Page 17 of Ashes To Ashes
"Helping her ladyship settle into her room," Doyle said.
"Which one?"
"The yellow room furthest from your suite, sir."
"Gus, I want you and Seth to join me in my study after he's finished with Lady Vickers."
"Sir," Doyle said as Lincoln went to leave. "An invitation from Lady Harcourt arrived a few minutes ago. Shall I bring it up to you?"
"Bring it up with luncheon." He strode out of the kitchen. "And wine."
He took the servants' stairs to the second level. Seth's raised voice echoed along the corridor from the other end of the house, where Lady Vickers now resided. A booming female voice responded. Lincoln retreated to his own rooms and shut the door.
He settled at his desk and contemplated his next course of action. With O'Neill's death looked like it was due to his supernatural powers. But with no clues as to the killer's identity, or that of the man who'd hired him, Lincoln had to return to the information from Billy the Bolter. He didn't like to rely on others, but he had no choice. He had to trust that Billy hadn't simply made up a story to get paid. Lincoln hoped his reputation was fearsome enough to deter false claims.
Doyle brought up luncheon and the invitation to Julia's ball. It was to be held that night. Clearly Lincoln's new status as a single man had secured this last minute inclusion.
"Will there be a reply, sir?" Doyle asked.
"Not yet."
"Very well."
He opened the door and a woman's voice ran clear through the house like a bell. Doyle cast Lincoln a sympathetic grimace then stepped aside to allow a woman dressed head to toe in deep black to enter. Seth came in behind her, a harried look in his eyes.
Lincoln stood and bowed. "Lady Vickers, I assume."
She gave him a simple nod. "Mr. Fitzroy, I want to thank you for inviting me to stay."
"Inviting?" He shot a glare at Seth.
Seth looked like he wanted to turn and leave. If he did, Lincoln would chase him and haul him back by his collar. He wasn't doing this alone.
"Of course it won't be for long," Lady Vickers went on with a wave of her gloved hand. "Once word gets out that I have returned to London, I expect the invitations from my friends to flow in. It would be cruel of me to refuse, particularly when their country houses are so much larger than Lichfield Towers. Why, I feel as if I am under your feet here."
Lincoln stared. He wasn't sure what to say.Congratulations? I hope you're not too disappointed in the size of the house?It had been large enough until she arrived.
Lady Vickers seemed to be waiting for him to speak, but he kept quiet in case he said the wrong thing. This was a woman who appeared to be comfortable with polite small talk, and Lincoln had found that area of his education as lacking as his understanding of people. She was everything he'd come to expect in an English lady of a certain age. She was quite tall, like Seth, with a formidable figure. She wouldn't be easy to knock off her feet. She wore mourning, but whether that was for her husband or her lover, he couldn't be sure. Perhaps both. The hem was a little frayed and the clothes themselves simple in style with no embellishments. She touched the ring finger on her left hand. It was bare, like all of her fingers, and Lincoln suspected the action was born from habit. She wore no jewelry, not even earbobs.
Lincoln didn't need those pieces of evidence to know she'd fallen on hard times. Seth had explained the family's destitution when they'd met, and Lincoln had researched them thoroughly before employing him. Indeed, little research had been required. He'd already witnessed the circumstances Seth had been reduced to.
Lincoln had saved Seth from auctioning himself off amid a crowd full of men at a gentleman's club. Prior to Lincoln stepping in, the highest bidder had been an aging gentleman whose younger wife was known for her sexual appetites. The husband was equally known for his—with other men. Lincoln didn't care what the couple had in store for their prize. For all he knew, Seth had wanted them to win. It wasn't sympathy that had led Lincoln to bid for Seth.
It had been Seth's skill in the boxing ring that had first brought him to Lincoln's notice. He could fight either Queensberry Rules or bareknuckle and knock his opponent to the ground in mere seconds. Many pugilists merely stood in one spot and tried to pummel the opposition, taking just as many blows as they gave. But Seth avoided contact by dodging and ducking, something that allowed him to get into a position to take his opponent by surprise. His sequence of moves were never the same, and this variety meant he could outwit even the strongest fighters on the circuit.
The fighting had definitely brought Seth to Lincoln's notice, but it was his other qualities altogether that secured his decision to employ him. He admired that Seth had been prepared to do anything to pay off his father's debts, including lower himself to a point that no man, let alone a nobleman, should lower himself to. That showed honor and a strength of character rarely seen in a man of his class. After Lincoln made the decision to employ him, it was merely a matter of waiting for the opportune moment—a moment when Seth would be grateful that Lincoln had stepped in and saved him when he did. That moment had come at the auction. Seth had indeed been grateful, and he became the perfect employee.
Until Charlie came along. With her wit, courage, and friendly manner, she'd quickly won over Seth, Gus and Cook. Ever since Lincoln had sent her away, Seth could barely even speak to Lincoln, and he was certainly no longer grateful.
"My son says there is a larger suite of rooms on this level," Lady Vickers was saying.
Lincoln's gaze slid to Seth's. Seth swallowed heavily.
"May I have them?" she went on.
"No," Lincoln said.
"But he tells me that your fiancée no longer lives here, and so I assumed—"
