Page 48 of An Honorable Deception
Thiswouldbe different, though, if he went in as himself. It would mean that the men inside—the men who were his peers by rights, the men whoexpectedhim to be like them—would think he was.
He wanted to squirm at the thought. It betrayed everything he believed in. Everything he stood for. Everything he worked for.
Wisdom said he should wait. Make a plan with Merritt this evening, with Graham. He nodded, but it felt as slow as if his head were pushing through gelatin. She was right. So why did he still feel this urgency to act? To risk his own reputation for what could well produce nothing useful for Alethia’s case?
“I know you’re right, Vin. But I can’t shake the feeling that I need to go in. And I’ve learned to trust my instincts—they’ve yet to lead me astray.”
She pressed her lips together, but he had to give her credit. She didn’t launch into another argument stating the irrefutable facts. She considered it. And then, after a moment, her eyes went wide with horror, and her fingers dug into his arm again. “Do you remember what the waiter said? What the article said?”
He wasn’t following. “About what?”
“That supposed charity houses women ... and children.”
The word was a punch in his gut.Children. To be expected in a charity house—but in a brothel? He reclaimed his arm from her hand. “I’m going in.” He wasn’t fool enough tothink he could shut down the lot tonight, but he would learn. He would at least discover if they were wrong—or horribly right.
“What should I do?”
Blast. He couldn’t leave a lady on the street. Their townhomes weren’t too far off, but he wasn’t about to send her on her own. He huffed a breath and nodded. “I’ll take you home first.”
Lavinia planted her hands on her hips. “Don’t be an idiot. If we’re doing this fool thing, we’re doing it now. I’ll wait in Kettner’s. Claim we had an argument and that I need a pudding to calm me down while I wait for my father to fetch me.”
“That’s a sound idea. You reallyarea good addition to the team, Vin.” He stared at the stately building, its elegant lines promising gentility within. But he knew that wasn’t what he would find. Every nerve in his body was zapping warnings at him. He had as much experience with such things as Lavinia had with acrobatics. He knewofthem. But he’d certainly never stepped foot on the high wire.
Her fingers tangled with his. “I know your instincts are screaming at you—and we’ll act. We will. But it doesn’t have to be in this way. We can go home. Put Graham to work. Get Sir Merritt to be on hand.”
They could. It would probably be wise. But he couldn’t ignore this weight pressing into his chest that said he had to go now. He had to see if Samira was there. He had to know if there were children desperately in need of rescue. Urgency clawed at him. “We can’t wait.”
But he needed a moment first, to steel himself. To pray. To hold her fingers in his.
She squeezed them and moved closer until their arms were pressed together.
For a second, she rested her forehead against his arm. And then she stepped away, releasing his hand. “I’ll be praying. And watching. I’ll come out when you do.”
Yates plunged a hand into his pocket and pulled out the tie pin.
FIFTEEN
One wouldn’t have thought that a place with so many secrets would really trust them to something as easily stolen as a pin—but a mere two minutes later, Yates found himself ushered into that side door of the Empire House, and the doorman hadn’t done more than look down at his golden admission ticket and shown him in.
Music came softly from a gramophone somewhere. A light floral scent filled the air. His gaze moved over furnishings that could have come from the richest manor house, all polished to a shine, unmarred by dust, no fabrics frayed.
A far cry from any charity headquarters he’d ever been in. But then, in none of those had the people they were supposed to be helping been stationed about the room like furniture either. Nor wearing scant imitations of evening gowns.
“Fairfax! Shaken the brother-in-law, I see?”
Dunne. He’d known he’d likely run into him if he followed so quickly through the door, but it had been a risk he’d decided could work to his advantage. With one more silent prayer, he pushed aside the disgust and put on the same sort of smile he’d seen Arnold wearing. “After much maneuvering.”
Dunne laughed and moved to his side, slapping a friendlyhand to his shoulder. He had a wine glass in his hand and was motioning toward a girl who couldn’t be more than twelve but who carried a tray. “Who took pity on you and gave you the pin? Vernon? Westcott? Not Rheams. I daresay he’s had his hands full with his wife’s passing, poor chap.”
Poor chap, indeed. Yates laughed, too, and waved the girl away, knowing he wouldn’t be able to stomach even a sip of wine. And not trusting a thing in this place.
The girl’s eyes were utterly empty. Dark, shadowed pools of nothing in a symmetrical face whose ethnicity he couldn’t readily place. She was the youngest person he saw in here at the moment, and she wasn’t dressed to entice ... but did that mean anything?
He dragged himself back to the conversation. “I’m not telling. It makes it back to Sir Merritt, and he’ll decide I can’t talk tohimanymore either.”
Dunne didn’t seem to find the answer suspicious. He chuckled around a sip of his wine and then used the glass to motion about the room. “Well. This is just the place to show a young lord like yourself what his empire has to offer. What do you fancy, hmm? A native snow fairy from Canada? Princess from Guiana? Tropical queen from Jamaica?” He indicated a woman to go along with each location.
Dear Lord.He had no words to add to the prayer. Nothing but the plea inherent in the name itself.Lord. Lord!
