Page 42 of Seducing the Knave

As expected, everything was running smoothly.

For now.

Gill had to be dealt with. Once and for all.

Due to their history, Max had tried to give his childhood chum some leeway.

Unfortunately, it seemed Gill’s hatred had not cooled. And whatever the man ultimately intended with his recent movements, Max had no doubt the wretch would do anything to see his goal accomplished. Even if it meant going up against an earl.

Max couldn’t let that happen.

He’d put in a great deal of effort in the last years to ensure his life and business in St. Giles and the East End remained totally isolated from his half siblings. To protect himself and to protect all of them.

But somehow, Gill had discovered the connection.

Max considered sending his brothers notice of the possible threat. But he doubted Beynon and his family were at any risk being as they lived days away in Wales. And Roderick’s security was entirely capable of thwarting any attacks against his family or his gambling hell. The earl’s elevated position in society made him a likely target, but Colin’s wealth and privilege also gave him a shield against a great number of potential threats.

In all truth, the most vulnerable of his siblings was his young sister, Caillie. And Max wouldn’t put it past his enemy to target the girl as a means of revenge or leverage.

Thank God she was in Hampshire. By the time she returned to London, Max intended to ensure Gill Rook was no longer a problem.

Finally retiring to his private quarters, Max quickly bathed then sat down at the small dining table in his bedroom. He was only a few minutes into his dinner when a knock sounded at the door.

Though the interruption was aggravating while he had so much to sort through—options and plans and resources for outing Gill—Max gave a shout to enter.

He half expected to see Carver with a report that his enemy had struck again. Instead, Langworth stepped across the threshold. The giant man, standing nearly seven feet tall, had once been a dock worker until he’d been trained by the infamous bare-knuckle boxer Mason Hale, known in the ring as the Undefeated. Langworth was now Max’s butler of sorts, though, in truth, his duties more often resembled those of a bouncer or doorman.

“What is it?”

Langworth hesitated just a moment before replying, “A lady’s here to see you, sir.”

“A lady?” Max asked with a quirked brow.

The butler’s expression furrowed with obvious confusion. “Aye. Not a doubt she’s one of the upper class. But...she’s got a card, sir.”

Something pulled swiftly taut in Max’s chest at the realization of who had come to call.

“Well, that didn’t take long,” he noted with a slow grin. Reaching for his glass of gin, he took a long swallow. “Bring the chit up, Langworth.”

“Here?”

“Where else?” Max asked with a hint of sharpness in his tone. “And use the back stair.”

For a moment, it appeared as though Langworth wished to say something more then obviously thought better of it as he dipped his chin and ducked from the room.

#

WHEN SHE EXITED THE hackney cab, Elle feared the driver might have gotten confused by her direction. Surely, Max didn’t reside in such a place. Considering the elegance of his clothing, she’d just assumed he’d live in a home of equal quality. Not...this.

Before her stood what looked like a brick warehouse with spare windows that showed only a hint of light within and an imposing metal door. The look of the place was unnerving in itself even if it wasn’t located in an area of the city that might as well have been another country for how utterly foreign it was to anything she’d seen or experienced before.

Dark had fallen in the time since she’d escaped Jasper but a quick glance around was all it took to note that they were right in the middle of one of the worst slums in the city. Ragged beggars and streetwalkers could be seen all around, a muffled cry of violence or distress echoed suddenly from some not-so-distant location, and it appeared an illicit dealing was occurring in the alley nearby.

The panic she’d just barely been holding at bay since the moment she’d seen Jasper in the Gilchrists’ parlor threatened to overtake her once again. Instead, she swallowed down the fierce rise of fear to address the hack driver. “You’re certain this is the right address?”

“Aye,” the man said with a tug on his forelock. “I’d be obliged if you’d let the Griffin know I didn’t charge fer yer ride. Me name’s Tim. Tim Webster. Ye’ll tell him, aye?”

She’d nodded in confusion as the hack driver had pulled away, leaving her standing at the base of an uneven stoop with a restless night crowding in around her. After another quick glance about, she rushed to the front door, praying it’d be opened quickly.

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