, and he paused to take a breath and sort out what he would say before opening it. He had a distinct sense of deja vu when he finally pulled the door open and found himself staring in at an empty parlor.

"Handers!" he bellowed, wheeling toward the kitchens.

Lisa stared at Charles with shock and horror as his words played through her head. "That Langley has bedded you?"

"Forgive me for being so blunt," Charles said gently. "But it is rather obvious that's what has happened. "

"How?" she asked with dismay.

Charles hesitated and then sighed. "Well, the way he looks at you has never been anything like filial. At first he watched you with a hunger only another man would recognize. But today, and the last time I saw you . . . " He paused briefly and said, "The day we had our picnic you were studiously ignoring him, but he could not take his eyes off you. His gaze roamed over you with the knowledge of a lover. And then, of course, I suspected something had happened the night you asked me to kiss you punishingly. You said he had kissed you as punishment, but it was more than a kiss, was it not?"

"Yes, but not - it was the next night that he - we - I - " She grimaced, and shook her head. "You may retract your proposal, my lord. I understand completely that you couldn't possibly want me now that you know. "

"And yet I do," he said wryly, and smiled at her startled expression. "Lisa, you are a very attractive woman. I had heard of you before I met you, but once I met you . . . " He shrugged. "I have wanted you ever since first seeing you that night at the Landons' ball two seasons ago. "

When she shook her head and tried to sit back, he kept hold of her hands and said, "It's true. I simply could not get you out of my head. All other women were faded pastels next to the vibrant crimson of your image in my memory. And I have spent a good portion of these last two years wishing I had snatched you up and run off to Gretna Green with you right there and then. "

When her eyes widened incredulously, he shrugged. "I wish it even more now that I know that Langley took advantage of you. At least I could have saved you from that. "

Lisa frowned. Robert hadn't taken advantage of her. She'd gone to his room fully intending to seduce and trap him into marriage. Of course, she hadn't had to try very hard, but he hadn't taken advantage of her at all.

"I do want you," Charles said firmly. "But, unlike Langley, my intentions are honorable and I would marry you first. " He leaned closer, his expression gentle. "Say yes and I will have the driver head for Gretna Green right now. You can put Langley and everything that has happened firmly behind you and

be Lady Findlay. We can live quietly in the country, reading our books, paddling on the water and exploring each other's bodies at night. "

Charles brushed a hand down her cheek as he said the last, and Lisa was hard-pressed to keep from flinching. Her reaction was as much at the thought of their exploring each other's bodies as anything else. The idea held no appeal for her at all. She couldn't find it in her to want to explore him. She couldn't even imagine anyone's body but Robert's beside her in bed, Lisa acknowledged, and that is when she realized just how stupid she had been to think she could marry anyone else.

This was not like switching one dress for another. This was a husband. A man who would expect her to do with him all those intimate things she'd done with Robert. Who would have the right to strip her, and touch her in places and ways that were . . . She shuddered at the very thought of marrying this man or anyone who was not Robert and letting him caress or suckle her, or bury his body in hers. If Robert could not see his way clear to believing she could be faithful, she would just rather be an old maid and single for the rest of her life.

"Lisa?"

Sighing, she raised her head and offered an apologetic smile. "I am sorry, my lord. I am touched, but I could not. " When he released her hands and sat back in his seat, she bit her lip and tried to soften her rejection by pointing out, "I might be carrying his child, my lord. Surely you wouldn't want to raise his child as your own. You'd resent it, and me. " She shook her head. "I like you too much to saddle you with another man's child. Besides, I would probably make you miserable. I really have loved Robert my whole life. I can't imagine that would ever change. I would be married to you and forever pining after him. I - "

"It is unfortunate you are such a romantic, my dear," Charles interrupted coldly. "A little practicality in that addlepated head of yours would have gone a long way toward making this easier. "

Lisa gasped at the insult, shocked by the sudden change in his behavior. It seemed that since she was going to refuse him, he was taking off the kid gloves and showing his true thoughts of her. Addlepated? Because she loved another?

"Of course, it is not entirely your fault," Charles said. "Had Mrs. Morgan not allowed you to escape, we would have married the day after you arrived in London and Langley never would have got the chance to deflower you. He would already be nothing more than a faded memory next to the exquisite sensation I made you feel. " Lisa blinked at him several times as her mind struggled to make sense of what she'd heard. Mrs. Morgan?

"You are the suitor," she said slowly, wondering that she wasn't more shocked by the realization.

"Yes, I am. And you will marry me," he said calmly. "It has been the plan for years now and I am not losing out on that delicious body of yours because you have some romantic notion that you love Robert Langley, a man who doesn't even want you," he added dryly.

Lisa stared at him silently as very old puzzle pieces began fitting together with new ones in her head.

"You were the second man in cahoots with Dicky, I mean George," she murmured faintly as the past crashed with the present in her head. Two years ago she and Suzette had come to London to chase down their father and find out why he had not returned to the country estate and why he was not replying to any of their letters. They'd arrived to find him in his cups, bemoaning the fact that he'd gambled them to the edge of ruin.

In a panic, they had gone to Christiana, hoping that she could help them with a mad plan to find Suzette a husband who would be willing to pay off their father's debt in exchange for marrying Suzette and gaining the rather exorbitant dower their grandfather had left her. One he'd left to each of the girls.

However, they'd arrived at Christiana's home to find that all was not well with her marriage. The man who had wooed her with such vigor and charm a year earlier had become a cruel, controlling tyrant. That being the case, it had been more than a relief when the man had accommodatingly cocked up his toes and died the day of their arrival. At least it had been until they'd realized that his death would mean going into mourning and losing the chance to find Suzette a husband.

In the end, the three sisters had done the only thing they could do; they'd hidden the death of Christiana's husband and set out to attend balls and such to find Suzette a husband who met their requirements. Imagine their amazement when Christiana's dead husband had come sauntering into the Landons' ball on the first night of the season.

It had turned out that the man Christiana had married wasn't Richard Fairgrave, the Earl of Radnor at all, but his twin brother, George, who had hired men to kill Richard so that he might take his place. However, George's hired assassins had reneged on their end of the deal, leaving Richard alive and well in America. And it was he who showed up at the ball that night, seeking justice and his life back, and scaring the three sisters silly.

They soon found out that fratricide and fraud weren't George's only sins. The man had found out about the large dowers the girls had been left by their maternal grandfather. That was the reason he'd married Christiana. And he'd been in cahoots with two other men to marry all three of the sisters and then see them dead in one grand accident that would have left the men rich widowers. The identity of Suzette's would-be husband and murderer had been discovered during the unraveling of who had killed George. But they had never sorted out who was supposed to marry Lisa. Until now. "Yes, I was the third man in the plot to marry and kill off you and your sisters," Charles admitted, unabashed. "In truth, I wasn't all that interested when George suggested his plot to me. I like to gamble, but not as much as he does, and I have a very healthy estate that furnishes me with all the money I need to fund my play. " He shrugged. "However, after seeing you at the Landons' ball . . . " He smiled wryly. "All that pale, perfect, lily-white skin and that golden glory crowning your head. "

His gaze moved over her slowly, taking in every inch of the skin he spoke of so lovingly, and then up to caress her golden hair. "Well, I was sold on the plan then. I could not wait to get my hands on you and see how much more lovely your skin would look when mottled with a rainbow of bruises and welts. Or how that beautiful singsong voice of yours would sound when you moaned with pleasured pain. "

Charles paused and leaned forward to push Lisa's chin up, closing her gaping mouth. She shrank back in her seat the moment he touched her, however, a shudder running down her back at the image he'd painted.

"Sadly," he continued, seeming unconcerned by her reaction, "Fate intervened and made attaining you rather difficult in the end.

First George's plan went awry when he foolishly got himself murdered. Which was probably for the best. I'm sure we would have had a falling-out when I refused to let him kill you. However, then you and your father left town, making it virtually impossible to even try to woo or seduce you into marrying me. " He scowled at her with displeasure. "And you stayed away for two damned years, languishing in the country, where I had no excuse to see you to woo you. "

Findlay shook his head with disgust. "I had pretty much given up on having you when Mrs. Morgan happened to mention that you were in town and coming to tea. " He shook his head with a laugh. "Well, it seemed too perfect to be true. I could have you, drag you off to Gretna Green and marry you, and then enjoy you at my leisure, forever. Imagine it, Lisa, years and years of exquisite play, exploring how much pain the body can take, and how much pleasure we can get from it," he said it as if she should be pleased that he planned to torture her for the next forty years or so, and then his mouth twisted with displeasure.

"Unfortunately, that old cow allowed you to escape, and I was forced to change my plans. I returned to the original plan of wooing and seducing you, but took the opportunities where I found them to try to claim you more quickly as well. However, it soon became obvious that you were interested in Robert, and no man had a chance at wooing you. " His mouth twisted with displeasure, and then he added, "Even so, I stayed close in the hopes of keeping tabs on you and where you would be so that should the opp

ortunity arise again, I could claim you and carry you off. "

And she'd given him the perfect opportunity by hopping happily into his carriage today, Lisa realized grimly, but said, "You were behind the attack in my room the night I wasn't feeling well?" He nodded.

Lisa frowned. "But how did you know I would be home? I didn't even know until I got sick from eating Pembroke's sweets. I planned to attend the ball that night. "

"I knew because it wasn't Pembroke's sweets that made you sick," he said with mild amusement.

Lisa sat back slightly, her eyes narrowing. "It wasn't?"

Charles shook his head. "I slipped an emetic into your tea while Tibald was telling you all about the runner he'd hired. You were so busy chattering away, you didn't drink the tea until everyone got up to leave. " He smiled wryly. "From the way you grimaced as you downed it, I thought for sure you would jump up and say there was something in your tea, but you didn't. "

"It was cold and nasty but I thought it was just because I'd let it sit so long," she said quietly, recalling the sickly sweet taste. "Ahh. " Charles nodded, and then commented, "The emetic was supposed to be fast acting. I imagine you probably barely got upstairs before the vomiting started. "

"I made it all the way to my room first," she informed him coldly. "Hmm. " He shrugged. "Not as fast acting as claimed then. Ah well, it's for the best, I suppose. Seeing other people get ill tends to turn my own stomach so it wouldn't have done for you to vomit on me. "

Lisa was starting to think it was a shame she hadn't. She also thought she would definitely keep that tidbit handy for future reference. If she didn't escape, she would vomit on the man at every opportunity.

"And the attack during Pembroke's outing?" she asked, pushing away the possibility of not escaping.

Findlay shrugged with amusement. "He refrained from inviting me to it. Or Tibald for that matter. Cutting out the competition. Most unsporting of him, really," he said with a tsk, and then shrugged. "It didn't matter though, I knew what he'd arranged and bribed the boat captain to tell me where the planned stop for the picnic was so that I could send my man ahead to lay in wait. "

He considered her for a moment and then admitted, "In truth, I didn't expect there to be much hope of grabbing you there. I expected you to stick close to the others, or for Langley to be keeping such a close eye that there would be no chance to snatch you. But you decided to walk along the beach, and while Robert followed, he then turned to leave you there. "

"You were there?" Lisa asked with surprise.

"Good Lord, no. I was at my club, establishing my alibi so no one would come looking when I disappeared for a couple days to drag you to Gretna Green. "

"Oh," she muttered.

"No, I sent my man. Sadly, from what he's told me, he tried to grab you too soon. He should have waited for Robert to return to the others. He said afterward that he was worried Langley would merely move away a bit and then turn to watch you from a distance, so he took the chance. " Findlay shook his head at what he obviously thought had been a foolhardy decision. "The idiot earned himself a nasty knot on the head for his trouble too. But I gather he got in a good jab with his knife on Langley before that? At least he claimed he did. "